Pack Creek Ranch, San Juan County, Utah
The first week in February 2024
Mild weather, clear skies, landscape lit by full Moon rising – or in other words, the Earth turning toward our exo-planet in late January, as the photo indicates,
LUNATICS
A friend who teaches science in high school says that most of his students have a hard time believing that human beings ever set foot on the Moon.
So do I.
Even harder is believing that human beings will ever set up a base on the Moon as a launching pad for Mars and beyond.
But that’s the plan.
And ambitious human curiosity is not to be discounted.
As long as homosapiens have been around, at least 300,000 years, we have wondered and speculated about the Moon, and have not ceased to do that. The latest theories suggest that life on Earth is a product of interaction with the Moon – yes.
Astronomers and astrophysicists say the Moon was once very much closer to the Earth than it is now, and that the Moon is slowly moving away at the rate of an inch and a half a year. Someday our moon will be gone. Like the Earth and us.
Meanwhile . . .
If you sit in a chair in the light of the full Moon and think about the place of the Moon in our cultural, artistic, theological, literary, and scientific history – and consider your own personal lifetime experiences that include the Moon, you cannot help but realize how woven into your existence the Moon has been – and may continue to be.
If you have a companion while considering the Moon, you will likely be in for a long and meaningful conversation.
It is not made of cream cheese.
There is no Man in the Moon.
The full moon does not produce madness – unless you are in love.
The Moon has provoked myths, poetry, curiosity, awe, and wonder – and we still can’t explain its existence.
It’s a mystery still.
Goodnight Moon.
In the spirit of full disclosure and giving credit where credit is due, most of what I would share with you comes from reading the best
summary of what is known and thought about the Moon and our mutual relationship – The Book of the Moon – written by a self-described expert lunatic Maggie Aderin-Pocock.
Get it. Read it.