Searching For New Gods And New Friends

ONE THIRD OF AMERICANS believe that extraterrestrial beings are living among us. Not that there is life on other planets, or that they have seen a UFO, or have had a personal encounter with an extraterrestrial. That alien beings are living among us, presumably well disguised. Believer's Opinions concerning purported extraterrestrial reasons and intentions for infiltration vary considerably, from benign to malign. Evidence and proof are not a requirement for humans to adopt beliefs. Whatever someone really believes, we can never know for certain, we must accept at face value, since beliefs are easily disguised and belied. As the ancient Hindu scripture says: "man is a creature who lives by faith, and whatsoever is the faith, also is the man." For centuries at issue was whether there is one god, a handful, or a veritable crowd. We seem, as a species, to have settled on one, again, without evidence or proof. We need messengers and intermediaries, so we establish a hierarchy of angels. It may well be that our modern preoccupation with beings from other worlds is our modern version of a search for gods. You can sense how it happens. We live our lives surrounded by forces beyond our control, far more powerful than we. We emerged from savagery as first the hunted, then became hunters. In a perpetual state of fear, we evolved hatred as a more advanced survival tool than raw, unreasoning terror. Over the centuries, calm, dispassionate reason has slowly supplanted irrational impulses. Religion is on the decline, science is on the rise. We are actually searching for signs of extraterrestrial life, using empirical observation as a tool. Science is a better tool, the best we have. We now know that trillions of planets are orbiting other stars, and that many of them appear to be suited for the evolution of life. And although to date no indication of life beyond earth has been found, we are hopeful, because, at heart, we are social animals, and do not want to live alone is a vast, uncaring cosmos. And so the search continues, and will do so as long as our existence continues. And even if we never find brothers and sisters among the stars, we will at least know that we have looked, and in so doing have to some degree conquered our irrational fears.