Seeing Differently

Peering into the fourth order Fresnel lens atop Fort Point Lighthouse, Stockton Springs. (Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)

A Fresnel lens is more than an esteemed wellspring of light. I also see this amazing lens as a polished prism repository for all history that has plied beneath its radiance. For maybe just maybe, time and circumstance did not manifest in a plethora of moments lived, before simply passing through a Fresnel lens and vanishing forevermore.

Could it be that such classical lenses, which revolutionized lighthouses in the nineteenth century by sending distinctive gleams of light further upon a darkened sea - saving countless lives, ships and cargoes in the process, captured every seaborne account witnessed? Not in a fashion we can identify and read, but in ways our imagination can only endeavor to fathom.

Think of all the bygone scenes, mundane or dramatic, that have unfolded in the presence of a Fresnel lens. There were raging storms and waves of frothy chaos that have long thrashed below its golden divergence. Then there was fog, with all its opaqueness – the bane of every mariner as they grappled their way through untold dread and danger.

Fresnel lenses are pure enthrallment! A view of West Quoddy Head Light’s third order order classical lens. (Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)

And of course, there were the onetime lightkeepers – or wickies, who made their dutiful appearances aloft like clockwork. Lighting up, trimming the wicks and paying close heed to a flame bold and bright, before taking their leave of the lantern aglow for a little while.

When I look intently at a Fresnel lens, I sense space and time flowing through each prism from places here, there and where we know not. For the dimensional capacity of a Fresnel lens abstrusely melds the sequence of history into our present reality; though, we can scarcely comprehend the continuum derived from the limitations of our narrow – dare I say, logical perspective. Peripherally, we sense its depth of illumination – its mystery, but go there and understand, we cannot.

So, the next time you are in the presence of a Fresnel lens, slowly adjust your gaze high, low and side to side along the framework of these timeless works of art. Peruse purposefully every gleaming angle, as well as the many inverted, contorted and expanded views that emerge from its innermost realm.

Such perspectives will fascinate, enlighten and open your mind to worlds within a world!

The science and beauty that embody Fresnel lenses like Owls Head Light’s forth order, makes these works of art, transcendent. (Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)

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