I Blog Poetry and Prose

Exploring the Universe

‘Idál (Justice), 11 Jamál (Beauty) 176 B.E. - Wednesday, May 8, 2019

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30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS  (13+) WDC's Longest Running Blog Competition - Hiatus #1786069 by Fivesixer

PROMPT: In the future, if space travel became possible, would you want to go? What would most influence your decision whether or not to leave Earth?

Exploring the Universe

For me, the possibility of space travel isn't and if but a when. Right now, with humanity divided into political and national factions, space travel is an if. However, when humanity realizes that the only way we can survive on this planet is to unite, space travel will become possible and cheaper. When it does become possible, I'll either be much too old or my soul will have passed into the spiritual realm. This thought is a bit depressing because I have dreamed of traveling the universe since I first read Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clark.

"...Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute."
Baha'u'llah1

What would influence me to leave Earth? The opportunity to communicate with other intelligent life forms. Yes, I believe that there are other intelligent and soul possessing creatures in the universe. I have no doubt that humanity, when it begins to explore the universe, will encounter other life forms. Life forms that are both sentient (soul possessing) and non-sentient.

Footnotes
1  Gleanings From the Writings of Baha'u'llah, LXXXII: Thou hast asked Me concerning the...