Webinar on “Spirituality and the Moon,” February 9

Update: full VIDEO recording of the webinar.

On February 9 I will participate in a webinar titled “Spirituality and the Moon,” organized by the Cultural Considerations Working Group of the Moon Village Association.

I hope to see you guys at the webinar! Admission is free, please register via Eventbrite.

The webinar will last approximately one hour.

The webinar will be moderated by Remo Rapetti and Arthur Woods, leaders of the Cultural Considerations Working Group of the Moon Village Association. The group strives “to articulate the cultural benefits of a permanent lunar presence that transcends both technological and spiritual platforms.”

Cover picture and background from NASA (adapted).

Speakers:

Giulio Prisco is a former space engineer and senior manager at European space administrations. In his book “Futurist spaceflight meditations” (2021), Prisco covers spaceflight and human expansion into space, with a special emphasis on cultural and spiritual aspects. Prisco’s thesis is that human expansion into the solar system, starting with outposts on the surface of the Moon and in cislunar space, is a cornerstone of emerging future spirituality. This new spirituality will, in turn, inform human expansion toward the stars.

Catherine Newell is a scholar of religion and science who is particularly interested in the intersections of science, technology, culture, and spirituality. In her book “Destined for the Stars: Faith, the Future, and the Final Frontier” (2019), Newell traces the cultural and spiritual roots of US space exploration programs and argues that they were mainly inspired by a technological and scientific faith that awoke a deep-seated belief in a sense of divine destiny to reach the heavens.

Jorge Mañes Rubio is an artist whose works rethink humanity’s relationship with the universe and all the beings that live in it. As Artist in Residence at the Advanced Concepts Team at the European Space Agency (ESA), Rubio designed a Moon Temple for a future lunar settlement in Shackleton Crater. The Moon Temple wouldn’t be associated with any specific religion. On the contrary, it would be open to everyone, in particular to the fast-growing category of people who describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious.”