Research will explore space, spirituality

 

UCF faculty members are looking to the heavens for a research project. Faculty from the philosophy department, the Institute for Simulation and Training, and the College of Medicine have received a $300,000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation to research the relationship between space travel and spiritual experiences. The project's members consist of Shaun Gallagher, Steve Fiore and Bruce Janz from the philosophy department; Stephanie Lackey, Lauren Reinerman and Eileen Smith from the Institution of Simulation and Training; and Garrett Riggs from the College of Medicine. Astronauts have reported spiritual experiences while in space, Gallagher said. The team is seeking to gain a better understanding of the kind of spiritual experiences that seem to be associated with space travel. Reinerman said everyone experiences moments of awe and wonder throughout their lives, and some are more significant, and even life changing. This can be anything from the birth of their child to witnessing their team winning the Super Bowl. "For astronauts, it is often seeing Earth for the first time from outer space or experiencing the vastness of the universe," Reinerman said. The researchers also hope to discover something of practical use for rm space flights. "It may be useful to know long-tewhat sorts of experiences astronauts may have if they find themselves on a long trip to Mars," Gallagher said. The findings can also be helpful to the community and space coast, Reinerman said. "This information is expected to be valuable for places like the Kennedy Space Visitor Center, museums, amusement parks and possibly other simulations for demonstrations and video games," Reinerman said. The experiment is unique in that it involves members from the humanities and sciences departments, as well as members from other universities and countries. To perform the experiment, they will build a virtual space lab to simulate a space flight with the help of the Bildakt Research Group in Berlin. The simulation will try to replicate those spiritual experiences among astronauts. The team will also analyze astronauts' reports using a software program developed at the University of Memphis. The team's hypothesis is that the spiritual experiences described by astronauts are primarily caused by the various views of the earth and the vastness of space. Gallagher had the idea for the project seven years ago when he first arrived at UCF as chair of the philosophy department. "I noticed that UCF did a lot of NASA-related research, and I started to think about what kind of things the humanities could do in this regard," Gallagher said. After the John Templeton Foundation recently offered a grant to research the theme of awe and wonder, Gallagher put the team together and earned the grant. The John Templeton Foundation, established in 1987, is an independent foundation that funds projects relating to the "big questions" of humanity, including topics from evolution to love and freewill. The foundation has been criticized for having conservative bias and for trying to link religion to science. According to the foundation's website, it has given away $543 million from 1987 to 2009. The planned completion date for the project is September 2013. The team plans to host a public conference to share the results.