A question we all ponder from time to time is “Whatever happened to those fortunate human beings who landed on the moon almost a decade ago?”
Captain Edgar Mitchell, one of those astronauts, is presently involved in research into the
science of “consciousness” or the processes involved in determining “how we know what we know” (termed NOETICS).
Edgar Mitchell is a man who was very attached to the mechanistic world of engineering and technology. As a practitioner in this world he realised he was
denying himself any other form of reality.
From his experiences on his trip to the moon he developed a great love and concern for this planet which he describes as “a beautiful white/blue marble”.
He sees Earth in its true perspective as a tiny and fragile little planet set in the midst of a magnificent cosmos that is never ending.
From Apollo 14 he gained a new view of our Mother Earth, home of the form homo-sapiens, and this created for him a feeling of euphoria, of identification
and purposefulness, and a flow of peace. These feelings turned to blackness and despair however as he remembered the politics, the divisions of countries
and people, and the ignorance, inhumanity, greed and unbridled passions, between its occupants and toward the planet, which are creating chaos. He
realised that the planet, like his spacecraft, had only a finite ability for waste disposal and a finite supply of fuel and food; thus requiring a
need to conserve. All spacemen appear to have had a “global consciousness”, a realisation that our planet is in trouble and that we must start to love
our planet as we do our families and friends.
Since the age of primitive man we have quested to know our purpose and meaning in life. We appear to have put aside this quest only in this century, in
order to explore more pragmatic ideals such as how we can put our discoveries to work for our immediate benefit. To conquer this pragmatism we will
have to break out of purely scientific or religious thought patterns, in order to come up with some answers. Edgar Mitchell believes that we must strive
to bring ourselves together and thereby improve our condition and that of the planet.
Einstein postulated that energy and matter are interchangeable. Edgar Mitchell in his present work is attempting to shift this idea to the premise that
the most fundamental form of all energies is “mind energy” or consciousness. Just as we have been conditioned to accept that all physical things like
walls, bridges, mirrors, windows, the planets and the human body, can be viewed as energy in one form or another — we should start to think of
mental activity as energy in a particular form — something even more fundamental than the atom or photon.
If the fundamental energy is considered as “thought” then this may in fact be the creative force within the universe. If our thought processes can shape
the universe, then it is high time we start to take responsibility for our thoughts. We should be questing to find out what we can do to take better
control of our thought processes and turn them into productive energy. As Edgar Mitchell says “as long as we are putting uncoordinated noise and our
fears of the future of sickness of life and of death into the universe through our mental processes, then that is what the world will consist of.”
The starting point for any recovery is for people to begin taking responsibility for themselves and realise that everything they are and feel is probably
a result of their own thought and activity. As we learn to control ourselves and to bring our own thought processes and body under control and treat
it in a way conducive to its well being — we will be ready to exert more control further and further around us. We are influencing our surroundings
and if we can put positive energy into the universe through our mental processes then we should at least be able to change our small part of this cosmos.
Through his work in “Noetics” Edgar Mitchell hopes that we will start to understand the different facets of human consciousness so that for the first time
in our history we may have benevolent control over what happens in our universe.
“The minds direction is more important than its progress.”
“God sleeps in the minerals Awakens in the plants
Awakens in the plants
Walks in the animals
And thinks in man.”
“Monkeys are superior to men in that, when a monkey looks in a mirror, he sees a monkey.”
What will our transport needs be for the future? Will we be taking technology to its fullest extent? With our energy systems under strain and yet our knowledge
on the threshold of a quantum leap into the time space continuum, how are we going to travel through time to our rendezvous with the future, and our
2001 space odyssey?
Of course there are so many ideas as to how mankind is going to visit the realms of his mind in relationship to the universe in the years to come. With
the planned obsolescence of the motor vehicle, what could be our best way of future travel?
It has been predicted that with the increase in our planet’s population that by the year 2000 we will find it very difficult to enjoy the freedom of road
travel that exists today.
So what could the story be? Will we perhaps be able to harness invisible energy of cosmic rays to drive a vehicle or shuttle craft that has no need for
wheels, being an antigravitational device allowing unlimited travel. Of course this is only a dream, but our dreams are the realities of tomorrow.
With doubling of the planetary population, accident control will be much more important.
With subatomic physics we could construct an anti-accident device that would enable a vehicle on a collision course to instantly dematerialize, pass through
the other vehicle then materialize after the danger had passed to continue its journey.
This concept is not a new one at all: it’s even in the T.V. series Star Trek. Teleportation, the reduction, transportation, and reassembly of solid objects
(including human beings) is well within the bounds of high energy 21st century physics and could solve all our future transport problems.
Of course we must come down to earth and understand our more immediate systems for when we convert our vehicles to the simplicity of hydrogen power, will
we then computerise our cars to follow a map route to a particular destination. Our vehicle on automatic pilot could compute our drive plan, following
a mathematical formula and magnetic markers that would have a built-in accident avoidance system. You, the driver, could sit in the back seat with
a friend or even drink and drive!
As you climb into your hyperquantum travel chair in Auckland, with your tour leader, she may say . . . this is going to be a nice trip wasn’t it? As you
climb out of your seat in Los Angeles.
How will our radio and T.V. systems function in the future? We could by telephone dial a certain number that transfers us to a computer sound centre in
Taupo, or via satellite to Hawaii making it possible to order Abbey Road’, side two by the Beatles, or Pink Floyd, side two ‘Meddle’ and say ‘Tomita’
playing Stravinskys Firebird or any number of records, instantly receiving them over FM channels into our stereo or quadraphonic systems, thus having
no worries about buying records and scratching them or using them as ashtrays!
Of course we can extend this to include a video T.V. wall to wall screen say eight feet high by fourteen feet long enabling you to enjoy Symphonic Rock
live in an ‘audio visual’ concert, or journey with Ben Kenobi in Star Wars to other pictures in the universe. With the advent of the hologram that
changes ordinary two dimension T.V. into three dimensional form i.e. with breadth and depth, showing live mirages of people, acting, singing and dancing
in your living room, then you would really become one with it all. This is one aspect. For with the full utilization of satellites on a global scale,
we could also beam down radio and T.V. programs. The choice would be immense.
T.V. could be extended to telephones enabling visual contact, but of course, you would not wish to have people ringing the wrong number or your system
to be in the bathroom!
Yes, there are an infinite number of possibilities, but the main one is that we must be in control of the machine, and not allow futuristic technology
to take us away from the extended family unit and the community as a whole.
