{"id":367147,"date":"2026-04-07T02:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T02:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/367147\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T02:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T02:25:15","slug":"we-dont-need-to-leave-the-planet-to-see-and-feel-the-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/367147\/","title":{"rendered":"We Don\u2019t Need To Leave The Planet To See And Feel The Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Martin<\/a>
\nTuesday, 7 April 2026, 11:48 am
Opinion: Martin LeFevre – Meditations<\/a><\/p>\n

A bright sun, low in the western sky, streams through
\na gap in the trees above the houses. A mourning dove coos
\nnearby, and is answered by another in the distance. A jay
\nsquawks.<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t a flutter of the new
\nleaves, and it\u2019s blessedly quiet. A little dog barks, and
\na voice calls out. The day ends.<\/p>\n

Intrinsically
\nthe earth is a sacred place. However many planets and moons
\nwith life there are in the Milky Way, our planet is surely
\none of the most beautiful.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a lot of
\nschlock from cable news hosts talking about the Artemis II
\nmission \u2013 how much \u201cawe\u201d (a religious feeling) they
\nfelt at the power of the rocket at launch, and how the
\nmission is \u201cunifying humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for older
\nfolks who remember the Apollo missions, the emotionless
\nmasculinity and America-centered nature of those moonshots
\nhas gratefully given way to a more gender-balanced and
\nEarth-centered vibe from the Artemis crew.<\/p>\n

However
\neven for those whose worldview was deeply informed by
\nliterally the world view of the moon missions, reality
\nintrudes.<\/p>\n

As one pundit wrote, \u201cThere can be no
\npoint other than prestige in sending humans to the moon,
\nwhich is why more than 50 years have passed since they last
\nwent there. Robots can perform all we need in space.
\nReturning the Iranians to the stone age is a different
\nmatter.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were exceptions to the testosteronal
\nApollo missions, such as with Mike Collins, the guy who
\norbited in Columbia while Armstrong and Aldrin made the
\nfirst footprints on the moon, and who was labeled as the
\n\u201cloneliest man\u201d in the world.<\/p>\n

Advertisement – scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n

In his droll way,
\nCollins put that canard to rest by writing, \u201cI am alone
\nnow, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known
\nlife. I am it.\u201d But he said that he enjoyed the solitude
\nand felt happy, \u201cthe opposite of lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins
\nalso spoke eloquently about how everywhere the Apollo 11
\nastronauts went on their triumphal world tour, \u201cpeople
\nsaid, \u2018We did it,\u2019 not, \u2018You did it\u2019 or \u2018America
\ndid it.\u2019\u201d That made planting the flag on the
\n\u201cmagnificent desolation\u201d of the moon all the more
\nridiculous.<\/p>\n

Fifty-four years since the last Apollo
\nmission, I\u2019m glad girls and boys are excited about this
\nslingshot around our lifeless sister planet (as the moon
\nwould be called from afar, since it\u2019s almost the size of
\nMercury). But it\u2019s hard to get excited about a mission
\nthat replicates the flight of the ill-fated Apollo
\n13.<\/p>\n

Especially since Artemis II\u2019s main claim to fame
\nin a \u201cfree-return trajectory\u201d is taking it just a few
\nhundred miles further than Apollo 13, and getting no closer
\nthan 4000 miles (6500 km) to the moon. Even Apollo 8,
\ncarrying the first humans to leave earth\u2019s gravitational
\nsphere, orbited a tantalizingly close 60 miles (about 100
\nkm) from the moon\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n

Artemis II\u2019s
\nastronauts are oohing and aahing at the moon\u2019s dark side
\nfrom 6500 km away before returning to a world completely
\neclipsed by man\u2019s darkness. By the time they get back, if
\nTrump gets his way and the entire world is at war, they\u2019ll
\nprobably wish they could have kept going.<\/p>\n

The crew is
\ndoing its best to make people feel better on earth. \u201cYou
\nare on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us
\na place to live in the universe,\u201d intoned Victor Glover,
\nas he spoke from biblical belief on Easter.<\/p>\n

It was a
\ndim echo of the spine-tingling sensation Apollo 8\u2019s crew
\ngave people on earth by taking turns reading parts of
\nGenesis as they circled the moon on Christmas Eve 1968.
\nWithout mentioning the Bible, the passages spoke to all
\nhumanity.<\/p>\n

Glibly describing the universe as \u201ca whole
\nbunch of nothing,\u201d Glover struck a jarring and
\ncontradictory note even from a biblical perspective, since
\naccording to his belief system, \u201cGod created [both] the
\nheavens and the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

From a scientific
\nperspective, how could the earth and all the life on it
\nemerge from \u201ca whole lot of nothing\u201d anyway? As
\nincomprehensibly vast as it is, the universe gave birth to
\nthe earth, so it must be conducive to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust
\nme, you are special,\u201d Glover proclaimed. \u201cIn all of this
\nemptiness, whether you believe in God or not, this is an
\nopportunity to remember where we are and who we are. And
\nthat we are the same thing, and we got to get through this
\ntogether.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fine sentiment as that is, there\u2019s a
\nlot to unpack, as philosophers say, in his little sermon.
\nInsisting that the earth was \u201ccreated to give us a place
\nto live in the universe\u201d is straight out of the Christian
\ncreation myth, a fairy tale that parents tell children when
\nthey ask why we\u2019re here.<\/p>\n

We must grow up as humans.
\nThere is no separate deity that placed the earth in its
\norbit like a marble on a game board. There is an inseparable
\nmystery and immanent intelligence suffusing the cosmos, but
\nhumans aren\u2019t a \u201cspecial creation.\u201d And we\u2019re
\nrapidly destroying this beautiful planet, crashing the
\nclimate and decimating the creatures with which we share the
\nearth.<\/p>\n

The intriguing comment in Glover\u2019s remarks
\nintimates at what\u2019s between the lines: \u201cWe got to get
\nthrough this together\u2026\u201d That says a lot, without
\nactually saying what \u201cthis\u201d is, much less why it
\nis.<\/p>\n

Even from the bygone belief in the special
\ncreation of humans, people don\u2019t ask (or merely give pat,
\nchildish answers to the question), why does darkness rule
\nthe world?<\/p>\n

There is no supernatural answer in
\ntheological fabrications of a cosmic battle between good and
\nevil. There\u2019s only our lack of self-understanding as
\nhumans.<\/p>\n

The next day, the early morning sun is
\nalready warming the air, but the damp, green grass under
\nbare feet feels cool and thick. It\u2019s good to stand on the
\nground in bare feet when the seasons permit. It anchors one
\nto the Earth.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need to go into space
\nto see and feel the beauty of the earth. The entire earth
\nand all humankind are in one\u2019s backyard if one knows how
\nto look and listen.<\/p>\n

Martin
\nLeFevre<\/p>\n

\n\u00a9 Scoop Media<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Martin<\/a><\/p>\n

Scoop Contributor<\/p>\n

Martin LeFevre is a contemplative and philosopher. <\/p>\n

His sui generis \u201cMeditations\u201d explore spiritual, philosophical and political questions relating to the polycrisis facing humanity. <\/p>\n

lefevremartin77@gmail<\/p>\n

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