Longing
Lent, Week 2
Nearly four and a half billion years ago, when Earth was very young, she was hit by another planet, about the size of Mars. The collision was so devastating that a large chunk of Earth was vaporized and ejected into space. Eventually this far-flung Earth-material coalesced to form Earth’s only natural satellite. This is the current, widely-accepted creation story of our Moon. If it is true, then Earth and Moon are made of the same stuff. And based on studies of the chemical composition of Moon’s rocks compared to Earth’s, that seems to be the case.
Now forever separate, these two ancient objects were once one. They are held apart from one another at a fixed distance, but the gravity between them shows in every rising tide on Earth. That gravity pulls and pulls, with Earth bulging toward Moon as though reaching out for her. It looks a lot like longing to me; the longing of a lover for the beloved.
What must it be like for these two immense parts of the same being as they gaze at one another through space? Does Earth sense an emptiness where Moon was gouged out of her? Does Moon have a memory of being part of something much larger? These are the questions of a very small human living for a very brief time on a very tiny parcel of Earth. In the course of my brief time here, I have known longing. I have felt absence. I have been blessed by love. And as I pause from my busy, if fleeting life on Earth and look up at Moon, I wonder.
Meditation: As Earth and Moon long for one another, so do we long for union. May we realize that the curiosity we feel about our fellow humans scattered far and wide across the Earth is a longing, rooted in our recognition that we are all part of some larger whole. May we recognize something of ourselves as we look upon a plant, an insect, another human, or a jagged piece of mineral. May we see that the same stuff that makes us all is drawing us together like gravity. We are all beings originating from the same Source. May we honor that Source by loving all of its manifestations. Amen.
To learn more about Moon:
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_tides/tides03_gravity.html#:~:text=The%20gravitational%20attraction%20between%20the,dominates%2C%20creating%20a%20second%20bulge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_Moon
Your words do nothing to curb my naivety, dear Denise. How simple. How obviously, scientifically true. Surely if the I Don’t Believe folks read this, they would understand. We are all connected. And when we get - or think we are - disconnected, we long for communion.
Dear Denise, Once again you used your prophetic, poetic voice to name what should be obvious to all of humanity. However, humans seem to be more interested in division rather than union.Henri Nouwen said that when each of us was created, God kissed our souls and the longing we feel is the longing for God. Given your words, I add, If only we would recognize the Divine all around us to assuage the longing until we go Home again.