QotD: Extraterrestrial
Do you believe there is intelligent life on other planets?
I may be vain, but not vain enough to believe that Earthlings are the only species to survive on a planet and thrive and progress. Or that Our planet is the Only Planet out of All the billions of planets in all of the billions of galaxies that could possibly exist. That's one of the issues I have with some religions...that Creation is presented from the limited perspective of Earth Creation (One Heaven One Earth) and not Universe Creation. That is never going to change either, because it would mean rebuilding the foundations of religions from the ground up and most folks are more than happy to believe what they've always believed (spiritually) as opposed to going through the work of incorporating New Knowledge to create their own Belief System and using it to find their own Truth(s). (but that's a rant for another post)
I am more apt to believe that we are the least intelligent as we have yet to even discover the other intelligent life On the other planets. Frankly, I don't think we'd know it if it came and slapped us in the face.
There is a song in one of my favorite musicals She Loves Me entitled Perspective. If you are unfamiliar with the show, the plot revolves around two employees of a small Budapest shop (Maraczek's Parfumerie) who are constantly at odds with each other at work, unaware that each is the other's secret pen pal (a 60's musical version of You've Got Mail).
Mr. Maraczek, the boss of a parfumerie, is extremely crass in his treatment of one of the other employees, Ladislav Sipos. Sipos is firm on his creed, "Do not lose your job" and he's very concerned with having a true "perspective" at work. AnyWay....this QoTD made me think of this song, specifically the excerpt from Perspective:
I am only one of several in a rather small parfumerie.
Which is only one of several in this city.
Which is one of many cities in this country which
Is only one
Of many countries
Which are on this continent
Which is only one of seven on this not so special planet
Which is one of several in our solar system
Which is only one of many solar systems
In this vast, and inconievable affair, that is the universe
Sooooooo
In this infinite, incomprehensible scheme
If a dot called Maraczek should scream
At a speck called Sipos
What on Earth does it matter?
Call me fool,
That's alright with me.
Here's my rule,
Never disagree.
Where's my pride?
Swallowed long ago.
Deep inside,
Where it doesn't show.
Just maintain a true perspective
And it's easy to avoid a clash of wills
Just maintain a true perspective.
And make sure you're well supplied with stomach pills.
Let me put it bluntly,
I'm a coward.
With a wife and children to support.
Actually my creed is sort and simple
Five essential words Georg:
Do not Lose Your job!
Comments
I completely agree with you, and especially with this:
"[M]ost folks are more than happy to believe what they've always believed (spritually) as opposed to going through the work of incorporating New Knowledge to create their own Belief System and using it to find their own Truth(s). (but that's a rant for another post)"
I was just about to post something that said almost the same thing down to the religion part. I would not have ended it with "do not lose your job" though! lol Thanks for writing all of this so that I didn't have to (once again)!
BTW... I miss your tangents in your posts! I loved this, it feels like you're BACK! : )
"I am only one of several in a rather small parfumerie.
Which is only one of several in this city.
[snip]
In this vast, and inconievable affair, that is the universe
Sooooooo"
Absolutely reminds me of the ending shot of "Men in Black" where the camera starts an overhead perspective of Tommy Lee Jones on his recliner (reunited with his wife) then pulls back to his house then to his neighborhood then to his city then to the US then to the North American Continent then to the Earth then outbound past the planets then outbound to the Solar system then outbound to the Galaxy and then shifts perspective to the Galaxy enclosed in a marble with the (Alien) using the Galaxy/marble to play marbles where the winning alien scoops up the Galaxy/marble with the Earth inside and drops it into his marble bag.
I was raised a Roman Catholic and I believe God revealed himself to me through His son Jesus as historically recorded in the New Testament. I also believe (and this is fully in keeping with Catholicism) that God in His infinite form revealed/reveals himself to others in a variety of ways and that I and my religion have no sole claim to Him. God made the earth in six days, but that does not mean that they were earth days or human days or that he didn't make the earth and man by starting the process of evolution that we have scientificaly discovered. Trying to explain God in human terms would only make God less God-like. I believe He could have started an infinite number of "Edens" with a variety of creatures (human and "alien") and that Eden was just the stop along the evolutionary road He made when a man/alien becomes self aware. Etc, etc.
Midnight and talking religion!
They're Made Out of Meat (the short story), and the video @ Youtube. Enjoy!