Since I am from Jupiter, there is no mortal on Earth
better qualified to comment upon the Spaceways than I, Sun Ra. My message is
simple: Space is the place. Simultaneously, Outer Space is a very crazy place.
If you are unconvinced, you will soon know otherwise. I will demonstrate to
you unambiguously the obvious. It's no shame to want to know. After all, it's
vast and endless, even free. There's no limit to the things that you can do.
Most people tend to think of "the place" in terms of "what happens on Earth."
"What's been going on around here?" people ask in their ignorance. You tell them
"nothing". However innumerable interesting
things have been happening in space without question. In this way does virtually everyone lie
everyday. Worlds rise and fall while you are detailing your automobile's technical
deficiencies.
So when we conceive of the "place" it is essential to integrate the whole
bigness of the universe into our conceptualizations. You may be wondering how
this is possible for someone like you, a person with a shrunken and enfeebled
cosmic consciousness. Perhaps these facts might influence your corroded judgement:
This is crazier than you are capable of understanding.
Did you know...
There is no sound in space?
The closest star to our sun is Alpha Centauri, which
is four light years away? That means if you were traveling at the speed of
light it would take you four years to get there.
No matter can travel at the speed of light unless
you are traveling the Spaceways with the Sun Ra Solar Arkestra?
Just like every marine is a rifleman, every member
of the Sun Ra Arkestra is a percussionist?
The sun is the result of a process called fusion?
Since the physical and chemical arrangement of your
brain convinces you that you exist at this moment, the universe itself could
be oriented in such a way as to give it a self-awareness you will only know
after you are dead?
Atlantis does not exist in space?
You are inconceivably small in the context of space?
Human beings recently sent a robot to Mars, which is a different planet of our solar system?
One day it might be economically viable to shoot
all this goddamned rotting garbage everywhere into space?
Jupiter is primarily gas, and the gravity there
would crush you instantly?
There is large asteroid field in our solar system, just like in The Empire Strikes Back?
No one really understands what the fuck is going on
right now? I mean, where are we? What the fuck is this? What's all this crap
everywhere?
Black holes exert so much gravitational force they absorb the surrounding light? The lightless edge of a black hole is called an Event Horizon.
We travel the Spaceways?
When they push that button to release all the nuclear weapons your ass will be in seriously bad condition?
If the laws of physics had developed even slightly
differently in the milliseconds after the Big Bang the universe would be
such that the development of life as we know it would be impossible?
Reflecting upon Space
What you might rather be contemplating, in your ignorance.
I am aware that there are those of you who remain unconvinced.
You would say to me that Outer Space is a boring place, rather than the place. When you learned there were neither
dinosaurs nor fighter craft in space, you wrote it off, continuing with your
tedious and banal lifescript. When your physics teacher informed you that
explosions were impossible in space since there was no oxygen, part of you
died and you associated space forevermore with nerds.
I am not a nerd. On Jupiter there are no nerds. There are swirling masses of
sentient energy that sometimes take human form and start large, very weird jazz bands.
The smallness of your minds sometimes produces in us what you would call "disgust."
But it is more pity, the sorrow of a thousand galaxies full of tears that you are
so thick-headed and ridiculous to pursue your miserable lives without once cowering
at the majesty and glory of Outer Space. It exists in you like a dull shadow,
cobbled together awkwardly from a pastiche of science fiction and garbled fact, but
never have you transcended the weak skeletal conceptions that hold you together and truly
seen that Space is the Place. Yes: Outer Space is a crazy place, and your major concern is a better color combination for your clothing.
Stop right now. Think. Don't you want to go? Yes, feel it swell within you.
Outer Space. Crazy. Fucking crazy. It's no disgrace to want to know.
There's no Limit
That's what I'm talking about.
While you have accustomed yourself to this planet and
its various vacuous facets you have lost sight of the limitlessness of space.
Much as there is no limit to space that we can detect, there is no limit to
the rewards that can be gained by contemplating Outer Space. Let's try some
thought experiments:
Think deeply upon...
The Sun. From any visual angle it would take ten
Earths to extend across its surface. That is large.
Atoms. They are energy "frozen" into an
idiosyncratic form.
Energy. It can be neither created nor destroyed.
The disorienting sounds I produce playing my Space
Organ. They are bizarre.
Time. What is the relationship between you and I,
separated by space, and you and you just moments ago?
The Sun Ra Solar Arkestra stage show, which always
entertains in addition to the music. Our dancers are first rate.
A turtle upon the back of a turtle, upon the back of
another turtle.
All the minds throughout Earth history that have
passed away.
The harmonious orbits of the planets, their
beautiful regularity and predictability.
The awesome confusion of quantum mechanics.
Saxophonist John Gilmore.
The great pyramids of Egypt pointing into the
heavens. Who could have known there was no "up" outside of human experience?
The awesome energy potential of the universe,
released through the crude murdering devices known as nuclear weapons.
The vast dead emptiness of space that no human device could possibly traverse without the Arkestra conjuring a wormhole via the song combination 1)Astro Black, 2)Intergalactic Motion, 3)Neptune, and 4)Theme of the Stargazers.
Now you are just beginning to understand.
Your Thought is Free
Outer Space.
It is clear that Outer Space is so weird that there is
no reaction too extreme. One way to represent your jubilance in comprehension
of the totality of Outer Space is gyrating wildly and speaking in tongues,
wherever you happen to be right now. You might craft an expressionistic dance
if you are so inclined. If you have a saxophone or Space Organ handy you might
play those to embody your emotional commitment. If others are listening it is
possible they may be enlightened by your performance.
Always remember if the minutia of life is dominating your awareness that there
exists another realm that surrounds this planet that dwarfs the insipid interpersonal
machinations of your kind. On Jupiter we know only the cosmic consciousness. And there
is always a UFO ready to take us home to the promised land. There is a UFO waiting
for you all, destination: Andromeda.
