Across the Universe– Is There Intelligent Life Out There?

Last updated on: June 10, 2018 at 1:08 am by Ben Witherington

Across the Universe– Is There Intelligent Life Out There? 2018-05-10T09:12:58-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

One of the questions human beings have pondered for many centuries is— Are we human beings alone in the universe? By this was meant— Are we the only intelligent life in the universe? I forego the debate about whether there is even intelligent life on earth itself. Recently, it has often seemed the answer to that question is a big fat NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Besides the warring madness of our species, we also seem to be the only creatures on our planet who insist on fouling our own nest with garbage, pollution, waste etc. And then we compound the problem by denying climate change, or at least denying we are responsible for it due to our addiction to fossil fuels. This word just in—- fossils belong in museums, and should not be used for fuel! But I digress.

In the first place, it seems to me far too narcissistic to declare emphatically ‘we are the only intelligent species in the universe’. First of all, how in or out of this world could we possibly know that? The vast majority of the universe we haven’t explored, indeed the vast majority of our own solar system we haven’t explored! Secondly, it beggars belief that God would create this huge universe, and only make one planet in one solar system in one galaxy inhabitable and having intelligent life. Believing that is a classic case of narcissism. I much prefer the vision of C.S. Lewis who suggested in his space trilogy (see That Hideous Strength etc.) that if there is indeed intelligent life elsewhere, God and God in Christ have been there as well. The better question would be— are we the only fallen race of intelligent beings (using the term intelligent loosely, since I said ‘fallen’– which behavior does not suggest intelligence if there is an almighty God who holds us accountable for our actions)?

In the second place, there is actually some indirect evidence for intelligent life elsewhere. Say what you want about UFOs, but there is so much of that kind of evidence, that I don’t think it can all be dismissed as: 1) actually secret government tests and aircraft; 2) figments of imaginations that have smoked too much dope; 3) atmospheric anomalies; 4) a hoax perpetrated by the Russians, and so on. More interesting to me would be the comparing of the evidence for extra-terrestrial life with the evidence through human history for angels. The quantity of evidence for both these things is considerable, indeed I would dare say there is more evidence for angels than aliens. But precisely because of our vast ignorance on all such subjects, dogmatic pronouncements do not serve anyone well, because what tends to happen, is, as soon as we dismiss something, like angels or aliens or actual miracles, God allows us to see further evidence for such things.

As with so many things in life, there is plenty of evidence for such things, but no air tight proof. Are there things in the universe that can’t be scrutinized under a microscope? Of course there are. For example love would be such a thing, or guilt would be such a thing. And as C.S. Lewis told us long ago in The Problem of Pain, pain is something very strange indeed. I mean, nerve endings are one thing— pain is another. Doctors can’t open you up and find pain. Some kinds of pain are purely mental or emotional— like the pain that literally takes you over when you suddenly lose a loved one. Scientists may find an empirical cause of some things we call pain, but they’ve not found pain itself. My old philosophy prof at Carolina, E Maynard Adams was a deep thinker. I loved his classes. One day he talked about the case of a person who had a pain in his leg, only, he didn’t have a leg any more! Yet still his senses were telling him there was a pain down below the knee, when that part of his anatomy was long gone, having been amputated. He raised the question— So….. was there a pain in the man’s leg, or would it be better to speak of his leg being ‘in the pain’, pain being a large category of reality which is not simply empirically verified or subject to scrutiny?

Certainly, one of my favorites of all of the Bard’s plays is Hamlet. And there is of course this famous line of Hamlet’s in the play: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” – Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

I completely agree with Hamlet on this. This is my reply to the Luddites of this world who want to reduce reality to only its empirically provable residue, or who want to publish fake news about history, including the absurd notion that Jesus never existed and miracles CAN’T happen, or the invincible ignorance of some in my own tribe of Christians who want to argue, against all the good empirical evidence, that the world is a mere 6 or so thousand years old. To those who keep saying such things I remind them that God is not honored by fake news about his magnificent creation and his capacity to surprise us with new things. To all these people I say— Your vision of reality is too small, too cramped, too narrow, and TOOOO Wrong (as opposed to that great Aussie pronouncement— ‘Too right mate’). The only proper way to approach life is to be open to learning new things about reality all the time. One must be open minded, while not being naive, not lacking in critical thinking, or as my granny used to say— ‘don’t be so open minded that your brains fall out!’ Amen Granny. Any posture towards reality requires a certain amount of faith. Even scientists have to have faith that their sense perceptions are more often than not reliable, and that their methodology can produce accurate results.

I leave this meditation for your contemplation by sharing with you the musical meditation of John Lennon entitled ‘Across the Universe’. As it turns out, he was quite wrong that ‘nothing’s going to change my world’. Mr. Chapman did, sadly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-C1VRcGqes

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 9, 2018

The Reopening of Estes Chapel

Next Post

June 11, 2018 Transfixed-- A Sermon about the End Things Part One

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz