When standing staring up at the Universe for all its resplendent glory, I am belittled and reduced. I see as far as my eye can allow, through the haze of light thrown up by our industrial so called glory, cutting through the atmospheric layers that we have battered and pummeled, through all this my eyes reach far into the heavens, searching across the sky as though looking for a new beginning. I yearn for my feet to be lifted off the floor and for my body and soul to float high into those heavens so I can gaze upon it with eyes of wonderment and love, to see the truth.
I know that one day, whether I am conscious of it or not, I will see the Universe for all that it is, I will understand what all these religions and cults have yearned to discover for so long, I will see what they call 'God' or 'Allah' and I will find those answers to the questions that I have not even yet begun to ask.
Every day, I embrace the life that thrives on this planet, our one small rock floating in the vastness of space and time. Not knowing what celestial powers will pull upon us next. Our planet floats through the infinity of space, avoiding collisions with many satellites and orbiting bodies, missing asteroids and comets that cruise across our orbit of the Sun. We should be grateful that when we wake each Morning, we do wake!
The more that I stare into the vastness of space the more I dread my pitiful existence and the more I realise that we have to make the most of this chance we have to walk the skin of our rock we call Earth.
A program that helped me to understand and positively embrace our planet was the remake of a classic 1960's show called Battlestar Galactica. Without ruining the plot, it is about a group of humans that are searching for Earth and how they must combat not just an enemy but also the vastness of space. I suggest those that have a liking for Sci-Fi and Anthropology, may enjoy this TV series greatly. It was very interesting to see how the Directors, Writers and Producers described the journey and how they created a unique and different type of modern story.
My fondness of the unexplained and the vastness of the Universe, stems from my childhood. I have always enjoyed the subject of Space. I have found it confounding how we can fight and battle away within our nations and countries when all we need do is look up and realise that it is all pitiful and a complete waste of life and technology. How many great Scientists have been murdered and killed because rather than applying their intellect to devices and creations to help the human race into the stars, we have instead had these minds forge weapons of mass destruction so that we can kill and plunder the world that we delicately live upon.
Religion, Politics and Money, they are among some of the excuses we as humans give to one another for the reasons why we still war! But in an age like ours, after having seen the travesties of World War 1 & 2, and then the devastation caused by America's intervention in Vietnam and now the Middle East conflicts, can the rational members of the world not see what carnage and ill-place destruction we cause upon not only ourselves but the world under our feet!
Can this constant belligerence and havoc not be turned into something good, a celebration of technology, a union of power for the greater good of mankind?
In just over 4 weeks, I am to embark on a journey taking me some 10000 miles across the globe. As I have mentioned in my previous posts, I am taking part in the Mongol Rally 2010. This is to be a mammoth voyage in which I will meet many different cultures, beliefs, people and lives. I plan on embracing every single person, animal and situation with an open mind and an open heart. My plan is to take what I have been brought up with, living with for the past 28 years, taking that upon which I have become complacent and dependable, and freeing myself of these shackles. Casting myself into the hands of the planet and allowing the humans that dwell on it to shape my future! Letting the Gods direct me as they will, fate and destiny carving its own path through my life. I walk blindly into the unknown, I turn away from conformity and face the uncertainness that each day will bring. I am thankful to those that have helped me get to this stage, that have given me the opportunity to take part in a task such as this, for without them, I would stay exactly where I have been up until now, yet asking the same questions, at least now, I can experience another way of life, an alternate path and from that I can make my own decisions about how I will shape my future upon this celestial rock!
