Inner Space: The NEXT frontier.

Outer space may be the FINAL frontier. But can we make inner space the NEXT frontier?

“Space: The final frontier.” These words open every episode of the original StartTrek series. As a person who loves dreaming about what could happen next the science fiction style has always apealed to me. Granted I tend more StarWars than StarTrek but each of them points us out to the stars. 

We have held FRONTIER as a goal for many generations. Always seeking out the new and the different. Sometimes to meet it, sometimes to study it, often destroying it. Always misunderstanding it in some way first.

We are slowly running out of physical frontiers on this planet. The seas, some caves, beckon to be explored. But the satellites are mapping every inch of the planet in ever more detail. For physical frontiers we are having to look off this planet and out into the black of space. 

What though makes us think that the vastness of space will calm our tendency of violence and misunderstanding the realms we explore. 

We need a plan for exploring not just the physical frontiers but also to explore the inner spaces of our lives. In that exploration we will find the connections between each other on this planet.

In that exploration of inner space we will find the ways to care for each other and quit sabotaging and disregarding the excellent work around us because in exploring the full inner-space with each other we discover people to meet, to study, to misunderstand, perhaps to destroy. 

We must make peace with the grand variety to be found not just in the frontiers of this planets’ physical form. Not just with the dedication needed to take us out to explore that final frontier of space. But also the infinite variety of the people here and each individual’s inner-space. 

I am up to LOTS of good

I solemnly swear I am up to lots of good.

This is a variation on a quote from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. The original quote read “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” This being the activation code for a magical map known as the Marauders Map. The titular Marauders being Harry Potter’s father and his father’s three best friends. The map would show every passageway and person on the school grounds in real time.

I created the variation because I do not intend to be up to “no good.” It might be interesting to have my quote as a passcode to some guide book that contains wisdom and advice for certain situations in a characters life. 

A swearing means that you will keep your word. But if you are a person up to no good why should you be believed? If you are up to good things then swearing to do so is mostly irrelevant.

I am, as a United Methodist, a fan of John Wesley. His injunction on doing good is, I think, quite appropriate for this variation. Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.

I look forward to many more years of doing good, and unlocking the good in the lives of other people.