Starry Starry Night

I recently had the privilege of spending a good two hours lying on my back on the grass staring at the magnificent Cederberg sky. Contemplating is inherent in my nature and it occurred to me again (as it does every once in a while when the opportunity to star gaze arises) how distant human beings have become from just about everything else in this world. The stars are there every night, the moon waxes and wanes, Venus winks at us every evening and for the most part we remain oblivious. Besides the fact that we have become so obsessed with the self and so obsessed with material man-made paraphernalia we simply NEVER look up. We assume man’s contribution to planet earth from industrial to technological revolution to be our ticket to eternal happiness and not forgetting the products and lifestyles that we think are going to prevent us from ever facing death. We, as an increasingly selfish species, have not only lost touch with the planet that facilitates out earthly experience but we don’t appreciate or respect the magnitude of the Universe. Even in a city like Cape Town we are blessed to have visibility of a generous smattering of stars and when last did you register that they were there and wonder anything about them?

Admittedly in the Cederberg Mountains with the quiet stillness and lack of light and noise pollution, one is gently led to gaze upwards in silent awe at the vastness of the Universe. The irony of my starry starry night contemplation was that we feel so desperate and isolated about life sometimes and its all-consuming organised chaos that one would think that staring up at the vast skies that surround us would add to this feeling of isolation and insignificance. Strangely, however, it always leaves me feeling humbled and in tune with the mysterious cauldron of existence here, there and everywhere.

We spend so much time looking at televisions, computer screens and within our own minds and bodies that we forget so easily that we are (as cheesy at is sounds) all ONE. Somehow no matter your belief system we are all connected by the very simple things of the elements and the stars surrounding our planet and the fact that collectively we really don’t know much about anything beyond our own humanness.

Whenever you get a moment – look up. As the old adage goes "there are no answers only questions" but strangely when faced with the vast, complicated and mysterious Universe of skies and galaxies…the questions stop for a moment and you can allow the sense of collective peacefulness to prevail.