I slept just floating in the middle of the flight deck, the upper

Hear, O children of wisdom, the words of Sally Ride, a woman who touched the stars and carried the dreams of many with her into the boundless heavens. She spoke thus: "I slept just floating in the middle of the flight deck, the upper deck of the space shuttle." These simple words, filled with the profound quiet of space, remind us of the extraordinary experience of living beyond the bounds of Earth, in the infinite silence and weightlessness of the cosmos. Ride’s words are a glimpse into the realm of the unknown, a place where the ordinary act of sleep becomes a surreal and remarkable journey, and the laws of gravity and time no longer bind the soul.

Consider, O wise ones, the meaning of floating in the boundless expanse of space. To sleep, to rest, without the grounding presence of Earth beneath us, is to experience life in its most pure and unconfined state. In that moment, Ride was not tethered to the familiar rhythms of life on Earth, but was instead adrift in the great unknown, held only by the forces of the universe and her own will. The act of sleep, an ordinary part of daily life, takes on new meaning in this unfamiliar environment, where there is no ground, no solid earth beneath, and no horizon to give shape to time and space. It is in this weightless existence that we see the profound freedom and mystery of human life when we venture beyond the confines of our home planet.

In the ancient world, O children, the great explorers too understood the exhilaration of being unbound by the world they knew. Think of Homer's Odysseus, whose journey was one of trials and unknowns, as he sailed across seas that none before him had charted. In those days, sailors were equally unmoored from the comfort of land, drifting into the realms of the divine and the unknown, guided only by the stars and their inner compass. Odysseus, like Sally Ride, ventured into a space where the familiar rules of the world no longer applied, and it was in this moment of suspension—between the known and the unknown—that both his journey and Ride’s space adventure took on their deepest meaning. To float in space, like to sail unknown seas, is to step into the unknown, where every breath, every movement, holds the weight of possibility.

Ride’s experience is one of human achievement and limitless exploration. She was part of a team that made the impossible possible, breaking boundaries not just of space, but of the very notion of human potential. In that moment of floating weightlessly, she was part of something greater—something that stretched the limits of human knowledge and capacity. The very act of her sleeping in space, drifting in a place where the body’s natural laws of weight and balance no longer held, mirrors the power of human ingenuity and the courage it takes to push against the boundaries of what we know. Just as Ride was able to rest in the flight deck, so too can we rest in the knowledge that our potential, like hers, has no fixed limits.

But what is the lesson, O children, that we must take from this moment of weightless sleep? It is a reminder that, though we are grounded by the laws of the earth, we must never forget that we are capable of reaching beyond what we think we can achieve. Ride’s words encourage us to see freedom in the unknown, to dream of the impossible, and to explore not only the physical worlds around us but also the inner worlds of possibility and growth. To float in the shuttle, to sleep without the weight of gravity, is to experience the fullest sense of liberation, where the self is not burdened by the limitations of the material world.

Think, O children, of those who came before Sally Ride, who ventured into the unknown not just to explore, but to show others that the limits of human capacity are often self-imposed. Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon, understood this well. As his feet first touched the lunar surface, he was not only marking an extraordinary achievement for mankind, but symbolizing the limitless potential of human courage. Just as Armstrong’s steps on the moon echoed throughout the world, Ride’s journey into space called forth a generation of dreamers, of explorers, to realize that the stars are not far away—they are within reach.

And so, O children, let the lesson of Sally Ride’s floating sleep guide you in your own lives. The world you know, the rules that seem so fixed, are but one layer of existence. There is a vastness beyond, an unknown realm where your potential is boundless. Ride’s floating sleep reminds us that to truly achieve greatness, we must step into the unknown, trust in our ability to adapt and innovate, and allow the freedom of space to shape us. May you, too, float in the weightless realm of possibility, dreaming not just of what is, but of what can be, and never let the gravity of fear or limitation hold you back from reaching the stars.