these days I have been working intensively on collecting sky-stories and traditions from several more regions and belief systems, very aware how sketchy and singular any such single collection will be.
stepping out on the balcony I took a moment to allow in the sense of the open late-evening summer sky, the (cirrus?)clouds very light, moving a little faster, while it's getting dark.
after so many days connected and connecting to the laptop or the phone for communications it was good to have a moment with nothing else happening but clouds moving above me and a wide open sky.
(I finally understood why on this planet most of us see the sky as blue, plants as green) (link to the video)
the traditional names for sky in Chinese and Japanese both have notions of "space, void" in the characters, and "tall" and "large" 天空 (link to the entire word) it felt good to have a moment of relative void, especially after so many languages, drawings, assumption-opinions, cultural formations. cultural patterns form so much of what we perceive, even when we attempt to not perceive anything in particular.
i also learned that there may be a connection between the English word sky and the German word scheu for reticient, withholding, cloaking, eschewing. an interesting relation to the experience of vast void open, space where movement and a sense of freedom, as in flying can happen.
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