THE SPIRITUAL IMPERATIVE OF SPACE EXPLORATION THE CALL FOR GLOBAL ACTION

摘要

Can science and spirituality coexist? Can space exploration and spirituality coexist? Most of us have not taken the time to contemplate, and marvel, at the accomplishment of the International Space Station (ISS), which has been continuously occupied by humanity for over 14 years and has traveled over a billion and a half miles around the earth. When astronauts embark on their journey of manned spaceflight, they are generally focused on the scientific and technical aspects of their work. Even for astronauts, most journeys of significance culminate in lessons, realizations, and impacts that are entirely different from what we could have imagined, before we embarked. When astronauts travel to space they often experience what has been called "the overview effect." Astronaut Ron Garan has recently published a book entitled the "Orbital Perspective," in which he describes his epiphany, "and in that moment, I was hit with the realization that this delicate layer of atmosphere is all that protects every living thing on Earth from perishing in the harshness of space." We have arrived at this magic moment in the only half-century space age, where we now contemplate life outer space and implications for religions on Earth. This is the moment where exobiology and exotheology begin to intersect. This paper is very modest, and does not attempt, in anyway, to answer these big questions. Instead this paper attempts to serve as an initial survey, for those that would like to take these issues and questions to the next analytical and investigative level. And this paper raises the question of whether the concept of the "Overview Effect," can be considered a type of religion in itself. This paper is meant as an introductory overview of contemporary issues connecting space and spirituality. The author hopes, that it can in some way, inspire others to take a few of these more interesting ideas and issues to a higher degree of development and clarity. This paper concludes, that we will need to challenge ourselves, spiritually, creatively, technically and commercially so that we can create solutions in the developing world that are both scalable and sustainable. This vision is not a whole lot different from the critical life support systems of those living and working on the International Space Station, let's start with ensuring the basic human needs of clean water and internet connectivity, globally! May this be where the spiritual inspiration from space delivers some tangible positive impact, for all of humanity here on Earth!