Space, Science, & Spirituality

View of Earth from the ISS

According to Madhu Thangavelu's CNN posting entitled, "My Take: Space travel is a spiritual experience," virtually all of those who travel in space have a spiritual experience, which he defines as a profound sense of awe at the majesty of space and of the Earth as seen from space.  Indeed, the whole experience of space travel including the thrill-fear of take off leaves those who experience it changed.  He believes that it is the desire for this experience that will motivate space tourism, which for most will amount to a pilgrimage.  In concluding the posting, he writes,

Most crew of space missions come back changed forever. Astronauts do not see national boundaries, they do not see warring nations, and they rarely notice the ravages of humanity and industry on the face of the planet.

All they see is a stunningly vibrant planet, lots of rich blue-aquamarine ocean, virgin white snowtops on chains of mountain ranges and puffs of cloud cover as the continents whizz by below them in absolute silence. No one is asking them for country of origin or standing in line for visa verification.

They see the whole world as one giant, harmonious living entity. They are immersed in warm and caring embrace; a feeling of oneness with nature is inescapable. From orbit, the idea of a common humanity becomes reality.

If that’s not a spiritual awakening, what is?

Brad Sim's Blog contains a posting entitled, "An exhortation to study the spiritual experience of astronauts," which provides more details on the spiritual experiences individual astronauts have had in space and notes that this whole phenomenon of space spirituality remains little studied or understood. The posting quotes Frank Borman as saying, "I had an enormous feeling that there had to be a power greater than any of us—that there was a God, that there was indeed a beginning." It seems to be a fiarly typical statement.

Is it possible that God has been designing us for life in space from the dawn of evolution?  Will future generations of space travelers continue to have life changing spiritual experiences?  Or, will the whole thing become so commonplace that the spiritual impact of space travel will be but a passing phase?  For the time being, what does seem clear is that science, technology, and spirituality have converged at the point of space travel.  Many science fiction writers have imagined a religionless future once spacefaring humanity "matures," but the reality may be just the opposite.  The transition form life on Earth to life in space may in fact take us one step closer to becoming what God is creating us to be—and one step closer to God.  Maybe not, but maybe so.