Here’s a wildly different poem from my usual work. The following poem was written in 2009, and re-worked a few weeks ago to highlight the questions that it asks.
I am posting this at the suggestion of a member of the astronomy group, at which I recently read the poem. It does raise some existential questions even though it is not a particularly spiritual poem.
It is somewhat dated and inaccurate because our burgeoning space technology has rapidly improved recently. We now know there are many more galaxies, each with more stars than we previously suspected, and each day there are more and more exoplanets being discovered.
Consider where humankind was 12,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. Consider, too, humankind’s technological progress over the past twenty years, and its continuing advance into the future.
What will we be doing in 100 years time? What amazing technologies will we have in 1,000 years time?
What could a more intelligent species achieve if it had had an extra one million years to evolve? Isn’t this mind-boggling? Please consider all of this as you read the following:
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?
Is there anybody out there… in space?
It seems unlikely, that there is not.
Consider that there are millions of stars in our galaxy…
and that there are hundreds of thousands of galaxies, in our Universe.
Are we the only planet with life?
How could that be the case?
If life happened spontaneously, because the conditions were right,
how could there not be other worlds?
That would be like saying that among all the beaches along this coastline,
there was just one grain of sand, on one particular beach,
which had just the right size, and just the right component molecules,
to instigate, and sustain life…and all the zillions of others did not.
The chances of this, are so small as to be infinitesimal…
So impossibly small, as to be impossible.
Even if you anthropomorphize God, and turn Itheshe,
into a Super-man (or Super-woman), who created everything,
it is still improbable… No, it is inconceivable,
that God would create millions of stars, in hundreds of thousands of galaxies,
which have no other purpose, that to form a cosmic backdrop for us…
the ‘‘special creations’’ … to ponder,
and perhaps, one day, to explore, God willing.
Is this the best reason we have to explain God’s creations?
Surely not, for it is laughable, that we are such ‘‘special creatures’’,
that we are the high points of God’s creation.
Such hubris, and self-importance, demeans the magnificence of God.
Truly, we are like ants, busy building our nests and our colonies…
unable to see, or comprehend the vastness of our Universe…
unable to see beyond our little patch of ground.
If there are other, more intelligent life-forms out there…
why have they not made contact with us?
Probably, they already have, for there are certainly many sightings of spacecraft.
There have been many reports of abductions…
of people being taken up into spacecraft, and studied ‘‘scientifically’’.
If you think this implausible, or preposterous, think of what we do,
when we find new, ‘‘lesser’’ species. Isn’t this just what we do?
We study their habitats and behaviours discreetly.
We use our technology to observe the ‘‘lesser creatures’’.
We tranquilize some, and capture them,
and while they are mostly unaware of their surroundings,
we measure them and often fit tracking devices to their bodies.
Although we mostly return the ‘‘lesser creatures’’ to their habitats,
to go on with their lives… we keep a few as specimens for research…
or as trophies, or as exhibits in our zoos.
In the past, we have done the same thing with people,
from other, newly-discovered cultures that we deemed the ‘‘primitive’’.
‘‘Specimens’’ were taken home to be studied and displayed,
to show the populace what these ‘‘savages’’ were like.
It was deemed necessary to demonstrate to the ordinary people,
that colonization, and religious indoctrination,
were for the benefit of these ‘‘brutes’’.
There wishes were not thought to be worthy of consideration.
If our species as a whole has a karma…
perhaps, it is time that we… are ‘‘found’’.
We are almost certainly, not the ‘‘highest’’, most-evolved form of life.
Certainly, the odds of us being so are astronomical.
Yet, we are so limited in our thinking, that most of us,
believe we are the ‘‘highest’’, physical form of life.
Mind you, it was only a few hundred years ago, that Man believed,
that the Earth was the centre of God’s creation,
and that Heaven was suspended above the Earth, on columns.
Incredibly, some still do.
There are almost certainly, other higher life-forms out there.
Consider, the artistry and complexity of crop circles…
Certainly, many have been made by humans, but if they are not all ‘‘hoaxes’’,
then they could be a way of someone, or something, wanting us to be aware of their presence.
Consider, too, the Nazca lines… why are they only visible from above?
There are so many questions, and perhaps, the most interesting is:
Why have they not contacted us properly?
I would suggest it is because they are higher life-forms.
Consider this…
If you were a ‘‘higher life-form’’, would you want to befriend a culture,
that seemed hell-bent on destroying its people and its habitat?
Would you want to share superior technology with a species,
that already has the capacity and the willingness…
to destroy its planet… and itself?
If you came across a world of warlike ‘‘sub-humans’’…
who were threatening their world…
what would you do? Would you intervene?
Would you offer support, and higher technology,
and hope that they would change?
Would you sit back and watch… and hope,
that they would not destroy their world…
or another? Or would see them as a terrifying threat?
To me, the lack of contact suggests that the beings out there,
must be higher beings….
And they are waiting to see what we will do.
They are waiting to see if we can be trusted…
to not destroy, this planet… and ourselves.
Thanks for reading this. I wish you well in your journeys through Life. Please continue to make our world better.
In Love and Peace,
Alan
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