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Lot #438
John Glenn

“SPACE EXPLORATION ... IS AT THE PINNACLE OF OUR SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVOR”: GLENN philosophizes on “Body, Mind, and Spirit”

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“SPACE EXPLORATION ... IS AT THE PINNACLE OF OUR SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVOR”: GLENN philosophizes on “Body, Mind, and Spirit”

Excellent TLS signed “J. H. Glenn, Jr.,” two pages, 7.75 x 10.5, February 7, 1967. Glenn writes to Paul K. Carr in Rockville, Maryland. In part: “I am a very firm believer in setting attainable goals in the best light of each individual’s capabilities and then outlining a plan of action to attain each goal. I have always liked the long-expressed idea that the whole man or woman is expressed in terms of three areas: Body, Mind, and Spirit. The ’Body’ part of this is obviously contained in our physical well-being and how we take care of our physical assets. We need strong, healthy bodies if we are to best support other activities…. We might term the ‘Mind’ as the technical training for what we wish to do and for equipping each of us to intelligently make our way in the world. In this area, we can term our education as the biggest qualifying factor. In speaking of goals of the ‘Spirit,’ I do not necessarily limit this just to religious activity, but to our general outlook on our relationship to each other. Certainly, we need to define some spiritual guidelines that channel the efforts of body and mind in the right directions if we are ever to develop smooth-working human relationships. I think each person must occasionally take stock of his position with regard to each of these areas…. I have been asked in the past to advise young people with regard to future job opportunities and I think many people have expected me to recommend every young person become an astronaut, but that is far from the case, obviously. Space exploration is indeed at the pinnacle of our scientific endeavor, but it is only one phase of our whole society and we need matching great thinking in law, government, agriculture, teaching, business, economics, and all the other professions we could name if we are to make maximum progress in our civilization…. In short, I feel strongly about this matter of setting realistic goals…. In education, we are really condensing the best experience that has been gained over thousands of years; so we might look at education as an ‘encapsulated experience’ that we get for free, without having to make all the original experiments ourselves. This gives us the best of the past to build on, and is as necessary a launch pad for modern living as the Cape Kennedy launch pads are for space flight….” In very fine condition. COA Scott Cornish and R&R COA.

Auction Info

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  • Dates: #337 - Ended September 17, 2008