[OSList] Perspectives from outer space

[Alan Stewart]

G’day All



Here are items which resonated strongly with me and may do so with you too.
In my case I had the good fortune to meet an Apollo astronaut in person,
Charlie Duke, in the mid 70s. And have also circumvented our little planet,
3rd from the sun, several times – while at a lower height than outer space
travellers.



I wonder if you also see that perspectives of ‘high fliers’ – see also my
Conversare <http://conversare.net/?p=1566> blog post on this – have
salience for our current times?  Perhaps particularly for those of us who
hold space (co-create contexts) for conversations that matter among whoever
comes?



This below (which I transcribed) is excerpted from an interview of Chris
Hadfield, Canadian born astronaut, on *Late Night Live *(an Australian
Radio National program*),* hosted by Phillip Adams on Wednesday 6 August
2014.



Chris is the author of *An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth.*



http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/an-astronaut27s-guide-to-life3a-chris-hadfield/5653184



http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2014/08/lnl_20140806_2205.mp3





“… I was up (on the space station) for five months and it really gave time
to think and time to look at the world, actually to steal 90 minutes at one
point and just float  by the window and watch the world, go round the world
once with nothing to do but ponder it.



And I think probably the biggest personal change was a loss of the sense of
the line between ‘us’ and ‘them’.



It’s really we sort of teach it to our children, you know. Don’t talk to
strangers, this is us. This is our whatever – our family, our house, our
neighours, our relatives, your school.

It slowly grows where the line between us and them is. Um but to – I’ve
been around the world thousands of times, 2, 593 times - and that line we
impose on ourselves of where us ends and them starts, just keeps
diminishing and it wasn’t conscious. I noticed maybe a third of the way
into my half year stint up there that I just started referring to everybody
as ‘us'. Unconsciously there was some sort of transition in my mind that
‘Hey, we’re all in this together.’



And I think you come across any city in Australia and you see the pattern
of the downtown and the suburbs and the surrounding farms and the water and
the rail and the communications, just the standard human pattern. And then
if you just wait until you cross the Pacific – takes about 25 minutes and
then you come across the Americas and there’s that exact same pattern
again. And then you wait another 20 minutes and you come across northern
Africa – and there’s that exact same pattern again.



And we solve the same problems the same way, all over the world. It’s just
‘us’ and everybody just wants some grace and better chances for their
children and a chance to laugh, understand it all. And that inclusionary
feeling was all pervasive and unavoidable, having seen the world the way
I’ve seen it and it was part of my motivations in doing my best to share it
when I came back.”



Looking forward



Go well



Alan











*Alan Stewart, PhD Social Artist Facilitator of conversations that matter
and participatory fun Based in Adelaide and operating throughout
Austral-Asia Em: alan at multimindsolutions.com <alan at multimindsolutions.com>
Web and new book: www.multimindsolutions.com
<http://www.multimindsolutions.com> Mob: +61413848680 <0413848680> Blog:
Conversare <http://conversare.net> Tw: @alpalstewart Comedy:
http://www.takeoutcomedy.com/site/comedians/
<http://www.takeoutcomedy.com/site/comedians/>*


* <http://www.takeoutcomedy.com/site/comedians/>*




"If there's dancing count me in"
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