We Are All In This Together
Doug Kallman
April 19, 2026
Maybe it’s because of my conditioning as a child of the moon landing era that my heart was profoundly lifted by the joy and wisdom recently shared by the Artemis 2 mission crew after viewing the Earth in its entirety as a single, living entity without borders, with a thin fragile rim of atmosphere, contrasting with the lifeless, frigid environment of the moon and space. This “Overview Effect” often leads to astronauts returning with a heightened sense of humanity, love for the planet, and the awareness of the need to protect its life. Mission Specialist Christina Koch, shown observing the Earth through the window of Integrity, shared that the Artemis crew was “inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked. I know I haven’t learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me, but there’s one new thing I know, and that is, Planet Earth, you are a crew.”
Astronaut Koch’s insight aligns with Buddhist teachings regarding the interconnected nature of existence, a shared participation in a complex chain of cause and effect. The Buddha taught that we are all subject to the same law of dependent origination, that everything is linked to everything else and everything that came before. In the Samyutta Nikaya (SN12.41) the Buddha states, "When this exists, that comes to be; with the arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be; with the cessation of this, that ceases.” So none of us is truly an isolated actor. We are mutually dependent, inescapably linked, part of the crew of humanity. Contemplating and practicing with the wisdom of the Buddha also leads progressively to the same “Overview Effect” experienced by astronauts as we gradually realize the implications of our common connection. In the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, we inter-are, sharing inevitable aging, sickness and death, sharing the suffering of not getting what we want and losing what we desire, sharing the impersonal nature of dependent origination. We realize our limited control and our vulnerability. It starts to sink in, we are all in this together.
How do we proceed when we realize the connection implied by dependent origination? Perhaps consider reciprocal conditioning, that our actions of body, speech and mind create conditions that inevitably infuse our own hearts and ripple outwards to affect the hearts of others. When we are aligned and beautifully linked, we experience this connection as joy. This is evident in the photo of the Artemis crew’s weightless hug which was widely viewed around the world. Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen remarked, “What you saw was a group of people having meaningful contribution and extracting joy out of that, and what we’ve been hearing is that was something special for you to witness. I would suggest that when you look up here, you’re not looking at us. We are a mirror reflecting you, and if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper. This is you.” The mudita, the appreciative joy, so many experienced when viewing this photo points towards a common heartfelt longing for belonging and meaning. I feel this connectedness when our own Atlanta Insight Meditation Community gathers and practices together. When we generously share our vulnerability, caring, resilience and peace, we take refuge in the embrace of sangha, in our spiritual friendship, in our humanity. In the best way possible, we realize that we are all in this together.