Whole of the Moon

The past couple of days I have been quite attentive of the moon because it has been a rather striking full moon cycle. Often, because of light pollution, or cloudy skies here in Belgium at this time of year, the moon can be, to borrow the phrase from Pink Floyd, “obscured by the clouds.” However, this time, the skies have been quite clear, and given that I was up quite early today, I was able to see its brilliance as a great way to start the day.

Last evening, attending a musical rendition of the poems by the Zen Master Ryokan, one of the poems dealt with the idea of the prominence of the Autumn moon. Though the moon is with us in all four seasons, it is the moon of the Fall that often receives poetic and philosophical praise, not to mention finding its way into music, such as Neil Young’s love ballad, “Harvest Moon.” Though I thought of posting that song, especially since my mom had just written me about the stunning Harvest Moon they saw in Texas this week, another song came to mind.

The Waterboys are a bit of a mongrel band, changing personnel quite often, with the exception of founder, singer and chief lyricist, Mike Scott, they are Scottish, Irish and English with a full range of instruments. Known for their “big” sound, the Waterboys have a very distinct signature, not to mention Scott’s highly recognizable voice. The result is a unique blending of vocalizing and sound, and I hope to get to see them live one day as I can only imagine the improvisation that most likely occurs at one of their concerts.

The song, “Whole of the Moon,” has long been a favorite of mine. However, thinking of the moon these past few days, it did come across with a re-newed emphasis. One of the ideas that Ryokan gets across is that though there is just one moon, it can appear to us as many, because of our perspective, because of its phase, or because of our mindset (I just typed a neologism of “mindsight” just now…I think I like it…). The moon is singular, our perception, illusive and multiple. This comes across quite clearly in the song. One person may see on the crescent, while, despite (again a Pink Floyd nod) the Dark Side of the Moon, another may in fact, at all times see “the Whole of the Moon.” Perhaps it is a variation of a glass half-empty or half-full.

Yet, that has always struck me as incomplete for whether contents of the glass are full or not, the glass remains the same…