Dear Reader,

Tonight, I was reading and talking about astronomy with my son. He was asking about distances in the Solar System, the current whereabouts of the two Voyager vessels, and the likes.

Then, a funny thought happened to me, starting with these considerations: humanity, for a very long time, has held the Sun as the topmost position in space, the epitome of what’s high above, a symbol for God himself. Going “up near the Sun” was the ultimate sign of hubris that brought Icarus down.

Even in scientific literature, the distance between the Earth and the Sun has a unique role and a specific definition: one Astronomic Unity (1 AU), and it is often used to describe events taking place inside or near the Solar System.

So, it seems that “reaching out for the Sun”, “going as up as the Sun”, and similar terms are used to symbolise reaching extreme heights and peaks.

Now the fun starts: I bet against any odds that I can go twice as far as the Sun, staying comfortably seated in my chair.

Have you got how I’d do it, my Reader? You can do it as well, no fuss.

Simply stay put for six months. Earth will do its half-circle around the Sun, and reach a point that is in the current direction of the Sun and twice as far.

Is that cheating? Well, I don’t think that is the right question to ask.

Put it in another way: you may huff and puff to get beyond the Sun in a linear path, only to discover that you have, metaphorically and literally, come back to the starting point, and that to move further away you have to change strategy.

So: the question, or, rather, the consideration, is that you might find easy ways to believe you have gone far. Much more difficult is to realise that you might have to turn away from what you think it is the apex, to truly reach far and beyond.

Would I be able to do that? Probably no one would blame me if I keep moving the “supposedly right” way.

No one except me and my inner punk spirit, of course.

And that is enough to choose the path.

Until next time, avoid running in circles, and set your trajectory straight.