Lunar Eclipse…A Rare Treat from Malawi!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On June 15, 2011 we were able to experience a full Lunar Eclipse in Malawi.  It was an amazing event.   The last eclipse was in the year 2000 (before our daughter Khalidwe was even born) so to celebrate the occasion we gathered up some of the kids from the village, made popcorn, and watched the event unfold.   This led into a discussion about the importance of being able to observe and learn from our environment.  As people in our village began to talk about the eclipse being the end of the world, we also were able to discuss the value of science and traditional knowledge.  Many were unaware that ancient cultures such as the Babylonians, Egyptians, Mayans, Incas, etc had knowledge of astral events for thousands of years.

When Kristof teaches Permaculture he asks for three things from the participants: will, wisdom, and creativity.  We need to have the ‘will’ to put our ideas into action, we need the ‘wisdom’ to steer our efforts towards the best path for humanity, and finally we need ‘creativity’ to find new solutions to many of the problems the we are currently facing.  The root word of ‘creativity’ is ‘create’.  In Latin this is ‘creare’, which is a derivative of ‘crescere’, which means ‘to grow’.  This is where we get the english words such as ‘crescendo’ and ‘crescent’.  It is important to note that as the moon waxes and wanes, and all we may be seeing at a given point in time is a small sliver of a crescent, the entirity of the moon still exists. 

Human wisdom may shine throughout history in varying degrees, but the source of that wisdom never disappears.  As we seem to be nearing the current peak in our human existance where rational thinking and wisdom have been eclipsed, let us have the will and the creativity to restore wisdom to its proper place and shine down upon humanity with its full radiance.  We all need to open our eyes and really see our world, not just the children that we sat with on this wondrous evening!