Looking at Earth from space will reveal what 'humans lie to themselves'

This astronaut believes that if more people experience the same feeling as him, many problems of the world and humanity will be solved.

62 years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to fly into space and perhaps the first to experience what scientists today call the 'panorama effect.' This phenomenon occurs when a person sees the entire globe from space and realizes that they are in a place where 'borders are invisible, and racial, religious, and economic conflicts have no meaning.'

The panoramic effect makes one realize how insignificant human conflicts seem and see the planet for what it is, a deeply interconnected being.

The panoramic effect makes one realize how small human contradictions seem.

In a fascinating interview with Big Think, astronaut, author, and humanitarian Ron Garan argues that if more of us had this effect, we could undo much of what is currently harming humanity and the planet.

Garan spent 178 days in space and traveled more than 114 million kilometers in 2,842 orbits. From above, he realized the planet was much more fragile than he had imagined.

"As I looked out the window of the International Space Station, I saw lightning storms flashing like paparazzi flashes, I saw the dancing aurora curtains that seemed so close we could reach out and touch them. And I saw the incredibly thin atmosphere of our planet. At that moment, I suddenly realized that it was that paper-thin layer that kept all living things on our planet alive ," Garan said in the video.

The iconic "Faint Blue Dot" photo taken by the Voyager 1 probe is a powerful reminder of the smallness and loneliness of Earth in the vast universe.

'I see a shimmering biosphere teeming with life ,' he continued. 'I don't see an economy. But because our artificial social structure treats everything, including the planet's life support systems, as wholly owned subunits of the global economy, it is clear from the wide-open perspective of outer space that we are living in a lie.'

A deception comes from misjudging one's priorities, according to Garan.

'We need to shift our priorities from 'socio-economic, then planetary' to 'planetary, social, then economic'. That is when we continue our evolution ,' he added.

Garan says that human civilization is paying a heavy price for its inability to develop a planetary perspective, and that it is the main reason we are failing to solve many of our problems. While our economic activity may improve our quality of life to some extent, it is also disastrous for the planet that sustains us.

Actor William Shatner had a similar experience to Gagarin when he traveled into space.

"It was one of the most powerful feelings of grief I've ever encountered, " Shatner writes . "The contrast between the harsh cold of space and the warm nurturing of the Earth below was deeply saddening. Every day, we are faced with the realization of further destruction of the Earth at our hands: the extinction of animals, flora, and fauna… things that took 5 billion years to evolve and suddenly we will never see them again because of human intervention."

Ultimately, the astronaut hopes that together we can change the future and protect this precious planet. 'When we can evolve beyond the two-dimensional us-them mindset and embrace the true multidimensional reality of the universe we live in, that is when we will no longer be floating in the dark… and that is the future we all want to be a part of. That is our true calling . '