" Our beliefs can move us forward in life -- or they can hold us back."

How well I remember that July night in 1969 when we watched in awe as Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon. Extraordinary! Awesome! Humbling.

"Sheer brilliance," is what I remember thinking. What marvelous minds must have created that space-ship. Such imagination, such creativity. How far we’d come in such a short period of time ...after all, it was less than a decade before that we’d seen man first venture into space. How very smart man is, I thought, so advanced... heaven alone knew where we’d come to next!

Some thirty years later I was walking amongst some ancient ruins and was amazed to discover how advanced they were. Civilizations from 4000 years ago had toilets and piped water...yet many of us can recall all too vividly recent forays to the outhouse!

What about the stories of brain surgery being performed by the Egyptians some 3500 years ago.. Or the engineering wizardry of the Romans long before concrete was even “invented”.

How far have we really come? And how far are we going ...as individuals, as a society? Has our belief in our own brilliance helped us - or hindered us. Conversely, are we in danger of being stymied by the old axiom “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”?

It seems to me that the more aware I become -- the less I feel I know; the more I learn, the more I find there is to discover. All seems like such a contradiction. But then again ... which one of us would prefer the alternative!