Black Space Cat Zen or Space Travel Without Leaving Home (with Astronauts, Psychonauts & Lao Tzu)

Enlightenment Prompt #27

I watch from on high

and see many things you miss—

black space cat Zen.

Black Cat In Old Grasse, France. Photo by Morgan Buchanan.

Here's something from Wikipedia on the Overview Effect (seeing the planet Earth from space), an inner transformation that can take place after beholding a spectacular external vista.

Overview effect

The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus". The most prominent common aspects of personally experiencing the Earth from space are appreciation and perception of beauty, unexpected and even overwhelming emotion, and an increased sense of connection to other people and the Earth as a whole. The effect can cause changes in the observer’s self conception and value system, and can be transformative.

Earthrise (1968). Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders recalled, "When I looked up and saw the Earth coming up on this very stark, beat-up Moon horizon, I was immediately almost overcome with the thought, 'Here we came all this way to the Moon, and yet the most significant thing we’re seeing is our own home planet, the Earth.'

Broadly, Yaden et al. (2016) state that the most prominent common aspects of the astronauts' experience were appreciation and perception of beauty, unexpected and even overwhelming emotion, and an increased sense of connection to other people and the Earth as a whole. Yaden et al. proposed that the overview effect can be understood in terms of awe and self-transcendence, which they describe as "among the deepest and most powerful aspects of the human experience". More specifically, they write that the effect might best be understood as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus". Yaden posited that the overview effect triggers awe through both perceptual vastness (like seeing the Grand Canyon) and conceptual vastness (like contemplating big ideas like infinity).

Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson "Earth gazing" in the Cupola module of the International Space Station, a practice found to have positive psychological effects, one that is especially important in coping with the demands of spaceflight

This is a very interesting phenomenon. I have experienced a similar consciousness shift, but through sitting meditation when my mind turned inward, contemplating the inner landscape. 

In Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching we read:

Forty-seven

Without going outside, you may know the whole world.
Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven.
The farther you go, the less you know.

Thus the sage knows without traveling;
He sees without looking;
He works without doing.

I think Lao Tzu is correct. You don't have to journey far to explore the universe. You are part of it and it's within you. 

Psychonautics (from the Ancient Greek ψυχή psychē 'soul, spirit, mind' and ναύτης naútēs 'sailor, navigator') refers to a methodology for describing and explaining the subjective effects of altered states of consciousness.

Illustration from The Secret of the Golden Flower, a Chinese book of alchemy and meditation.

Meditation is far simpler than space travel and instead of taxing the body by subjecting it to an unnatural environment it actually increases the body's natural energy levels and delivers body-mind health benefits.

We are primed for space exploration from birth, we just have to become aware of how to fashion the ship and undertake the voyage to explore the outer reaches of inner space.

For a negative take on the space travel experience (where he was anticipating the overview effect and got something else instead) read what actor William Shatner had to say when he viewed the Earth from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin ship.

My morning meditation companion. Meditation generates internal heat and regulates the body's energy levels. My Jack Russell goes where the heat is at.