José Vega
A New Space CCC

This is an edited transcript of the presentation made by José Vega to the Schiller Institute International Conference, on June 27, 2020, “Will Humanity Prosper, or Perish? The Future Demands a Four-Power Summit Now,” on Panel 3: “The Job of Youth.”

Let us start with Friedrich Schiller, words later put into song by Beethoven:

 

Be embraced, O ye millions!

Here’s a kiss for all the World.

Brothers, above the canopy of stars,

A loving Father must surely dwell.

Do you feel Him near, O ye Millions?

Do you sense your Creator, World?

Seek Him above the canopy of stars!

Above the stars must he reside.

I don’t think even Beethoven realized it, but he was actually calling for a space program long before Kennedy.

Through classical composition, Beethoven’s entire symphony serves to develop the ideas and essence of Schiller’s poem, which is that of Mankind’s beauty under the image of the Creator. Beethoven was incredibly challenged to set music to the poem, saying that it may not have been possible to create a symphony as beautiful as the poem. Beethoven’s composition of the Ninth Symphony is similar to the Apollo space program, in that it required the composer to make new creative discoveries that would allow for such a composition to even exist.

In our pursuit to seek a loving father above the canopy of stars, we must make new discoveries that will enable us to go farther and faster than ever before. But what does it take to actually accomplish this? Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his letter from a Birmingham jail, “Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.” What does that mean, to be God’s co-worker? It demands that you use everything you have, no matter how big or small it is. That requires big thinking, not small-mindedness.

Take the poorest district in the United States, which has the highest COVID-19 transmission and infection rates, the highest levels of poverty and drug use, and also the highest amount of “essential workers.” How can anyone who lives in these conditions be expected to believe me, when I tell them that humanity is greater than this, and that within them is the potential for greatness? Well, truthfully, they no longer have a choice. They have to believe me because if they don’t, the country, and the world around them will implode. The fight for an honest future begins with those who need it the most. Because it is within them that the real future begins.

We must demand a New Deal-era policy, where a new kind of Conservation Corps is brought about, and it will be called a Space Civilian Construction Corps. Where anyone between the ages of 18 and 26 is allowed to use their God-given right to develop their creative capacities to bring forth a real future.

Suppose the people who go through the program are now running around building hospitals in their communities where millions will be born long after their deaths, and building schools where those millions will receive an education similar to theirs. These same people start developing higher forms of energy-flux density where it’d be more expensive to send you a bill every month than to actually power your home. But then they go beyond their communities and even their own countries.

As they get older and other programs start popping up all over the world, they become teachers, passing down what they’ve learned, so that those they teach can then do for the world, what the original group did for their country. I would like to think that Martin Luther King, Jr. would agree with me when I say that this is one of the highest forms of non-violence.

I’d like to finish off with a quote from Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. “Only when Love and power are wed/ Mankind has God’s blessing.” So, with that being said, are you ready to be co-workers with God?