Mars
_I: This past week, on February 18, 2021, the “Perseverance” Rover sent by the American National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA), landed on the Red Planet, about 102 million kilometers from Earth, in its furthest moment in the perihelion orbit (around the Sun). The fascination with searching for life on Mars goes beyond knowing about life on that planet, but rather raises the possibility that someday humans will be able to change the atmosphere of this planet and inhabit this world. Although it always seemed like an unnecessary waste of money to me. Thinking about populating another world when we still don't know how to take care of our own seems very daring to me.
_AM: For an animal that has evolved reason, intelligence, since its mind has become infinite, physical space is too small. And if he can, he finds no limits, he will always look for a way to go further. And something that the intelligent, intellectual human possesses is the lack of common sense.
_I: Why?
_AM: Well, a being with an unlimited mentality does not understand the responsibility of taking care of the limits. An intellectual will always ask: “Why not?” While a limited person will say: “No, I can't.
_I: Ugh… I have a very big conflict here. Well, I am one of those who usually says “why not?”, and yet, it often seems like a very selfish thought to me, which does not evaluate the results of its indifference to limits. But despite this, we would not have achieved anything we have done if there had not been people asking “why not”. There would be no technology, art, cultures, human rights, freedom of expression... We would not have experienced any revolution, and there would have been no evolution. Without the “Why not?”, the first hominid would never have left that forest, and today we would still be like the primates of Africa. But it is precisely the “Why not?” the same statement that has destroyed the forests of Africa and put all primates on the brink of extinction, enslaved other humans and destroyed natural resources...
_AM: It's the great dichotomy. The extremes of contraction and expansion. The Human is like a beat of the terrestrial heart, which beats, contracting and dilating, consuming civilizations and expanding new ones. Contraction hurts, because you feel pressure, limitation, and it is your constant repression that drives dilation, the opposite effect that expands, releases, liberates in search of new horizons, of finding freedom in all senses outside of the pressure and limitations. Both extremes of the polarity of action are inherent to humans. The Limiting Action is containing, but destructive. Unlimited Action is expansive but devastating. Both concepts come together in the human vision of the need to belong, but also to possess.
_I: Where are you born?
_AM: From the fear of losing my life. Like everything. Before discovering Agriculture, nomads did not have this problem, because they understood that nothing belonged to them, they could only take what they needed and then they continued on their way. But when they understood the magic of sowing, they became sedentary, and saw that they could produce much more without having to worry about everyday life. They could keep their animals in pens, and count their grains and fruits to get them through the winter. This created a new sense in humans that changed everything.
_I: Which one?
_AM: Possessing. The Possession. Possession comes from the Latin “potis” (power) and “sedere” (sit), that is, the one who discovers the power of the settlement, the one who sits down and says “over this I have power.” The idea of territoriality began to emerge, and thus the nomadic idea of “the limit is the horizon” became “the limit is where I grow crops and raise livestock.” They began to possess the land, to become owners, masters and lords of what grew on them, and therefore, they had to defend it.
_I: The fight for riches, for possessions.
_AM: The Etruscans called possession like the Indo-Europeans: “moris”, that is, “dwelling”, place where one lives, land, home. And the spirit of those fertile lands was known as “Maris” (moaris). This was the “god” of Agriculture. A child, young, vigorous, strong, industrious, who walked through the fields, who fertilized the seeds, who encouraged abundance. But of course the production had to be guarded against invaders, thieves, those alien to those lands. Thus, Maris harshly defended the Etruscan territories and crops in Italy. The spirit of the guardian, of the strong and powerful young man who took care of the vegetation, became an emblem for the new towns of Etruria, children of Romulus in the 7 Hills of Latium: Rome. The Romans, immigrants from the coasts of western Anatolia, exiled from Troy, took the keys to their new land, and with their impetus of power, began to expand as all their ancestors had done long ago, following the legacy of expansion. territorial, defending their crops, but this time, with a little more ambition: conquer as many crops as possible. The towns were growing, and with them the need to feed more and more people, to generate more resources and products, which led the Mediterranean towns to begin incessant adventures with the banner of the god of Agriculture.
_I: The one from Agriculture? Did they do everything in the countryside?
_AM: Of course. Thus, Maris became Romanized, becoming Martius, known today as Mars.
_I: The Roman god of War was the god of Agriculture… I would never have thought that…
_AM: Everything is for the food. But the ancients were not stupid at all, and their war campaigns were never carried out during the cold winter, because it was useless to fight in the cold, with a shortage of food. Invading territories without active workers was not a good option. So they established certain fighting regulations: all would be carried out starting in Spring, with the first sowings. This way they could at least conquer productive fields to feed the soldiers. Because of this, the first month of the year was named in honor of the god of Agriculture and Sowing, who soon also became the god of Battles and War to defend the fields.
_I: The Fields of Mars… In the month of March. Does March arise from Mars?
_AM: Martius, it is the time of Mars, the same as the second day of the week, Tuesday. All in honor of this god. The Norse called Mars Tyr, which is why in English you know the second day of the week as “Tuesday”, the day of Tyr, but they maintained the nomenclature of the month in relation to Rome.
_I: March the first month of the year?
_AM: January and February are added months for the Romans and Greeks, who had 10 months in their calendar. March dedicated to Mars (Martius), the initiator of sowing. April dedicated to Aphrodite (Apru – Aphro), the spring beauty. June to the goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter, divinity of youth and marriage, union. From here on, the months were called in order from the beginning of the year: Quintilis (fifth month: July), Sextilis (sixth month: August), Septembris (seventh month), Octobris (eighth month), Novembris (ninth month ) and Decembris (tenth month). Although Quintilis was renamed by Julius Caesar, who was not far behind by Augustus Caesar, changing his name as a divinity in the Sextilis, thus we have July and August.
_I: Wow… Interesting. And January and February?
_AM: Two months added after taking the Solar calendar of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Where the annual change celebration days were rearranged. January is in honor of the god of Time, Janus, who has two faces, one looking to the past and the other to the future, speaking of the end and beginning of the year. And February comes from the period of Purification, a time when one renewed oneself to begin the new cycle in March, from the Latin “februa” (atonement, purification). And the cycle begins again on Mars. This planet, then, is related to Aries, the initiating sign, the beginning, the strength, the will, the inertia and spark that begins all things.
_I: And the one who can start a fire and burn everything.
_AM: The wrath of fire, rage, anger. For this reason, the Greeks called this god Ares, from the word "aré" which means "misfortune." Unlike the Romans, the Greeks saw this god as the one who encompassed all misfortunes, conflicts, battles, wars that broke into the harmony of daily life, that which destroyed everything in its path. Hated by the rest of the gods and humans, Ares did not hesitate to show his discontent with the world by running over everything in his path.
_I: And the planet encompassed this concept. Why was it called Mars?
_AM: At first glance you can understand why. If you look at it in the sky, you will see that its color is not like other stars, whitish, but reddish. The red color of his light made him imagine himself bathed in blood, and for this reason, he was characterized as Ares, soaked in the blood of his enemies, or Mars, advancing through the territories taking them over. Thus, humans gave this world the power of the god of War. Mars is reddish due to its high concentration of iron oxide on the surface, which corrodes everything, turning it red and rusty. The planet, even though it is approximately three times smaller than the Earth, has certain peculiarities, and they are that it has the highest mountain or volcano in the solar system, called Mount Olympus, in honor of the home of the Greek gods, which is 3 times taller than Mount Everest with a base 600 km wide, that is, a volcano as big as all of Germany. It also has the largest and deepest canyon in the Solar system, with wide areas of between 200 to 700 km, a maximum depth of 11 km, and 4500 km long, about the length of the east coast to the west coast of the United States. And so on, it has a particular aspect that makes it similar to the Earth: it has water. Frozen at its two poles, but its geography consists of dry valleys and rivers, indicating that it was once a planet full of rivers and seas, and perhaps life.
_I: Martians?
_AM: Well… Not green, that's for sure, maybe reddish, redheaded.
_I: Is it true that people from Mars once came to live on Earth, and that redheads are a memory of that?
_AM: No.
_I: Just like that? Well… I had to try.
_AM: The stories of “Men or warriors come from Mars” and “Women and muses come from Venus” are nothing more than a legend of Greek mythological interpretation. That beings from other worlds have come to this one is true, but it does not mean that humans have decorated their visits with their own stories and tales.
_I: I understand…
_AM: What matters to us about Mars is its Action. This planet represents the Will in our subconscious, and as we saw describing, it describes the Expansion. As we have seen, humans seek to expand by nature, they seek to extend their possessions, and thus, they relate possession to work. And if he doesn't work, he invades, and if he doesn't have enough power, he steals, deceives. The search for possession is related to having, controlling, but all these concepts are not born from the force of possessing, but from the fear of losing. Mars describes the biological body, an organism designed for battle, against hunger, against sleep, against viruses and bacteria, against the pressure of the world, against extinction . The body was designed as an armor of the being, prepared for the great battle of life. And the way to survive is by accumulating reserves, by feeding yourself, having something to face life with, having energy to get through the worst moments. The first battle is to live, the second is to breathe, the third battle is to eat, the fourth battle is to sleep, the fifth battle is to reproduce, the sixth battle is to transcend. For the body everything is based on the fight for survival. Action, then, is the key to achieving it. And the action says: “before the world consumes me, I must consume the world.” Thus, there is an internal force in every living being that leads it to leave where it finds itself with the need to expand, to gain territory, to conquer. The Martian expansion of spring: pollinate, reproduce. As you will see, for nature, this struggle is normal, balanced, it lives in harmony with the rest of things, since it is based on the foundations of matter, which is limited in its quantity, unlimited in its transformation. But then the intellect arrives, and the limitation of matter seems like a prison to it. Where the body sees opportunities for subsistence, the mind sees nothing but limitations of existence. And he creates stories, legends, dreams, which he manages to capture through the materials of the ground, but he falls short. Need more. Use culture, thought, art, as forms of battle, and interpret others as bacteria. Thus wars, invasions, empires, genocides are born. Spilled blood is the need of the mind to satisfy its unlimited need in a limited world.
_I: That's why we get angry, that's why there is rage, anger, it's all the energy that our mind generates seeking to have what it can't, which not only goes beyond objects, but also people, emotions, souls. We get angry with others because we cannot get from them what we expect, and we will never be able to get it from others, because it lives in the idyllic of our unlimited mind. This frustrates…
_AM: …And it makes you angry. We fight because of our discontent, because things do not go as we expect, because it is never enough. Does it sound familiar to you?
_I: Yes… Sounds familiar. But it's hard not to get angry, that is... How do you control that almost biological need in you to want to possess, to want everything to turn out as expected? I understand what you're saying, but in many people that way of being is almost a program...
_AM: This attitude is transcended when you manage to clear the two satellites of Mars.
_I: Phobos and Deimos?
_AM: They are two asteroids, rocks, that orbit around Mars, but their names have enormous symbolism in this fight. In 1877, astronomer Hall saw these two satellites circulating around the red planet and very appropriately named them “Fear” (Phobos) and “Panic” (Deimos). Fear and Panic are the satellites of the mind of every human, like flies that hover around him, reminding him that he can lose the battle. His mental, emotional or physical wars are at risk all the time, and these rocks flutter around his intelligent head making him doubt his limitless capabilities. Thus, the intellectual becomes cold, controlling, manipulative, forgetting the present, and seeking to cling to the future, controlling the impossible, losing the notion of the possible. Fear consumes the action of Mars and turns it into a reaction. Panic consumes the will of Mars and turns it into violence. No one is bad or aggressive by nature, all violence and aggression, reaction and impulse, come from fear, from the panic of losing control, falling into the jaws of limitation. Every violent, aggressive, warrior being is nothing more than a soul that fears losing what it has achieved.
_I: Getting angry, then, is synonymous with Fear. Aggression is nothing more than accumulated panic. Sometimes a lot of things make me angry. Many injustices make me angry, or I get very angry with certain people. It makes me angry when people comment without asking, when they point out without listening. It makes me very angry that people who work in consciousness consider themselves superior, or lecture others from moral superiority. It makes me very angry when instead of doing their process they want to control mine or give me advice that I haven't asked for. It makes me irritable sometimes to see that this same thing happens on a planetary level, with so much judgment, so much injustice, so much separation. I get desperate seeing that consciousness is an almost lost battle when I see people's reactions to the slightest thing. When millions are spent going to Mars when balance has not been found on Earth, when companies and policies fight for their interests, when citizens blame the systems for their own irresponsibility, when they judge the way of life of others according to their own conceptions of life, when banalities are discussed while others die of hunger... This world of polarities is a world of dualities, which have become opposites in struggle, in war, creating cracks between equal humans, only for one overwhelming need to dominate, control, overcome others, to be right...
_AM: Inspire. And remember what Pluto said: you're going to die. No matter what you do, you will die the same. There is only one possible way out. You are in a limited world, and your body has an end, as does your reason and intelligence. Fighting to control the uncontrollable only awakens Phobos and Deimos in you. There the evils of Mars in humanity are born. But remember... Mars is not War, it is Agriculture! Give meaning to this world. Breathe in, plant the seed, be patient as it takes root. Water it with the waters of your soul, with the inspiration of your spirit. Sing to it as it grows, read to it and talk to it about the wonder of life as it blooms. Its fruits, then, will be eternal, and will nourish each seed beyond your death, and your voice, your soul and spirit will live in each one who consumes the fruits. Patience and constant action is the attribute of procreation, of generation. Humanity has been in the great struggle for thousands of years, because instead of seeing the fertile terrain of Mars, they look with fear at Phobos and Deimos, feeling in the rich iron the blood of the fight to survive.
_I: Transcend Fear and Panic, and you will see the real Mars…
_AM: The one of the Will, the one of the Beginning, the one of the strength, the one of the sowing. You will see how the iron-rich soil strengthens the plants that grow, creating forests and jungles. Resign the battle to live, because life is already eternal, you just have to free yourself from the idea that life should be eternal as you want. Let go of what you want to possess, and you will see that the only thing eternal is transformation.
_I: “The only thing permanent is change” (Heraclitus).
_AM: That is where true infinity lies, that is where action finds its eternity. When you release control over the life you have, you will become eternal in existence.
_I: I awaken in me the will of Mars, and I decide to start a new path, where Fear and Panic are only memories of my past that guided me to survival.
_AM: I Am Action, and in it I find Freedom.
_I: I Am Will, and there I find Eternal Life.