It’s not just fixing an economic or political system, but it’s a basic worldview—
a basic understanding of whoo we are that’s at stake.
David Loy, Buddhist scholar and author
Transformational leadership and coaching is fundamentally about inviting shifts in awareness and perspective – indeed, often shifts in fundamental worldviews – within those we serve.
From time to time, something happens that makes a new perspective possible. One of those moments happened 40 years ago when we first saw the now-famous “Blue Marble” photograph of Earth taken from space. For the first time in human history, we saw our planet from the perspective of the universe. Until then, we had only looked out into the universe from Earth.
Planetary Collective describes themselves as a group of filmmakers, visual media creatives and thinkers who work with cosmologists, ecologists, and philosophers to explore some of the big questions facing our planet at this time. In celebration of that “Blue Marble” moment in human history, they have created an awe-inspiring short film documenting astronauts’ stories of how seeing Earth from space made such a profound difference in their awareness. Author Frank White first coined the term “Overview Effect” to describe this perspective-altering experience in 1987.
This 20-minute film beautifully illustrates a fundamental worldview that everything is interconnected. If we live and lead from a perspective that everything is separate from everything else, we have little hope of evolving much further as a human collective. Yet if our fundamental perspective is that everything is connected to everything else – that anything that happens to one of us happens to all of us – that our planet Earth home is a living, breathing, interdependent and dynamic bio-system in the same way that our bodies are – we can go forward.
When our choices and decisions are grounded in the understanding that every part of creation is interwoven and interdependent with every other part, we become partners in co-creation. With this “interconnected and interdependent” worldview, we have a chance to create a world that works. Indeed, in Frank White’s words, “It’s key to our survival. We have to start acting as one species with one destiny. We’re not going to survive if we don’t do that.”
Buddhist scholar and author David Loy, one of the spokespersons in the film, goes on to say: “People sense that something’s wrong, but they’re still struggling to go back and find out what the real roots of the problem are. And I think what we need to come to is the realization that it’s not just fixing an economic or political system, but it’s a basic worldview—a basic understanding of who we are that’s at stake.”
“A basic understanding of who we are.” Here is the key. With breathtaking photography and uplifting and inspiring commentary, this film invites us to see ourselves not as individuals but rather as a part of an enormous, interconnected system – to be aware not just of our own needs and desires, but to live in recognition that we are part of a much larger whole.
Thank you to the team at Planetary Collective for the shifts in perspective you support through your creative work. And thank you to all of the people and organizations around the globe who work and create from an expanded worldview of interconnectedness. The shift is happening.
Enjoy this beautiful film and share it with others.
P.S. If you would like to read more about how we are all interconnected from a quantum physics as well as ancient wisdom teachings perspective, check out Chapters 11 – 15 of my latest book, Create A World That Works. If you don’t have the book, you can order it here.
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