The Life-Changing Perspective You'll Likely Never Experience

Hey everyone,

Let me experiment this week: this issue’s topic will differ from the previous ones.

But as I’m crafting this newsletter, I want to find all topics that resonate with you the most.

So please let me know below in the poll and the comment section how you find this week’s piece.

This week’s piece is a 5 min read.

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🧠 This week’s favorite thought 🧠

Imagine that you are orbiting the Moon, and while being amazed by the close view of its surface, soon after, you get a glimpse of the Earth.

The planet is rising from behind the surface of the Moon and shows its bright blue beauty.

How would you react at that moment? What feelings and emotions would strike you as you see our planet Earth?

You might have the imagination to assume how you would live through that experience. However, 24 people actually had the chance to see Earth outside of low Earth orbit.

This incredible experience wasn't just a figment of the imagination. It happened, and it was thanks to the Apollo 8 mission in December 1968.

A crewed spacecraft entered lunar orbit for the first time in history, giving its occupants a stunning view of the Earth from over 200,000 miles.

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968, Apollo 8 was orbiting around the Moon when the Earth was rising.

This was a vastly new experience for the crew and humankind as well.

Here's the astronauts’ transcript from those moments:

The Theory of Overview Effect And How It Inspired Astronauts To Take Action

Almost 20 years after the crewed lunar missions, writer Frank White interviewed 29 astronauts and studied their testimony, leading him to the creation of The Overview Effect theory.

The theory describes how astronauts - and, nowadays, civilian space travelers - experience how their sight of Earth from space transforms their perspective on life on our planet.

One of the most striking aspects of the Overview Effect is the sense of interconnectedness that it can inspire.

Astronauts have described feeling a deep connection to Earth and all of its inhabitants and a renewed appreciation for the beauty and fragility of our planet.

Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, who spent 22 days in space during 3 Space Shuttle missions, has described her experience of seeing the Earth from space as a "wake-up call" that motivated her to become more involved in environmental issues.

She has since become an advocate for ocean conservation and a board member of the Ocean Exploration Trust.

Ron Garan, who flew on both the Space Shuttle and the Soyuz spacecraft, has also been inspired by the Overview Effect to take action on environmental issues.

After his missions to the International Space Station, Garan founded the Fragile Oasis organization to promote sustainability and conservation on Earth.

How A Suborbital Spaceflight Gave The Deepest Grief To William Shatner

Not all space travelers experienced the Overview Effect in a positive and elevated aspect.

At the age of 90, the Star Trek actor had a life-changing experience as he participated in Blue Origin's suborbital mission.

In his memoir, he explained how he saw death as he looked at the deep darkness of space. However, in an editorial in The Guardian, he further expounded on his experience.

He wrote that he realized how humankind spent decades and centuries with the obsession of looking away to space, and he also played a part in popularizing how space was the final frontier.

However, he explains how we are relentlessly rushing towards making Earth uninhabitable.

What was his most extraordinary experience of traveling to space filled him with sadness and made him worry about his grandchildren and future generations.

As we live in our everyday environment as a tiny bubble, it is hard to realize what our planet means to us and what it gives to human beings.

I greatly advocate for space exploration to understand where we come from and what is out there in the grand universe.

It is a notion that humans can hardly comprehend. However, as technology and science evolve, we learn more about that, piece by piece.

But it is also essential to utilizing space exploration's outstanding achievements to protect Earth's great treasure. Because - at least for now - there is no other place in our universe where we can go.

However, on a positive note, this is precisely what we are doing. Without the significant innovations that space exploration brought us in the past half a century, our life, especially science on Earth, would be less developed.

Medicine, agriculture, marine biology, and other disciplines are greatly advantaged by the technology we use in space exploration.

As individuals and collectives, it is our role to ensure that we can be on the right track to preserve what we have here on this colossal spacecraft that we call Earth.

Máté - The Mindful Guerilla

💡 My Weekly Recommendations 💡

🔥 Stuff I Recommend You This Week 🔥

📹 Video: Cal Newport tells us why we should quit social media and why we need to train our deep work skills.

🗞️ Newsletter: Jack from Young Money explains why we should fight entropy, the biggest antagonist of all our lives. Banger piece that makes you contemplate your existence and purpose.

🐥 Tweet: Yehong Zhu tells her story of how Greek locals didn’t get the importance of being featured on Forbes 30 Under 30. Life, status, and achievements can undoubtedly be approached from different perspectives.

👓 Newsletters I Read Every Week 👓

🪷 Overthoughts by Akta: Lately, Akta’s newsletter has been my go-to weekly source of notions on how to feel less overwhelmed in the world of constant noise, social pressures, and overthinking. The perfect complement to my newsletter.

💵 Young Money: Jack writes inspirational & insightful posts on finance, career, and life. I learned a lot from his work, which motivated me to start my newsletter.

🌍 International Intrigue: The best source to get quick & quality updates on recent global affairs. A 5-minute read delivered every weekday. Read this, rather than all those shitty clickbait articles on mainstream media.

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