Moon, stars, and spirituality

[nebula]

As I was leaving work tonight, I saw in the sky a beautifully clear waning gibbous moon. And of course, I thought, "What a beautiful Moon!"

My thoughts recalled the description given by one astronaut on the surface of the Moon: "Beautiful desolation."

OK, looking it up, I discover that the astronaut was Buzz Aldrin, and what he actually said was, "Beautiful, beautiful. Magnificent desolation." Oh well, I was close! In any event...

I began to think of how that description as just as fitting for our view of the Moon here from Earth.

And then I thought, "I wonder what the ancients thought the Moon actually was?"

I guess I need to explain the unspoken thoughts behind my thoughts. We've grown up being taught what the Moon is, basically a huge rock that orbits the Earth. So as we gaze in wonder of the beauty of the Moon, we're gazing at a beautiful giant rock, and beyond that don't really give much thought. Our sense of wonder is nothing more than the wonder of how beautiful a big hunk of rock can look!

But what about those who had no idea that it is rock, that it is much larger than our eyes can perceive, that it is actually so incredibly far away (about 384,403 km or 238,857 miles)? What exactly did they see as they gazed in wonder at the beautiful object in the sky?

Try it! Go outside and gaze at the Moon, trying to imagine what it was like to do that without knowing what exactly it is or how big it is or how far away it really is. How would you perceive it?

What if you were to gaze at the Moon and just feel?

I wonder if this is why most ancient religions and beliefs associated some form of spirituality with the Moon? The same as with the stars?

[~candice~]

Romans 1

[nebula]

What about Romans 1, Candice?

[~candice~]

OK I was too vague, LOL.

Romans 1 tells us that His creation points us to His invisible qualities (eternal power, divine nature) and this is what is stirred in me when I look at the moon.

Even pre-salvation, the moon was something that I looked at and thought... wow, I KNOW there is something out there, something spiritual that I don't know yet.

The moon is kinda mysterious, I can understand why people have [wrongly] made a god out of it.

[j102]

As I was leaving work tonight, I saw in the sky a beautifully clear waning gibbous moon. And of course, I thought, "What a beautiful Moon!"

My thoughts recalled the description given by one astronaut on the surface of the Moon: "Beautiful desolation."

OK, looking it up, I discover that the astronaut was Buzz Aldrin, and what he actually said was, "Beautiful, beautiful. Magnificent desolation." Oh well, I was close! In any event...

I began to think of how that description as just as fitting for our view of the Moon here from Earth.

And then I thought, "I wonder what the ancients thought the Moon actually was?"

I guess I need to explain the unspoken thoughts behind my thoughts. We've grown up being taught what the Moon is, basically a huge rock that orbits the Earth. So as we gaze in wonder of the beauty of the Moon, we're gazing at a beautiful giant rock, and beyond that don't really give much thought. Our sense of wonder is nothing more than the wonder of how beautiful a big hunk of rock can look!

But what about those who had no idea that it is rock, that it is much larger than our eyes can perceive, that it is actually so incredibly far away (about 384,403 km or 238,857 miles)? What exactly did they see as they gazed in wonder at the beautiful object in the sky?

Try it! Go outside and gaze at the Moon, trying to imagine what it was like to do that without knowing what exactly it is or how big it is or how far away it really is. How would you perceive it?

What if you were to gaze at the Moon and just feel?

I wonder if this is why most ancient religions and beliefs associated some form of spirituality with the Moon? The same as with the stars?

the lord made mankind "hardwired" so to speak to worship him, and if we dont chose the lord then we will chose something else to "worship" weither it be objects in the heavens or even ourself.