Astronaut Ron Garan, wrote about his fly-over of the Earth on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2008,

“In spite of the overwhelming beauty of this scene, serious inequity exists on the apparent paradise we have been given. I couldn't help thinking of the nearly one billion people who don't have clean water to drink, the countless number who go to bed hungry every night, the social injustice, conflicts, and poverty that remain pervasive across the planet.

Seeing Earth from this vantage point gave me a unique perspective —” He continued, “Part of this is the realization that we are all traveling together on the planet and that if we all looked at the world from that perspective, we would see that nothing is impossible.”

Welcome to the final episode of season one of The Soul Podcast. And the final episode of the year 2021.

I wanted to end the year on a note, I think we can all rally around; The idea then if you stand back far enough, you can see that we're all connected... That we're all human... And that we're floating on an island in space that we've been fortunate enough to be born on.

Astronaut Ron Garan was left in awe when he saw the Earth from space. 

And this sort of reaction has been reported by countless people from many countries. Astronauts and Cosmonauts… and from the earliest days of space flight. It’s known as the Overview Effect. 

The overview effect is a cognitive shift in awareness that happens while viewing the Earth from outer space. It is the experience of seeing first-hand the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, hanging in the void, shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere.

The Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins said, “The thing that really surprised me was that [Earth] projected an air of fragility. And why, I don't know. I don't know to this day. I had a feeling it's tiny, it's shiny, it's beautiful, it's home, and it's fragile.”

The first person to fly into space was the Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. 

“Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is,” Gagarin wrote on an autograph card after his flight. “Let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it.” 

I think it's important to stop and consider the men were talking about. These were military men. And not just average military men. They were the top in the field of fighter pilots. A role that’s been called the tip of the spear in modern warfare. Men trained to kill, if called to do so. 

Ron Garan was an Air Force fighter pilot and flew combat missions in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. 

Michael Collins was an Air Force fighter pilot. Yuri Gargarin was a Soviet Fighter pilot.

These were committed military men. Conservative in their thinking. But seeing the Earth from space altered the way they saw life on Earth. It changed the way they talked about life on Earth and the way they talked about other nations. They began to see us all as connected and the Earth as fragile.

What got me thinking about the Overview Effect was watching the Amazon Documentary “Shatner In Space.” 

William Shatner, who famously played the role of Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek TV series (and the movies that followed it) was granted a trip into space by former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. When the short flight ended, Shatner was overwhelmed, as he talked to Bezos about the experience. Through tears, Shatner said,

“I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened. It’s extraordinary, extraordinary. It’s so much larger than me and life. It hasn’t got anything to do with the little green men and the blue orb. It has to do with the enormity and the quickness and the suddenness of life and death…”

“To see the blue color whip by you, and now you’re staring into blackness … everybody in the world needs to do this. Everybody in the world needs to see this.”

He added about the emotion of the sensation of seeing the Earth from space, "I hope I never recover from this."

If you haven't seen the documentary I encourage you to watch it. If you don't watch the entire if you don't want to watch the documentary at least pull up video online and see Shatner talking to Bezos right after he landed. It's touching.

There's a classic picture that was taken during Apollo 8 in late December 1968 by Astronaut William Anders, as it swung around the moon and earth came into sight. That was the week of Christmas, 53 years ago. It's the first time anyone had ever taken a picture of the earth from that perspective. The image is called earthrise. You may not have known that's what it was called or what mission it came from, but you’ve seen it. I guarantee you’ve seen it. (I’ll share a link to it in the Show notes). 

And you know, after that image was taken, we started seeing the world a little differently. It's not quite as powerful as the overview effect, but it's been said the image led to people demanding we take better care of our planet. Since the image was released, many new laws have been passed to protect the environment – and the Planet. Just over a year later -in January 1970 -The National Environmental Protection Act was passed in the US. Three months later if became law. 

Before the end of that same year, the first Earth Day was celebrated -and has been celebrated every year since.

The overview effect changes people’s hearts. It changes people's perspectives it reminds us that though we are from different countries and different cultures, we're all in this together. The image of the earth from space is not a picture of a bunch of countries. It's a picture of a place we all call home. The overview effect reminds us, we're all here on Earth. And the Earth is fragile.

If seeing the earth from space can have such profound effects on military men, what effect would it have on the average person.? I wonder, what if all of us could have that experience? What if we all understood that we're all connected and we're all inhabitants on this beautiful ball of sparkling light floating in the abyss of space? Would we be kinder to the earth? Would we be kinder to each other? Would we be forever changed?

Whatever religion you practice (if any)… whatever country you live in or culture you belong to… whether or not you celebrate a holiday in the last few months of each year, please accept my wish for a beautiful end to this year. And my wish for a profound and meaningful start to 2022.