stars, and before that, we, along with the rest of the universe, were a blinding explosion of light.
With the sheer number of stars and planets in our galaxy alone, statistics and probability tell us that life likely exists elsewhere in the universe. Perhaps such life exists in our galaxy, if we’ re lucky. Unfortunately, I will never know, if the current rate of technological advancement is anything to go by, for I won’ t be around when the first ships capable of traveling faster than light are being built.( And they will be built. We are just now discovering that faster-than-light could be possible after all.)
But if life does exist elsewhere, is it possible that whatever civilization there might be could be contemplating some, if not many, of the same questions we are asking as well? And if that’ s true, what conclusions have they come to so far? Have they looked to the stars and wondered what else is out there? Or have they buried their heads in the ground in fear of the wrath of a god, like so many of us have before?
It ' s not the Answer that drives us. It ' s the Question.
The truth is, that if life does exist elsewhere, then my previous question needs to be changed. The question isn’ t if a consciousness is dictating the universe. The question is, are we part of that consciousness? Are we a part of something so vast, so powerful, so beautiful that we simply aren’ t capable of understanding yet? It’ s one of the few plausible answers to that highly abused, misspoken question about the beginning of the universe and whether the universe has a creator. After all, we aren’ t in the universe, we are the universe. Those same elements that I spoke of earlier aren’ t some alien substance under a microscope. They’ re not just in your body, they are your body, your heart, your brain. We are the product of billions of years of energy, repetition, and variation, guided by the natural laws of this place we call the universe. And we, along with any other sentient life out there, are the only shot at the universe having any kind of intelligence at all.
If, for whatever cruel twist of fate, the God of the Bible exists, I want no part of him. I, along with what I hope is the vast majority of humanity, am better than him. I know more than he ever taught. I see beyond horizons that he could never reach. I love more genuinely than He. I help more than He. I
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