On Christmas night, 25 December, I awoke feeling that my face was being caressed by moonbeams. It was. It was a nice feeling. The moonlight was from the full moon of that night. This experience has been replicated almost every full moon for years (more than 2 decades); ever since I moved into an isolating environment conducive to a life of contemplation and writing, and into a simple home (my retirement ‘cave’) which offers me views of the sea about 1 km. away. (A Hindu will understand my reference to a retirement cave.)
My gratitude to the moon for enhancing my spiritual peace in this manner extends to both its very existence, and the beauty of its visible rising over the sea. This rising also shows how fast Earth is spinning.
What I find interesting is that the full moon stimulates my mind. I find myself channeled, not so much into new areas of interest, but more into the depth of issues I have been pondering. One of the advantages of retirement is that one can, if so inclined, contemplate or ponder about any matter, rather than hibernating, worrying about death, or complaining about one’s infirmities.
Would it not be wonderful and exciting were other radiations from space to offer us beauty, and to stimulate our minds in the way the moon does? The experience of surviving long past one’s use-by date would also be more joyful, knowing that I am more in tune with the music of the spheres, the vibrations of spinning orbital matter.
Since we are truly re-constituted stardust, are we not entitled to be more in tune with the stars?
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 