Imkong Walling
It is said that getting a bird's eye view of the Earth from space has profound, life-changing effects on the beholder. They call it the "overview effect," a term coined by author/science writer Frank White in his book The Overview Effect — Space Exploration and Human Evolution.
The perceived effect on the human conscious is said to result from a renewed realisation of the fragility of humankind and its only home— the Earth, floating and exposed to the vagaries of an incomprehensibly vast universe.
Astronauts, who have had the opportunity of viewing the ‘blue marble,’ suspended over nothingness, describe this as an epiphany moment of humbling proportions. It is said to provoke in the beholder a genuine craving to re-introspect humankind’s manufactured divisions and conflicts in relation to the planet’s place in the universe.
Accustomed to the image of globes and atlas maps, the view from the orbiting space capsule becomes a reality check. From the vantage points of the astronauts, the Earth appears as one unbroken whole, no colour-coded geopolitical demarcations but only geologic landmarks and outlines.
To them, the vulnerability of the Earth becomes all the more perceptible when a seemingly endless layer of air enveloping the planet appears no more than a wispy coat of gloss on the verge of dissipation amid the sun’s lethal radiation. The hazard of cosmic rays and extraterrestrial objects that could be hurtling towards the Earth becomes all the more glaring, rousing a renewed consciousness of a delicate home planet.
They further realise the Earth is sustained by interlinked natural phenomena. It happens even as the cognitive inhabitants wrestle for supremacy over the other.
The auroras— a result of the sun’s radiation interacting with the Earth’s magnetic field, enveloping the planet in a protective embrace; ozone-forming streaks of lightning stretching across vast territories; dust blowing from the Sahara to cross the Atlantic, falling over South America nourishing the Amazon forest; and storm clouds forming over the seas bringing rain.
As per the Overview Effect, the experience affects a deeper awareness and urge to work for a one unified cause, for the betterment and survival of the human race.
This sobering effect was further expounded by the scientist, author and educator, Carl Sagan, in his book— Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space published in 1994. A photograph taken from the edge of the solar system by the Voyager 1 spacecraft inspired him to pen the famous line, “a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.”
From a celestial frame of reference, Sagan said that the Earth appeared so vulnerable — fringing on insignificance — looking no more than a “mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”
The book gave the ‘pale blue dot’ expression— an implied allusion to the futility of humankind’s strife, juxtaposed with a larger and unpredictable cosmic environment, where the greater threat to existence lurks. The purpose and intent being the imperative aspiration for continued existence of the human race.
With respect to a multi-lingual Naga people at odds with clannish complexities, mutual condescension and halfhearted diplomacy — frequently boiling over into open dispute — the need for a unifying, perspective-shifting epiphany moment assumes significance.
The writer is a Principal Correspondent at The Morung Express. Comments can be sent to imkongwalls@gmail.com
