Babylon 5: Faith and Mental Health

 

It was the dawn of the third age of mankind .... The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers.... all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5. (Selections from the opening for  Season 1)

I grew up watching the show Babylon 5 (B5) and I have been thinking about its impact because a friend is watching the show for the first time. It was a major part of my creative daydreaming at the time (and I have to highlight "creative", I doubt too many others were having B5/Cadfael/Pretender crossovers in their heads).

Part 1:

"The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make this station and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are star-stuff. We are the Universe, made manifest, trying to figure itself out. And, as we have both learned, sometimes the Universe needs a change of perspective."
From the epasoide: A Distant Star

B5 also had a large impact on my views of faith and religion. I took to heart that we are bits of the universe trying to figure itself out and developed my faith around this idea. I did not grow up with deep roots in any one faith tradition (outside a  few Jewish and Christian holiday traditions) so this made sense. For a long time (and sometimes still today) I talk about "The Universe" in a way similar to how others speak about God or Gods. "The universe" was my opening to faith and is still the language I am most comfortable with even as I learn to appreciate the many other names used by faith traditions. Looking back I am grateful for B5 for laying a faith foundation I have slowly built upon. (I could go into more detail about certain characters and plot arcs but want to keep this spoiler free for my friend)

Part 2:

For the first season, Michael O'Hare played Commander Jeffrey Sinclair. Sinclair was a very interesting character and whose character was taken in interesting directions later in the show. Somewhere back at my parent's house I have his autograph that my dad got for me when he went to a con, (I don't remember which one). 

It was not until much much much later that we learned about the mental health struggles he faced while on the show. Here is J. Michael Straczynski discussing Michael O'Hare's battle with mental illness. (The clip contains a few spoilers for the show and his character. If you choose not to watch his struggles were similar to the struggles portrayed in the film A Beautiful Mind) 

For me, the take away is you never know what others are going through. You never know what others are struggling with. And in the end, we can never talk about mental health issues enough.