For years I have been saying that candles touch people on a primal level and truly believed it, but tonight really drove that home.

I am on vacation and my cabin is somewhat remote. It sits on a small lake near the top of a mountain 200 miles north of New York City and normally you don’t even see airplane lights. Tonight is overcast and not even a star was visible so after dinner, so I  lit a bunch of candles on the deck railing (in glass holders) and turned off the house lights.

It is amazing how comforting those candles are - especially when no other lights are visible in any direction. The silence was deafening so I cranked up some Jefferson Airplane, Yes, and Pink Floyd - the primal rythms of my generation.

It’s a coccoon of warm light and comforting sound. Probably not far removed from what my distant ancestors experienced in cave dwelling days. As a modern day caveman, I can close my eyes and envision a fire and drums beating.

Call it racial memory or instinct, some things the human race will never outgrow.