At first, I wasn’t feeling it. I remember sometime after the war, right around when I got my first PC, my father gave me a 3.5” floppy disk with some astronomy software on it. It could show the exact position of stars and constellations and I played around with it for weeks. Then came the Internet, and anything on a floppy disk seemed so dull and boring to a youthful eye looking for something live, new, and interactive.

In my late teens during a period of intensive reading of French and German 18th century poetry I found myself again stargazing and sometimes moon-gazing. I read that the word ‘lunatic’ describing someone crazy and insane, comes from the Latin word ‘Luna’ meaning Moon. People of old have been linking behaviour with stars and heavenly objects, and I do believe that some people are influenced by the full moon, but at the time I believed that it would be cool to be lost in contemplation of the stars. Of course, for teenagers, looking cool, is reason enough to do anything.

Then came a period when I started to look at the sky because of the divine signs I was looking for. I came across a qur’anic verse saying: “Do they not look at the sky above them, how We have built it and adorned it”, so I started once more paying attention, but in these starry nights there was no heart in my gazing, and I reached daylight only with a stiff neck. I read a commentary on why God compares some people to cattle, and the commentary said it is because cattle never looks up, it looks only down looking for food and sex. Therefore the ability to contemplate abstract matters and reach for the stars is what makes us into higher beings. Then came more stargazing, and a chronically stiff neck.

On the night of the ‘super moon’ I happened to be on a farm. Around 1 AM I went out to get some fresh air and then found myself bathed by the cold, white, mild moonlight covering everything around me. I set down. The grass was lightly wet and the ground still warm. My eyes were mesmerised and my heart skipped a beat. There, alone, I was humbled at the sight of the Divine creation, and even more humbled at the thought of the Magnificent creator. I felt small, powerless, and at the same time I felt that by giving in to this emotion, I was growing in spirit. Stargazing has this effect on people sometimes.

Sometimes I think that stars are there to remind us that there is always something to reach for. People tend to get lazy, they make up a goalpost and when they reach it, they forget to move on. Stars show us that there always is something unreachable, uncountable, unfathomable, and that we should reach for it nonetheless. The starry heavens remind us that our capacity and potential are limitless. By looking at the stars we breath more fully and with every breath we are taking in optimism which makes our eyes shine.

Nowadays, there are humans who are considered stars. However, their light comes from neon and in flashes, it is neither uplifting, nor healthy, and gazing at those stars spoils your soul. They merely teach us how quickly the famous can become infamous, and how easy ‘stars’ become meteors. Their stories teach us about loss, and take away our motivation to do good. Avert your eyes from them, and don’t allow for them to be your heroes.

In the Qur’an there is a much noted metaphor wherein Prophets are being related to as stars. God says: “It is He who maketh the stars (as beacons) for you, that ye may guide yourselves, with their help, through the dark spaces of land and sea: We detail Our signs for people who know.” (6:97) Take the Prophetic example to be the only star you emulate, and gaze at his glorious example, specially this month, because this month is his birthday. His bright light will truly uplift us, as the title says, through the thorns, to the stars.