Space for Man

June 12, 1966
Plainfield

Space for Man

One of the more lamentable mistakes we can make is to believe that because the conquest of cosmic space seems assured, therefore the prospect for man automatically becomes more promising. We have proclaimed that space is for man. But the future depends more on the space in man. I would have you think on these things today, because our survival, both physically and ethically, depends more on the character of our moral passions than on the complexities of our skillful rocketry.

About 2550 years ago, a strange Hebrew prophet, Ezekiel, was possessed by strange visions which have since teased the imagination of those who have pondered his scripture. Ezekiel lived in a time when national disaster struck the Hebrew people. The kingdom had been overwhelmed by Nebuchadnezzar, thousands had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon, and the temple had been destroyed. Ezekiel, then a young man, was overwhelmed by a melancholy conviction that Yahveh had abandoned Jerusalem to a desolate fate.

Ezekiel’s prophetic imagination painted a strange vision. He saw four strange creatures, each of whom was supported by a wheel within a wheel. "When the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. Wherever the spirit would go, they went and the wheels rose with them... for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels...."

Our times are stranger than the calamitous days of Ezekiel. The fantastic creations of his feverish religious imagination were produced by his own feelings in his own times, of course, but think of one of his phrases as we find ourselves in our marvelous age when space may be for man. "The spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels." Does this not suggest an inescapable reality? Wheels have no ethics; solid fuel has no moral character. But the people who elect leaders determine whether or not cosmic miracles will bring blessings or miseries, because leaders appoint those who draw the plans, turn the wheels, and ignite the fuel.

Progress in space technology has been little short of the miraculous. Who could readily count up the number of men and women who have orbited the earth since Major Gagarin of the Soviets and Commander Shepard of the U.S. made the pioneering ventures for their respective countries? The astronauts have been propelled through space at speeds no other persons in history have experienced; they have returned safely to earth after probes into the unknown which translated into achievement that which up to then had been imaginary exploits of science-fiction writers. The Soviets and ourselves have made soft landings on the moon, using unmanned space vehicles equipped with instruments that have surveyed and reported back to planet Earth something of the nature of the moon's surface. Due to the marvels of photography and electronic transmission, we have viewed objects on the moon through the camera lens. No persons in any other generation have experienced that marvel.

The spectacular progress achieved by the rocket rides of the astronauts, the achievements in the wonder worlds of electronics and chemistry provide considerable evidence that space is for man. But more basic than theoretical physics and applied research is the question, "Is man for space?" In other words, do we have the ethical foundations and the moral habits to handle the scientific developments which have given us powers beyond all the ancient dreams? How secure would you feel in a small, crowded room, in the midst of which an 18-month-old infant was playing with a loaded, double-barreled shotgun, equipped with the most sensitive of hair triggers. I think our peril is something of the order of such an analogy. The tensions in the world and the presence of the frightening edge of war are evidence. How quickly can we mature?

Winston Churchill, in his book, THE GATHERING STORM, speaking of the secret but efficient re-establishment of German air power in the years immediately preceding World War II, commented (p.110), "But owing to the unlucky discovery by an immature civilization of the internal combustion engine and the art of flying, a new weapon of national rivalry had leapt upon the scene, capable of altering much more rapidly the relative war power of states."

Are all the inventions and developments which have occupied our attention, "unlucky accidents" because man is not grown-up enough for dangerous weapons, not ready to handle himself in space?

You will recall the old Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus fashioned wings which were held together with wax. He and his son, Icarus, experimented with the wings and were able to fly. Icarus, young and rash, tried to fly too high. The sun melted the wax bindings, the wings collapsed, and Icarus fell to his death in the sea.

Re-entry is well-planned for modern astronauts. Stafford and Cernan navigated to the rendezvous point with the most accurate precision yet demonstrated. A helicopter brought flotation gear, together with a team of frogmen to ensure safety for the men in the metal cocoon. Nevertheless, there is warning in the old myth of Icarus.

We have mastered many of the basic, technical problems of orbit and re-entry. Scientists have learned enough about the nature of the operation of the planetary system to orbit and re-enter with considerable accuracy and reasonable safety. The wax won’t melt. But the irrational passions that stir us, and the foolish vanities that betray us into wretched mistakes, are still part and parcel of the human condition. From the cliff-dwellers of the Stone Age to the modern residents of skyscraper apartments, persons have always had a more formidable opponent than Nature, "red in tooth and claw." That antagonist is ourselves.

Outer space is for man; this seems assured. The success and safety of Stafford and Cernan and their predecessors were not accidental. Safety and success were planned. Top level scientists, technologists, administrators were engaged. The full support of the Executive and Congressional branches of government was given, including all the money necessary to do the job, no matter how many billions might be required. This will continue to be the pattern as our space agencies continue persistent efforts to land a man on our satellite moon, to bring him home safely; and then turn to voyaging in space to other planets in our solar system. After that, perhaps, the deeper reaches of space.

Space is for man because the United States Government and the Soviet Government seem to have the will to commit the necessary human knowledge, national resources and effort to the conquest of space. To use Ezekiel’s vision as a parable, these accomplishments have been achieved – Alan Shepard, John Glenn and all their successors down to Stafford and Cernan have been successful because "The spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels."

But, we are failing to confront adequately the ethics gap in our scheme of national values when Cernan can walk more safely thousands of miles in planetary orbit than James Meredith can walk twenty-seven miles from Memphis, Tenn. to Hernando, Miss. Is not the visor of moral vision befogged when a man is shot down as he attempts to demonstrate that freedom should be more than a word which describes only the condition of privileged peoples of light skin?

Observers have commented that more alert police work by the law officers with the Meredith party could have prevented the shotgun attack. Mr. Katzenbach, the Attorney General of the U.S. has indicated that protection could have been better, although seemingly, he fails to recognize that the Department of Justice should have been more alert and vigilant.

Does not James Meredith deserve the same protection against possible disaster as Edward Cernan? Cut either one and he will bleed. When there is insufficient allowance for known hazards, there will be disaster paid for with human life. "The spirit of living creatures (must) be in the wheels" of the administration of justice and the protection of human rights, as well as in the engines and circuits of research and development in the National Space Agency.

Space for man on earth requires manpower, efficiency, money applied to the support of the basic value of the worth of man – every man, James Meredith as well as Edward Cernan. If there had been as many lives lost in space during the last ten years as there have been assassinations of civil rights workers in the same period, there would have been a volcanic eruption of widespread indignation such as no administration could have endured.

In the show, ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER, Melinda says to Mark,
"A marriage of convenience is called that not because money is involved, but because love is not. Love is so very inconvenient." Love in the basic sense of good-will to others is not always convenient. It may interfere with comfortable prejudices; or love may require inconvenient commitments. There will be an ethics gap as long as persons are convinced that good will is more inconvenient than it is necessary.

Because a moral gap does exist, legislation is required to make it increasingly difficult for assassins and bigots to get away with their brutal crimes and cruel discrimination.

It is in such context that our Senators and Congressmen should be acting, not stalling, on the Civil Rights Bill of 1966.

In brief, the President's Bill provides (from Summary provided by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Our Unitarian Universalist Association, Commission on Religion and Race, is one of the cooperating organizations in The Leadership on Civil Rights):

"1) It is meant to prevent discrimination in the selection and service of state and federal juries where such discrimination is based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin or economic status;
2) It would provide additional means for facilitating the desegregation of public schools and other public facilities;
3) It would provide protection for Negroes and civil rights workers against any interference, by threats of violence, with the exercise of their constitutional rights in voting, education, housing, employment, jury service, travel, use of public facilities, public accommodations and federally supported programs.
4) It would prohibit, as a matter of national policy, all racial and religious discrimination in the sale and rental of housing."

In addition, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights urges such strengthening amendments as:

1) "the establishment of an Indemnification Board that will award damages [to] the victims of civil rights violence.
2) the enforcement of the fair housing provision by an administrative agency because of the enormous difficulties faced by individuals when attempting to enforce a grievance case.
3) Stronger, more specific measures to end jury discrimination.
4) And the extension of the equal employment section to state and local government employees.

At the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Dr. Martin Luther King reminded us that "legislation cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. By legislation I cannot force a man to love me, but I can keep him from lynching me and that's pretty important."

At the White House Conference on Civil Rights, just concluded, the civil rights leaders pledged an all-out effort to get the 1966 Civil Rights Act passed this Summer. "Urgency is the key" said Roy Wilkins. And he said this before James Meredith was felled by a shotgun blast. The House Judiciary Committee under the chairmanship of Emmanuel Celler is currently meeting in closed session discussing the bill. Some reports indicate that there is a need for those who favor the legislation to let their opinion be known to that committee as well as one's own Congressional representatives.

Some years ago, commenting on the exploits of the astronauts, Dr. Karl Menninger, one of the world's well-known psychiatrists, commented that humanity needs to view its problems from a new perspective and we may get that by looking at the world from space (Christian Century, 5/17/61). It is more accurate, probably, to acquire a new perspective by looking at the space in man.

By space in man, I mean our capacity to control ourselves; as man in space refers to our technical ability to control propulsion and navigation beyond the atmosphere of planet Earth. Without space in man, man in space may represent the prelude to catastrophe.

Of course when we enlarge the space in man, we will create areas of loneliness. When we seek out the facts, the partisans, who do not want their prejudices confused by facts, will leave us. When we seek by trial and error to improve our way, we will be deserted by those whose inner space is too small to admit error. To be reasonable is to be lonely, much of the time.

Space in man demands that we be idealistic in our goals and blunt in our expectations that not only can Eugene Cernan walk the cosmic ways, but also that James Meredith may be free to walk from Memphis to Jackson. We have an obligation to apply our resources and strength to goals so that not only may Earth-man visit planet Mars, but also that Earth-man in our nation may be free to live in his country anywhere and his finances will provide and according to his choice. Furthermore there is greater need to be enthusiastic in the widening of equality on earth than zealous for the expansion of interstellar rocketry. Not that space research experiments and voyages are unnecessary; such development is needed. But we are foolish if we forget that the best place to deploy the abundance of our wealth is planet Earth – here is the location for efforts for justice; and here the power of our decisions should create a fairer world for man.

Our destiny is best molded when [our] inner capacity and the strength of our feelings pushes our ideals from attractive vision to functioning reality. Like Ezekiel of old, we must demonstrate that in our marvelous devices and everyday ways, “the spirit of living creatures (is) in the wheels.”