A Waning Gibbous to you Mister Dowd with its promise of returning more full bodied in prescribed time. You hit the nail on the head about human consciousness in space. Our religious perceptions become the spoiler of our enthusiasm for the works of our Creator manifesting creation. Jesus claim of friendship for us will mean he would pay the ultimate price for it. Amazing storytelling.
Bless you and those whom you cherish in the coming new year.
Ah, writing of mystery and transcendent sacred experience. Reminds me of The Immense Journey, by Loren Eiseley. The Flow of the River. Floating in the North Platte River.
Will, I enjoyed reading this and am fascinated by some of the facts you relate. When I walked out last night I saw the moon and it looked very much like the image in your post, eerily glowing in a cloudy sky. Thank you for sharing your own experience of religion and its rituals as well. Wishing you a wonderful 2024!
Lovely reflection; thank you. And I'll join you on the minister bench.
"The assumption (spoken or unspoken) is that once humans become an interstellar species, we will leave religion—with its superstitions and strange ceremonies—behind on Earth." - I always wonder what impulse has, for millennia, moved the human family to create a room (of whatever size -- hut to meeting-house to basilica, and all in between) in which to meet the divine.
Especially lovely this month, Will! Thank you. I was in the northern hemisphere (Montréal) for November’s full moon, and enjoyed being able to see what you saw (since the moon we see in the southern hemisphere is up the other way). But this month’s post opens things up beyond Earth in a most interesting and unexpected way.
Not sure how Jesus would get on with the continual bombardment of cosmic rays on the Martian surface. (Mortals like Elon Musk would have to live underground to survive them.) But you have given us an arresting image.
Thank you; happy Christmas! I hope your health is improving.
This secular Jew-slash-atheist enjoyed your piece.
Faith like a phantom limb. 🖤🌕
“My faith prickled like a phantom limb.” Just one of the many beautiful sentences in this piece!
Pure poetry.
A Waning Gibbous to you Mister Dowd with its promise of returning more full bodied in prescribed time. You hit the nail on the head about human consciousness in space. Our religious perceptions become the spoiler of our enthusiasm for the works of our Creator manifesting creation. Jesus claim of friendship for us will mean he would pay the ultimate price for it. Amazing storytelling.
Bless you and those whom you cherish in the coming new year.
Lawrence Joseph
Hi Will
Here's one from me: https://open.substack.com/pub/annefrench/p/rorate-coeli-de-super?r=2nwpw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Exquisite.
I am absolutely lost in your pieces. I look forward to your posts. 👌🏻
Ah, writing of mystery and transcendent sacred experience. Reminds me of The Immense Journey, by Loren Eiseley. The Flow of the River. Floating in the North Platte River.
Will, I enjoyed reading this and am fascinated by some of the facts you relate. When I walked out last night I saw the moon and it looked very much like the image in your post, eerily glowing in a cloudy sky. Thank you for sharing your own experience of religion and its rituals as well. Wishing you a wonderful 2024!
Love this story! ♥️
Is it still named Cold Moon for people like me, who live in the Southern Hemisphere?
Lovely reflection; thank you. And I'll join you on the minister bench.
"The assumption (spoken or unspoken) is that once humans become an interstellar species, we will leave religion—with its superstitions and strange ceremonies—behind on Earth." - I always wonder what impulse has, for millennia, moved the human family to create a room (of whatever size -- hut to meeting-house to basilica, and all in between) in which to meet the divine.
Especially lovely this month, Will! Thank you. I was in the northern hemisphere (Montréal) for November’s full moon, and enjoyed being able to see what you saw (since the moon we see in the southern hemisphere is up the other way). But this month’s post opens things up beyond Earth in a most interesting and unexpected way.
Not sure how Jesus would get on with the continual bombardment of cosmic rays on the Martian surface. (Mortals like Elon Musk would have to live underground to survive them.) But you have given us an arresting image.
Thank you; happy Christmas! I hope your health is improving.
Anne
This is interesting: However, in truth, the first liquid and food ever consumed on the Moon were wine and bread.