The Moon For a Moment

The lesson I took from this text is to be present in the moment for more than a moment. Mr. Palomar watches the moonrise from the time its barely visible until its surrounded by stars and full faced, he doesn’t relish only in the dusty young moon or only the bright full moon but he watches the entire moonrise and takes a better understanding of the subject from it. It would be easy to be fixated on one part of the process and leave having thought “how lovely, I never noticed that before” but Mr. Palomar observes the entire process of the moonrise. This is a lesson I think we could all take to heart, to tune in to life for more than just a moment, to be observers for more than just the part we like, to practice conscious observation in everything we do. This would not only make us better learners, better appreciators, but perhaps it would even bring some joy to our lives. To appreciate life for the mystic and mundane experience it is rather than understanding life as we remember, from the last time we paid attention.  

Response to Paul: I found your last paragraph to be an interesting take on the relationship between humanity and reality, that we observe so intensely because we ourselves want to be seen or noticed. I agree with this in part but I would replace the idea of being seen with the idea of being validated. I don’t think humans necessarily have a deep desire to be seen but I do believe we have a desire and perhaps even a need to feel valid. We spend a lot of time in art and literature validating reality and the universe, explaining why something is what it is, and describing abstract emotions, ideas and places, trying to give everything more meaning in our human context. But humans have no clear-cut purpose in this reality, and the universe can’t (and wouldn’t) outwardly say ‘I appreciate you’, so we crave that validation from something bigger than us. But we won’t get that, so we must get it from each other.  

Response to Ji-Woo: I like some of your language about Mr. Palomar being “a man of good suspicion,” and the comparison of Mr. Palomar to a mind map, “Mr Palomar knows for certain what he wants to observe.” That quote I found particularly interesting because it brings up ideas of essentialism, Mr Palomar is already defining the moon before he even begins observing, but because he is of good suspicion, perhaps he’ll find something new there.