[SOUND] [MUSIC] In 1968, Apollo 8 went to the moon. [MUSIC] They didn't land but they did circle the moon. And I was watching it on television, and at a certain point one of the astronauts casually said we're going to turn the camera around and show you the Earth. And he did, and that was the first time I had ever seen the planet hanging in space like that and it was profound. [MUSIC] >> I think that for me, like for many other people it was quite a shock. I don't think any of us had any expectations about how it would give us such a different perspective. I think the focus had been, we're going to the stars, we're going to the planets. And suddenly we look back at ourselves and it seems to imply a new kind of self-awareness. [MUSIC] >> One of the astronauts said when we originally went to the moon, our total focus was on the moon. We weren't thinking about looking back at the Earth but now that we've done it that may well have been the most important reason we went. [MUSIC] >> God I remember going through launch which is an overwhelming experience. [SOUND] The engines cut off, I felt myself floating out of the seat. I floated over to the window, looked out, and we were coming up over the coast of Africa, and that's when it hit me. I'm in space and I just got incredibly excited because it's something that I dream about since I was six years old. [MUSIC] >> I think you start out with this idea of what it's going to be like and then when you do finally looked at the Earth for the first time. You're overwhelmed by how much more beautiful it really is when you see it for real. It's just like it's dynamic alive place that you see glowing all the time. >> It was truly incredible to be up there, doing what I always want to do my whole life. And then to kind of glance back at our planet and see that view was just tremendous. [MUSIC] >> I can only describe what I've seen, looking down at the Earth and you see that line that separates day into night slowly moving across the planet. Thunderstorms on the horizon casting these long shadows as the sun sets. And then watching the Earth come alive when you see the lights from the cities and the towns. >> The events you see from space, like flying over thunderstorms, looking at them from the top, were spectacular. Like a fireworks show going on, and you're looking at it from the very top. >> Shooting stars going below us or dancing curtains of auroras. It's just very hard to describe all of the colors, the beauty, the motion. [MUSIC] >> My job as lunar modular pilot was to be responsible for the lunar module itself and responsible for the science on the moon. So when we started home, I had a little more time to look out the window than the other guys, because most of my responsibilities were completed. We were in a particular mode called the barbecue mode, so we were flying like this and rotating like that. What that happen. With every two minutes, a picture of the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and 360 degree panorama of the heavens appeared in the spacecraft window. And I had studied astronomy, and I had studied cosmology. And fully understood that the molecules in my body, and the molecules in my partners' bodies, and in the spacecraft, had been prototyped in some ancient generation of stars. In other words, it was pretty obvious from those descriptions, we're star dust. Well, that was pretty awesome and powerful, particularly since I had a little more time at this point to be reflective to think about it. [MUSIC] >> Awe, I think is one of those words that you have a better understanding of once you see it too. I felt like, using the word awesome was totally appropriate when it came to describing what the planet looks like. [MUSIC] >> To have that experience of awe is, at least for the moment, let go of yourself, to transcend the sense of separation. So, it's not just that they were experiencing something other than them. That they were at some very deep level. Integrating, realizing their interconnectedness with that beautiful, blue, green ball. [MUSIC] >> And this is why the astronauts, particularly in the international space station. Often say that much of their free time is filled with what they call Earth-gazing, just staring out at the Earth. They can stare for hours, because the changing scenery, the interactivity of the biosphere, all of this has an incredible aesthetic impact. >> The beauty of seeing Earth as a planet as opposed to being down here among it, is a wonderful experience too. The instructor get into what we call the big picture effect, or the overview effect. [MUSIC] >> I was flying cross country from the East Coast to the West Coast in the 1970s. And I was looking out the window and as I was looking down at planet, the thought came to me, anyone living in a space cell or living on the moon would always have an overview. They would see things that we know but we don't experience. Which is that the Earth is one system, we're all part of that system. And that there is a certain unity and coherence to it all and I immediately called it the overview effect. [MUSIC] >> You do from that perspective see the Earth as a planet. [MUSIC] You see the sun as a star. We see the sun in a blue sky but up there you see the sun in a black sky, so yeah, you are seeing it from a cosmic perspective. >> We've been evolving from the beginning of civilization through a larger and larger perspective of life on the Earth. But the next natural evolution is understanding the life in space, that is the fact that the Earth famously say is a space ship earth. We are in space already, it's just that we haven't brought that into our perspective as we live here on Earth. The overview effect is simply the sudden recognition that we live on a planet, and all the implications that it brings to life on Earth. [MUSIC] >> When we look down at the Earth from space, we see this amazing, indescribably beautiful planet. It looks like a living, breathing organism, but it also at the same time, looks extremely fragile. [MUSIC] >> Because you go outside on a clear day, and it's a big, blue sky, and it goes on forever. And how could we possibly put enough stuff into it to fill it up with things that really change it. And yet, we see it from space, and it's this thin line which is just barely hugging the surface of the planet. [MUSIC] >> Anybody else who's ever gone to space says the same thing, because it really is striking and it's really sobering to see this paper thin layer. And to realize that that little paper thin layer is all that protects every living thing on Earth from death basically, from the harshness of space. >> There's this very poetic concept that a lot of people express that there are no boundaries from space. And I've heard a lot of my astronaut colleagues say well unfortunately, it's not true, you do see boundaries. They're mostly the result of human impact, you can see erosion, clear cutting of forests, and it's a long litany of environmental impact that we've had on our planet. And that's something which, when you see it from the cosmic perspective, makes you really appreciate the concept of Spaceship Earth and we're all here together. [MUSIC] >> After I came back and tried to understand what this experience was all about. I could find nothing in the science literature about it and nothing in the religious literature that I looked at. So I turned to the local university, and asked them to help me with what I saw. And when they came back to me a few weeks later and said well, in the ancient literature we found a description called salcocus samati. And I said that means that you see things as you see them with your eyes, but you're experience them emotionally and viscerally. As it was ecstasy and a sense of total unity and oneness. And I said, well that's exactly what the experience was. And so it's rather clear to me as I study this, it wasn't anything new, but was something that was very important to the way we humans were put together. >> Many of the great wisdom traditions of the Earth have pointed to what we are calling the overview effect. That is to say, they have realized this unity, this oneness of all life on Earth, and of consciousness and awareness. >> Within the Western tradition, I think it's quite new and quite shocking because there has been much more of a sense of separation. But if you look at other non western cultures, especially in Asia. The emphasis on those have always been of a realization that the self and the world are not separate from each other. And that they're really interconnected that the individual self and the species a whole is a manifestation of the larger whole. >> As you go into your mind in a contemplated way, the sense of the living reality of the planet becomes obvious. You become more in tuned with the natural world. This is very a keen to the direct perception of the astronaut's have. So it's no wonder that many people have likened the overview effect to a spiritual or meditative experience, although it's not exactly that. It's a cognitive shift that very often can produce a kind of meditative experience. [MUSIC] >> I'm sure we all interpret it somewhat differently. I know some of the fellows go right to a religious explanation, I didn't. I went to more science explanation and I think all life's wonderful. That's what it takes to build a civilization. [MUSIC] >> This view of the Earth from space, the whole Earth perspective, I think is the true symbol of this age. And I believe that what's going to happen is there's going to be a greater and greater interest in communicating this idea because after all it's key to our survival. We have to start acting as one species with one destiny. We are not going to survive if we don't do that. >> [SOUND] We're seeing very clearly that if the Earth becomes sick, then we become sick. If the Earth dies, then we're going to die. People sense that something's wrong but they're still struggling to go back and find out what the real roots of the problem are. And I think what we need to come to is the realization that it's not just fixing an economic or political system, but it's a basic world view. A basic understanding of who we are that's at stake. >> At a photograph is to come up with a new story and a new picture in your way. To approach this and to shift our behaviors in such way that it leads to a sustainable approach or civilization, as opposed to a destructive approach. [MUSIC] >> It is a fragile planet, and if we don't take care of it and we don't work together, then we are going to bigger issues than we have now down the road. >> On the grand scale, we're basically all living in this one ecosystem called Earth. And everything that you do on one side of the ecosystem affects the other side. And that is a new way for living for most of humanity. >> We humans, are responsible for ourselves and if we are endangering our future, then we've gotta learn how to do it differently. And to go forward into a sustainable period. And right now that seems very difficult, very difficult to see how it's going to be but we gotta work on it. >> When I was above the Space Station looking down at the Space Station and looking down against the Earth. And seeing this amazing accomplishment, I was thinking, wow, there was 15 nations that worked together to build this amazing orbital complex in space. And if we can take these 15 nations and build this amazing accomplishment imagine what we can do by working together. By setting aside our differences for a common goal to overcome some of the challenges facing our planet. [MUSIC] >> We have this connection to Earth, it's our home and I don't know how you can come back and not in some way be changed. [MUSIC] It may be subtle and you see differences in different people and just general response when they come back from space. But, I think collectively, everybody has that emblazoned on their memories, the way the planet looks. You can't take that lightly, and then you realized that you've been blessed by the opportunity to see that. >> It really does look like this beautiful oasis out in the middle of nothingness. And if you have a chance for eyes to adjust then you can actually see the stars in the milky way. It is oasis against the backdrop of infinity, there's just enormous universe behind it. And it's really a very moving experience to be able to see that with your eyes. [MUSIC] >> You look back at it, and it's placed perfectly from the sun to take care of us. And you kind of take that reverse role on, about, okay, well, we need to be taking of it too. So that it can continue to [LAUGH] do that for us and I don't know how you can't have a greater appreciation for it after you see it that way. [MUSIC]
