Is it just me?
Sometimes, the moon looks like a giant light in a dark sky. Other times, I swear, it’s a round keyhole into a brighter world.
Now, maybe that keyhole moon has everything to do with how my eyes are focused and nothing to do with my imagination. But, I don’t believe that. I have more luck writing on those keyhole nights.
What’s on the other side of sky’s dark door? I imagine an enormous room filled with light. Or maybe the room is filled with souls waiting for a body, our energy, our goodness. Is it heaven? Hope? Aliens? Who’s big enough to open and close a door that size? Is it open during the day and closed at night? What if the moon is really the light from a galaxy-sized microscope? And, if so, whose eyeball is peeking through at us?
I could go on to create a story based on any of those questions. Or, I could go backward.
One night, turn off the television. Go outside. Put a blanket on the grass. Lie on your back. Look up at the full moon and spend some time wondering.
Imagine you know nothing about the moon. Then begin to ask questions. Chances are, you’ll ask some of same ones your early ancestors did.
Who hung that big light up there? Why does it change shape? What happens to the pieces that fall off the big light when it changes shape? Shouldn’t we sleep inside a cave (or a house) to avoid being hit by the pieces of the big light when they fall? Who finds it and hangs it back up when it all comes down?
I don’t know. What do you think?
Imagination.
The ultimate brain food.
Perspective is an amazing thing. I had some ideas put aside to write a whole book on the subject. My favourite ‘find’ on the subject was from a Native American. This view of how we see things was great.
Imagine there are twenty, thirty, whatever number of you sitting in a circle. In the middle is a single feather. Lets say an Eagle feather. We all see an Eagle feather, maybe. We all know what a feather looks like, feels like and how heavy it as. Yet we all see the same feather from a slightly different ANGLE. That angle might change the colour, the shape, the shadow. Add in our life experiences and our past contact with feathers and we have a veritible multitude of perceptions. Now try to get those people in the circle to try to agree on what they see. Good luck. And what happens to that perspective if someone stands up?
Seeing the changing moon in the night sky takes perceptions to a whole new level.
I used to lay on my back and not so much look at the moon, but all the stars. And imagine – what was beyond the stuff I could see. And beyond that again. If the universe had an end, an edge, what lay beyond that? Man. That screwed up my head.