Category: Philosophy

The Line in the Spirit

Two days ago a new line was drawn.  This line doesn’t appear on any map; and you have less than ten years to decide which side to stand on.  But make no mistake, you must decide.

MARS ONE is planning to send people on a one-way trip to Mars.  Hold.  Stop here before a response has time to form.  Your reaction to this simple and understandable piece of information exposes more about you, both as an individual and as a member of the human race, than any other thought you’ve ever formulated.  Sharing your reaction with others is the fullest example of vulnerability I can conceive.

From now until the precise moment of lift-off each person living has been given a part to play in mankind’s greatest collective internal struggle.  What is it all about?

Hermeneutics is the word philosophers use to describe the science of interpreting life.  That is, the big unanswerable questions that most people think are pointless.  These pointless questions have just challenged you to a duel by slapping your face.  No longer can you ignore them or pretend that they are pointless.  Like it or not, you are being forced to choose.  No answer you’ve ever given compares in weight with how you choose to answer the following question:  Is MARS ONE a joke?

Answering this question is as fundamentally instructive to your self-discovery as Mr. Miyagi’s using car wax and fence paint was to Daniel’s learning karate.

If you find yourself drawn to laugh and say MARS ONE is a joke, you’re not just asserting what you think about the capabilities of the organization.  You’re commenting on the goal of establishing a human settlement on Mars, itself only another step for mankind.

If your instinct is to withhold judgment until further investigation affords you an answer, lump yourself in with those who think it is a joke.

If on the other hand, you answer an emphatic “No!” because you recognize the human spirit defining nature inherent to the ambition of the goal, you’ve made it.  Move to the head of the class.  “What is possible is done; what is impossible will be done.”

In 2023 the efforts of MARS ONE will have amassed the sharp focus of humanity as the project makes its mark not just on Earth, but on the human spirit.  Is MARS ONE a joke?  What do you think?

We Need Time Keepers

It turns out James Hetfield with his rhythm guitar, not Lars Ulrich with his drums, is really the one who keeps Metallica in time.  Okay, truthfully this is probably debatable.  Nonetheless, there is an opportunity for a great metaphor here.  Who among us would dispute music’s inherent power?

Aside from what some noble, lofty lyrics of poets and dreamers say about finding music in nature and what not, in order to create music someone must keep time.  If no one is keeping time, no amount of effort can transform noise into one of humanity’s most powerful expressions of itself.  Music.

What about life?  Cannot life itself be interpreted in a similar manner?  In the end, noise and music are probably not perfectly distinct.  There is likely a continuum with one end being noise; the other being music.   What would it hurt to place human potential along a similar continuum?  One end being not reaching potential, possibly not even seeing the potential; the other being maximum potential realization.

And if somewhere on the noise to music continuum there appears a time keeper, would not the human-potential continuum also need a time keeper?  Need people who actively prescribe the standard of measure?  Not some ultimate quality control dictating to all whether the music is good or not, no.  These people would simply be keeping time.  Might these human-potential metronomes even borrow similar tactics from mechanical metronomes and repeat themselves steadily with regularity?  Asking, “How are you today?”  (Click) “How’s your goal coming along?”  (Click)  “What’s the next step?”  (Click) “I care about you reaching your potential and am here to help in any way you think I can.”  (Click)

And just like the wind-up metronomes, might even these human-potential metronomes occasionally need to be re-energized every once in a while?  Remember then, it is the same fingers that make the music which are the ones that have to take a break to reset the metronome.  Wouldn’t it be the same people busily reaching their potential that need to take a break and reset these human-potential time keepers?  Notice even that winding up a metronome still requires purposeful effort.

Thank you Cherry Creek Toastmasters.

Yes.  We need time keepers.