Science Meets Spirituality: A Conversation with Dr. Edgar Mitchell

It has been a my privilege recently to write an Italian introduction to Apollo 14 astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell’s book The Way of the Explorer. Metaphysics and science meet in a wonderful literary work, a treat for the people of Italy. It is the creation of a new philosophy called which Dr. Mitchell calls Quantum Cosmology.

The Way of the Explorer is fascinating book because it combines the exploration of Metaphysics with its application to scientific principles. It also speaks about the intensely spiritual epiphany Dr. Mitchell experienced on his 1971 Apollo 14 space voyage to the moon. He often explains it as a feeling of “oneness” with the Cosmos. What is more interesting is that this book details Dr. Mitchell’s search for the psychic connection to reality because it described his research at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) with Uri Geller and other gifted psychics and healers, often funded by the CIA.

The book is the telling of a journey, a search for truth, one that most of us researchers can recognize. Mitchell’s interests include consciousness and paranormal phenomena. During the Apollo 14 flight, he conducted private ESP experiments with his friends on Earth. In early 1973, he founded the nonprofit Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) to conduct and sponsor research into areas that mainstream science has found unproductive, including consciousness research and psychic events. This was  all part of  pioneering research in theoretical physics .

The creation of the Institute for Noetic Sciences (IONS) is perhaps Edgar Mitchell’s greatest contribution to the world. People from every state and all over the world flock to the stimulating lectures presented by noted scientists, philosophers and researchers. IONS is the integration of science, spirituality and the return to ancient wisdom.

Today, Edgar Mitchell is a hero, not because he was an astronaut who walked on the moon but because he has a muti-dimensional vision of reality. He has great sense of integrity and he is for us, in the UFO community, one of the only former NASA employees to call for truth and transparency by exposing the anomalies seen by astronauts in Space. He is quoted as saying “I think I’ve reached the point that I‘m convinced enough of the reality of the Extraterrestrial presence and I’m not going to deny it and shy away from it..  It is time to open this up to the public.” Consequently, Dr Mitchell has become a courageous spokesman for disclosure. He is calling for the end of secrecy to UFO cover-up, a call for the United States to release information and its UFO files on Roswell.

He is one of a rare breed. He is one of those wise men with unconventional wisdom that surpasses the confining boundaries of scientific research. It is obvious that he is honest and wants this planet and the human species to progress on an evolutionary path to enlightenment and love. What is most amazing about his book, The Path of the Explorer, is that he stresses the “paranormal component to scientific research”, that which the late Dr.J.Allen Hyneck,often referred to as the godfather of Ufology, told us never to overlook while searching for answers to the UFO enigma.It is all connected in the quantum equation.

Dr. Mitchell’s search for truth has launched him on a journey, a rainbow of visions of how mankind can evolve, of how mankind can reach his highest potential, of how mankind can transcend his own limitations to become an evolved species, maybe one that can be worthy of a place in the galactic neighborhood. He adds that there was a metaphysical, non-local communication or mental tie with most of our human functions. Mitchell says that “non-locality”, also called “entanglement” of particles in theoretical physics, may explain many of our mysteries today. There is a oneness to our reality. There is a oneness to our Universe. We are dealing with a difficult process here.

The main problem is that we, as an Earth civilization, have not come to understand ourselves or see ourselves in a cosmic sense at all. We are still very provincial. We fight over religion, but in the inner core of all of them, these religions talk about qualities like Love and Brotherhood. It’s the cultural differences that cause the divisions. It is not an intrinsic difference. The transcendent experience is common to every culture in the world” and the transcendent experience is Brotherly Love, Nature, Harmony, the Unity. Cultures, in trying to define it, try to define an external deity as opposed to the actual process. Dr. Mitchell states:

“Our knowledge base is incomplete. All we do is keep adding to our knowledge base. We are moving into a direction of quantum cosmology, which originates from several quantum processes  defined as quantum fluctuations within a zero-point field. It can start the process that builds the process, which builds into matter, which  is irreversible in nature.”

In November, this book will become a gift to the Italian people and to future generations who can piece together the puzzle of life by joining science, quantum mechanics, consciousness and spiritual evolution together. Finally, Dr. Mitchell says all ignorance is based on our egos. It is the unwillingness to go beyond the ego. Transcendence moves us beyond ego. If we go beyond the ego, we see all of this in a more decent perspective and we can start to put all pieces together. It is a shame that we haven’t done this yet as a civilization. In due course, this is what needs to happen in order to survive. That is where the philosophic, the whole notion of determinism and what the future is, makes changing our reality important. We are creating a future.  He believes that it is not cast in stone.  The power of Edgar Mitchell’s words, of his incredible wisdom, of his creative spirit will inspire the reader of this book towards new understanding of our world and an effort to help create a sustainable, abundant future in oneness and cosmic harmony.