Stargazing: An Ancient Therapy
What’s one thing we’ve engaged in since the dawn of humankind?
Looking up at the stars.
Whether an archaic Homo sapien or a modern day astronomer, it’s irrefutable that the cosmos have always captured our attention and shaped so much of our existence. It’s evident in the gods we worship, the movies we watch, and in the billions of dollars annually poured into space-programs across the globe. Our natural curiosity of the universe can turn even the most hard-headed of adults into starry-eyed dreamers.
If problems, big or small, are pushing me to the edge of sanity, nothing brings me back to Earth (ironically) quite like gazing up at the stars . It’s comforting that an act as simple as this can take so much off our shoulders.
Suffice to say this is a power unlike any other. The question is, what does stargazing do to the human psyche? And what makes it therapeutic?
Ask someone, or even yourself, what do you feel when you look up at the stars? Naturally, you’ll get a wide array of answers. For some, it gives awe and a sense of belonging, but for others, only loneliness and insignificance. Through and through, an underlying theme emerges: perspective.
Perspective – the ability to see ourselves from a different point of view – is key to dealing with any problem, and stargazing offers us perspective on a cosmic scale. It makes us realize how minuscule we really are, not much different from a mere grain of sand amidst an endless dune. All the people we’ve ever known, the ones we’ve loved, or who have broken our hearts, are stuck here, orbiting the Sun with us at 67,000 miles per hour. This makes the majestic view of a star-lit sky therapeutic. Our problems and whatever baggage we carry become minor and fleeting in comparison to the scope of the universe. It only takes a brief moment of reflection to unlock this different perspective, but it does wonders to your soul.
Looking up at the stars in turn makes us look down upon Earth and everything in it under a different light. Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor and practicing Stoic (a school of Hellenistic philosophy, whose sphere of influence has touched Christianity, Buddhism, and even modern cognitive-behavioral therapy), encourages us to take a “view from above.” In his personal journal, Meditations, he wrote the following:
‘You can rid yourself of many useless things among those that disturb you, […] and you will then gain for yourself ample space by comprehending the whole universe in your mind, and by contemplating the eternity of time, and observing the rapid change of every part of everything, how short is the time from birth to dissolution, and the illimitable time before birth as well as the equally boundless time after dissolution’
Marcus writes about the importance of maintaining perspective, and the power it has to diminish our problems. Whilst not explicitly stargazing, it is nevertheless a valuable exercise showcasing the healing, almost therapeutic, nature of viewing our lives amidst the backdrop of the cosmos. Stargazing can be more than just the act of tilting your head up to the night sky.
Besides healing our inner-selves, stargazing, and the consequential change in perspective it gives us, can affect the way we interact with others too. Carl Sagan, famous astronomer, astrophysicist, and educator, conveyed this idea perfectly in his book, Pale Blue Dot (1994). He wrote the following excerpt in response to a photograph taken of the Earth by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, 6 billion kilometers from the Sun.
“There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
Sagan is essentially saying that contemplating our minuscule place in the universe should in turn help us look past our differences with one-another, and hopefully lead to a brighter and more unified blue dot.
Studies have also shown the psychological benefits of stargazing and its effects on the human psyche. A study from Illinois Wesleyan University revealed correlations between viewing the night-sky and less-stress and a more positive mood. To add, looking at the stars fills us with awe, a sensation which has been proven to play an important role in boosting happiness, health, and our social interactions.
The power of therapy, whether cognitive, behavioral, etc., is that it offers us a different perspective of seeing the world and our lives. It forces self-reflection and can be a wake-up call to whatever state we find ourselves in. Understandably, therapy can be too overwhelming, ie. financially, of a solution for some of us and the type of problems we face. Nonetheless, a more accessible form lies right in front of us — or right above us. Stargazing is open for all (albeit city lights can be an obstacle), and it only takes a brief moment of reflection to unlock its power.
Stargazing is, in essence, taking part in an ancient ritual. It hits us with a comforting and humbling realization that anyone who’s ever walked the face of the Earth, no matter their differences, has at one point looked up at the sky and wondered: who are we amidst all of this? It’s even more humbling to think that the first Homo Sapiens must have wondered the same thing, and thousands of years later, we still ask the same questions. Looking up at the tapestry of a night sky connects us with all of humanity, past and present, and therefore, can create all the difference in ourselves and the world.
