In the first half, space historian Robert Zimmerman discussed the upcoming 50th anniversary of Apollo 8, and its cultural reverberations, as well as how the pursuit of space travel is helping the world and the future of humankind. On Christmas Eve 1968, the astronauts of Apollo 8 - Commander Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders participated in the first mission to leave's Earth orbit, and as they orbited the moon and were watched by millions on TV, they each presented readings from the Bible's book of Genesis. The moving readings managed to express the majesty of the moment, said Zimmerman, as well as an inclusivity and sense of American goodwill. "That mission," he added, "had a much a greater cultural impact than the actual landing," and their photograph called "Earthrise" was highly influential across society.
The three Apollo 8 astronauts are all still alive, Zimmerman noted, and Bill Anders, in particular, was changed upon his return. "He told me he could not any longer accept the specific rituals of Catholicism because how, after seeing the moon and the Earth [in space]...could any specific religion know the things that God might want?" These days, Zimmerman is less excited about government-sponsored programs like NASA than private enterprises such as SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, which are generating much more excitement around their projects.
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In the latter half, researcher Michael Goddart talked about how he has uncovered his many past lives and learned about the concept of spiritual evolution. After intensive periods of meditation in 2013, he began to recall pieces of past lives as a channel to higher consciousness opened up for him. He believes he's had millions of all kinds of lives including as animals and insects, but as a human, he recalls 4,137, and some of these were on other planets. In one in particular, on a far distant world, he was the ruler of a nation and made a decision to go to war, which cost the lives of 260,000 citizens. At the end of that life, he found himself in a type of hell where he underwent indescribable suffering for what seemed like an eternity.
He recalled incarnations he led in Atlantis, during the period of 20,000 to 30,000 years ago, including difficult lives as a slave. Among the many embodiments people have, we have a set of "Notable Lives," he said, which are writ large and become major building blocks in an individual's collective persona. Godart also touched on the concept of his "Cohort of Seven," a group of spirit entities he was mainly with in-between-lives and has had the most living incarnations with.
A replay of a Richard Dolan interview from 11/18/14 was featured in the last half-hour.
News segment guests: Jeff Nelken, Howard Bloom, Peter Davenport