A reflection on the moon and sun
The sun is odd. We need it to survive. If we get too much of it, however, we die, and the use becomes useless. We won’t need it to endure our livelihood if we aren’t keeping our body and soul together in the first place. A friend of mine once said that if she had any power, it would be to look into the sun. And I told her that she could anytime; the sun is always there. Just like the moon. Though it is dangerous. It was an odd moment, as we both felt like we needed to retort something to the other. But soon she just walked off, puzzled.
I later thought about it. Why does Mother Nature not let us look at the sun? It’s so beautiful. It shows us everything. And it always has.
Why make beauty so dangerous? Maybe it’s telling us something—that beauty can be limited, or maybe humans’ ability or capacity to understand beauty is limited. And that we can take that beauty for granted. So don’t wish to know what you are seeing in beauty, because your perception can be twisted and you can be blinded by that beauty.
And maybe that’s why the moon takes the sun’s place. At night. Because when the sun goes to rest, the moon and stars show us something just as gorgeous. They’re beautiful in a different way—though those who care enough to make sense of that attraction, the attraction of nature, find the same beauty in the moon as in the sun. To some, it might not have the same beauty. It comes out at a time that not many pay attention to. The night.
But even things that are so bright and vibrant have flaws. Sunspots. The sun hides them so well that the only way to discover them is to dare to look so closely into its danger. It’s insecure but covers them up with the things we need. Like life. The moon doesn’t hide them. Craters. The moon shows them with pride. It’s a sign of resilience, one could say. Both make them seem winsome.
But the moon doesn’t succor or support us—it merely brags its beauty. It makes the oceans wave to the shores and so on. But do we need it in the way we need the sun? Of course.
