"Space Zen" -Will Humans' Brains Change During Space Travel?

www.dailygalaxy.com...

Quote from source:
In February, 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell experienced the little understood phenomenon sometimes called the “Overview Effect”. He describes being completely engulfed by a profound sense of universal connectedness. Without warning, he says, a feeing of bliss, timelessness, and connectedness began to overwhelm him. He describes becoming instantly and profoundly aware that each of his constituent atoms were connected to the fragile planet he saw in the window and to every other atom in the Universe. He described experiencing an intense awareness that Earth, with its humans, other animal species, and systems were all one synergistic whole. He says the feeling that rushed over him was a sense of interconnected euphoria. He was not the first—nor the last—to experience this strange “cosmic connection”.

Rusty Schweikart experienced it on March 6th 1969 during a spacewalk outside his Apollo 9 vehicle: “When you go around the Earth in an hour and a half, you begin to recognize that your identity is with that whole thing. That makes a change…it comes through to you so powerfully that you’re the sensing element for Man.” Schweikart, similar to what Mitchell experienced, describes intuitively sensing that everything is profoundly connected.

Their experiences, along with dozens of other similar experiences described by other astronauts, intrigue scientists who study the brain. This “Overview Effect”, or acute awareness of all matter as synergistically connected, sounds somewhat similar to certain religious experiences described by Buddhist monks, for example. Where does it come from and why?

I always imagined being up there looking down upon Earth you would get a sense of euphoria. It would be beyond words to describe the scene. I think it is interesting that doctors are looking into this "condition."

Now we just have to make all of human kind feel this connection, as we all are connected to everyone and everything.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

I believe this is the state of consciousness achieved by meditative monks who feel that they are "one with the universe." I have heard this called unity consciousness, christ consciousness, and enlightenment. It seems to be a loss of the sense of self - or rather a shift in the sense of self from the physical body to the whole of awareness. It can be achieved through meditation with practice, in a matter of tens of sessions, not years. I encourage everyone to try it.

reply to post by predator0187


I'm not trying to make light of this, but the few times I've tried pot, I had what I'd describe as the same feeling. Suddenly everything seemed very "big" around me, almost like I was aware of things outside of my pereferal vision. I was also aware of time washing over me like a river. All seemed connected and meaningful. It was nice. I haven't tried to repeat it very often, 'cause I'm afraid I'll get used to it and won't have the effect anymore. I called it a religeous experiance.

This is a very cool article. I have always wanted to orbit the earth. Imagine how fun that would be!

I also think it would be really cool to see Earth from orbit! Surely that would change your brain, you way of thinking. Ever see a film called "Joe vs the Volcano?" The scene on the raft of suitcases when the Moon rises and he gets up and looks in awe at the spectacle..."I never realized..." he said.

I want to tell you all about a thing that used to happen to all the time, every few weeks or so. Suddenly everything around me would stop, and then I would see a video like, I could see the Sun, or at least half of it, sticking up from a dark area, and I could see all of the planets in our system in orbit around the Sun. This was fascinating to me. Then one day I realized that with one finger I could destroy it all. Once that happened, the vision stopped. Anyone else ever see this effect? It was quite beautiful to see.

reply to post by warza


They have used the definition of getting high from pot as "euphoria." Feeling euphoria is a weird feeling to begin with, it would be interesting if we could feel that all the time...

Pred...

I have experienced this when I had lucid dreams before. The most bliss you will ever experience is flying to the stars in your dreams. Trust me when you wake up your heart will be pounding with adrenaline and you will never forget the experience.

I AM NOT A MODERATOR

Nevertheless, I believe this thread is about whether or not human brains change during space travel. Would earthbound ATS members with funny things happening to their brains please find another thread to share their experiences, please?

This one is taken by another topic.

Originally posted by predator0187
reply to post by warza

 

They have used the definition of getting high from pot as "euphoria." Feeling euphoria is a weird feeling to begin with, it would be interesting if we could feel that all the time...

Pred...

I wouldn't call the feeling from pot Euphoric. A strong Opiate derived drug will give a more true euphoric feeling.

On topic, Thanks OP for this article. I've always been fascinated with these kinds of things. The feeling that those Astronauts get is the feeling that i'm always searching for.

S&F!

This is why I don't think we went to the Moon. One of the reasons anyway.

I think our cellular structure is related to our place of development and its gravity. So you can go up high in the sky and be alright, but if you go too far away (like Moon far away) then you'll start to misfire mentally. Even if you could survive passing through the radiation belts into open space you would be stupified and unable to accomplish the mission, or even feed yourself. You'd be tripping in la-la land. Wow'd out the wahzoo until you starved to death. You'd have a helluva time though. And you'd have deep and strange thoughts as you tried to connect the dots inside your gray matter. The lack of gravity would severely affect your mind.

Also, I wonder how bright the Moon is when you are standing on it. It is really bright up there in the night sky, reflecting a massive amount of direct sunshine down through our atmosphere. I think it might blind you if you were too close to it.



[edit on 30-1-2010 by Cabaret Voltaire]

Originally posted by Cabaret Voltaire

Also, I wonder how bright the Moon is when you are standing on it. It is really bright up there in the night sky, reflecting a massive amount of direct sunshine down through our atmosphere. I think it might blind you if you were too close to it.


[edit on 30-1-2010 by Cabaret Voltaire]

Hmm. Couldn't you say the same for Earth though? It's very bright when looking at it from space, I would imagine it would be brighter than the moon.

reply to post by Cannabis907


Yeah I guess it is all the water reflecting. And when I stare at water I don't go blind. But the sunshine has been diminished by our atmosphere. So.... if there is little atmosphere on the Moon it just might be ultra bright and dangerous to look at the surface. Hence the golden Moon visor? I wonder if that was Stanley Kubrick's idea.

reply to post by Cabaret Voltaire


Yeah I see you're point. But you gotta think about the moons surface as well. It's mostly just dusty/dirty rocks isn't it? That's not the strongest light reflector


This is how I see it: Imagine if another planetary body was orbiting earth, roughly Earth's size. Can you imagine how bright that would be in our skies compared to the Moon? Even with a concentrated Atmosphere, such as Venus', it would be very bright.

Also, @ what you said earlier about Humans not being able to cope well in space and what not; What about astronauts aboard the ISS?



[edit on 30-1-2010 by Cannabis907]

reply to post by Cannabis907


The ISS is not very far up. It is only like 300 miles or something. I am saying when you get 100,000 or 200,000 miles up you will lose your mental tether to the Mother's gravity and then you'll be tripping.

reply to post by Cabaret Voltaire


Yeah that's what I figured, it still has a lot of gravity pulling on it. I'm not sure that I understand that we'd lose our "tether" to Earths gravity. What if by the time we do travel long distances in space, we are able to create perfect artificial gravity on the spaceship? I'm not trying to poke holes into your theory/belief, i'm just interested

[edit on 30-1-2010 by Cannabis907]

reply to post by Cannabis907


If we could mimic whatever the Earth is doing for us, then sure artificial whatever would work. I guess.

I just intuitively think this stuff. I think we are bathed in some Earth field of electro gravito something or other or whatever. Like if you took some wireless device away from the field of energy that was enabling it, then your device would no longer function the same. It might continue until the battery was depleted, but even while functioning in some basic way, it would still be missing that link to the wireless field. Think about it like a radio that is too far from the transmission. It would make a static sound until the battery died.

Earth gravity/magnetism/electric field is the birthing chamber of our cellular structure. The Sun lights the whole thing up, sure, but the Earth is our Mother. I think we won't survive outside the hatching chamber because we will be missing that special something.


[edit on 30-1-2010 by Cabaret Voltaire]

I think that I can relate though I am sure that it is on a much smaller scale.

I have seen hundreds of pictures of the Grand Canyon. I even saw a movie about it and I was quite aware that it was a spectacular view. However it was not until I actually viewed it up close and personal did I get the full impact. It stopped me in my tracks and took my breath away. I remember standing there and hearing myself take in this loud audible inhalation and suddenly feeling so tiny and exhilarated. I must have disconnected for a brief moment because what brought me back to the moment was the sound of other people gasping. I looked around and every single person had the same exact reaction to their first view of the Canyon that I did. There were people from all around the world and many didn't speak English but they still responded to the greatness and the beauty of the Canyon the same way.

Who would think that a big hole in the ground could have such an amazing impact? I guess with some things that are so beautiful and so much bigger than life viewing them for the first time sends you into sensory overload. Knowing on a cosmic level that you are connected in some way to something so amazing creates the euphoria.

As many have already said it would be wonderful if this were a feeling that everyone could tap into and keep ever present.

reply to post by predator0187


We may never know. Now that Obama has killed Americas return to the moon, if we find out it will be anouther nation that gets there. I am so pissed!!!

reply to post by arbiture


100% agreed. To stop the missions to the moon is one thing but to continue the never-ending war in the middle east at 300 billion or whatever ungodly amount a year is ridiculous.

Shows where our brains are though, we are concerned more about killing people and dominating then we are about advancing ourselves. Sad, but unfortunately true.

People need to give their heads a shake and realize that out there is our future, we should know as much about it as possible. To understand space will help us in so many ways but we remain ignorant, and selfish.

Pred...