"What I am saying is that it is not so much what man is that counts as it is what he ventures to make of himself. To make the leap he must do more than disclose himself; he must risk a certain amount of confusion. Then, as soon as he does catch a glimpse of a different kind of life, he needs to find some way of overcoming the paralyzing moment of threat, for this is the instant when he wonders who he really is - whether he is what he just was or is what he is about to be. Adam must have experienced such a moment."
-George Kelly
Occam's Razor states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. If this principle is correct and we apply it to the apparent enigma and central question of ufology, which is the lack of interest in establishing interspecies contact, we may have an answer. Perhaps we do not recognize that it is we who are the omniscient dinosaurs of our own epoch in which we reign supreme. Despite our self professed ownership of all that we see, to another more advanced species we are but a small part of an ongoing process, and that for them this is an opportunity to witness a extinction one of many such extinctions that have occurred over millions of years on this planet that they have observed and studied and will continue to do so. This exponential growth in interest began in earnest when we brought to the surface of this planet the very process which provides life in order to transform this organic life, a product of our Sun, into into the dead, inert matter of dust. Or at least in my extra dimensional dreams, this much has been said.
A triumph of technology and of the perversity of humankind. They are witnessing a process that began epochs before our arrival and will continue long after we have passed into a sedimentary layer, one of countless such layers that impart the history of Earth. They are observing yet another temporal epoch, yet another extinction. They will continue to observe when we in our vain glory have become fossilized remnants for another species to theorize upon and our cities have been worn by the elements into sand. But let us return to both the present and the near future.
We begin not in the abstractions of physics or mythology or information theory. We begin squarely on Terra Firma. I have sharpened my razor to take a good look at our own species past and current behavior in relation to the possibility of contact with another species. I have volunteered for this odious task in explaining the other parties issues with establishing interspecies contact. For some of you, I am literally, The Devils Advocate.
Creating demons out of the "stranger" the "other" in the pack is a defensive knee jerk reaction born from our animal instincts toward territoriality. One of the most amusing outgrowths concerning the possibility of contact with another species is the inordinate amount of free floating anxiety attached to an exponentially expanding growth of the threats we project upon what an encounter would provide. Where once we banged on sticks now our technological advances has allowed to do so with a much expanded range on the internet. As T.S Elliott described a situation wherein "the center will not hold" as governmental and cultural institutions increasingly exhibit an inability to manage the dissolution of order, the theories and rumors of extraterrestrials will increase exponentially in their abstractions. The future is not promising as it is viewed in extra dimensional dreams. There is the burning of the rubble from collapsed homes that provide solace at night for newly formed communities of refugees. The barter economy based upon the salvaging of canned foodstuffs by tradesmen called 'Canners" in popular parlance returns. Corporate flags fly over voluntary work camps whose meandering throngs make the scene look much like those encampments of The Great Depression. All of this ends "with a whimper, not a bang."
They live in the upper floors of mid rise buildings to which they moor their fishing boats. Some are adorned with what could be called tribal rings along their arms and backs with tattoos which illustrate their rank by deeds in the community. Is this a portent or a potential?
In these dreams, in this specific context, our elusive observers have stated they cannot save us from ourselves.
Let us now return to the stream of largely inane chatter regarding our observers. We need only consider the capability that we ourselves have in monitoring communications channels a hundred fold to consider that they are more than capable of discerning this bizarre behavior in advance of any empirical proof that any harm has been done. For those who think for some reason that it has occurred..well, what if you are wrong? From soul catching to slavery to cloning to what have you, consider that as I suspect, this is not the case, then we have certainly made it clear we are more than a little unstable in both maturity and outlook. They view this as the psychology of anxiety projected upon an unspoken awareness that we do not understand ourselves as well as the fact, we are in the early throes of a semi-hysterical state
Then there are the surrealistic chases by our military aircraft who are not only incapable of a successful targeting of aggression, but who exhibit a provocative responsive stance without any provocation. Unless you consider the act of appearance a provocation. We have told them, yes we do. Fortunately, more mature behavior was exhibited by our supposed "intruders." Yes the territorial imperative is alive and well.
Another amusing psychological observation they have potentially made is our governmental secrecy toward publicly recognizing in any fashion that they exist.
One of our species traits is the overwhelming and uncontrollable application of technological advances far ahead of any capability to determine their value in moral and ethical terms, as well as what the consequences of their use may foreshadow.
An intelligent extraterrestrial could easily provide us with a far advanced technology knowing full well that in our hands we would be more than willing to utilize it without giving this much thought. This of course being due to our aforementioned addictive behaviors toward uncontrollable ownership by possession.They would need only step aside and observe us as we hasten the demise already underway of organic life on our planet, which only receives faint lip service anyway.
This pathological dithering about concerning the exponentially expanding extinction of our environment provides more than enough evidence for abnormal behavior.
Consider this as well, the actual reason for a great deal of this well what a surprise, is an unwillingness to throttle back on another already existing technology......energy.
On the other hand one must more seriously consider that if they, the extraterrestrials do exist, they would have some very serious misgivings regarding our responsible use of any such technology. Anything we are given that has any remote possibility of being converted into weaponry would be quickly undertaken.
A more apt and chilling example of our normality is what was done upon the discovery that we may be sharing the planet with another sentient species, the dolphin.
Outside of eating them, there was the development of plans to teach these innocents how to carry warheads to an "enemy."
Such endeavors hand us a gifting of technology would be akin and as useful as training a monkey to ride a bicycle. Perhaps the most apt example of our species misuse of an advanced technology was the introduction of the television. While having a vast potential to educate and communicate among our species on this planet, we have used it to desensitize ourselves toward our own addiction to have it occupy a position far in excess of any value we receive from it.
Somewhere in the vast interstellar regions of space, gossip over the latest travails of addiction by "stars", certainly passes as more vertebrate lunacy from a planet known for it.
Then of course, there has and is a ongoing war of either local or global proportions since recorded history began. If that were disquieting to a visitor, then imagine what they must observe when they witness the sacred institutionalizing of our species genocide toward itself, with little flags, countries like real estate companies and squabbling over what are supposed to be shared resources, that in reality, nobody owns except in the misfiring neurons of our normality. There are those who have no shelter, there are those who have nothing to eat, there are those of our species that have no medical care and are dying as I type this for want of an inexpensive inoculation while concurrently, we spend billions of dollars on our species inter tribal warfare.
Instead of our forces being united in seeing others as they see themselves, we squander minutes than have turned over into centuries throwing rocks and banging on sticks.
Before we begin judging an intent we know absolutely nothing about, we should all take a deep breath and look at our own intents as evidenced by our behaviors and then ask ourselves if we ourselves put the shoe on the other foot, and put ourselves in their place honestly, without deceiving ourselves, the answer is clear.
They are not the issue here in terms of the possibility of interspecies contact.
We are.
Perhaps its time we stop throwing our abstracted rationales toward others lest we be judged ourselves. Perhaps all of us and myself included, find it safer to travel down a road of mystification rather than explore what is in front of our eyes, especially since what we see is more than enough justification for another species to keep us at arm's length.
Our species is both a dangerous and voracious predator who now kills members of it's own species not for food but as an imprinted ritual of honor with a gift for doing so
by advancing the technological edge of this pathology at every opportunity. We can turn on "on a dime." We have no consistent behavior toward others nor for the most part any cognition of what we truly are. There is no hiding this from another species more advanced than our own. This is not complex. It is very simple to observe.
We can only assist ourselves in this crisis. It is ridiculous to assume that another species that is akin to Superman or Mighty Mouse and will save us from ourselves, which would be absolutely contrary to natural law and an impossibility. This is not the purpose of contact.
The case for contact is largely one of wishful thinking, that circulates as if this swirling whirlpool, our crying need to rise above our origins, were a case of self justification for our acts, or lack of them. However that does not preclude contact as our own self justifications have no extension onto another's concern.
It would be as if we ourselves would attempt to communicate and lead a tribe of indigenous simians.
So our little group returns as each slowly struggles back, one by one, back to The Chinvat Bridge. We were unprepared for what we saw, and more importantly, we now say little to each other. Someone in a resigned tone of voice says "If anyone is interested...they are passing over us now..."
No one bothers in their contemplations to look up. The answer was the simplest explanation, however it was the one we were least capable of viewing. We repack our belongings in the anticipation of returning to our families, but most of them we leave behind as they will serve no useful purpose now. These notes I leave for you, to do with whatever you will chose to do with them. Our observers are neither angels nor devils as I have discharged my obligation as permission lent itself to reveal. As for myself and my companions of another stripe, We wish you well.
IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it....
-"If" by Rudyard Kipling.
