I’m quoting from Matthew Fox today as he examines the need for a sense of the sacred - and contends that the opposite of evil is not good - it’s the sense of the sacred. For a renewed discovery of the sacred, he turns to the astronauts - whose experience, he says turns them into cosmonauts.

“That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart.” James Irwin, Apollo mission.

"On the return trip home, gazing through 240,000 miles of space toward the stars and the planet from which I had come, I suddenly experienced the universe as intelligent, loving, harmonious. . . "My view of our planet was a glimpse of divinity." - Edgar Mitchell, the Moon landing

And here was a statement from Russian cosmonaut Boris Volynov:

“During a space flight, the psyche of each astronaut is reshaped. Having seen the sun, the stars, and our planet, you become more full of life, softer. You begin to look at all living things with great trepidation and you begin to be more kind and patient with the people around you. At any rate, that is what happened to me.”

Matthew Fox then asks: What would it mean if these testimonies from space truly coursed through decision-makers in various countries from which they come?

What indeed!