Since it has already aired, I can give it away. I am talking about the "Mars" science/sci-fi series put on by National Geographic (Mondays, 8 Central) which features a fictional drama about what astronauts might face when living on Mars in 2033, along with real-life astronauts and scientists talking about the challenges. In the story, the leader of the group sacrifices himself by inhaling something while on an out-of-shelter exploration (we missed the first show, so we do not know what that was). He is dying, and the team manages to get him back to the living pod during the freezing night. The team surgeon cuts him open to relieve serious edema. The program then shifts to real-life again, a conversation with the man who stayed in orbit for one straight year to test the affects of radiation and weightlessness for long periods, and then we are taken back to the pod. We see the sick commander awaken, pull out the tubes in his body, put on a spacesuit while the others sleep (we scream, what, are you crazy? You've almost died!) and walk to the top of a cliff overlooking the alien scenery. Then suddenly, the man's father, who we have already learned helped him develop his love for space adventure, appears at his side. Says the commander to his dad, "I thought I would find you here. You know that we must do this. We were made for adventure, to push to new limits, and space is our last, our only way now. We need this to have hope. to live." (my paraphrase) Then, we are suddenly back in the pod, and the surgeon is making the sign of the cross, ever so subtly, on his forehead. He is still lying on the table, and is pronounced dead. What we saw before was his final dream before he died.
The series will continue with a new commander, but the pronouncement of hope and adventure immediately caught my attention. "No" I said to the TV screen, "no, that is not the only avenue. There is and has always been another way."
Let me not diminish our efforts in space travel. I am one of its greatest advocates, and believe it is part of our larger destiny. If certain taxes were raised just for such exploration, I would gladly pay my share. I see it as a destiny of fulfillment - that we humans, cast from energy into matter, and then into life, and then into self-reflecting beings, logically should come to understand and explore everything, as far as our abilities can take us, for that is what we are here for - to understand and reflect on creation. The more we explore, the more we can understand. I agree with the commander here that this is what we are made for.
But there has always been the other frontier, what I call, for convenience, the spiritual realm, which is even greater than what we have come to know as the material realm. I will not go into the philosophical argument about the meaning of the subjective vs the objective here, simply because it is not necessary. All long-term societies have known of this realm for as long as humans have been humans. I have read many accounts of shamans telling anthropologists, "why should we build a ship to travel to the moon, when we can travel there at will [through the spirit real]? I have never taken this to mean we should not travel in ships, but that we have always had other avenues of exploring the universe that do not require high technology or vast fortunes, and we as a race have always known it. And this interior space is spectacular, so much so that those who experience it ALWAYS say that it is "more real than real." More real, more fantastic, more reflective of the universe than any trip to Mars or Alpha Centuri could ever be.
I am reminded of this every time I open the computer to the news section. There, I always find stories and adds about the most amazing places to visit in this world, from the Amazon to some far-out island in the South Pacific. In this way, we are told, we can expand our horizons in unimaginable ways. What a trip! I have been to some of these places and am often amazed. The trip is often worth it. But there, the people are always, in the long run, much like us, and the environment is as well. In the end, there is no Narnia in the material world. But there is in the imaginative world. Stepping beyond that into the spiritual realm, we find even greater worlds, and they are no longer ephemeral day-dreams. They are, as said, more real than real. They are greater than the material because they transcend the limits of the ordinary, as Mars never would (unless we find evidence of an ancient alien race that did transcend our ordinary world. Thus, another reason for the travel). In the spiritual realm, we do not just find an interesting reiteration of the material realm, but rather something else, something more encompassing - something totally different, and, well, more real than real.
Most of us will not become shamans, or people of great spiritual insight. If we have the money, travel is often worth the time, and even more rewarding, I think, is travel to space. It DOES give us hope, and I believe it also gives us a step -up towards the ultimate, what our longing is really for. But it is not the ultimate. That remains within us, for anyone of any means - but for most, the easiest and cheapest is usually the hardest and most expensive, in terms of life-style. Thus, in a deeper way, the meek do inherit not only the earth, but the universe. Meanwhile, however, I'll be rooting along with many others for Star Trek and the next-to-last frontier. FK
The series will continue with a new commander, but the pronouncement of hope and adventure immediately caught my attention. "No" I said to the TV screen, "no, that is not the only avenue. There is and has always been another way."
Let me not diminish our efforts in space travel. I am one of its greatest advocates, and believe it is part of our larger destiny. If certain taxes were raised just for such exploration, I would gladly pay my share. I see it as a destiny of fulfillment - that we humans, cast from energy into matter, and then into life, and then into self-reflecting beings, logically should come to understand and explore everything, as far as our abilities can take us, for that is what we are here for - to understand and reflect on creation. The more we explore, the more we can understand. I agree with the commander here that this is what we are made for.
But there has always been the other frontier, what I call, for convenience, the spiritual realm, which is even greater than what we have come to know as the material realm. I will not go into the philosophical argument about the meaning of the subjective vs the objective here, simply because it is not necessary. All long-term societies have known of this realm for as long as humans have been humans. I have read many accounts of shamans telling anthropologists, "why should we build a ship to travel to the moon, when we can travel there at will [through the spirit real]? I have never taken this to mean we should not travel in ships, but that we have always had other avenues of exploring the universe that do not require high technology or vast fortunes, and we as a race have always known it. And this interior space is spectacular, so much so that those who experience it ALWAYS say that it is "more real than real." More real, more fantastic, more reflective of the universe than any trip to Mars or Alpha Centuri could ever be.
I am reminded of this every time I open the computer to the news section. There, I always find stories and adds about the most amazing places to visit in this world, from the Amazon to some far-out island in the South Pacific. In this way, we are told, we can expand our horizons in unimaginable ways. What a trip! I have been to some of these places and am often amazed. The trip is often worth it. But there, the people are always, in the long run, much like us, and the environment is as well. In the end, there is no Narnia in the material world. But there is in the imaginative world. Stepping beyond that into the spiritual realm, we find even greater worlds, and they are no longer ephemeral day-dreams. They are, as said, more real than real. They are greater than the material because they transcend the limits of the ordinary, as Mars never would (unless we find evidence of an ancient alien race that did transcend our ordinary world. Thus, another reason for the travel). In the spiritual realm, we do not just find an interesting reiteration of the material realm, but rather something else, something more encompassing - something totally different, and, well, more real than real.
Most of us will not become shamans, or people of great spiritual insight. If we have the money, travel is often worth the time, and even more rewarding, I think, is travel to space. It DOES give us hope, and I believe it also gives us a step -up towards the ultimate, what our longing is really for. But it is not the ultimate. That remains within us, for anyone of any means - but for most, the easiest and cheapest is usually the hardest and most expensive, in terms of life-style. Thus, in a deeper way, the meek do inherit not only the earth, but the universe. Meanwhile, however, I'll be rooting along with many others for Star Trek and the next-to-last frontier. FK
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