The Myth of Pointing at the Moon?
A strange urban legend(?) of no specific origin has it that if one points at the full moon, one will wake up the next day with a fine cut behind a ear. Though a small cut, one feels the stinging pain from it for a while. This article explores this belief without attempting to prove or disprove it. Please read with an open mind :-]
Once, there was a boy called Zeph, who pointed at the moon and was scolded by his mother for being ‘disrespectful’. It was then that he was told the above belief. Fearfully, he went to bed that night. When he awoke the next day, there was indeed a cut behind a ear. Thinking an evil spirit could have harmed him, it frightened him greatly. Shocked and now a believer, Zeph clung to the ‘truth’ of the moon myth.
Having grown up years later, Zeph was still haunted by the mystery of how his ear got cut. He asked around and discovered that some, though not all of his friends, had experienced the same cut. One night, he had an enlightening dream… In the dream, he had passed away. But he was still so attached to wanting to solve the mystery that he ended up a restless spirit. Night after night, he searched for a child who had pointed at the moon, just like he did as a child.
One night, he found such a child. He hid himself and watched him carefully throughout the night, to see how he would be cut. As dawn drew closer and closer, the boy was still unharmed. Zeph got more and more anxious, as he went closer and closer to the boy, looking carefully for any cut signs to appear. As the sun began to rise, he knew the boy would wake up soon. He strained his eyes harder and harder as he concentrated at one of the boy’s exposed ears. And to his surprise, a fine cut started forming. Stunned, Zeph suddenly woke up – literally. He realised that he might have been right – the cut might had been caused by evil spirits. In his dream, he was one such spirit! He might have willed the cut into existence through his mind power! In trying to uncover the myth, he had become its perpetuator!
As Zeph researched more into the matter, he discovered that there are beliefs we believe in so much subconsciously that we will them into reality. Stigmata! A case of mind over matter. For instance, there are hypochondriacs who believe they are sickly, so much so that their thinking indeed makes them less immune to sicknesses. The body responds to what the mind thinks. As a child, he could have willed the cut into existence himself through the power of belief. That could explain why the cut was fine – as his mind was not strongly focused while asleep, though he believed he would be cut. Whether it was caused by evil spirits was unimportant – for the real evil is the evil of delusion, of not seeing the truth – the way things really are.
This primary evil is in us, not out there! The lack of wisdom gives rise to our suffering in life, be it gross or subtle. We live our self-fulfilling prophesies. In fact, we ARE nothing more than our own self-fulfilling prophesies. Ultimately, whether you believe or know it or not, everything is created and shaped by the mind – even matter! And collectively, we ‘mind’ this world we live in. Thus the Buddha taught, ‘Be master of mind, not mastered by mind.’ Well… Do you dare to point at the moon? What other ‘myths’ do you believe in? Do you have similar experiences to share? What is your take on the moon myth?
Previous Tale: https://moonpointer.com/new/2009/01/adventures-zeph-tales-22
Index of Tales: https://moonpointer.com/new/zeph-stories
Did Zeph try again after he grew up to point at the moon?
Yes he did. He pointed squarely at the full moon after becoming a Buddhist.. and guess what happened?…. Nothing 😆 Maybe there were protective devas or maybe there’s simply no truth in the myth. Has anyone else tried it? Do share!