Mitakuye Oasin – The Overview Effect

Edgar Mitchell, an astronaut on Apollo 14, described what has come to be known as the “Overview Effect” – the experience that astronauts commonly feel when they see the Earth from space.  Mitchell said the following: 
“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it.”  From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.’” 

Ron Garan, who spent six months on the International Space Station in 2011 also shared his perspective: 
 "I looked down at the Earth — this stunning, fragile oasis, this island that has been given to us, and that has protected all life from the harshness of space — a sadness came over me, and I was hit in the gut with an undeniable, sobering contradiction.

In spite of the overwhelming beauty of this scene, serious inequity exists on the apparent paradise we have been given. I couldn't help thinking of the nearly one billion people who don't have clean water to drink, the countless number who go to bed hungry every night, the social injustice, conflicts, and poverty that remain pervasive across the planet.

Seeing Earth from this vantage point gave me a unique perspective — something I've come to call the orbital perspective. Part of this is the realization that we are all traveling together on the planet and that if we all looked at the world from that perspective, we would see that nothing is impossible."

Basil Brave Heart similarly marvels at his grandmother who was raised during the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890.  She would teach him to forgive the soldiers (“They did not know what they were doing.”) – offering singular compassion and love of humanity even in its most horrible manifestation – and speaking from the same place of love that Jesus is recorded to have spoken from before his crucifixion (“Father, forgive them.  For they don’t know what they are doing.” – Luke 23:24).  Basil often continues to share his grandmother’s teachings that so closely mirror quantum physics and the freshly discovered science from modern man’s travels into space.  “How did she know that?!”, he regularly exclaims.

That we are all traveling on the same planet.  And that we are all related and connected to each other – and that our survival is inextricably connected to the realization that we are hurling through space together on a planet that holds the possibility of both magical beauty and tragic self-destruction. 

Many of us returned to our homes from the Indigenous Wisdom Gathering and Four Directions Ride just over a week ago.  A community of over 50 – young and old – gathering in a camp to eat, work, pray, celebrate, enjoy each other’s company, ride horses, learn, teach, etc. together.  The way communities used to do. 

Several hundred people gathering throughout the weekend to listen to a half dozen presentations on the horse culture, reconciliation, the Spiritual background of Indigenous song, dance and drumming and so many other Indigenous teachings.

Almost 20 riders taking their horses out of the valley and into the mountain tops above while contemplating the diversity, inequality, suffering and privilege of riders from Four Directions and worlds away and apart – but connected -- riding together.  One group of youth riders were from a place and home without electricity, stove, air conditioner, fan and few, if any, opportunities.  The other group were from a valley of millionaires and 5,000 plus square foot homes.

The view on the ground that weekend, if one was willing to look at it, was one of gross and unjustifiable inequality as well as immoral prejudice. 

The view from space, however, was and is, far more forgiving, exceedingly hopeful and offers a pathway through.  Indeed, there is no need to drag the son of a bitch out to space.  Only to look deeply into the beauty and possibility of what is right in front of us.  We are all related and connected.  What happens to our neighbor, brother, niece, grandmother, et. al. happens to each of us.  Simple acts of compassion, kindness and generosity are carried forward and magnificently amplified almost always far beyond even their original intention. 

For those of you who came together to support the camp and the gathering last weekend – who provided your homes, transportation, a meal, volunteer labor and time, financial support, shared our stories and requests to your communities --- we thank you.  I know this to be true:  It was not only the young people who traveled from the reservation to participate in the gathering that took home the best of humanity and its ability to spread and change the planet . . . those acts of kindness and love spread throughout the valley and well beyond.

Wopila – mitakuye oasin

Dave