Musical Accompaniment: Looking On The Bright Side Of Life by Al Bowlly.

I’ve been reading about Nikola Tesla recently. What a fascinating person!

Tesla discovered the AC current and invented the Tesla coil.  He pioneered hydraulic power at Niagara Falls in 1895. Without Tesla’s discoveries and inventions, we wouldn’t have today’s power grids. It was Tesla’s intellect and brilliance that lit up the world. His induction motor design is in your blender, refrigerator, and washing machine, to name just a few. Garage door openers, remote controls, ceiling fans, and other luxuries that we take for granted are all thanks to this mysterious man.

Tesla was born in the Austrian Empire.  He came to the United States at age 28 and worked with Thomas Edison briefly. The two famously clashed and rumors that Edison stole some of Tesla’s inventions still circulate.

I’m not very knowledgeable about science. Especially the kind of science that Tesla pursued with currents and wireless communication.  But his ideas about energy and frequencies is closely connected to the subconscious mind. It’s the lone area where I understand enough to be amazed by Tesla’s thinking.

But I promised electrifying photos in the title. Will I ever get around to it?

Check out this 1901 picture. I’m not sure that’s technically lightning but it looks like lightning. At any rate, it’s a great place to go if you’re a scientific genius or if you’re merely open to the idea of electrocution.

You see how Tesla is just sitting there in the middle of it? I’ve heard that great minds sometimes function better in chaos. Voltaire was once relegated to the Bastille for his writing but when he was released to house arrest, he hit his stride.  Ludwig van Beethoven wrote some of his most beautiful sonatas during the Napoleonic wars.

Another example of brilliance in chaos! Or maybe it’s something else. According to the legend, Tesla was born in the midst of a tremendous electrical storm. It fits that he would have some kind of special proximity to the great power of the universe. He understood it and channeled it to create so many wonderful things.

I learned a lot about lightning strikes when I researched the curious case of Lillian Hawkins. Long time Old Spirituals friends may remember her: she was the small town Ohio girl who was plagued by a mysterious assassin and got struck by lightning twice in the span of a few months.