> He struck me as a man nearing the end of his life that is struggling with mortality and had an experience that upended everything. It could be, but I think i

> He struck me as a man nearing the end of his life that is struggling with mortality and had an experience that upended everything. It could be, but I think it's more general. > Really personal, life changing experience that many don't get to see happen to others. That's how I saw it. I'm not nearly as old as Shatner, but I know I would have the exact same reaction he did. In fact, I did just listening to him struggle for the words to describe it because words we ascribe to "the best of things" like "awesome" just doesn't compare on that scale when we also use the same word to describe our favorite ice cream flavor. I think it's more of a major, major smack to your reality and life-long accumulated perspective when you personally witness, and feel, just how small we are, Earth is, compared to the vastness of space and what a special, unique place this is. Not on a 2 dimensional TV/Movie screen of a fixed size, but all encompassing. We haven't found anything like it so far, and there's a lot to choose from out there. If you're a deeply introspective person, that experience is almost akin to seeing God and I'm not sure age really figures in. Just a deep understanding - like I don't think a child would appreciate the experience nearly as much as an adult. In that part, maybe age has something to do with it...or maybe better labeled as "the longer you've been on Earth having your perception of reality programmed bound by the laws and your personal experiences of Earth," and then suddenly, completely and totally step outside of it kind of like waking up from a dream. You were in one reality one second with everything you have ever known, and now you're in a completely foreign place the next where absolutely nothing is like where you came from or have ever known.