We’re going to space. What should we pack?
Announcing the debut of Ensouled: the online journal of cultural astronomy!
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Greetings,
Happy Fool’s Day!
As promised, Ensouled: the journal of applied and cultural astronomy is now live. Originally scheduled for release on the last day of each month, after thinking about it, the first day of April, with its traditional emphasis on the unexpected, seemed to me a better launch date, ahem, for a publication intended to discover what we don’t know but would benefit from learning, and what we have forgotten but would do well to remember, about the heavens.
It’s once a month for non-paying subscribers, and more often than that for paying subscribers.
Below is the first posting of the journal…
Thanks for your interest. I hope you will subscribe! To do so, go to this page.
Whitney
It happened before covid. I was at the Udvar-Hazy Center on the Dulles International Airport campus. It’s a satellite of the Smithsonian where now lives the retired Spaceshuttle Discovery, and artifacts from nearly every Gemini and Apollo space mission, among so many other air and space treasures.
On the platform between the set of stairs from the entrance to the floor where the Spaceshuttle is housed, was a docent standing next to a mannequin dressed in a white space suit. I stopped to examine it.
“You can touch it,” she told me.
So I did. I felt the thick fabric, tugged on the clear tubes for certain bodily functions, and kicked gently at the thick pair of boots. And suddenly, I understood: space travel. It’s real. And one day, perhaps very soon, I might go there myself, in fact, I will do my best to ensure that I do.
Since that day I meandered through the Center in 2019, we’ve witnessed the successful landing of the Mars Rover Perseverance, heard about Jeff Bezos leaving amazon to helm his rocket ship company Blue Origin, and seen images of China’s own moon exploration in December 2020. These are merely highlights of an active astro-agenda the world over.
I can’t help but wonder, what should we pack? The status quo? Our 20th Century beliefs about hierarchy and privilege? A gift bag filled with iPhones and Kettle Korn to endear ourselves to any starry hosts we might encounter?
What will look good on us humans as we debut ourselves to the Cosmos?
So many questions, very few with any real answers.
And yet, we are not the only peoples to have ever considered the heavens and all that they contain. Perhaps in humanity’s past musings, experiments, doctrines, and beliefs, there have been glimmers of understanding that, because we did not think we could ever actually go to space, we did not expand upon and apply, but which have great utility.
Most intriguing to me of all since that visit to the Udvar-Hazy has been the release of classified documents confirming evidence of extra-terrestrial visits to our little blue orb. So many theories, stories, and conspiracies now abound! Who wants to help us? Who wants to harm us? Who wants to trade with us?
If life on earth is only one of an increasing number of options for us to dwell in the Cosmos, then knowing earthbound humanity’s historical relationship to the heavens seems a good foundation from which to choose our future.
How has being earthbound shaped our behavior? How might it shift when we lift off? Will our religions follow us, and more to the point, will they keep their integrity, still meet our needs for communication with God, or will we need new ways to talk with the great All That Is?
Will our myths and legends turn out to be true? Will our orthodoxies turn out to be false?
Will we want the usual pundits, priests, and politicians telling us what to do and how to do it in outerspace? Or, will we find ourselves asking, “Why on earth – and elsewhere – should we believe you?” Oh, the power struggles that will ensue!
What tools we have discarded will turn out to be useful? Will astrology no longer be outré? Will fantastical mysteries depicted in world arts and literature, suddenly make sense? Will the writings of the ancients such as Plato, Aristotle, and earlier take on new relevance, and so require us to focus not only upon STEM education, but the Classics, as well?
Ultimately, the mission of Ensouled is to explore whether there is merit to my profound conviction that our world and the greater Cosmos where it is located are all conscious, that they are permeated with creative, intelligent urges of their own, and that these are in turn part of a larger, intrinsic order.
It’d be nice to have you along for the intergalactic journey.
Everyone is welcome to read the once-per-month issue, while paid subscribers will be sent occasional thoughts from me, as well as links and snippets of what I am reading, listening to, and who I am talking to about these heavenly things.
What’s the harm in coming along for the ride?
Whitney
You can subscribe to Ensouled here.