Staying Cool
The most delicate and dangerous part of space journeys is when the spacecraft returns to the earth’s atmosphere. Take the case of the Apollo-8 spacecraft, for instance. Before the capsule touched down on December 27, 1985, it had to negotiate a precipitous return to the earth’s atmosphere. Because of the earth’s gravity—seven times that of outer space—the speed of the spacecraft soared, reaching an astronomical 39,000 kilometres per hour. Because of its extraordinary speed, the heat of the spacecraft rose to terrifying proportions. Air friction started heating up the space vessel as soon as it entered the earth’s atmosphere. Soon it became literally red hot, reaching a temperature of 3,300 degrees Celsius.
No animal can survive at such a temperature. How was it, then, that the three American astronauts aboard the craft were able to remain unaffected by the blazing inferno that had built up around them? The reason that they were able to return safely to earth was that the spacecraft in which they were traveling had been constructed in such a way that its interior would not be affected by the severity of conditions on the outside. In spite of the incredible heat on the outside, inside the craft the temperature was just 21 degrees Celsius. Imagine—3,300 degrees on the outside, 21 degrees on the inside!
This event out of the realm of space travel has an important lesson to teach us in our lives on earth. Time and again in life we run into highly charged situations. Outwardly, it seems impossible to go on. Under such conditions, there is only one way to survive, and that is by not letting oneself be inwardly affected by one’s outward situation; by suppressing one’s emotions and keeping one’s feelings under control. Only then will one be able to maintain one’s inward cool. One will not be able to survive life’s crises if one lets one’s inward condition become as highly charged as one’s outward situation. But if one does indeed remain inwardly calm and composed, one will be able to survive the heat of the external circumstances, and safely reach one’s destination.
If hate and anger are directed against one from the outside, one must not let such feelings penetrate to one’s inner being; instead one should cultivate feelings of forgiveness in one’s own heart. If the whole world wishes one evil, one should still only have good feelings for others. There is no other way of succeeding in life. If one adopts the same feelings as one’s outside environment, the challenges of life are sure to become more than one can bear.
