Remembering Marilyn Ferguson’s Birthday
Our dear departed friend, Marilyn Ferguson’s birthday was today. For those who haven’t heard of her … scratch that, everyone has heard of Marilyn, right?
Marilyn was an American author, editor and public speaker, best known for her 1980 book The Aquarian Conspiracy and its affiliation with the New Age Movement in popular culture. (1997 video interview provided by Tom Ross / Kivastone)
A founding member of the Association of Humanistic Psychology, Ferguson published and edited the well-regarded science newsletter Brain/Mind Bulletin from 1975 to 1996. She eventually earned numerous honorary degrees, served on the board of directors of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and befriended such diverse figures of influence as inventor and theorist Buckminster Fuller, spiritual author Ram Dass, Nobel Prize-winning chemist Ilya Prigogine and billionaire Ted Turner. Ferguson’s work also influenced Vice President Al Gore, who participated in her informal network while a senator and later met with her in the White House.
As a professional freelance writer of popular magazine articles in the 60s, including Cosmopolitan and Time, Ferg developed an enduring interest in what came to be known as the “human potential” movement, and particularly the latest research on the potential of the human brain, with its implications for learning, creativity and wellness. This inspired her to write The Brain Revolution: The Frontiers of Mind Research (Taplinger, 1973), a successful and broadly hailed popular summary of these discoveries.
Edgar Mitchell’s Extraordinary Journey
During my time in Brazil I had the opportunity to get to know Dr. Edgar Mitchell. We co-paneled the Nucleus Integration of Science (NIC) Conference with consciousness-revolution authors, Marilyn Ferguson, Elisabet Sahtouris and Peter Russell, and we traveled to meet industry leaders and the local press. I was always impressed by Dr. Mitchell as unlike any “ex-military’ officer I have met, Ph.D or not. LOL!
Forty years ago, today, Navy Captain Dr. Edgar Mitchell returned from a journey into outer space that resulted in becoming the sixth man to walk on the moon. The Apollo 14 mission was NASA’s third manned lunar landing. It was an audacious time in the history of mankind. For Mitchell, however, the most extraordinary journey was yet to come.
Scientist, test pilot, naval officer, astronaut, entrepreneur, author and lecturer, Dr. Mitchell’s extraordinary career personifies humankind’s eternal thrust to widen its horizons as well as its inner soul.
After retiring from the Navy in 1972, Dr. Mitchell founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences to sponsor research into the nature of consciousness as it relates to cosmology and causality. In 1984, he was a co-founder of the Association of Space Explorers, an international organization of those who have experienced space travel.
