The start of Epic

And so it begins.  The big sit, the long agony of flying to the almost exact other side of the world. For other's I'm sure that might be true. but I'm going to be comfortable.  For a start, the longest flight is only 12 1/2 hours long.  And I get to try a new 'lovely to fly in' Boeing 787-8 from Air Canada.

I also happen to be fortunate to be sitting up front, so no sympathy for me please.  I knew at the outset that if the expectation was for me to travel that far, and then run hard, I need not even bother if the travel itself would take a week to recover from.

I also happen to get to stop-over in a few favourite places on the way - Vancouver and Shanghai.  The first flight was indeed painless, the plane is a joy to be in.  Electronic everything.  Enough so actually that not every bit of it worked. But c'est la vie.   It's taking me to where I want to go and that's enough.  

And now the journey continues ...

Epic

It's evocative, isn't it..

You could call it a bucket list, but I'm not fond of the term myself, as it implies I'm about to depart this little blue marble that floats in space.  You could refer to what I've tried to do every couple years as a mid-life crisis, though it's been going on for so long now, that you'd think I'd be out of it by now. You might look at it as I choose to do - spend your days experiencing and exploring all the world has to offer, and don't ever pass up a chance to do something epic.

So in about a week, I get to depart on 3 flights over 30 hours and visit Cambodia and Angkor.  It's a UNESCO world heritage site, and widely known for being quite special.  For me, it ranks up there with Easter Island, the Pyramids, Machu Picchu, Kilimanjaro and Stonehenge.  But my trek is actually aimed at self development too, and I plan to run a half marathon race thru the temples being held on Dec. 7th.  Stunning scenery, huge amounts of history, an exotic land, and a chance to push myself to compete.  A match made in heaven.

I'll try to capture some highlights, so you can ride along vicariously with me.  I do warn you though, about 16kms into the run (in very hot weather), you may have to carry me a while.  I promise to return the favour though.

Going Home

We should all know our back-story, our history. It helps inform future paths we may elect to take, if we know our our own past well.  None of us have just appeared, our families established themselves and played roles in their communities we should be aware of. It's a core element of the nature / nurture approach that brought each of us to where we are today.

So this is an 'old-home' week for me.  Let's see where I've been.

Are we God ?

I read a fascinating article in a recent Economist whereby the rationale for the lack of interstellar aliens or other civilizations was floated.   It's a tad "science-y" dealing with gamma ray bursts, their frequency and effects, but worth the read if you have 10minutes.

It got me thinking  - what if we're the first ?  While statistically improbable, some species does indeed have to be first.  It will be lonely that's for certain, and indeed we may find evidence in the future of other civilizations that have existed, or are at a different stage of growth than we are.

What this reminded me of was a concept I was exposed to years ago in a book by Sir Arthur C. Clarke, noted science fiction writer and futurist.  Mr Clarke is credited with having dreamed up ideas in the 1940's to 1950's such as the global satellite communication network we use today, mobile phones and space elevators.  In one of his works that I've always been quite fond of - Childhood's End - Clarke cites racial memory as a mechanism where the future is "remembered" into the past as it will become evocative or traumatizing to us as a species.  Which got me thinking...what in our past is like that, perhaps nothing more so than religious beliefs.

If I put these two ideas together as I'm often wont to do, what if the role of God in our formative millennia as a species is due to the fact that our lucky position in the universe means we are simply older and more advanced than other worlds..?  In other words, we are the future gods to other worlds, all seeing, and knowing and able to control that which seems uncontrollable.  Even by today's standards, we can 'pull-off' many of the same illusions we credit our Gods with doing in days gone past.  A less advanced civilization watching us fly, communicate over great distance, use advanced powers to control weather and so on might easily assume we are divine in some way.

It's an interesting concept and one that raises questions about our responsibilities to others. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.