A Stream in the Desert:: Is Anyone Out There?

Sojourning at an Oasis Paradise

My purpose for living this life, and for writing this blog, is to understand the faith that links us to God. I wish to explore and discuss the reality at the heart of all of the world's religions. This is an immense task, but I know that God also has faith in us, trusting that we do desire the truth, as well as freedom, love and wisdom. Thus, as always, He meets us halfway. Even as God has given us individual souls, so we must each of us trace out an individual pathway to God. Whether we reside in the cities of orthodox religion, or wend our solitary ways through the barren wastelands, God watches over us and offers us guidance and sustenance for the journey.

Most of what you will see here is the result of extensive personal study, combined with some careful speculation. Occasionally, I may simply offer some Scripture or an inspirational text. I am a wide reader, and the connection of some topics and ideas to matters of faith and religion may not seem immediately obvious, but perhaps I may spell it out in the end... or maybe, you will decide that it was just a tangent. Anyway, I hope that you will find my meanderings to be spiritually enlightening, intellectually stimulating, or at least somewhat entertaining.

Friday, August 14, 2020

Is Anyone Out There?

The ultimate humbling experience: We discover that life spawns easily at every opportunity, and even intelligence and technology are common. Plus, everyone is happy, peaceful and willing to share and cooperate with each other.

But they see us as too primitive to bother with because we are undisciplined and too foolish to put aside our competitive rivalries. Moreover, they assume that having bicameral brains makes any species prone to developing contagious schizophrenic delusions, such as belief in gods, and this makes them unstable, and potentially dangerous.

Our emergence onto the interstellar scene is a cause of concern about whether we should be given full citizenship in their fraternal pact. Most want to extend our period of quarantine for another 1,000 years, to observe whether we will destroy our own worlds and ourselves.

In other words, we are the new kid at school, and nobody wants to talk to us. Now, that's a bummer....

Second possible scenario: The moment that we develop a practical way to build colonies away from Earth, establishing a peaceful mode of coexistence, a first contact delegation arrives. "Welcome to Heaven! We've all been wondering if you would make it. Pull up a seat. The party is about to begin. We will schedule your audience with the Emperor soon." Hopeful and happy, but also humbling.

Third scenario: There are good guys and bad guys, and at first, we are not sure which is which. But they are at war, and we have to choose which side we are on. Meanwhile, both sides view us with suspicion, and tentatively offer us the opportunity to discuss alliance. We don't know if either side is being fully honest. May Heaven help us. This is scary.

Scenario #4: But if it turns out that we are alone, and life is actually pretty rare, then we are at least a little bit special. And maybe God has a plan for us. We become the gardeners, spreading life through our galaxy. We can experiment with new ways to build peaceful and prosperous societies, explore for new knowledge and seek bold adventures. Are we up to the challenge?

Which one do you hope is the most likely?