221 - Stars, Planets, and Black Holes

In this deeply reflective episode of the Secular Buddhism Podcast, host Noah Reschetta uses the recent Artemis II moon mission, the film Project Hail Mary, and a Dharma talk on interdependence to explore three fundamental human states: star mode, planet mode, and black hole mode. Drawing from cosmic imagery—stars that generate light, planets that reflect it, and black holes that consume it—he maps these phenomena onto human experience, illustrating how we all cycle through these states in life. The emotional power of the Artemis crew naming a lunar crater after astronaut Reed Wiseman’s late wife Carol, and the film’s portrayal of a lone scientist forming a profound bond with an alien despite biological and linguistic barriers, become metaphors for connection, care, and the transformative potential of interdependence. Reschetta emphasizes that these states are not identities but temporary conditions shaped by causes and conditions, and that awareness of them—without judgment—is the beginning of practice. He concludes with a call to observe our own states and those of others with compassion, recognizing that we are all part of an infinite web of interconnection, like jewels in Indra’s net, reflecting and shaping one another’s lives.