The way of the explorer

by Edgar D. Mitchell

On January 31, 1971, Apollo 14 lifted off from Cape Kennedy, and three days later, Edgar Mitchell and Alan Shepard walked on the lunar surface. It was an audacious time in the history of mankind. For Mitchell, however, the most extraordinary journey was yet to come. As he hurtled earthward through the abyss between the two worlds, Mitchell became engulfed by a profound sensation - "a sense of universal connectedness." He intuitively sensed that his presence, that of his fellow astronauts, and that of the planet in the window were all part of a deliberate, universal process and that the glittering cosmos itself was in some way conscious. The experience was so overwhelming Mitchell knew his life would never be the same. The direction his work would take for the next twenty-five years was another journey of sorts, one that would carry him inward as he explored the ineffable mystery of consciousness and being. Having been reared in a Southern Baptist family, and gone on to study the revolu