By DONALD DeMARCO
Sometime ago I wrote an article curiously titled, “Why There Are Stairs?” I gave it to my wife to proofread. Immediately, she thought there was a typo in the title. “You mean ‘why are there stars,’ don’t you? That would be a better topic.” I had succeeded in avoiding a typo in the title, but her question was understandable. At the same time, it awakened another thought in me. “There are stairs because there are stars,” I said. She smiled and felt that maybe I was on to something.
In Gen. 28:12, Jacob, while fleeing from his brother, Esau, who wanted to kill him, had a prophetic dream in which he saw “a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and angels ascending and descending on it” (New International Version). In a Biblical sense, the distance between Heaven and Earth (or the length of the stairs) is not measured in light years. Heaven is accessible. We do not need a rocket ship to get there, though such a mode of travel would prove futile, but by climbing God’s special stairway whose steps are made of faith. For those who believe in God, Heaven is near at hand.
In the New Testament we find a reference that has a strong affinity with Jacob’s dream: “Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51). This text, as the one in Genesis, bridges the gap between Heaven and Earth.
Ella Fitzgerald popularized the song “Let’s build a stairway to the stars.” It included the words, “Let’s climb that stairway to the stars” and its propelling force would be love. We could soar to the heavens on wings of love. The conjunction of stairs and stars seem to be part of the human psyche.
The philosopher Immanuel Kant confessed that there were two things that fascinated him more than anything else: “The starry sky above and the moral law within.” We inhabit a cosmos in which everything is inter-related. Could it be that there is some connection between the stars and our moral life? The Magi followed a star that led them to the birth of our Savior. It was a journey that combined starlight with the Light of the world.
Scientists have found evidence that cosmic rays originating in outer space can affect our genes. The Ancient Greeks are credited with discovering the fields of astronomy, democracy, and philosophy. It was their genius to understand that all three were related to each other. Because man had the capacity to know truth and develop a science of the universe, he was well qualified to take his place in a democratic society.
Stars decorate the American flag. Though it also has stripes, it is called the “star-spangled banner.” The motto of the state of Kansas is “ad astra per aspera” (to the stars through difficulties). “Keep your eyes on the stars,” Theodore Roosevelt advised “and your feet on the ground.” America has always had a special place in her heart for stars.
There are two kinds of journeys. One takes us from one geographic location to another. We travel by car, ship, plane, or make the journey on foot. The other journey is moral. Its trajectory is upward. It is a journey that leads to God. It is a flight of stairs, so to speak, each step of which is made of good deeds. And it is available to each one of us. “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are,” as the opening song from the movie Pinocchio reminds us. These words have special application for the elderly. “And as the evening twilight fades away,” wrote Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, “the sky is filled with stars invisible by day.”
Geppetto, we should remember, was a carpenter and foster father to a child who was conceived in a very special manner. The name Geppetto is a Tuscan diminutive of Giuseppe, which in English is “Joseph.” The allusions to the Holy Family and the importance of a star are evident in the Pinocchio story. Stars have always had special appeal to children as is apparent in the popular nursery rhyme, “Starlight, star bright, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.”
Churches have “spires” that point upwards to indicate that we all have “aspirations” to get to Heaven. Therefore, to arrive at our ultimate density we must travel in an upward direction.
Consequently, we need some kind of spiritual staircase on which we make our peregrination. The journey is wondrous, and personally transformative. As G.K. Chesterton has stated, “If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?”
We need stairs because there are stars that are perpetually reminding us that we were created for better, brighter, and higher things. The tablets Moses gave us can be rearranged to form a stairway to the stars.
Shakespeare refers to man as “the quintessence of dust,” a most meaningful phrase. “Quintessence,” for the Ancient Greeks, was the “fifth essence” (“quinta essentia”). Unlike air, earth, fire, and water, it was imperishable. We are creatures of the earth, but we must not forget that we are also celestial creatures composed of stardust. We aspire to a richer and more exalted life. This is our incentive to reach for the stars as we ascend God’s stairway to Heaven.
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