There’s been a lot of buzz in the news lately about the U.S. government’s release of large batches of previously classified files and videos pointing to possible contact with UFO’s. This is a bold and unprecedented move to give the public access to information hidden for nearly 80 years.
While reading comments on the subject by YouTube viewers, I was struck by one in particular: “I am an atheist. The idea of being visited by civilizations far advanced beyond ours excites me with the possible reality of a pervades humanity is that we are alone, separated from God and each other, and we live a jungle-like existence, fighting for survival. Who would not be fearful under such a world view? The belief in some kind of power higher than humanity alone is comforting and gives us hope.
What we call that higher power is less important than that we acknowledge it and connect with it. I have the greatest respect for 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, in which participants admit, “We were powerless over our addiction, and our lives had become unmanageable” and “We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” This is the reason I believe that 12-step programs are the most effective therapy of the current century.
I also find it fascinating that the YouTube commenter regarded possible communication with extraterrestrials in a positive light. This is a huge statement of faith over fear. When I was growing up, all the UFO movies portrayed aliens as bloodthirsty warmongers coming to destroy the earth or subjugate us as slaves. Steven Spielberg changed all that with his characterizations of kindly, good-willed visitors from outer space, in the form of E.T. and in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The two possible interpretations of extraterrestrials as either hostile or friendly provide a very clear projective test of the mindset of humanity. A Course in Miracles tells us that there are only two thought systems: love and fear. Everything we think, feel, say, and do represents the thought system we are in. Belief in benevolent visitors to earth is a statement of higher consciousness embedded within the human psyche. Belief in malevolent, aggressive visitors is a statement of our primitive, jungle, survival-of-the-fittest mentality.
Let’s face it: The jungle survival mentality has not served humanity very well at all. At the moment there are over 130 armed conflicts occurring around the planet. War has been a dominant theme in the history of humanity. Depression, starvation (usually a result of war), and poverty scar the magnificence of the planet were given to live on. We need help from a Higher Power.
Whether you find that Higher Power in Jesus Christ, Allah, Buddha, or E.T. is less important that that we are willing to accept help from a mind smarter than the one we have been using. It may be appropriately humbling for us to realize we are not the smartest and only kids on the block. If we were visited by an extraterrestrial civilization, they might be able to provide us with technology to heal our environment and enjoy free, unlimited, non-polluting energy. Or they might instruct us in ways to get along better with each other. If a civilization is advanced enough to be able to traverse distances totally impossible to our current technology, and they have not blown themselves up, they might aid us to move toward a more sustainable future, technologically, socially, and spiritually.
The government has promised to release more and more UFO files, likely with more and more revealing information. We’ll just have to see. One thing is for sure: we will reap the results of our beliefs.
Steven Spielberg has stated that if we do have contact with E.T., he would like to represent humanity. Barack Obama has said the same. If you could designate one or a few people to be contact ambassadors, who would you choose? I would designate Spielberg, Paul McCartney, the Dalai Lama, and Bono. If you could speak for humanity to visitors from space, what would you say?
Jesus said, “In my Father’s mansion there are many rooms.” We may be on the threshold of opening some more doors to those rooms. We may be entering an era where E.T. phoning home is not a long-distance call after all.