ESSAY | SPIRITUALITY | SPACE
Why Nothing Else Matters Now
One profound moment changes everything
Today I witnessed a 90-year old man blast off into space, and while it was merely an 11-minute trip to just beyond our atmosphere, the words spoken by William Shatner upon his safe return will be forever imprinted upon my mind. Nothing else matters now.
“To see the blue color whip by you, and now you’re staring into blackness, that’s the thing,” he said.
He called the sky a “comforter of blue that we have around us.”
“You look down, there’s the blue down there and the black up there … there is Mother Earth and comfort, and there is, is there death? I don’t know, but is that death? Is that the way death is? … It was so moving; this experience, it was something unbelievable,” he said while the crew celebrated behind him. — CNN
Can you imagine how our world view would change if we could all see Earth the way Shatner just did and come to the same conclusions he did? Would we strive harder for peace? Would we work harder to maintain our natural resources? Would we care about our atmosphere more and stop all this damage we are doing to Mother Earth?
Would we all have these overwhelming emotions that Shatner shared with Bezos?:
“I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened. It’s extraordinary, extraordinary. I hope I can maintain what I feel now. I don’t want to lose it. It’s so much larger than me and life.”
Speaking to Jeff Bezos after the Blue Origin flight, the 90-year-old actor told him: “What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine.”
He continued: “It hasn’t got anything to do with the little green men and the blue orb. It has to do with the enormity and the quickness and the suddenness of life and death.” — CNN
After I finished watching this historic moment (and cried with joy for William Shatner), I wanted to see how it was being reported over most news sites online. Imagine my disappointment when all of the sites I normally read either didn’t mention it at all or only had a small blurb about it. Instead, the sites are filled with the pettiness that is our current existence here on Earth.
This moment has had such a profound effect on me. I no longer wish to worry about the world’s squabbles, the foibles of our politicians, the divisiveness, or the better-than-thou attitude of so many. Instead, I want to bask in the afterglow of Shatner’s emotional words, embrace them, give them space in my heart and watch them grow. In as much as I use the teachings of Jesus and Buddha, the wisdom of my Celtic and Native American ancestors, and the insights of the Tao for spiritual guidance, I will hold Shatner’s words in such high esteem.
Lori Carlson writes Poetry, Fiction, Articles, Creative Non-Fiction and Personal Essays. Most of her topics are centered around Relationships, Spirituality, Life Lessons, Mental Health, Nature, Loss, Death, and the LGBTQ+ community. Check out her personal Medium blog here.
