Braving the Wilderness: The Quest to Expand Man's Horizons

“For God, Glory, and Gold!“

Upon hearing the excitement of the great natural resources, outlandish rumors, and vast uncharted territory in North America, many European countries sought out their own expedition to discover and claim the ‘New World’ for themselves. It was the Age of Discovery; it was the Renaissance; it was the chance to change the world.

During our salon, my classmates and I were able to identify ‘New Worlds’—worlds that weren’t focused on discovering the unfamiliar terrain, but the sphere of the 'unknown' during the Renaissance, Reformation, and other eras throughout history.


One of the ‘New Worlds’ that we discovered was: Faith. When Christi’s made a comment showing how Joseph Smith, who lived in a world where people believed that God had left mankind, was a perfect example of using ‘Ad fontes’ to discover a ‘New World’. I loved Jackson’s comment:

“Exploring ‘New Worlds’ is like exploring ‘New Faiths’”.

If Joseph Smith had not gone back to the sources, the world's idea of the relationship between God and man would have never changed. However, because of his discovery, the world entered into a ‘New World’.

Joseph Smith seeing, talking, and interacting with God the Father and Jesus Christ

Although introducing ‘New Worlds’ can change our world, our perspective, and our lives, persecution, resistance, and failure are unavoidable. Just like Christopher Columbus, who first documented the trade winds to cross from Europe to the New World and back again, survived at least two mutinies against him during his expeditions. Even though his brazenness was the cause of his hardships, his successful voyages, which led to European colonization in the Americas and discovering the Columbian Exchange, outweighed his setbacks.

The Return of Columbus In Spain

For my personal research, I wanted to find a ‘New World’ that was discovered during modernist era. In particular, I wanted to find an event during this era where the world shifted based on its discovery and/or failure. Upon my research, I found myself diving into the Cold War, and to be more specific: the space race, a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop aerospace capabilities.

On January 28, 1986, an event with great excitement was cut short that shook the people of NASA, the United States, and the world.

The explosion of the Challenger.

President Reagan, canceling all of his meeting, gave one of the most profound speeches on TV in American history. In his speech, he: 1) Saves NASA’s reputation, 2) Addresses to the Soviet Union, and 3) Explain to the all children, who were watching on TV, what had transpired that day.

Because of President Reagan’s bravery, his speech moved America into a ‘New World’. A world where NASA would continue sending “more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and... more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space”. A world where America would beat the Soviet Union in the “quest [to] space”. A world where brave children would lead America's future because “The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave”.

‘New Worlds’ are all around us. We can create them, and we can dismiss them. The question is: Do we want to progress? Do we want to change the world? If so, it’s only a matter of “Braving the Wilderness: The Quest to Expand Man's Horizons”.