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Super-Moon!

Posted March 18th, 2011 by Lesley Hazleton

Somehow, with the news horrible from Japan to the Middle East, the idea that there’s going to be a “super-moon” this weekend — a huge full moon, with that sunlit pile of rock closer to the earth than it’s been in 18 years — makes me happy.

Some people are apparently seeing all kinds of weird auguries in thus lunar perigee.  Not me.  I think of it more as a blessing, a kind of consolation.

I  imagine it slowly appearing over the rim of the mountains, as though some gigantic hand were inflating an impossibly outsize balloon.  It’ll be deep golden orange, the color of California poppies, the color of spring. Then as it reaches its full size, it’ll lift off into the sky, a giant floating ball of gold.  And then slowly — but so fast, too fast — it’ll rise higher and become smaller, paler, whiter, until there it goes, just another full moon, and you walk back inside feeling as though you’ve just been graced with magic, in touch again with a sense of wonder.

This time I can only imagine it.  The forecast here is for rain.  But if the sky is clear where you are at moonrise, don’t hesitate:  go outside with someone close to you and watch, and be grateful.

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File under: ecology | Tagged: Tags: full moon, Japan, Middle east, periapsis, perigee | 4 Comments
  1. Rubina says:
    March 18, 2011 at 9:59 pm

    Hi Lesley,
    I agree with you, it is a full moon of blessings.
    For us, it is also the time of our new year.
    Wishing everyone peace in the midst of this world of ours.
    Rubina

  2. Lesley Hazleton says:
    March 18, 2011 at 11:05 pm

    Rubina — Happy Nowruz! — Lesley

  3. paul skillman says:
    March 19, 2011 at 9:50 am

    Dear Lesley, What a beautiful imagination you haved & I love the way you express yourself.Our planet wouldn’t be what it is today without our satalite. It has stableizes our planit. Has given us the rethyem of the tides and has thus caused the breeding habits of much of the life on this planet.
    I read some where that the moon has a molten core so that when we use it as a lunching station for the solar system & beyond we will be able to tap into that molten core and generate power up there. If you would like to know what a planit would be like without a moon just check out our sister planit Venus. It is rotateng backwords with it south pole to the sun & has no stabity at all.
    Sorry my spelling is so terrible but it is better to communicate with bad spelling then not to communicate at all.
    Take care,
    Paul Skillman

  4. AJ says:
    March 20, 2011 at 1:41 am

    It could be my hard held opinion but
    the word “Ali” in Arabic is becoming more prominant in Super Moon.

    Had Prophet not called himslef like Sun and Ali like Moon, my opinion would be unfounded.

How to Be an Accidental Theologist

Posted April 17th, 2010 by Lesley Hazleton

I never meant for this to happen.  I’m a psychologist by training, a Middle East reporter by experience, an agnostic fascinated by the vast and often terrifying arena in which politics and religion intersect.   And as a result, an accidental theologist.

Perhaps the thirteen years I lived and worked in Jerusalem have a lot to do with it — a city where politics and religion are at their most incendiary.  Or my childhood as the only Jew in a Catholic convent school, which somehow left me with a deep sense of mystery but no affinity for organized religion.    Or the fact that I’ve spent the past ten years writing on the roots of conflict in the history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

What this means is that my life, like my head, is full of anomalies, a fact that both bemuses and intrigues me.  It makes things interesting.  Whether as agnostic, as psychologist, or as writer, I’m always asking questions — not to find “answers,” but to see where the questions lead.  Dead ends sometimes?  That’s fine.  New directions?  Interesting.  Great insights?  Over-ambitious.  A glimpse here and there?  Perfect.

So you’ll find none of the comfort of received opinion here. No claim to truth, let alone Truth (that capital T always makes me nervous).  None of that astounding confidence (aka hubris) that cloaks ignorance and prejudice.  The aim is to question, to explore, to keep my mind — and yours — open, raise some sparks, and see what happens.

Looking forward to the conversation — Lesley

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File under: agnosticism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism | Tagged: Tags: agnostic, Christianity, hubris, Islam, Judaism, Middle east, religion and politics, theology | 4 Comments
  1. Lillu Rivlin says:
    April 25, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    Lesley, congrats. A real blog, I went on, great. I listened to Rachel Medow’s interview with Singer Sinead O’Connor. Wonderful. I’m impressed with the blog, and if I have spare time, will check it out. I bookmarked it.

  2. Nancy McClelland says:
    April 27, 2010 at 11:07 pm

    What a fantastic blog. I read the most recent entry and got hooked, going on to read them all from the start. I hope this is all in preparation for your next book? Waiting patiently… and in the meantime, damn you for being so addictive!

  3. Murat Can says:
    March 10, 2011 at 10:27 am

    The world needs you!

    • Lesley Hazleton says:
      March 10, 2011 at 10:52 am

      Thanks Murat — it needs all of us, standing up and speaking out!

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