Revolutionary Scientific
It begins to seem that the world itself is surrendering to the absurd.That there exists a goodly number of scientifically-trained minds accepting of Darwinian descent - and further, the uncomprehendingly vast existence of a universe of which our galaxy is but a minuscule fraction as a speck of dust is to an immense territory of blank space interspersed at huge intervals with stars and planetary systems - yet still cling to the existence of a Supreme Spirit is mind boggling enough.
That metaphysical ideas of a scientific revolution whereby a belief in the probability of alien life in the universe does not diminish the possibility - nay the reality - of the presence of God supervising and superintending over all leaves one gasping for breath. This thought appears to be led by the discovery of exoplanets; the existence of planets within and outside our galaxy in vast stretches of space, among the uncountable trillions of stars reaching toward infinity.
Among educated planetary scientists, astronomers and biologists world wide there appears to be a silent, unpublic but dedicated belief that other life forms as intelligent as ours - far outstripping ours in all likelihood - exist. What manner of physical presentation those life forms could appear as can only be imagined. How communication could be assumed is also left to the imagination. Not to constrain the hypotheses, however.
This scientific community appears to believe these life forms of high intelligence, purpose and accomplishment would also have an inherent belief in the spiritual, accept the presence of God. Although they might recognize that presence in ways we do not; and name and identify it in a manner unlike ours. To discover, at some future time, the existence of an intelligent life force to challenge our own uniqueness would indeed present a dilemma.
For the present we remain a unique phenomena, a highly intelligent life form that nature has given premiership over other life forms in that we can control our surroundings to a certain degree and manipulate our environment in a manner that complements our lives. Believe in the presence of a Divine Spirit or not, we are capable of producing these results, unlike other creatures on our globe.
We believe ourselves, by and large, to be alone in the universe. Our relationship with God, in this immense universe that stretches for evermore into eternity is a closed one; He and we. But, in fact, these scientists posit the potential for He and a great many other we's.
"The discovery of alien life would be a religious Rorschach test", for all of earth's faiths, from Muslims to Jews and Hindus to Christians, according to Douglas Vakoch, director of the Mountainview, California-based Interstellar Message Composition at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute. Yep.
And who knew that the Vatican had its very own Vatican Observatory in Tucson, Arizona? Brother Guy Consolmagno, a Jesuit priest, one of a dozen astronomers with the observatory, and author of Intelligent Life in the Universe?: Catholic belief and the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life, indicates that this is a quiet topic, not generally discussed. Yes, it would be.
"What Genesis says about creation is true. God did it; God willed it; and God loves it" says Brother Consolmagno. "When science fills in the details of how God did it, it helps us get a flavour of how rich and beautiful and inventive God really is - it might even include other planets with other beings created by the same loving God." Not implacable, erratic Nature.
Curator of astrobiology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, David Grinspoon, an avid supporter of the search for alien life, feels that if we do ever reach contact with other intelligent beings in the Milky Way our conversation will revolve around faith and the soul, belief in God. That the alien society will have evolved, like us, a state of science and technology enabling them to travel a "parallel spiritual path".
All this in the spirit of scientific search for the meaning of life, the answer to evolutionary biology and the spirit within us. "Technical advancement without spiritual progress creates a dangerous and unstable condition that will be selected against. Natural selection will favour those worlds where technical and spiritual advancement proceed together." Charles Darwin, are you listening?!
Meanwhile, we send out probes; we carefully, meticulously attune ourselves to the potential, cock an ear and an eye toward the universe, invest in great revolving telescopes to pick up any electronic sound that might possibly suggest existence elsewhere. And we load up Information Earth recordings to reflect the diversity of life upon this planet should some other intelligence encounter those probes.
We send messages of earthly delight; the love of a mother for a child, elegant classical music, the sound of animals and birds, drawings of a man, a woman, a child. Nowhere do we illustrate the manner in which we treat of one another, our ill tempers, our grudging and suspicious inability to live in peace with one another. We send gentle lies out into space.
We take steps to ensure that the revelation that humankind is not at all intelligent is not made known to the possibility of other life forms that might themselves exhibit a deep level of intelligence. Or otherwise.
Labels: Human Fallibility, Nature, Science, That's Life
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, December 30, 2007
<< Home