For astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the defining moment of his life was not the moment when, on February 9, 1971, he became the sixth man to walk on the surface of the Moon. Rather, it was something that happened to him on the way back from the Moon - something he would later describe as a "spontaneous epiphany experience".

As the Apollo 14 Command Module barrelled homewards, Mitchell, during a rare idle moment, looked out through the window. His gaze took in the stars, the Sun, the approaching Earth, all seeming to gracefully revolve about him (though in fact it was the spacecraft itself that was rotating).

And then it happened. Suddenly, Mitchell was no longer experiencing himself as a detached observer looking out at the Universe. Instead, he was truly in the Universe. And so was everything, and everyone, else. Everything was connected. Everything was joined in a unified whole in which matter, time and space were merely different aspects of an all-pervading universal consciousness.

"I actually felt what has been described as an ecstasy of unity," he later explained. "The thought was so large it seemed inexpressible, and to a large degree it still is."

Upon his return to Earth, Mitchell - not the same Mitchell who had set off to the Moon, but a new, reborn Mitchell - struggled to understand what had happened to him. He searched for explanations in the works of the great mystics and in nebulous New Age philosophies. He wondered how Science fitted into it all. He wondered what might happen if everyone was to experience the same epiphany. Had the space race inadvertently catapulted humanity to the edge of a fundamental transformation of consciousness?

Writer Frank White describes what happened to Mitchell and other astronauts like him as the Overview Effect. "The Overview Effect is the experience of seeing the Earth from a distance, especially from orbit or the Moon, and realising the inherent unity and oneness of everything on the planet," explains the author of The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution. "The Effect represents a shift in perception wherein the viewer moves from identification with parts of the Earth to identification with the whole system".


Earlier this year, both White and Mitchell were among the luminaries speaking during Overview Effect Day at the conference of the Space Frontier Foundation. Other speakers pondered how the coming age of "mass space travel" might affect humanity's view of itself and whether the Overview effect might be delivered to the "Earth-bound millions" by new media technologies.

Of course, Space tourism is currently only an option for the rich and powerful. And as F.Scott Fitzgerald told us, the rich "are different from you and me". For one thing, they wield tremendous power. 85% of the world's assets are owned by the richest 10% of its citizens. And more than half the world's wealth belongs to the richest 2% (source).

What might be the consequences for the world were that richest 2% to undergo a "spontaneous epiphany experience"? How might the course of history be altered were we to send - for example - George W. Bush on a quick trip into space? Would Dubya, like Edgar Mitchell, return to Earth convinced that "our story of ourselves, as taught by our religious cosmology, is archaic and most certainly flawed"?

The possibility of inducing the Overview Effect through virtual reality may one day result in instant epiphany for the world's tech nerds and gadget freaks. A VR Overview Effect machine would be rather like a benign version of Douglas Adam's Total Perspective Vortex. The Total Perspective Vortex, you will remember, brought anyone plugged into it face to face with the "whole infinity of creation" and their own insignificance in relation to it. Consequently, they were driven hopelessly insane. (The only person to survive a session in the Total Perspective Vortex unscathed was Zaphod Beeblebrox, and that was only because he happened to be inside an artificial universe constructed for his benefit at the time.)

But perhaps Adams' underestimated the mind's ability to cope with Total Perspective. Perhaps rather than seeing itself nowhere, a mind suddenly confronted with the infinity of creation would instead see itself everywhere. Perhaps the only way it could defend itself against annihilation would be to momentarily dissolve the habitual mental boundary between itself and the external world.

Thus, rather than being overcome by the vastness of creation, a person inside the Total Perspective Vortex would instead experience themselves as being joined in symbiotic union with the whole Universe. There would no longer be an "out there" and an "in here". There would only be a single, infinite "I" encompassing everything in existence. Was this what Edgar Mitchell experienced?

We might also wonder whether the Overview Effect is peculiar to the human mind. Might spacefaring alien races also experience themselves as being joined in ecstatic union with the Cosmos and all its lifeforms? And how might this affect their relationships with other species?

Perhaps a species transformed by the Overview effect would view races still tied to their planet as being in an infantile or larval stage. Perhaps they would wait until those species had also been transformed by the Overview Effect before making open contact with them. In which case, every millionaire playboy who goes into orbit brings us one small step closer to establishing a dialogue with watching extraterrestrial civilisations.

On the other hand, it may be that the Overview Effect will only ever be experienced by a minority of space travellers. Certainly, few astronauts seem to have experienced it with the same intensity as did Edgar Mitchell.

Space tourist Mark Shuttleworth, for example, spoke of a "sense of the magnificence of the Earth", while Dennis Tito said his journey gave him "a little bit of an experience of being in heaven". However, neither man seems to have experienced the profound ontological shock that transformed Mitchell. Entrepreneur Charles Simonyi when asked whether his space trip had been a "spiritual experience" seemed to misunderstand the question, replying: "I don't think so. If anything, I've gotten more optimistic. When I look at the Earth, it's so vast and majestic and calm — those were the adjectives I chose — it makes me optimistic."

It may be that the Overview Effect is only experienced in its full glory by space voyagers who are already of a mystical disposition - those who, to use Blake's turn of phrase, can already see "a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower". It was Blake who asked himself, "When the Sun rises, do you not see a round disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea?" and answered, "O no, no, I see an innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty'".

We can only imagine the pictures Blake might have painted of the Earth had he been able to see it from space. But then Blake hardly needed to leave Terra Firma to experience ecstatic union with the transcendent Universe. What of the rest of us? Would a quick hop into space really be enough to transform our vision to match Blake's? Or might we instead journey to infinity and beyond yet still remain incapable of seeing beyond our own petty egos?