Dr. Edgar Mitchell on the nature of the universe; his reflections of his trip to the moon:
“When I went to the moon, I was as pragmatic a test pilot, engineer, and scientist as any of my colleagues … But there was another aspect to my experience during Apollo 14, and it began with the breathtaking experience of seeing planet earth floating in the vastness of space. The first thing that came to mind as I looked at earth was its incredible beauty … a splendid blue and white jewel suspended against a velvet black sky. How peacefully, how harmoniously, how marvelously it seemed to fit into the evolutionary pattern by which the universe is maintained. In a peak experience, the presence of divinity became almost palpable and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random process... It was knowledge gained through private subjective awareness, but it was - and still is - every bit as real as the objective data upon which, say, the navigational program or the communications system were based. Clearly, the universe has meaning and direction … an unseen dimension behind the visible creation that gives it an intelligent design and that gives life purpose.”
