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Frontier (definition): The part of a country that borders on UNEXPLORED territory.

Captain Kirk or at least the narrator, maybe Gene Roddenberry himself, began every episode of Star Trek with the words: “Space, the final frontier”.

We’ve been watching the Apple TV series, “For All Mankind” which is a fictional version of NASA in the 60’s-90’s. The story is written as if NASA hadn’t essentially imploded and investment in space exploration had continued with the same drive as during the “SPACE RACE” in the Kennedy era of the 60’s.

In “For All Mankind” the manned journey to Mars is realized and completed. The journey is so long that once they are there they must be able to sustain their lives for 2 years because it took almost a year to get there and 2 years between missions from Earth.

The series is really well done and made me think many times Geez, I always thought astronauts had to be perfect to be accepted into the program…above reproach, impossibly brave, selfless, and sane. In fact, we have always been SHOWN only the perfect side of astronauts and I, for one, BELIEVED that was their only side. Even after reading “THE RIGHT STUFF” I was still all in on that myth.

“For All Mankind” has disabused me of that notion. I now understand that if one has been determined to have the RIGHT STUFF it might resemble a diagnosis of mental illness back here on earth. (Think, you’d have to be crazy to want to go there, kind of like running for President…just sayin’ and another subject for another day).

For that matter, I try to imagine my ancestors, some of whom came here in the 1600’s from Europe. Try to imagine wanting to escape your homeland so badly you would embark on a TORTUROUS, DISGUSTING, IMPOSSIBLY FETID, CROWDED, DISEASED DEATHTRAP of a ship of DISCOMFORT with a MINUTE possibility of arriving ALIVE. If you did arrive alive, you were landing in a hostile, UNCIVILIZED and mostly UNKNOWN land, the NEW WORLD.

The only HOPE that could allow you to take the RISK and ENDURE the pain is: It would be BETTER than where you left. THAT was serious DELUSION.

So, where am I going with this?

SPACE, now that we apparently feel we’ve pretty much f**d the earth up beyond repair and we want to take the “Last Train to Clarksville”, so to speak, or more accurately the Last Shuttle to Mars, I repeat SPACE is NOT the final frontier!!!

You heard/read it here…remember this. Your MIND is the final frontier. We each have wide open UNEXPLORED territory in our MINDS!!

We spend much of our lives in PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS (BTW, that is one of the 3 rights you should expect upon successful arrival in the NEW WORLD as codified later by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence).

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

Pursuing happiness for most of us, at least in the first half of our lives, is EXTERNAL. We seek it in each of what I have determined to be the 5 key categories of life:

Physical: to be well, fit and attractive
Mental/Emotional: to be joyful
Relationships: To belong and be loved
Financial: to be wealthy, abundant
Spiritual: Heaven either on earth or in the afterlife (assuming you have a spiritual belief)

We WORK hard and we are STRIVING, we are TRYING all the time to achieve all those states. The longer and harder we work to achieve them, the more we use up our precious ENERGY in pursuit of HAPPINESS.

One component, I postulate the most important component of HAPPINESS is FREEDOM. (BTW…Liberty, another 1 of the 3 rights in the Declaration of Independence).

FREEDOM. What is that?

We live in a FREE country, right? It doesn’t feel like it these days. It’s certainly not a financially free country to live. We’ve had some pretty INALIENABLE rights taken recently.

So, where do we go for FREEDOM? Mars?

I’m not ready for that trip. I probably wouldn’t have been ready for the Mayflower either.

I have begun to pursue happiness in my personal final frontier, MY MIND. Actually, I’m taking a “trip” (without psychedelics, fyi), a “voyage” to my UNEXPLORED TERRITORY OUT of my mind.

It can be as scary as standing on the deck of the Mayflower watching the shore of home get smaller, knowing there’s no guarantee of anything on the other side. It’s unknown territory outside my mind. BUT….it has unlimited possibilities and HOPE is fueling my voyage. My hope is to find that elusive FREEDOM within.

I am tired of the shackles of FEAR, HATE, JUDGEMENT, ANXIETY, DEPRESSION. I am LETTING GO one shackle at a time and SURRENDERING, TRUSTING there is FREEDOM outside my MIND (aka EGO).

Note to self (and you): It is nothing like the HAPPINESS I pictured in the first half.

We are given glimpses, and we’re taught TRICKS and TOOLS to release the shackles. They ALL work, BTW. However, no ONE tool or ONE trick is THE answer.

You are a SYSTEM within a SYSTEM made up of SYSTEMS.
SYSTEMS run on ENERGY.
You can SPEND energy, like you can spend money
You can GENERATE energy, like you can generate income
You can WASTE energy

The only thing you won’t be able to do is SAVE and STORE energy for later.

If you have a surplus, you will naturally give it to others (BTW, energy can be positive or negative, same rules apply)

This is where I’m going to end this month. This could and probably will be a book one day.

I hope this makes sense to just ONE person who reads or listens to it.

I have said before, I am an EXPLORER. I am exploring the final frontier of my mind in pursuit of FREEDOM, HAPPINESS, INNER PEACE…that is the route and the recipe for WORLD PEACE.

This is Graceing Agefully™