| Humans are the only creatures on earth whose eyes
continually turn to the heavens. From time immemorial, civilizations have
revolved around that which they saw (or imagined) in the skies above. The
gods of the ancients were associated with the heavens, coming from the
stars and eventually returning to them again in their flaming chariots.
Even in Christianity, Jesus himself was supposedly "carried up into Heaven,"
as we are told in the writings of Luke. The Blessed Virgin Mary, according
to Catholic dogma, was also taken from the earth and elevated to the higher
realms. Practically every system of belief, at one time or another, has
looked up to the skies as the ultimate destination of the human race. Even
atheistic scientists have used the regular course of the heavens to formulate
the calendar by which our modern civilization measures time.
It is interesting to note that we, today, are just as fascinated by the mysteries of the cosmos as our ancestors were. Our wonder and awe has actually increased as our capacity to escape the confines of the atmosphere has grown. Space exploration has plunged us headlong into an age of incredible discoveries, which are bound to surpass the significance of all previous human achievement. Yet, we will never know all there is to know about what lies beyond the boundaries of space. It is unavoidable, given the knowledge obtained from our scientific exploration of space and our growing understanding of the vastness of the Universe, that we must conclude that the cosmos is inhabited by intelligent beings other than humans. But, this hypothesis is by no means a new idea. Aristotle and Pythagorus believed in a universe teeming with intelligent life. The Catholic Church, in 1277, condemned the doctrine of life appearing only on earth, since All Things were possible for an omnipotent God and it was, therefore, heresy to teach that God could not have created a plurality of inhabited worlds. Yet, in 1600, the Roman Inquisition burned Giordano Bruno at the stake for defending his view of life on other planets. It has only been within the last few centuries that narrow and superficial religious interpretations have rejected the hypothesis of Universal Life, despite the evidence of science and common sense. This view of the earth as the only inhabited planet in the universe is based upon two ridiculous misconceptions. First, it has been long believed that human beings, as physical manifestations, were the result of a special act of creation by a personal God, who desired to bestow His blessing and power upon only one creature in the endless Universe. And, second, there was the silly scientific theory that the earth was the physical center of the cosmos. If just one star out of every million, in the Milky Way Galaxy alone, possesses a planet with some type of sentient life, we would be surrounded by at least a hundred thousand inhabited worlds. And, if we multiply this figure by the number of visible galaxies, the total would be more than the mind could imagine. With these many possible sources of life, it is impossible to consider our little speck of cosmic dust to be the center of it all and the only one with a growing population of semi-intelligent beings. There must be civilizations millions, perhaps billions, of years older than ours. And, likewise, there must be civilizations in their infancies, who are gazing out into space and wondering if they are alone. Whether or not we have been, or are currently being, visited by intelligent beings from these other worlds is not an argument I intend to take up in this book. Far too many people already attribute every unsolved mystery or unexplained phenomenon to the powers of little gray space aliens. But, the biggest objection raised, by the proponents of the opposite viewpoint, against the existence of alien astronauts -- that the vast distances of space make it impossible to travel between star systems -- is based upon the arrogant and ignorant belief that we know all there is to know about the nature of space. As most astrophysicists know, given Albert Einstein’s theories of space and time, as the speed of an object (such as a space ship) increases closer to the speed of light, its movement through time is reduced. But, this still leaves us with the problem that, according to the Theory of Relativity, the speed of light is as fast as any object can go. Perhaps, however, since our concept of physics and our knowledge of the Universe are still in the toddler stage, there are ways to overcome this "speed limit" that are simply unknown to us, yet common knowledge to the rest of the galaxy. Whether or not we have been, or are being, visited by alien astronauts will be debated for some time to come. But, whether such visitations are possible is not even questionable. Yes, of course, it is possible. We are proof of the existence of extraterrestrials. Many people would make false idols out of our friends
from outer space, treating them like gods. But, we humans are the true
extraterrestrials. We have become so out of touch with our own planet,
and the organic relationship that Life requires of us, that we are alien
to its ways and in danger of destroying the earth. We must, therefore,
work on improving ourselves and not rely on salvation from the stars. Within
the field of our own consciousness, not from any outside source, is the
power to make the Cosmic Connection.
|
==================
>> BACK
<<
