Earthward Implications of Cosmic Migration (con.)
If someone has so little faith
in himself that he gets tattooed with the words "Born to Lose,"
do you think that that image will affect the way he lives his life?
Today we're hearing a lot about people being "born again." They
talk about accepting Christ as their savior and how they have been
forgiven and are free to start again and build a new life. Has their image
of themselves and their future been changed, and has this affected their
lives?
The vision does not operate in some other dimension, magically changing
the present and, therefore, creating the future. No, it works in the
attitudes and energy of the individuals holding the vision, changing the
way we think, changing the way we work, changing our priorities
immediately. As the vision begins to take hold, decisions are made
differently, investments are made in a different way, affecting others who
then, also begin to do things differently. This attitude spreads, and very
rapidly the socio-economic health of the society is improved and wealth is
created, created not through the accumulation of riches, but through the
productivity of the people.
The images that have the greatest effect, are those images that are
positive, challenging, and goal oriented. What image is more positive,
more challenging, and more goal oriented than the image of the destiny of
humanity to discover, explore, and settle the universe. It is up to each
of us to spread this image; our government and institutions cannot lead us
on this great adventure into the infinite frontier. They, by their nature,
only mirror ideas and feelings that already exist in society. If we are
going to create a new vision, then it must grow within each of us. It must
grow from the fertile soil composed of strong confident individuals
exercising their free voice within the community to work for the future we
see as our destiny, to create and share the vision we have of a nation, a
world, a universe that we would like to live in.
Let me repeat the basic concept here. The vision you have has the
potential of transforming our society. It only needs to be shared with the
same fervor you have for it, by a significant minority of America's
citizens. You control the means by which it is shared. Yes, I challenge
you to more than advocacy, I challenge you to become an apostle for your
vision, an evangelist, even a fanatic, and to share it with others who
will listen, who will be convinced, and who will become apostles too.
Live your life true to your vision, voice concern when you feel it, give
hope when it is needed, convert all you can to the cause by helping them
to see the vision too. There are enough of us who feel this way to begin
to spread the word, to begin to share the vision; our combined voices can
play a significant role in shaping the future. What is needed now is
individual commitment, the numbers will follow.
God has given us the spirit worthy of the challenges that He sets for us
and we set for ourselves. He has given us the knowledge we need to find
our way, so that the results of our reaching will lead to the betterment
of life here and now. As a people, both individually and collectively, we
can move forward into a new day that has been shaped by the combined minds
of millions of individuals concentrating on this positive future. We must
speak of the power to make of the Earth, the birthplace of humanity, a
garden again as we accept the challenge to explore and settle the greatest
frontier of all time, the infinite frontier, the universe itself.
To end, I'd like you to take an imaginary trip with me. I'd like each of
you to think about a time when you visited an historical site, like
Jerusalem or Boston, Sutter's Fort, Gettysburg, or maybe Kitty Hawk, any
place of an historical beginning. Think about the people who lived then
and how they felt about the events that took place there. Go ahead, I'll
wait for a minute....
Now, imagine that you're in a classroom or lecture hall in a city on a
planet 25 light years from the Earth. The year is 2522 (about 500 years in
the future) and the instructor has just asked the class to identify the
original world of the human race. A holographic map of the galaxy appears
in the air at the center of the class. You raise your hand. The instructor
nods at you, and, using the joystick attached to your desk computer, you
move a "flying pointer" through the stars of the galaxy to
identify Sol, the sun around which the original planet Earth revolves.
The instructor congratulates you, touches a button on her chair and the
hologram view zooms into this single star. You see the ten planets as they
revolve in their orbits around it. Again, she looks at you and says,
"which of these planets is the Earth?"
You point to the third plant from the sun, and again the view zooms in.
Before you is a brilliant jewel of a world. A world with a magnificent
single moon, almost a twin planet system. The beauty of this world takes
your breath away. You and the rest of the class have, of course, seen many
pictures of the Earth, but you never fail to feel a sense of awe and deep
reverence whenever you look at it.
After a moment of silence the instructor speaks to the class:
It was only a little over five and a half centuries ago that humanity
first stepped off of the planet Earth and onto another world. That world
was the Earth's only moon, and looking back, the step seems to be a small
one, only 200,000 plus miles, just a little over what light travels in one
second. But remember, until that time (for over 100,000 years) humanity
was not able to leave that world; it did not have the knowledge or the
means. That moment was the most important moment in our history, the time
when it became possible to explore beyond the surface of that single
planet, to realize our destiny of bringing life to cold empty worlds, to
live in the universe.
What a time to have been alive! What I wouldn't give to have been there on
the Earth at that time. Just think of the adventure, the vision, the sense
of destiny that must have existed....
The instructor goes on, but the rest of the class is lost in her basic
question...What was it like to have been alive when humanity first set
foot on another world? What was it like to have been alive when humanity
first set out to explore and settle the universe?
Those are the feelings and thoughts that countless generations will have
as they think back to the second half of the twentieth century and wonder
how it felt to live during that special moment in history when humanity
took that first step off Mother Earth and onto another world.
As Mecca is to the Muslim and Jerusalem is to the Christian and Jew, so
the Earth will be to future generations of humanity, the place from which
we sprang, the holiest of holies for all time.
THE END
Copyright 1979,
Brad
Fregger Page 3
|