I have never been there, but I wonder about the feelings the astronauts describe having when they gazed at the earth from the moon. These haven’t been analyzed closely. What are they about? No doubt the earth is our home. No doubt it is beautiful, precious, and unique. But is that all there is to it? The feelings seem akin to longing – but it isn’t as though they longed to have the earth. They would be back soon enough.
I wonder whether the longing aroused by gazing at the earth from the moon is sister to the one aroused by gazing at the moon from the earth.
This seems more than likely, because the longing can be stirred up by many other things too. Though awakened by those things, it isn’t really for those things. It is for Something Else, not to be found within the bounds of the created order.
And if not there, then where?