Eos to Helios ~ an introduction

Eos refers to new beginnings as light starts to overwhelm the darkness.

Eos Photo essai in Plumwood Mountain 5:1

Poetry at First Light a radio documentary on the Eos project, Earshot, ABC Radio National

The English language doesn’t have a morning equivalent of our abbreviation for ‘between light’ – twilight. I use Eos, the Greek goddess of pre-dawn who opens heaven’s gates for her brother, the sun god Helios.

‘Dawn’ (Jalingarr in Gumbaynggirr) is from the Old English dagian ‘to become day’; it’s a becoming. Like a poem, Eos is a process of discovery. If you wake before dawn and walk into a garden, park or beach, or just look out through a window, you meet Eos. I’m fortunate; I meet her on an estuary feeding the Pacific.

With no need so early, to think of what needs to be done (check your phone, make breakfast, feed the kids, go to work), one can become immersed in nature’s presence. Natural events and processes are becoming complete strangers. We are social animals who now self-identify by what work we do and what goods and services we purchase. This comes at the expense of our creativity and being open to experience.

As consumers, our taste (whether in art, cars or fashion) is cultural capital, much like wealth – not like knowledge/skills capital of the past. Cultural capital is a subset of social capital, easily swayed by fashion, marketing, and now social media – perceiving, feeling, understanding for ourselves takes energy and imagination. Eos allows you your own experience, a rare commodity in a world of 7 billion people – she gives time and space to engage with the natural sublime and feel alive.