Woke up this morning with light in my eyes and then realized it was still dark outside. It was a light coming down from the sky. I don't know who or why...Mr. Spaceman..The Byrds.
What is life? I got into an intense discussion today with my wife and son. It all started as these things often do with a more or less silly statement that I made in regard to something that a scientist said about aliens. The subject of ufo's came up and since that is one of my interests and has been since I was a child I had to put in my two cents worth. Now Cindy is a bit of a science nerd on some things and I have to admit that I am ignorant of most higher math and science and my main claim to intellectual pursuit is my love of reading. Other than that I couldn't teach a 6th grade science class or a 4th grade math class. So, there was this scientist claiming that maybe aliens wouldn't even contact us if they could and that even if they exist they would be so far above us that we would be like ants to them and therefore they would have no interest in us. Also that they would be biological and look something like us because that is how the physical laws of the universe work.
I had the right to remain silent. But, I didn't have the ability...Ron White.
I should have let it go right there. But, being as I am a UFO buff and also a bit of a new age space cadet I had to point out the fallacy of the great scientist on both a scientific and spiritual level. After all I argued we don't know if the physical laws hold up all across the universe. Also, what if they are not the boring Star Trek aliens. What if they are evolved spiritually and consciously and maybe they are coming from another dimension of reality and not a materialistic one where they have bigger toys but no real wisdom or empathy.. Now to be fair that's not where the discussion went completely off the rails. Also, I pointed out that chances are we wouldn't be like ants to them and that is a very arrogant and silly way that for some reason even our smartest scientist seem to hold onto. After all if I went outside and found a group of ants building temples and space rockets then I would absolutely be convinced that they were worth paying attention to.
I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane... Waylon Jennings.
So, I said I felt we had evolved and were evolving consciously as a species and that human empathy was greater than it used to be. I feel that we are getting better at calling out racism and that we are progressing over all but it is a slow grind. My wife disagreed and pointed out how much sickness and poverty and slavery and need there is in the world. While rich men make ships to fly into space without a thought of the need for pandemic relief and vaccines and health care. Then my son who like most young people these days is becoming socially aware also said that he thought the world was horrible and that nothing had changed in the last 100 years in America or the world.
The arc of the universe is long. But, it finally bends towards justice...Martin Luther King Jr.
I told my son that if he were to go back to 1965 and talk to Martin Luther King and tell him that The University of Alabama has black students and a black quarterback and that Birmingham has a black mayor and that he could just walk into a restaurant and order a meal and a white waitress would take his order. He would be incredibly happy about our progress. However, both my son and wife pointed out that we have seen a black man murdered in a northern city by a policeman and that black people still don't feel safe being pulled over by the law. I of course pointed out that there are not roving bands of cops or white supremacist killing people. They pointed out slavery in China and the way that poor communities who are mainly black are discriminated against. So, it was a tough sell trying to prove my theory that humanity is evolving into something better. We just had to agree to disagree.
We know there is intention and purpose in the universe. Because there is intention and purpose in us...George Bernard Shaw.
So then somehow we get off onto evolution and intent. I concur that evolution is a force of nature but that it has intent behind it. My son brings up random mutations as an argument and then I say that the original intent was still there or nothing would happen at all. that just kicks the can down the road. Anyway, I'm afraid I just came off looking like a space cadet and maybe his agnosticism was strengthened. but I still know that there is a purpose to the universe. Otherwise the universe is completely blind and deaf and is indeed the work of an idiot signifying nothing. But, here we start to get into philosophy and maybe even religion. I have no real patience for religion myself these days.
You do not have to attend every argument to which you are invited . ..Buddha.
So, now wishing I had argued less I decided to throw out two more things to prove my superior thought skills and save a little of my wounded pride. First I said that my son should watch a Buddha at the Gas Pump podcast featuring Doctor Jim Tucker of the University of Virginia Department of Perceptual Studies which would reinforce my view that more is going on with consciousness than simply random and meaningless mutations. But, even though I do think it's a good interview, it's over two hours and I highly doubt a teenager is going to sit though it just to hear reincarnation theory. I have to be doing something else myself like walking or doing chores because even I can't just sit there that long while somebody talks. Besides I no longer believe in a one size fits all philosophy myself.
The public has a distorted view of science because children are taught in school that science is a collection of firmly established truths. In fact, science is not a collection of truths. It is a continuing exploration of mysteries...Freeman John Dyson.
So, I pointed out that I once saw a video of Carl Sagan where he talked about a small population of crabs in a certain area. The spotted ones tasted great to the local fishermen while the white ones were not as tasty. The spotted ones disappeared and to the great Sagan that proved that there was no real intent, just random evolution. I pointed out that it actually was an example of intent. The fishermen caught all the spotted crabs and ate them. They threw back the white ones. So, it was an example of intent. Cindy and I argued for awhile as she saw evolution in action and I saw intent. Actually we are both right in our own way and the way we look at it. But, alas I'm afraid I still came off as the space cadet and so I really should have just let it go.
The question isn't if there is a God or not. The question is have you experienced God or have you not experienced God...Hindu wisdom verse.
Finally, I assured my son that I am not anti-science. As a matter of fact I adore medical science. I would be dead of heart failure right now if not for the brilliance of medical science. But, I see intent and purpose in that. I see a species that is evolving mostly technologically but also consciously. I remember being in the hospital and about to be transferred to another hospital where the surgeon would repair my new heart valve that had come loose.
I had a "intuition, vision, Inner knowledge" of a giant pinball machine and I was about to be sent into the universe like a pinball being shot out by the pulling of a lever. But, there was purpose in it. I knew that my destination was already known. That what might appear random was in actuality part of a bigger plan. A divine plan. Maybe I can't convince my son or my wife that there is a personal relationship with the Divine apart from religious dogma. But, my whole life is a search and a cry to the one I have dialoged with my whole life. I still have hope that even in a world of apparent randomness that we are more than meat sacks. or a bog of bones.
Peace.
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