A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.
Gene RoddenberryRead
I'm in a period of growth and expansion. I'm taking long, hard looks at the world and what's happening in it, analyzing and thinking. I'm trying to become acquainted with the universe - with the part of it I occupy - and trying to settle, for myself, what my relationship with it is.
Interpretation
The quote reflects a journey of self-discovery and understanding one's place in the universe.
In this quote, Gene Roddenberry expresses a deep engagement with personal growth and a contemplative approach to understanding the world around him. He emphasizes the importance of introspection and the need to analyze one's relationship with the universe, focusing on the growth that comes from being aware of one's environment and experiences.
In practice
In a personal development workshop, I shared this quote to encourage others to reflect on their own lives.
A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.
'Star Trek' episodes always insisted that humanity is on its bumpy way to what will be a glorious future in the 23rd century, in which we will have left most of our old selfishness - and old hatreds and prejudices - far behind us.
The network told me to get rid of Number One, the woman first lieutenant, and also get rid of 'that Martian fellow'... meaning, of course, Spock. I knew I couldn't keep both, so I gave the stoicism of the female officer to Spock, and married the actress who played Number One. Thank God it wasn't the other way around. I mean Leonard's cute, but...
For me science fiction is a way of thinking, a way of logic that bypasses a lot of nonsense. It allows people to look directly at important subjects.
Star Trek says that it has not all happened, it has not all been discovered, that tomorrow can be as challenging and adventurous as any time man has ever lived.
I believe in humanity. We are an incredible species. We're still just a child creature, we're still being nasty to each other. And all children go through those phases. We're growing up, we're moving into adolescence now. When we grow up - man, we're going to be something!
I am a weak and sinful man, but God put His hands on me, that is all.
Drag is a chicken suit, and you're very emboldened. Whatever you do or say or fail at or succeed at is attributed to your costume and not you as a person. So there's a lot of freedom.
Run down the list of those who felt intense anger at something: the most famous, the most unfortunate, the most hated, the most whatever: Where is all that now? Smoke, dust, legend...or not even a legend. Think of all the examples. And how trivial the things we want so passionately are.
Whatever is arising in this moment, whatever condition, is part of the isness of life and therefore accepting it fully makes you an expression of the enormous power of life itself-true intelligence, which only comes when you stop obstructing the power of the present moment.
We twentieth-century Mexicans, even those of pure Indian descent, look on the pre-Columbian world as a world on the other side, not only distant in time but across the cultural divide.
So long as we use a certain language, all questions that we can ask will have to be formulated in it and will thereby confirm the theory of the universe which is implied in the vocabulary and structure of the language.
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