in the open space: God & culture

There are a handful of days in everyone’s life that they can point to and say, “That day changed me. That day helped make me who I am.” They usually happen on big event days, the day you get married, the day you have your first kid, the day you land on Venus. But they can also happen on regular days, in unlikely moments, with events that may seem like nothing at the time . . . or they’re so huge that they literally take your breath away. ~Maddox Donnor’s voiceover in “Venus,” the next to last episode of Defying Gravity . I’ve long been fascinated by the idea that the choices we make each day are individual footsteps down a path, be it one towards life and light or another towards darkness and destruction. Donner’s voiceover gets at those times we remember and can point to where something happened and the choices we made were significant steps on those paths. But many of those more significant choices, events or circumstances come on the heels of a sea of ordinary days filled with sma...

In the “Venus” episode of Defying Gravity (a series following six astronauts as they journey through the solar system on a mission they recently realized involves a new life form), Paula is struggling with Dr. Mintz ’s request that she examine an experience she had as a child in which her dog Hector seemed to be miraculously brought back to life after being hit by a car—an experience foundational to her faith in God. She talks with Steve, a theoretical physicist with whom she has formed an unlikely but deepening friendship . Paula: Do you believe in miracles, Steven? Steve: I believe that amazing stuff goes on in the universe every single day. But they all have an explanation. Miracles are— He pauses. Steve: —reality with parts missing. Paula ( despondent ): So they’re lies. Steve: No, they’re incomplete. It’s like we smooth over the missing stuff with what we want to believe. Paula: That’s just it. Mintz wants me to examine every moment of my miracle with Hector. Steve: So? W...

Poets will tell you that science diminishes the beauty of the stars by reducing them to super-heated balls of gas. But I don’t think there is a scientist alive who isn’t awed by the heavens. We’re all just kids lying on our backs on the lawn looking up at the sky wondering where we fit in. We don’t seek answers to diminish nature. We seek answers to discover who we are. And if our search takes us to unfamiliar or frightening places, we trust that nature will help us find a way out. —Maddox Donnor, in the “Eve Ate the Apple” episode of Defying Gravity Donnor’s voice over is from the last aired episode of ABC’s Defying Gravity , a series following six astronauts as they journey through the solar system on a mission they recently realized involves a new life form. In this episode, the crew learns of this new life form’s existence, and much of what they believed and took for granted is challenged. And while Donnor is coming from a place in which he trusts in the larger providence of natu...

Here in the U.S., ABC recently stopped airing Defying Gravity after the eighth episode, and left us hanging with a vague promise to air the rest of the episodes when they can. Not so in Canada, where CTV aired the ninth episode last week. Which is a good one—and one that propels us forward by leaps and bounds in the story. And you can see (at least for the next few days) online here (hat tip Examiner ). Unfortunately, it looks like CTV is also going the route of ABC : they're also taking the series off the air for now. I must say, the Internet is quickly becoming one of my preferable ways of viewing television programs. Last month, I watched the entire first season of SyFy’s Sanctuary on Netflix Instant (for free!) and this weekend I watched the first two episodes of Castle on iTunes (I’d missed them the first time around). And since there are at least four programs I want to watch on Thursday nights at the same time (and my DVR can only record two), I’ll most likely be watchi...

I suppose there’s a kind of comfort in following orders. All you have to do is exactly what you’re told to do. It’s effortless. It’s mindless. And it completely absolves you of any responsibility. Unless you get a conscience. It’s been said that the capacity to blindly follow orders is what turns ordinary people into monsters—or, ordinary people into heroes. All depends on exactly what the order is. And that’s the catch, because we’re all responsible for who we pick to lead and who we choose to follow. Whether we give orders or take them, we all contribute to the outcome. The responsibility falls on all of our shoulders. No matter who’s giving the orders and who’s taking them, sooner or later we all have to answer to a higher power. --Maddox Donnor’s voiceover from the "Love, Honor, Obey" episode of Defying Gravity , ABC’s sci-fi series about a group of astronauts on a mission through the solar system. You can see the episode here . Personally, I thought this episode of Def...

Mince once told me he couldn ’t remember a single person he saved as a surgeon. He could recall cases, diseases, wounds, but he forgot the people. When I asked him why, he said it was simple: there are no lessons to learn from the ones you save, no reason to remember. Lessons are taught by the ones you lose. We never remember the ones we save. And we never forget the ones we fail. It’s about taking responsibility for our choices. About learning from sacrifice. It’s those hard lessons that shape us, and how we respond, where we go in our lives. I don’t think there’s ever been a man or a woman without some kind of regret, and that’s probably a good thing. Because it’s our failures more than our successes that make us who we are. --Maddox Donnor ’s voiceover for the "Bacon" episode of Defying Gravity , ABC’s science fiction drama about a group of astronauts voyaging through the solar system. You can see the episode here . And in this episode of Defying Gravity , this truth p...

Passing the point of no return doesn’t just happen. It’s a choice that we make, a line we decide to cross. And we live with the consequences. There are no promises of a positive outcome. No guarantees that like Caesar we’ll wind up with an empire. All we can really count on is the things we change, and that we’ll have to live with the results. And that’s the hard part, because we are defined by our past. We can rethink our choices a million times, but what we decide we own. It becomes a part of who we are. And while we may be crossing the river, our footprints will always remain on the other side. --Maddox Donnor’s voiceover at the end of the “Rubicon” episode of Defying Gravity , which you can see here Okay, dang it. I’m officially going to miss Defying Gravity , ABC’s sci-fi series about a group of astronauts on a mission through the solar system. Yeah, I know. It’s not cancelled—yet. But its ratings aren’t good. And, as past experience has taught me, that can get good stories can...

AJ once told me that the idea of man knowing everything about something is folly. His word not mine. He said that man by his very nature is dependent on other men. We need each other to survive. The problem is getting anyone to admit that. As a species, we pride ourselves on being self-sufficient. Why ask a stranger for directions? We’d rather stay stubborn and lost.… Like it or not, man by his very nature is dependent on other men. We call ourselves explorers, independent, courageous. But what are we without the support of our brothers? I mean, how far do we really get if we try to do everything alone? When the simplest, smallest thing can bring the whole world around you grinding to a halt, I want peace of mind. I want to rely on my brother. I know that he’ll find the wrench if I don’t. --Donnor’s opening and closing monologue during the “H2IK” episode of Defying Gravity , which you can see here Of course, I was immediately enthralled upon the opening monologue to this episode of D...

I was a pretty decent athlete as a kid. Hoops, soccer, baseball. When it came to choosing up sides, I was almost always picked first. That leads to certain arrogance, an expectation: if you perform well, you win. Cause and effect. It doesn’t always prepare you well for being an adult. Life isn’t always fair. Failure can be rewarded. Merit can be looked at like a disease. Sometimes I think the only natural selection happens in a petri dish. But if it’s in a petri dish, that’s not really natural, is it. So, the question is: who or what is it that’s picking the teams? And why can the results seem so unfair and painful? I have no answers. All I know is, if they pick you first, you better come through. --Voice over by Antares Flight Engineer Maddux Donner at the end of the "Natural Selection" episode of ABC’s Defying Gravity Well, if ratings are any indication , another science fiction show is about to bite the dust before it even reaches the first stop in its interplanetary mi...