Jupiter and its moons.

If you live in a part of the world where fall is upon you and winter is coming soon, then you likely also feel the pressing darkness as daylight hours shrink and nighttime hours expand.

This past week, while walking out to get the newspaper well before the sun was up, I glanced up to see the moon in the western sky, hanging in blackness with its current partner Jupiter, appearing like a small star below. I took a photo as it appears in the header of this blog.

Of course those two objects, the earth’s moon and Jupiter, are in reality millions of miles apart.

The fact that the moon looks so much larger is an illusion of an almost unimaginable magnitude. And those types of illusions have cost the occupants of this world plenty over time. Our former notion that the earth was the center of the universe, for example, was one of the illusions that kept the human race in ignorance about its own, infinitesimal place in our solar system, and beyond. We are not the center of anything except our own, paltry perceptions.

We also poorly understood the context and composition of the moon for many millennia. The Christian bible essentially refers to the moon as the “lesser light,” Genesis 1:16
God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesserlight to govern the night. He also made the stars.”

That “lesser light” is barely able to contend with the dark night sky, versus the sun that bathes our planet in supposedly whole, pure light. Many in the human race once thought the sun itself a god, riding from horizon to horizon in a golden chariot. We were wrong about that too.

Man on the Moon. 

By the time we earthlings landed a spaceship and man on the moon (which some still doubt…) we knew enough about its surface and our place in the universe to guess that its surface might be dusty, and to understand that it was the flat, consistently light texture of that dust that gave the moon its ability to reflect light back to earth with enough intensity to create shadows at night. Moonshadow.

Those familiar with that haunting little song Moonshadow by Cat Stevens likely remember some of its playful, seemingly contradictory lyrics.

“Yes I’m being followed by a moonshadow, (moonshadow moonshadow) leaping and hopping on a moonshadow (moodshadow moonshadow…)”

Stevens captures the delight in being out in the night, surrounded by half visions of shadow and light. The moon works its magic on all our souls, it seems. Yet Stevens, always the spiritual lyricist, also finds ways to catch us in mid-revelry, to reveal some other aspect of truth. And so the lyrics go on as follows…

“And if I ever lose my legs, oh I won’t moan, and I won’t beg, oh if I ever lose my legs, I won’t have to walk no more…”

Those lyrics are designed to convey the choice of spiritual enlightenment over the labors of this world. The concept of a moonshadow is one of delight in discovering and knowing that side of ourselves we too often ignore. The lyrics call us to remember that the light of reflection, especially that from an inner light, is as important as basking in the direct light of the sun.

Go out in the moonshadow, and find yourself

So if you find yourself running or riding in the dark, with the moon above you some cold night, do not feel afflicted in having to conduct your exercise in the dark. Revel in the feeling of moving fast through the night. Leaping and hopping on a moonshadow can be a real joy.

And when you are sitting inside a warm house, fearing the idea of going out into the black, cold night, give yourself a chance by sticking your head outside the door. In fact, go out into the night. It is seldom so dark or even so unimaginably cold as you might think. Even when it is, you have equipment to make it right. To make the night yours. To train in the cold and see your breath bursting from you mouth, or to makes tracks (by foot or by wheel) in the newly fallen snow is to participate in a miracle.

You have it in you to do this. You just have to let the light of your most noble ambitions come out.

Do yourself this one more favor. On a night when Jupiter is hanging in the night sky–it is one of the brightest and largest “stars” in the sky, take out binoculars and study it carefully. You will see that Jupiter has its own moons circling that giant planet! That realization shook me deeply the first time I saw Jupiter through a telescope. Other worlds. Other moons. What should we do about that, if anything?

Carpe diem: The night sky demands it

It made this world feel that much more intimate and alive. And our own moon felt much like a friend. It’s shadows are welcome in my life. You can run in the moonlight. Ride in the moonlight. It is yours to enjoy. And when the moon doesn’t shine, shine your own light. Run in its scope and glow. Make the night your own.

But when the moon does shine, I’m being following by a moonshadow, for sure. How about you?