Research means the encroachment into virgin soil. Wishes are packed in thoughts, goals are set and the painful works start to get answers. The Austrian Space Forum gave me the chance to push the experimental part of research forward into the field of literary-philosophical mind games as well this Christmas. The following text should serve as an “philosophical-psychological kaleidoscope”. Maybe it opens some doors into the inside of the researcher, who has to fight for the conversion of his/her dreams everyday.

“The whole life long you should watch the world through the eyes of a child.” (Henri Matisse, painter, 1869-1954)

Once upon a time there was an astronaut. He floated in his mother ship, in a confined world. All around him, it was humming, buzzing, creaking. Ethereal voices approached him. He wanted to answer, but no one could hear him. How he came to be there, he didn’t know. How long his journey would take, he didn’t know. The only thing he did know, was that his journey had only just begun…

Austria wishes you a Merry Christmas

For eons, man knew that up above, where stars glitter in the night, was the place of the Gods. Man knew that there was “something” up in the heavens. It was not knowing what that “something” was that drove man. Drove him to ask questions. Unpleasant questions. Questions that might mean punishment or death. But still, he asked them.

It is said that there are three reasons for mankind to set off into space. “God, gold, glory!”…the three capital “G”. Three terms, which over the centuries, were the driving force behind discoveries.

In autumn 1405, there was the eunuch Zheng He, who set out with 62 Chinese ships to redefine the limits of the world. (1)

There was Galileo Galilei who reinvented the telescope and observed the skies. (2)

In Portugal, there was Gil Eanes, being shouted at: “Beyond Cape Bojador the sea is full of blood and devilish beasts, who only wait to get you.” (3)

There was…well, you only have to look at human history to discover more names. What they all had in common was their belief in their personal definition of truth.

…and then there was this pain. The solitary astronaut seemed to have reached the end of his journey. The ultimate destination. He checks the correct position of his limbs. His full concentration on the target: “A new world”…

Science strives to successively expand the limits of knowledge. Science asks questions. Some of them lie in the academic field of neurotheology.

“Neurotheology?”, a legitimate question. “The search for God in our genes, our brain”, is the answer for everyone who likes to ask questions and already knows the answer.

Scientists like Dr Michael Persinger assume that it is possible to provide evidence of faith in a higher entity by using transcranial magnetic stimulation. (4)

The results? There are people, who are more “capable” of having faith because of their brain structure. Why? Maybe some individuals developed the capability of faith in order to cope better during emergency situations. Medicine man versus warrior. Priest versus atheist. Earth versus space?

…”Go! Go! Go!”, it went round like a mill wheel in the astronauts mind. He had felt how his mother ship had crashed down on impact. All systems around him were glowing in shades of red. He knew he had to go outside onto the surface. Every passing second inside the space capsule could put his life at risk…

February, 1962. “Godspeed, John Glenn”, were the words of Scott Carpenter as Glenn orbited the Earth.

Christmas, 1968. The crew of Apollo 8 reads from the book Genesis live on TV while they are drifting across the moon.

July, 1969. Buzz Aldrin performs a private Communion inside the lunar module. He is a Presbyterian and holds a “special license” from his religious leader to do so. Shortly after, he is the second man on Earth’s satellite.

April, 1970. President Nixon says a prayer for the safe return of the crew on Apollo 13, just when the catastrophe-ridden mission is close to its end.

February, 1986. Pope John Paul II says a prayer for the astronauts who drew their last breath for mankind too early during the Challenger disaster.

October, 2007. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor (5) is the first muslim who solves the eminent problem “Where is Mekka?” while saying his prayers.

And then there was…Ilan Ramon. One of the unfortunate astronauts who lost their lives in the Discovery disaster. (5)

In this explosion nothing would be left…so everyone believed. Above our heads, 37 miles high, the debris fell to the ground. The heat burned everything, but in Palestine, Texas, 37 pages of Ilan Ramon’s diary were found. Wet, burned, thrown down onto an alien planet called Earth. The contents? Among personal notes, the prayer of “Shabbat Kiddush”.

…the astronaut made his way out of the space capsule. The pain was unbearable. He tore apart the protective shell of his space suit. A shrieking agony crawled through his throat and he screamed…

Actually, it is the question we are looking for, not the answer. Who are we? Where do we come from? Where do we go? It is these uncertainties of life gnawing at us. And it is completely irrelevant which religion, colour or sex we belong to. The questions remain the same.

What? Who? How? Where? When? Why?

Likewise, it is irrelevant where we go to look for answers. Some look into themselves, others look into books, and again others look up above and beyond.

There are holy men and women in every culture. They used to die for their dreams and their faith. Thank Gods – we don’t need to do the same today, but we can learn something from them nonetheless…”If I can do this, then so can YOU!”

Human beings crawl out of the womb into a new world. They leave the safety of their families. They reshape their world’s limits every single day.

I would like to add a little story on this matter.

Let us assume life in a small village inside the jungle. Not more than 50 people. They all depend on one another, no one can survive on his own. Let us take one hero or one heroine. He/She is renowned for taking risks, and everyone knows that he/she applied him/herself for the village already. He/she has become indispensable. He/She never wanted a relationship…and still he/she ended up in one. And then followed the moment where their lover (please apologise the interruption, but did you notice that lover remains neutral?) becomes ill. The hero/heroine went to the medicine man. He says: “There is a flower out there. It only blossoms once in a century. This is the one that will heal your love.”

For our hero/heroine there was no question about it. “I will go. Whoever wants to come along – good. Whoever doesn’t – I don’t care. I have faith.”

So this wo-/man sets off. He/She enters the jungle and reaches the spot that has never been crossed before. His companions falter, but he goes on. He/She continues the journey. “The healing flower grows on a steep scarp”, those were the words of the healer. He/She is confronted with his/her worst nightmares. Snakes, which spit their venom directly into his/her eyes. Spiders, which lay their eggs into his/her skin during the night. Impassable chasms where raging torrents block his/her way…and still he/she goes on. The companions turn around one by one, only his/her brother stays.

After a difficult ascent that made them stumble time and again, they finally reach the healing flower. Our hero/heroine picks it, turns around overjoyed, and accidentally knocks his/her brother from the cliff…after a long fall he lies at the bottom 20m below, his body shattered. The hero/heroine swiftly crawls downward. His/her brother lies on the ground panting while the hero/heroine realises: “I can heal him instantly with this flower…but at home there lies my love”.

Well, faith cannot be strong enough to let our hero/heroine cope with this…because he/she is human.

As much as we have faith, we have to acknowledge that while we discover the unknown there are things happening that force us to make seemingly impossible decisions…but these decisions are what define us.

…he lay there, naked on soft ground. He sensed the warmth on his back. He was being lifted. Despite the pain, he forced himself to open his eyes, to see, to discover. There were those who were like him. They were different and yet the same. His swimming eyes were wandering, searching…he tried to make himself understood, but all he could summon were screams…

Affliction, sorrow, fear. We do not know what the next day might bring. We can only hope and have faith.

An old line claims: “The one who doesn’t know has to believe everything.” Well, is it not better to believe everything or better to be allowed to hope, than to know just a fraction.

…his gaze met that of the other entity. He felt warmth, love, comfort. He couldn’t calm down yet, but he had set his mind firmly on his task “I didn’t just come here for my own sake.”…his eyes shifted to the left where he beheld two animals, one with long ears and one with short horns. He moved his eyes to the right and saw another being smiling at him. Overhead, he saw wooden beams illuminated from behind by a comet…

Every step we take opens a new world for us. Every breath we take let’s us live for another few seconds. Every dream we believe in takes us towards the same goal: “Peace through knowledge and knowledge through faith.”

I wish for three things in these times…

The strength to believe in dreams, to close your mind to all negative influences, and to reach the aims you set yourselves.

The analog astronauts, who asked Bedouins and other people around them “What do you think about this? Tell me.” while on the Morocco 2013-mission.

I wish all readers a blessed Christmas and the strength to believe in tomorrow. For every person is an individual and in that respect we are all the same.

Sources:

(1) Zheng He, Chinese admiral and explorer

(2) Galileo Galilei, astronomer

(3) Gil Eanes, explorer

(4) Dr. Michael Persinger, neurologist

(5) Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, astronaut

(6) Colonel Ilan Ramon, astronaut

(c) Translated by Nicole Schroth

(c) Original by Florian Stummer