--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Consider the difference between the two…" description: "\"“Consider the difference between the two types of globemaps of planet Earth, the physical and the political. The first is a marvelous wiggly affair, bl..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d4/alan-wilson-watts-4665_outer-space_consider-the-difference-between-the-two_775164.jpg" --- # Consider the difference between the two types of globemaps… ![“Consider the difference between the two types of globemaps of planet Earth, the physical and the political. The first is a marvelous wiggly affair, blue, green, brown, yellow, and occasionally white. The second, especially on the North American continent, is angrily scratched across with straight…” quote by Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d4/alan-wilson-watts-4665_outer-space_consider-the-difference-between-the-two_775164.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d4/alan-wilson-watts-4665_outer-space_consider-the-difference-between-the-two_775164.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6d4/alan-wilson-watts-4665_outer-space_consider-the-difference-between-the-two_775164.jpg) > ““Consider the difference between the two types of globemaps of planet Earth, the physical and the political. The first is a marvelous wiggly affair, blue, green, brown, yellow, and occasionally white. The second, especially on the North American continent, is angrily scratched across with straight lines, and the one earth (and we should not forget the one air) covered with patches of contrasting colors to identify the domains of differing bands of gangsters. Which of the two more closely resembles Earth as seen from outer space?”” [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He contrasts natural, colorful Earth with artificial, divided political boundaries, questioning which view reflects true reality. **In simple terms:** He compares natural Earth to political borders. Key Takeaway Recognize how human constructs shape perception. Themes perception politics reality Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - geopolitical analysis - environmental education - urban planning Key Concepts cartography social constructs Questions to Reflect On - What does the political map hide about our planet? - How do borders affect our sense of global citizenship? A Different Perspective Political maps can obscure ecological unity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Earth Seen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth-seen-1487015/) [Globemaps Planet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/globemaps-planet-5984274/) [Lines Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lines-earth-5534015/) [Outer space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/outer-space/) [Planet earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/planet-earth/) [Resembles Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resembles-earth-5984273/) [Straight line](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/straight-line/) [Types Globemaps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/types-globemaps-5984275/) ## Related quotes > [“East and West, Asia and Europe, were always walls in the mind at least as much as lines on the earth”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-judt/east-and-west-asia-and-europe-were-always-walls-in-the-mind-at-least/) [Tony Judt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-judt/) > [One of the most memorable moments was when I first saw earth because I had seen many pictures, many videos of earth from space,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anousheh-ansari/one-of-the-most-memorable-moments-was-when-i-first-saw-earth-because/) [Anousheh Ansari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anousheh-ansari/) > [I love my poor earth because I have seen no other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/osip-mandelstam/i-love-my-poor-earth-because-i-have-seen-no-other/) [Osip Mandelstam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/osip-mandelstam/) > [In every landscape, the point of astonishment is the meeting of the sky and the earth, and that is seen from the first hillock…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/in-every-landscape-the-point-of-astonishment-is-the-meeting-of-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“One must not forget that the earth seen from an airplane is more splendid than the earth seen from an automobile. The automobile is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-stein/one-must-not-forget-that-the-earth-seen-from-an-airplane-is-more/) [Gertrude Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-stein/) > [We are finding new areas in the ocean every day. It's as alien as going to outer space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-johns/we-are-finding-new-areas-in-the-ocean-every-day-it-s-as-alien-as/) [Geoff Johns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-johns/) > [“Earth is a small town with many neighborhoods in a very big universe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/earth-is-a-small-town-with-many-neighborhoods-in-a-very-big-universe/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [ “It was The Gospel From Outer Space, by Kilgore Trout. It was about a visitor from outer space...\[who\] made a serious study of Christianity,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/it-was-the-gospel-from-outer-space-by-kilgore-trout-it-was-about-a/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“Suddenly we were in outer space. Aboard a rusty old piece of junk freighter. Far away. And in real trouble.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-maberry/suddenly-we-were-in-outer-space-aboard-a-rusty-old-piece-of-junk/) [Jonathan Maberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-maberry/) > [I'm always looking to find order within the chaos. And sometimes when my life gets fairly chaotic, I'll take a walk outside. I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-foreman/i-m-always-looking-to-find-order-within-the-chaos-and-sometimes-when/) [Jon Foreman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-foreman/) > [Under a dictatorship, a nation ceases to exist. All that remains is a fiefdom, a planet of slaves regimented by aliens from outer-space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/under-a-dictatorship-a-nation-ceases-to-exist-all-that-remains-is-a/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids, in fact it's cold as hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elton-john/mars-ain-t-the-kind-of-place-to-raise-your-kids-in-fact-it-s-cold-as/) [Elton John](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elton-john/) > [Performing tai chi in space - it is comfortable; we got more outer space chi.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liu-yang/performing-tai-chi-in-space-it-is-comfortable-we-got-more-outer-space/) [Liu Yang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liu-yang/) > [After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say 'I want to see the manager.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/after-one-look-at-this-planet-any-visitor-from-outer-space-would-say/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [Do you remember how you felt at seventeen? I do and I don't (...) Imagine you came from outer space and someone showed you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/do-you-remember-how-you-felt-at-seventeen-i-do-and-i-don-t-imagine/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) ## More by Alan Wilson Watts > [“Advice? I don’t have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/advice-i-don-t-have-advice-stop-aspiring-and-start-writing-if-you-re/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“The common mistake of the religious celibate has been to suppose that the highest spiritual life absolutely demands the renunciation of sexuality, as if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/the-common-mistake-of-the-religious-celibate-has-been-to-suppose-that/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“Real freedom cannot exist alongside false freedom, but the abandonment of false freedom looks as if it would leave you as good as dead.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/real-freedom-cannot-exist-alongside-false-freedom-but-the-abandonment/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“But it is not that you are something which is just watching what happens. “What happens” is just using your organism to watch itself.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/but-it-is-not-that-you-are-something-which-is-just-watching-what/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“Read Theodore Schwenk’s marvelous book Sensitive Chaos (London, Rudolph Steiner Press, 1965),”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/read-theodore-schwenk-s-marvelous-book-sensitive-chaos-london-rudolph/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“Idolatry is not the use of images, but confusing them with what they represent, and in this respect mental images and lofty abstractions can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/idolatry-is-not-the-use-of-images-but-confusing-them-with-what-they/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“The more we accustom ourselves to understanding the present in terms of memory, the unknown by the known, the living by the dead, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/the-more-we-accustom-ourselves-to-understanding-the-present-in-terms/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“We do not dance to reach a certain point on the floor, but simply to dance. Energy itself, as William Blake said, is eternal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/we-do-not-dance-to-reach-a-certain-point-on-the-floor-but-simply-to/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“Thought and science are therefore raising problems which their terms of study can never answer, many of which are doubtless problems only for thought.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/thought-and-science-are-therefore-raising-problems-which-their-terms/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“But this is at the same time a vivid way of saying that your soul, or rather your essential Self, is the whole cosmos…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/but-this-is-at-the-same-time-a-vivid-way-of-saying-that-your-soul-or/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“When you no longer make the distinction between the universe and how you are acting upon it, you are really on your own and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/when-you-no-longer-make-the-distinction-between-the-universe-and-how/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“My death will be the disappearance of a particular pattern in the water.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/my-death-will-be-the-disappearance-of-a-particular-pattern-in-the/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“I have always thought that all philosophical debates are ultimately between the partisans of structure and the partisans of "goo.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/i-have-always-thought-that-all-philosophical-debates-are-ultimately/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/we-are-living-in-a-culture-entirely-hypnotized-by-the-illusion-of/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [“Where there is to be creative action, it is quite beside the point to discuss what we should or should not do in order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/where-there-is-to-be-creative-action-it-is-quite-beside-the-point-to/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) [Explore all 106 Alan Wilson Watts quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) ## More Outer space quotes > [Do you remember how you felt at seventeen? I do and I don't (...) Imagine you came from outer space and someone showed you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/do-you-remember-how-you-felt-at-seventeen-i-do-and-i-don-t-imagine/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say 'I want to see the manager.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/after-one-look-at-this-planet-any-visitor-from-outer-space-would-say/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [Performing tai chi in space - it is comfortable; we got more outer space chi.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liu-yang/performing-tai-chi-in-space-it-is-comfortable-we-got-more-outer-space/) [Liu Yang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liu-yang/) > [Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids, in fact it's cold as hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elton-john/mars-ain-t-the-kind-of-place-to-raise-your-kids-in-fact-it-s-cold-as/) [Elton John](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elton-john/) > [Under a dictatorship, a nation ceases to exist. All that remains is a fiefdom, a planet of slaves regimented by aliens from outer-space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/under-a-dictatorship-a-nation-ceases-to-exist-all-that-remains-is-a/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [I'm always looking to find order within the chaos. And sometimes when my life gets fairly chaotic, I'll take a walk outside. I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-foreman/i-m-always-looking-to-find-order-within-the-chaos-and-sometimes-when/) [Jon Foreman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-foreman/) > [“Suddenly we were in outer space. Aboard a rusty old piece of junk freighter. Far away. And in real trouble.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-maberry/suddenly-we-were-in-outer-space-aboard-a-rusty-old-piece-of-junk/) [Jonathan Maberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-maberry/) > [ “It was The Gospel From Outer Space, by Kilgore Trout. It was about a visitor from outer space...\[who\] made a serious study of Christianity,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/it-was-the-gospel-from-outer-space-by-kilgore-trout-it-was-about-a/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“Earth is a small town with many neighborhoods in a very big universe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/earth-is-a-small-town-with-many-neighborhoods-in-a-very-big-universe/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We are finding new areas in the ocean every day. It's as alien as going to outer space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-johns/we-are-finding-new-areas-in-the-ocean-every-day-it-s-as-alien-as/) [Geoff Johns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-johns/) > [“her voice suddenly gone as if it had snagged on the mist and was carried off into the failing light, leaving the phone dead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-mccormack/her-voice-suddenly-gone-as-if-it-had-snagged-on-the-mist-and-was/) [Mike McCormack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-mccormack/) > [“if it never happened to you, not ever, you would be like a mutant, a creature from outer space. Everyone knew that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/if-it-never-happened-to-you-not-ever-you-would-be-like-a-mutant-a/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [The concept of minimalism is to relax. Like a Zen monk in training, it is something that brings equilibrium to the heart. I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/takashi-murakami/the-concept-of-minimalism-is-to-relax-like-a-zen-monk-in-training-it/) [Takashi Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/takashi-murakami/) > [“Rocket Fever Grips Nation's Teenagers' cheers on enthusiastic newsreel, reflecting the nation's sudden reversal in attitude following the successful launch of Explorer-I into Earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-hollings/rocket-fever-grips-nation-s-teenagers-cheers-on-enthusiastic-newsreel/) [Ken Hollings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-hollings/) > [When the Universe was not so out of whack as it is today, and all the stars were lined up in their proper places,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/when-the-universe-was-not-so-out-of-whack-as-it-is-today-and-all-the/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) [Browse all 377 Outer space quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/outer-space/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Consider the difference between the two types of globemaps of planet Earth, the physical and the political. 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