William Shatner, Canadian Actor, as Star Trek’s Capt. James T. Kirk
Recently, famed Canadian actor, William Shatner, notably whose most significant role has been that of the Federation Starship Captain, James Tiberius Kirk, from the world of Star Trek, achieved the feat of being the eldest “astronaut” by virtue of Jeff Bezos’s, founder of Amazon, Blue Origin company. At the age of 90, Shatner rode the rocket, the RSS First Step, and its New Shepard suborbital rocket capsule, into outer space and encountered what he said was nearly indescribable and nothing like the simulations for which had prepared him. The whole ordeal was entirely beyond anything he could have even imagined perhaps poignantly proffering thoughts about what is to come in the next life beyond present reality. The amazing thing about the plenary affair aside from an odd interruption by Bezos to celebrate the event with champagne of this second successful mission in what some have deemed the dawning of “space tourism” was Shatner’s many (failed) attempts to describe what is commonly referred to as the “overview effect” (originally coined in 1987 by Frank White) whereby one is deeply aware of the earth’s fragility. The aged thespian’s struggling to find the appropriate words to express what he felt left him to say it is something everyone should experience, knowing this could not be the case, only wishing it could be.
However, this world view (pun intended) has its origins from the beginning, even as William Shatner drew strong criticism from the likes of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, of the UK royal family who misunderstood perhaps what others have come to defend about the profuse event that breached our horizons. This attachment of “earth to earthling” is worthy of exploration even as many find these trying times an inquiry into the very inner psychosis of what it means to be human typifying philosophy’s age old art of the rediscovery of meaning and realism. At the same time, some have chosen to finally avail themselves of what a trip to space could do for our future as a race on a very troubled planet. The Bible itself is such an account that opens with God creating the earth and its crescendo being earthlings who embody his presence in the theocratic embracement of an all-encompassing God that gets its fullest expression in the Incarnation of Christ but initially teased this form from existence’s onset in espousing the end from the beginning. As technology allows humans to travel to the boundaries of space as if that separates one from our present reality affording evolution to a higher or at least a different dimension of sorts, the dialogue that ensues causes reflection that the “grass is not necessarily greener” on the other side through the lens perhaps of the scientific notion of the anthropic principle. However, I wish to explore it from the perspective of what I introduced in my dissertation as the Adamic Principle in the reciprocality of the dynamics of earth and earthlings along with creation modeled in and through its Creator.
The venerable Hollywood star tried to exemplify the profound nature of our mortality and weakness from a sagely point of view in the context of this hugely grand experience beyond that of most lifetimes only barely developed in the fictional depictions of which he pioneered in the Roddenberrian futuristic utopia of sorts spanning many offshoots subsequently. Until now, mostly humankind has fallen short of depicting its corporeality–an interruption or divergence like Bezos’s swagger of what is genuinely trying to be expressed by those more astutely perceptible of the stakes. We indulge in the moment not weighing the repercussions which could bring about a far greater glory and are left in despair with only a moment’s respite rather than the insight to produce significant change and transformation. What’s next? Film crews are beginning to make their way to bring that reality (by filming in space rather than about space) from the beyond to us in high definition until the day arises (if the Lord tarries) for more to experience this final frontier to cross to another side or dimensionality that so far has evaded us except by only the most trained in our sciences to endure such fancies. God’s chosen revelation to humankind of his substantiality begins with such a paradigm of parameters whereby he orders chaos by bounding the cosmological yet chaotic waters to allow the earth which ascends from obscurity and formlessness as a void without meaning to come into view only to be further fleshed out in the onset of earthlings made in the very image of their Creator bearing his very name, enlivened by his very breath, formed by his hand from the dust of the ground from which he came.
There truly is something else that lies in the beyond. We have been forever grasping toward it even as it tries to embrace us. We err in not fully being capable of conceiving and perceiving this grand intent and design. We fall short of what it asks. Such an ideal, Paul denotes in ways whereby we might agree with Peter that “are hard to understand.” It might have been innocently twisted away (by some interpretations) from what he wished to express in “apprehending what had already been apprehending” us all along our merry little way since the dawn of existence (Php 3:12) in the transcendent that is entirely ironically so immanent in God’s activity to reach out to us while affording such reciprocity as we often fail to avail because we lack the understanding to perceive such openness in our mortality when stood in the context of such majesty. It remains so inconceivable for the human and the divine to indwell in such synchronous existence this side of the glory that awaits. Yet, is this what we learn from the tradition from which we come? Our forbears seem to beg there is more we continue to miss!
Shatner sees what few have yet to perceive in what all along God has intended as we are to be undershepherds of the Great Shepherd of the cosmos ordering it toward God’s original design of blessing. All was to be blessed because of us, not despite us. We are the template or model from which all is patterned after us who is to be an extension of heaven’s rule in us here and now until what is to come can fully be manifested in the Parousia. We are the Abram who emerged from Adam that in us all families of the earth are to be blessed as YHWH’s faithful stewards in being his agents of grace.
Clearly, we need to do more then what is presently being done is the message Shatner exudes upon his interaction with the beyond. We so often fall short into the curses that ensue in this present chaos rather than creating against this human bent that curves us away from our destiny to exemplify the good and allow the perfect its place until perfection gets fully manifested. Plants grow upward even as their roots sink deeper into the earth, grounded against the storms of life benefitting both from what is above and below in a harmony that often alludes our participation to join in the cosmic dynamism to which we were meant to partake. Earthlings exemplify earth’s aim in being all YHWH meant us to be as God demonstrates being itself–most expressly in his Logos.
The land is directly connected to the land dwellers in a reciprocal relationship that mirrors creation’s with its Creator. The earth and all its inhabitants can never indeed be what was intended unless we are who we are meant to be. It becomes an identity crisis. We fall short, and all are cursed as a result.
Creation fails to achieve the goodness intended when we, as God’s vassals fall short in availing ourselves of our role in this theocracy as the Lord’s vassals. God’s kingdom here on earth is invisible unless manifested in us who are to image and embody that rule of justice and be the way God’s blessings ensue for all creation. Shatner saw this mirrored upon himself as an aged tourist reflecting on a long journey which revealed our frailty ahead of what other options exist outside the one given to us by God. He called space and its cold darkness, “death” which will be his final frontier into what lies in the beyond ultimately. It is his last “bridge” to command in traversing the uncharted.
Such feebleness exemplifies our relation to our Creator not to be as we are but as we were always meant to be. Shatner epitomized that role when he played Kirk (the hero) amid a universe that displayed humanity albeit flawed but united in facing and discovering the unknown to become so much more than we presently are as a vision for our future in which we should be aiming toward. We are in process and have yet to reach and experience even as most have not experienced what Shatner did. The source for our meaning is not from within solely. We fail when we look within as we fall short until we look beyond ourselves (outside) to that higher distinction that Paul deemed an “upward call” that only Christ indeed implemented in his being fully God even as he was fully human in the corporate Body of Christ. In weakness, Christ as a human fully embodying God put on full display the absolute power of God via the cross over even death which is the final enemy granting total victory in his resurrection as we await the final resurrection. His followers elucidate this in their sacrificial living to emulate what it means for God’s rule to overcome this life in mortal flesh in their suffering even as he suffered but we not overcome with grief–instead rising to the occasion due to inward hope that springs eternal.
Even as I write this blog, I know in my present feeble state that my laptop and phone both seem to be suffering from some form of maleficence that requires them both the arduous task of factory resetting. I am delaying it as long as possible ahead of a Windows 11 install that is yet forthcoming. At least in many conservative circles, I often think that the trend to go back to one’s origins leads us to believe our best days ahead must mirror those of our past when we thought things were so much more pristine like a factory reset. However, I believe we are meant for a greater good that goes beyond what we were. One is not faithful to a constitution by simply trying to live it out literally as much as trying to be what it meant us to be in any given situation henceforth through its embodiment in its people. A PC with only Windows is not much until it can be used with much software and upgrades to allow for creativity that yields fruit from its user as per its design but not only its condition straight out of the box when first purchased without needful expansion. Truer to form, we were intended, and our aim was in a trajectory we may have missed that requires severe course corrections to get us back on target or firmware updates (along with the removal of viruses,) but to say it was better back then is to miss the point entirely. The better is ahead even as we weather the storms of global woes, which are nowhere near as complex perhaps as this world faced a century ago. Humanity is in a better position now and possibly should have done a better job withstanding current crises than we have, given our current state of affairs. Hopefully, we will learn and be better for what lies ahead and give us what we need to build a better tomorrow. For me, Shatner resonates with where we began from our beginnings to be as we are intended in our animus but have yet to fully realize in practicality thus far as we continue to be a work in progress. Certainly, more should be done. We are in desperate need even as we know as fragile as we are, we have become the object of greatness in a God who so loved the world that he gave…
What is needed is a better pathway toward what we have thus far missed while continuing to prune away what prevents us from that goal while remaining fruitful to what has come in our process of progression to that end or telos about which we were once set and have yet failed to achieve. What others saw as merely as the flamboyance of billionaires playing with the stars while so many here below suffer, he saw as an attempt to refocus our vision on how to best proceed in a tomorrow that is much better than today’s, which continues to frighten us all as we wage the war of chaoskampf in taming the wildebeest that afflicts so many who cannot escape via luxurious trips to alcoholic escapades of the rich and famous lifestyles that remain unreachable for most. United we stand! Many cannot achieve what he has in his lifetime–most of it depicted in mere fiction.
Still, in his work, he can hopefully do what he has done throughout his career in helping show us better ways forward by allowing us to keenly see and become aware of perspectives we would not have had otherwise to put us in a better position to address the concerns raised by such an endeavor. Biblical prophets offer us similar insight into where we fall short in hopes of repentance into becoming what we should have been all along. They offer us a mirror into who we are, what we have become, at the same time juxtaposing it against where we should be headed in a vision of the future as intended. What Shatner offered was not purely a fantasy trip to lavish his greatness upon us as a mere publicity stunt.
Someone may take it that way. It may have even been that way. The better takeaway, regardless of the reality, is to see it for what it could be. Hope.
There is a revelation here worth discussing and worth our investment. The balance of life is so fragile. It demands us to pay more attention to the possibilities that lie in our grasp to become better despite all we continue to face in the onslaught of the fast-paced realities assuaging us presently. As weak as we are, we are still standing (by God’s grace!) Suppose we only cancel everything we do not like and only criticize. What outcome does that judgment alone bring? In that case, we cannot be in the best position to transform into what could be and only slump into the cynicism of what is as if anything better remains outside our reach. That is a people without vision or visionaries to inspire them on to betters days.
Let us instead look to how we can become the more than overcomers who prevail when all else seems to fail in times like these. We need to rise to the occasion as the earth rose from its depth in Gen 1:2 (as modeled in Christian baptismal and funeral rites) and ascend to the heights intended even when all seemingly oppose us. Shall we not boldly go as commissioned by our Christ where none have yet gone before all is gone? Disciple and bring order to everyone’s chaos? It is to this higher dimension of life here on earth as it is in heaven to which we should persist rather than resting on laurels and letting death (because of his victory and not any of our own personal ones?) take us there only in the beyond at our departure when perhaps some of what lies ahead can become a reality in the here and now before our last chance is gone (or someone’s else’s is gone) having never matured into this glorious reality what awaits those who wish to get beyond the veil ahead of our sequel to taste and see the Lord is good straightaway even when all else seems doomed to despair and agony in this present darkness.
