Geppetto looked up at the stars in the sky and made a wish. He wished for life to be granted to the poor marionette, Pinocchio. Although Geppetto wasn’t particularly religious, he prayed to the stars in the night sky, and as a child who wasn’t raised with any religion, I naturally understood and empathized with that scene. (Of course, I don’t particularly like Disney, nor do I think it’s a good company. Strictly speaking, Geppetto’s wish for the wooden puppet he created to become human is a desire to become a god himself, a challenge to divinity. However, fiction always leaves room for metaphor, and from that perspective, I think the original story of Pinocchio is a good one. Perhaps that’s why the 1940 original Pinocchio story, which even had biblical elements, has become completely distorted through repeated remakes. At this rate, we might even see a zombie Pinocchio soon.)
Regardless of language, race, or religion, all humans naturally find themselves confiding their deepest desires to the stars. We know it in our hearts without being taught. What it means. It’s so natural that everyone takes it for granted, but when you think about it, it’s truly mysterious. How do we know?
What’s even more mysterious is the fact that all such earnest human prayers are answered. Prayers for money are answered by Mammon, the god of wealth; prayers steeped in alcohol and lust are answered by Dionysus; and prayers filled with anger are answered by the god of war and death. Therefore, while wishing upon a star in the night sky is natural, what matters is what you wish for and why. Careful what you wish for.
I wish upon a star
Wanna be right where you are
You set my world on fire
Babe, I got a crush on you
I used to turn around and walk away
Never stopped to play
Cause there’s no attraction
But in my heart you start to grow on me
Kind of suddenly
So now I’ve changed direction
Knowing it might seem strange
Love came over me
Feeling the luck has changed
Do you want me, like I want you
These are the opening lyrics of the song <Crush on You>, which I stumbled upon during my college years and used to enjoy listening to. (I still listen to it occasionally for a change of mood, though my thoughts about it are different now. I’ll include the song at the end of this essay.) Even in a mere pop love song, created, sung, and enjoyed by people who don’t know eternity, the moment the lyrics mention “wishing upon a star,” it suddenly takes on a religious tone.
How religious is it? Praying to the stars in the night sky, wishing to be where you are, saying you’ve set my heart and the world I live in on fire, and that I’ve fallen in love with you—it’s almost like mistaking it for a Psalm from the Bible. In fact, all love songs should be directed toward the absolute, but I can’t help but think that lost humans have ended up praising the hollow love between men and women.
Humans look up at the stars and make wishes, and when a loved one dies, they say, “They’ve become a star in the sky.” And the expression “they’ve become a star in the sky” is something everyone understands without being taught. Why is that? Even if we assume that people look up at the stars to make wishes because they believe God is in the sky, how can a person become a star? Yet, why does the idea of a deceased person becoming a star somewhere in the night sky feel strangely acceptable?
The apocryphal Book of Enoch speaks of the stars this way:
I beheld another splendour, and the stars of heaven. I observed that he called them all by their respective names, and that they heard. In a righteous balance I saw that he weighed out with their light the amplitude of their places, and the day of their appearance, and their conversion. Splendour produced splendour; and their conversion was into the number of the angels, and of the faithful.
Then I inquired of the angel, who proceeded with me, and explained to me secret things, What their names were. He answered, A similitude of those has the Lord of spirits shown thee. They are names of the righteous who dwell upon earth, and who believe in the name of the Lord of spirits for ever and for ever.
– Book of Enoch 43:1-2 –
Those who believe in the name of the Lord and are made righteous have stars named after them. Could anything be more beautiful? The Creator has made stars for each of us and calls us by our names. Ultimately, there is an inseparable relationship between humans, stars, and angels. Indeed, there are no coincidences in this world.
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints’”
– Jude 1:14 –
The phrase “the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints” is a quote from the Book of Enoch. If Enoch’s sermon YouTube video didn’t exist at the time Jude was written… There may be reasons we don’t know why the Book of Enoch became apocryphal, but if we can’t trust a book quoted in the canon, then we can’t trust the canon itself.
The sun, the moon, the constellations—all the good things in the world are claimed by the wicked as if they own them, but in truth, they will receive nothing, not even a star. Knowing that they have nothing but their own wickedness and rags of righteousness, and denying themselves even unto death, we who believe only in His name have a gift that cannot be bought with money: the stars in the sky. So, from today, I hope you can rejoice every time you see the stars in the sky.
They are names of the righteous
who dwell upon earth,
and who believe in
the name of the Lord of spirits
for ever and for ever.
– Enoch 43:2 –
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