A Little Cosmic Hope Hanging On The Void

“The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. On this shore, we've learned most of what we know”

Carl Sagan

 

Undoubtedly the influence due to polemic Mr. X on space race development and implementation will continue bringing out deep aftermaths about the approach he wanted to seed on it. Under this nickname, the astrophysicists, writer, astronomer and science popularizer, Carl Sagan published an essay from his role as a pot consumer and advocate. In this text, he put forward how it has inspired part of his work and also upgraded his sensory and intellectual experiences. As part of this and many other crucial singularities on its counseling, principally on NASA space projects. Mr X stated some questions and affairs which had led discussions and research to other fields, and have boosted the scope through their implications.

 Sagan conceived the idea of adding an intelligible, universal and perdurable message on spacecrafts destined to go eternally away home, if ever found. These spacecrafts –which have traveled about 37 years- carry greetings, music, sound and images where life diversity and earth’s location is shown. Far from being an attempt to contact some alien life, this could be better cosmic evidence of life’s trace on earth and its perpetuation on universe expansion. He requested to Voyager controllers for taking a picture 6 billion km from earth, which he called “Pale blue dot”. This image was subject of a deep introspective analysis about the metaphor of human adventure greatness yet its infinite trifle. And then he proclaimed: “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam”.

Sounds Of Earth



Thereby when focus was on the moon, the most important reason to reach the moon would be to change our perspective of the earth –more than realize our presence on it- to look backwards and to have an overview of home as a whole in a single plane. An outcome predicted somewhat by the great Sagan emerged after this big step. The sun over a huge dark background, shooting stars entering the atmosphere, tremendous flashes of lightning on the shadows, sunsets and dawns from new angles, a line between day and night going along its extension, the breakup of political boundaries and social segregation, better views of deforestation and droughts snatching the green and blue, fires and pollution, a thin and vulnerable atmosphere protecting all life. A fragile ball of life hanging on the void, and its eternal synesthetic ineffability .

Pale Blue Dot

The overview effect is a cognitive shift in awareness reported by cosmonauts during spaceflight captives of “the stare at the earth”. This syndrome shows the world reality in an exceptional way and advocated in depths of their minds for urgent need to create a planetary society that is joint, coherent and cooperative. Because of seeing its reality and frailty on the foreground, the big human footprint over it with its invisible borders need to protect and preserve this “Pale blue dot”. Astronaut Edgar Mitchell found a definition in aged inscriptions trying to face consequences led by the effect. –Savikalpa Samadhi- See things as seen by eyes but emotionally and viscerally experienced with ecstasy and an overall unity and unicity sense. In contrast inevitably evil has penetrated human being innermost confines, magnifying it, making it essential, despot, megalomaniac, indifferent, “humanless”.

Empower some hope to overview consequences turns out to be more an optimistic act than piffling. The need of an act as a whole species is urgent, the earth is sick and something is very wrong, beyond repairing an economic or political system. It is necessary to understand all that is and has been in play and the opportunity to have this brand new catalyst to materialize it could be vital. Imagine those dishonorable and unethical leaders and managers from around the world, these people who somehow influence the evolution course under the overview is disturbing and wonderful. There are nowadays a dozen companies ready to take clients out of orbit and consequently to experience the effect, so those evil and their analogues in ages to come and population could get this experience. It would be great to thinking increasingly accessible stare at the earth. A little hope in the synergy demanded by the unwanted human adventure debacle.