An astronaut who has spent a considerable time in space has shared a revelation about a ‘big lie’ he encountered during his mission.
Ron Garan, a former NASA astronaut, has spent 178 days orbiting the Earth, completing over 71 million miles in 2,842 orbits.
With extensive experience in space, Garan has discussed a significant moment when he observed our planet, an experience referred to as the ‘Overview Effect’.
This effect occurs when astronauts see Earth from space for the first time, often leading to a profound shift in their perspective on the planet and life itself.
According to NASA, this experience “shifts the way astronauts view and think about our planet and life itself.”
Garan noted that during this time, certain truths became unmistakably clear to him.
In a discussion with Big Think, Garan stated: “We keep trying to deal with issues such as global warming, deforestation, biodiversity loss as standalone issues when in reality they’re just symptoms of the underlying root problem and the problem is, that we don’t see ourselves as planetary.”
He described witnessing “the paparazzi-like flashes of lightning storms, dancing curtains of auroras so close it was as if we could reach out and touch them,” and the “unbelievable thinness of our planet’s atmosphere” from the International Space Station.
“In that moment I was hit by the sobering realization,” he reflected.
Garan realized that our world, along with all life on it, is sustained by a ‘paper-thin layer’.
He continued, “I saw an iridescent biosphere teeming with life, I didn’t see an economy, but since our human-made systems treat everything including the very life-support systems of our planet as the […] subsidiary of the global economy, it’s obvious from the vantage point of space that we’re living a lie.”
He recalls this moment of realization as a ‘light bulb that pops up’, understanding how interconnected and interdependent we all are.
After returning from space, Garan continues to advocate for a cleaner, safer, and more harmonious planet, urging: “We need to move from thinking, economy, society, planet to planet, society, economy. That’s when we’re going to continue our evolutionary process.”
“[…] We’re not going to have peace on Earth until we recognize the basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality,” he asserts.