Moon+Response

 Personal Response – Moon Watch

Perception: Perception was, and still is, a big factor to viewing and understanding the moon. There are several different ways in which one could perceive the moon. Personally, however, I perceived the moon with the sense of sight only. The reason behind this is the fact that the moon is at quite a large distance, and so the other senses would be very difficult to use in order to perceive the moon. The sense of sight was used on all of the nights, although the two specifically chosen nights were that of Thursday, December 10, and Friday, December 11. In making these observations, I perceived two different things about the moon: its shape and the angle of the moon. The shape on the 10th was different than its shape on the 11th, as on the 10th it was between a half-moon and a crescent, whereas on the 11th it had become a crescent. The angle also seemed different on these two days. On the 10th, the bright part of the moon was at an angle that made the moon seem as if it was rotated clockwise at 45°. However, on the 11th, the angle of the moon was such that it seemed to be rotated counter-clockwise at about 35°. I also learned that sight could be very beneficial when viewing the natural world around us. The use of sight can give you a vast amount of information with just a glance at something, but when one spends a few minutes (or even a few seconds) viewing something, a lot of knowledge can be obtained. For example, by taking a quick glance at the moon (and without the use of prior knowledge), I could assume that the moon is a large “thing” when compared to everything else I see in the night sky. I could also know that it is bright, therefore making it very easy to find in the night sky in most cases. All this could be assumed simply by looking up for a second or two. On the other hand, if I were to stare at the moon for at least 20 seconds, I could know more. I could look at the shape of the moon, and realize how it differs to all others in the sky. I could realize that it is sometimes tilted at an angle, and that the light is somewhat of a different color than the other bodies in the night sky. All this information could be obtained within a short amount of time, making it more effective than a simple glance. Different people can perceive the moon differently. Their perceptions can lead to contrasting views of the moon. Some people may perceive the moon to have religious significance, whereas others can see it to have no relation to religion whatsoever. For example, the Greeks believed Selene was a goddess that was associated with and symbolized the moon. This differs from a majority of the world population’s belief nowadays, where we hold the view that the moon is just a body in the sky that revolves around Earth. The view that the Greeks held of the moon affected aspects of their life, as did any view they held of the gods and goddesses. A lot myths, stories, beliefs, etc…all had to do with gods and goddesses, Selene included. Similarly, the Romans had a moon goddess as well, named Diana. Like the Greeks, gods and goddesses were believed to play a big part in their lives. They, as well as several other societies, also had beliefs about moon goddesses, which can be proved invalid and incorrect today based on knowledge we possess at the present moment.

Emotion:  Emotion may play a factor in moon watching. For some people, looking at a full moon or a crescent may be perceived to be romantic, or may inspire them to write a poem of some sort. Like perception, people's emotion towards the moon can be different. Usually, however, when poets write about the moon, it is along the lines of describing how it looks, its beauty, its brightness, etc... For example, Chinese poet Tu Fu wrote a poem called "Full Moon." In this eight-lined poem, he described the full moon as he saw it and how it gave a certain beauty to everything, how it "scatters restless gold across the waves." Obviously the moon, or at least watching the moon, makes him want to write poetry. And because it makes his emotions such as they are, it can be assumed that he perceives the moon to be an object of beauty. Another poem written by someone about the moon was "Mrs. Moon" by Roger McGough. His emotional response can be said to be somewhat similar to Tu Fu for the reason that both men were inspired to write poetry about the moon, an indication that they reacted emotionally to it (obviously, though their emotions will be different). Mrs. Moon is more of a poet's perception of the moon rather that its appearance. He described the moon as a woman here, so he probably sees the moon as an object that represents femininity. These responses towards the moon are valid, but then again, not many responses, if any, can be considered invalid. They are people's own personal responses, which is how their mind and/or body reacts to a certain sigh, which, in this case, is the moon, so one cannot call these responses invalid. That being said, these responses can also be considered trustworthy for the same reasons. On a more personal note, my emotional responses to watching the moon was not quite the same as the aforementioned poets. Generally, when watching the moon, my emotion was usually a lack of great interest for most of the time, that being because I've noticed the moon in the sky for a good majority of my life. On some nights, however, there was some interest. For example, on the night when the moon was yellow, that was interesting to watch. It sparks up questions such as, "Why is the moon yellow tonight as oppose to every other night?"

Reason: There have been different reasoned explanations as to what the moon was throughout the course of history. Some people, such as the Greeks, believed it was a deity. Others, such as a majority of the population nowadays, believe that the moon is a rock that orbits the Earth. And then there are those who believe the moon has special effects on people when it’s full. For example, some people held the belief of werewolves and how humans turned into them during a full moon. Some obstetricians say that more babies are delivered during or around a full moon. The belief of the moon as a deity was plausible in the time period it was suggested because the Greeks were not the only ones to suggest this, and it fit into their religious beliefs and rituals. Several ancient civilizations held the belief that several things in the universe and in nature were deities. Their reason and logic led them to believe this, and at the time it was believed to be correct. On the other hand, our reason and logic is somewhat different today, and we use scientific instruments and knowledge to reason otherwise about the moon. People that have the belief that the moon has strange effects on people make this assumption based off of empirical knowledge and then they use their process of logic and reason to conclude that the moon has strange effects on people. The idea of the moon being cheese was completely unreasonable, and for that reason it was thought up. It was thought up as an expression to use when someone makes a completely unreasonable claim – so unreasonable that they compare it to the moon being made of cheese, a blatantly ridiculous theory. The reasoned explanation for the origins of the moon is that a small planetary body collided with Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, and some of the debris that resulted from this collision orbited Earth and thus became the moon. This seems to be a very reasonable and valid explanation by today’s standards because the people that came up with this hypothesis did so based on scientific evidence and knowledge and used reason to conclude that their hypothesis provides the most likely explanation as to how the moon was formed.

Language: Language can be an important factor in dealing with the moon for the same reason it is an important factor in several other aspects of life: communication. Personally, during the moon watch I used a minimal amount of communication because it was an assignment to be done by ourselves, and there’s really not much to communicate verbally by just looking at the moon. However, we communicated our findings through writing as we wrote down what we saw and when. We also sketched sometimes. Similarly, language was used to communicate ideas, not just about the moon, centuries ago within societies. Although not always in writing, people often communicated ideas with one another, and as a result, new ideas were formed. This formation of new ideas as a result of communication led to the advancement of societies.