Reflecting on the first photograph of the earth taken from beyond the moon, Archibald MacLeish wrote in the New York Times that it was an image with whose help "man may discover what he really is". It reveals a truth that we ignore at our own peril: "To see the earth as we now see it, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the unending night--brothers who see now they are truly brothers."

This image, Hugh Taft-Morales explains, generated by rational science yet emotionally and aesthetically inspiring, offers common ground to people of diverse philosophical perspectives. Not only does it remind all human brothers and sisters of our interconnectedness, it reflects a profound philosophical link between beauty and fragility. The image of the earth reflects the existential limitations central to human existence, and should continue to serve as a humanist icon - an enduring, sacred, symbol worthy of spiritual devotion.