Visitors Now:
Total Visits:
Total Stories:
Profile image
By Wit's End (Reporter)
Contributor profile | More stories
Story Views

Now:
Last Hour:
Last 24 Hours:
Total:

The Moon Illusion

Friday, April 12, 2013 18:01
% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

(Before It's News)

The Moon Illusion * has never been explained despite many studies from various disciplines of science and psychology.  I like to think of it as more evidence, as if any were needed, that our collective brains and behavior are overwhelmingly determined by ancient genetic codes so that, regardless of what we think we know, much of what we see, feel and do is beyond our intellectual control.  There are some relatively rare individual exceptions (mutations?) but together, our species overwhelmingly responds to the immediate over the future, regardless of the consequences.  Much appreciation to commenters at Nature Bats Last for linking to the video and this poem:

Thanks
~ W.S. Merwin
Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow for the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water looking out
in different directions.
back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
looking up from tables we are saying thank you
in a culture up to its chin in shame
living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you
over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the back door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks that use us we are saying thank you
with the crooks in office with the rich and fashionable
unchanged we go on saying thank you thank you
with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us like the earth
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is
(from his 1988 collection, Rain in the Trees)


Source:

Report abuse

Comments

Your Comments
Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

Top Stories
Recent Stories

Register

Newsletter

Email this story
Email this story

If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.