January 2, 2014
What I Learned watching Battlestar GALACTICA
Clearly, one of the most audaciously daunting aspects of choosing to become a colonist of Mars is the current stipulation that it's a one way trip. I haven't met ANYONE (myself included) who can truly wrap their brain around the idea of colonizing another planet--in our lifetime no less. Where the hell are the hover cars--weren't hover cars supposed to come first? (Side note: lack of hover cars---big let down.)
However, one thing that people believe they can understand is the concept of "never coming back". While a seemingly straightforward concept (I was here, now I am there and I am never coming back) I now know this means different things to different people.
When I first started sharing with folks that I had applied to Mars One for astronaut status, I had this wild idea that people were going to say, "Mars? Really? That sounds so cool!". I could not have been more wrong. As of this date, I have yet to meet one person, friend, relative, acquaintance, stranger, who would want to go to Mars. Many react with a tinge of incredulity, "WHY would you want to do THAT?" and if the conversation progresses beyond that point, the next question usual relates to how long it would take to get there. After that is when I supply the tidbit about never being able coming back to Earth. Mouths literally drop. Gaping. Gaping mouths:
"Whaaa--?"
At this point I usually shrug. Sometimes I mumble, "It makes sense." But for most it does not "make sense."
And, really, is this a very surprising human reaction? Some philosophies base their every tenet on the idea that "all life is suffering". For most people, this suffering thing is not a surprise--a no brainer, even. Life has been inflicted and inflicted again on our delicate selves; many of us become broken and see no changes in the near future. Many of us despair. As for most of the others who claim that this is not true, that life is beautiful and singsongy with pretty-poetry-rainbows-coming-out-of-their-butts, for most of those people--this is simply a lie. They don't experience life in those terms on a regular basis--and the fleeting moments of joy are too few to make up for the darker side. It is really more of a wish for singsongy than a goal towards which to work.. Lying for the universal and very respectable goal of surviving day by day is nothing I would ever scoff at--I have done it much of my life. I mean really, doesn't accepting the premise that "all life is suffering" kind of feel like giving up? If this becomes my foundational thinking, where can I go from there? It suspiciously sounds pessimistic; a deliberate manufacturing of misery.
(I am going to take a risk here, for the sake of expression [and rainbow-butt-poetry]. I am going to make the bold claim that there appear to be different kinds of people in this world--us/them, you/me, him/her, etc. Even though I have been taught that anytime I make such a claim, I have already abandoned centered thought. Division begets division, and centered ideas come from looking at the whole. But to get my idea across I am going to say that some people seem to think this, some people seem to think that and then there are some other people who are different entirely-- In a cosmic sense, though, I am probably wrong.)
So we've got the Glass-Half-Empty Folks and the Glass-Half-Full Folks and we've got the what? The There-Is-No-Glass-In-The-First-Place Folks? What if this last group is accepting of the principle that "all life is suffering"? What if this is the only way to alleviate the suffering? I say "what if" because I am not some Buddhist monk that has incorporated paradox into how I consistently experience existence. (The monks would also not claim this!) But I am a person, a living, breathing, bloodied human being, trying to bear witness to my environment and stand involved and engaged AND detached. And everything I've experienced and everything I've hated and everything I've cared about and everything I've suffered has led me to one place of understanding: that paradox is the thread that binds me to all realms. ALL of them. It is what literally keeps me from "flying off the face of the Earth"--an ongoing concern I had as a child. When I have the presence of being to accept that suffering is available and we will know each other.....maybe I can meet suffering as an old friend, hurrying me along to the next state of bliss.
So, how does this relate to colonizing Mars with the stipulation that I never return? How does this relate to the the look of shock and concern and fear I receive from many people when I mention this detail?
It relates like this: I was never really here to begin with. When I go, I'll have never left. I'm not really giving anything up and nothing is consistent except change.
AND, I am happy to report, I finally have a chance to fly off the face of the Earth and it turns out it was what I wanted all along.
However, one thing that people believe they can understand is the concept of "never coming back". While a seemingly straightforward concept (I was here, now I am there and I am never coming back) I now know this means different things to different people.
When I first started sharing with folks that I had applied to Mars One for astronaut status, I had this wild idea that people were going to say, "Mars? Really? That sounds so cool!". I could not have been more wrong. As of this date, I have yet to meet one person, friend, relative, acquaintance, stranger, who would want to go to Mars. Many react with a tinge of incredulity, "WHY would you want to do THAT?" and if the conversation progresses beyond that point, the next question usual relates to how long it would take to get there. After that is when I supply the tidbit about never being able coming back to Earth. Mouths literally drop. Gaping. Gaping mouths:
"Whaaa--?"
At this point I usually shrug. Sometimes I mumble, "It makes sense." But for most it does not "make sense."
And, really, is this a very surprising human reaction? Some philosophies base their every tenet on the idea that "all life is suffering". For most people, this suffering thing is not a surprise--a no brainer, even. Life has been inflicted and inflicted again on our delicate selves; many of us become broken and see no changes in the near future. Many of us despair. As for most of the others who claim that this is not true, that life is beautiful and singsongy with pretty-poetry-rainbows-coming-out-of-their-butts, for most of those people--this is simply a lie. They don't experience life in those terms on a regular basis--and the fleeting moments of joy are too few to make up for the darker side. It is really more of a wish for singsongy than a goal towards which to work.. Lying for the universal and very respectable goal of surviving day by day is nothing I would ever scoff at--I have done it much of my life. I mean really, doesn't accepting the premise that "all life is suffering" kind of feel like giving up? If this becomes my foundational thinking, where can I go from there? It suspiciously sounds pessimistic; a deliberate manufacturing of misery.
(I am going to take a risk here, for the sake of expression [and rainbow-butt-poetry]. I am going to make the bold claim that there appear to be different kinds of people in this world--us/them, you/me, him/her, etc. Even though I have been taught that anytime I make such a claim, I have already abandoned centered thought. Division begets division, and centered ideas come from looking at the whole. But to get my idea across I am going to say that some people seem to think this, some people seem to think that and then there are some other people who are different entirely-- In a cosmic sense, though, I am probably wrong.)
So we've got the Glass-Half-Empty Folks and the Glass-Half-Full Folks and we've got the what? The There-Is-No-Glass-In-The-First-Place Folks? What if this last group is accepting of the principle that "all life is suffering"? What if this is the only way to alleviate the suffering? I say "what if" because I am not some Buddhist monk that has incorporated paradox into how I consistently experience existence. (The monks would also not claim this!) But I am a person, a living, breathing, bloodied human being, trying to bear witness to my environment and stand involved and engaged AND detached. And everything I've experienced and everything I've hated and everything I've cared about and everything I've suffered has led me to one place of understanding: that paradox is the thread that binds me to all realms. ALL of them. It is what literally keeps me from "flying off the face of the Earth"--an ongoing concern I had as a child. When I have the presence of being to accept that suffering is available and we will know each other.....maybe I can meet suffering as an old friend, hurrying me along to the next state of bliss.
So, how does this relate to colonizing Mars with the stipulation that I never return? How does this relate to the the look of shock and concern and fear I receive from many people when I mention this detail?
It relates like this: I was never really here to begin with. When I go, I'll have never left. I'm not really giving anything up and nothing is consistent except change.
AND, I am happy to report, I finally have a chance to fly off the face of the Earth and it turns out it was what I wanted all along.
