Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel to space and possibly the first to experience what scientists today call the “big picture effect.” This change happens when people see the world from high up and notice that it is a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic conflicts cannot be found”.
The overview effect renders man’s squabbles with each other incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, an interconnected organism.
In a captivating interview with think bigastronaut, author and humanitarian Ron Garan explains how if more of us developed this planetary perspective, we could solve much of the ills of humanity and the planet.
guarantee you have spent 178 days in space and has flown more than 71 million miles in 2,842 orbits. From above, he realized that the planet is much more fragile than he thought.
“When I looked out the window of the International Space Station, I saw paparazzi-like flashes of thunderstorms, I saw curtains of dancing auroras that seemed so close it was as if we could reach out and touch them. And I saw the incredible thinness of our planet’s atmosphere. At that moment, I was struck by the sobering realization that this paper-thin layer keeps all living things on our planet alive,” Garan said in the video.
“I saw an iridescent biosphere teeming with life,” he continues. “I haven’t seen the economy. But since our man-made systems treat everything, including our planet’s life support systems, as the wholly owned subsidiary of the global economy, it’s obvious from the perspective of space that we’re living a lie.
It was then that he realized that humanity needed to re-evaluate its priorities.
“We need to move from a thinking economy, a society, a planet to a planet, a society, an economy. This is when we will continue our evolutionary process,” he added.
Garan says we pay a “very high price” as a civilization for our failure to develop a more planetary perspective and that’s a big reason why we fail to solve many of our problems. Even if our economic activity can improve the quality of life on the one hand, it is also disastrous for the planet which sustains our lives.
It’s like cutting off your nose to antagonize your face.
Actor William Shatner had a similar experience to Garan when he traveled to space.
“It was one of the strongest feelings of grief I have ever experienced,” Shatner wrote. “The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the nurturing warmth of the Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day we are faced with the knowledge of further destruction of the Earth at our hands. : the extinction of animal species, flora and fauna. … things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of humanity. “
” We will not have peace on earth until we recognize the fundamental fact of the interdependent structure of all reality,” Garan said.
However dire the situation may be from the surface of the Earth, the astronaut has hope that we can collectively evolve in consciousness and wake up and embrace a larger reality. “And when we can evolve beyond a two-dimensional us versus them mindset and embrace the true multidimensional reality of the universe we live in, that is when we will no longer float in darkness… and it’s a future we all want to be part of. It’s our true calling.
This article was originally published on 16.12.22