oo-OOOOWWLLL!

Coming home last night I glanced up at the moon. There was just a tiny sliver of it in the sky, and it just looked like a smudge. People just travelled home and didn't look up, but I was transfixed.

I try and spend as much time as I can looking at the sky. It's a reminder that there's more to existance than the confined space around us, and on nights like that a reminder too that we're part of a solar system, throwing up quirks like that. At the same time the Sun began to bombard us with huge streams of magnetic gas, and I felt reassured. I suppose it's because I fear consistency, and worry when things are still for too long that they won't move again. So seeing that even the most fixed and predictable things in our lives are subject to surprising occurences put me at my ease; even if we fossilise, the universe around us won't, just yet.

It pains me when people don't take the time out to appreciate a good sunset. October's the best month for sunsets, with the red autumn sky at its most beautiful when we need it most, after spending hours in fixed, sealed offices. I doubt anything man can produce can even start to match the subtle beauty of an autumn sunset. It almost feels like a free show from God, unhurried and beautiful for anyone who chooses to appreciate it at the close of the day.

We've allowed ourselves to become too detached from the natural world around us, but we're as much a part of it as any other animal. It's not a coincidence that we plan our lives around the moon- one quarter of a lunar cycle is one week. The menstrual cycle corresponds almost exactly with this too- even our daily circadian rhythm isn't that closely matched to the natural environment. But there are still effects. The amount of people sectioned peaks at the full moon, and let's not forget Ramadam and Eid are timed entirely around this too.

I like observations like that. They remind me that no matter how much time we spend indoors and try and close ourselves off, we can't escape our origins.

Next it's time to start howling. Anyone care to join me?