Visionary Virtue 10/05/09

May all the beings on all the worlds be happy.

Rig Veda
**************
Step across the welcome mat.
________________________
I'm relieved that the situation with my leg has improved. It still hurts some, but the joint has loosened up and I don't have to hold on to the back of my chairs and table to walk. No crutches this time around.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
One of the advantages of being human is the ability to accept the possibility of things about which we have no evidence. Imagine where science would be if the only things accepted as true were things that could only be observed by a human eye ball. When we see a flower or a tree we know there are roots because some inquiring individuals dug them up and discovered roots. When we see a waterfall we know there is a major source of water somewhere and we can follow the river up stream to its source. But then there are things we can't so easily prove by simple observation, things that scientists tell us must be there because of calculations based on observable phenomena: wind, magnetism, molecules.

We have deniers in our world. There are people who, for some strange and unknown explained reason, deny that certain things ever happened. There are those who deny the Holocaust. They will site very flimsy evidence while overlooking the real facts. There are those who deny that the Apollo moon missions ever took place, ignoring the thousands of people who were involved in them.

I love the conspiratorial thinkers. They make for very interesting reading. They are convinced that one or the other form of a vast fiction has been fed to the world through some international means of intrigue and cover up. It's fun to imagine that we've been fooled into believing something of world wide importance that actually never happened. I like to joke that the American Revolution never happened. That it was just a conspiracy between the founding fathers and the British government and that hence we are all still part of the British Empire. That our elections are all rigged and Well Street is just a game.

Now how about those UFOs? A UFO is nothing more than an unidentified flying object. It could be a weather balloon, or some unusual piece of Air Force equipment, or a reflection on the lens of a camera. It could be. It could also be an interplanetary visitor to our atmosphere. But the UFO deniers are determined to prove there is no such thing.

Why are there such deniers? I think the answer is fear. Fear of the unknown and inexplicable secretly motivates people to deny things they can't comprehend. They will look past the accounts of holocaust survivors, the testimony of concentration camp guards, the newsreel footage and the buildings which are now museums in Germany, because they cannot comprehend or believe that the Nazis could have killed so many people.

They will look past the accounts of the astronauts who went to the moon, the pictures, both photographs and videos taken from there and the remarkable geological pieces returned to earth, because in their fearful minds setting foot on another planer defies any explanation or possibility of safety or survival. It just simply couldn't be, according to the deniers. Note: not that it didn't happen, but that it couldn't happen.

They will look past those photographs and videos of UFOs that are not explained by any technical or scientific means, past the accounts of respected and respectable people who have witnessed such things, past the testimonies of air line pilots and claim that there are no intergalactic visitors to our planet, not because there aren't, but because there couldn't be. So, I wonder, what sort of an intrigue is going on that makes a case for UFOs? If the Holocaust and the moon walks were all conspiracies, what kind of a conspiracy is trying to convince us of UFOs? Here the deniers are caught in a paradox.

If there is a conspiracy it is more likely a cover up. It has been said by people who ought to know that there is more evidence of UFO activity than we have the information about. But then here's another paradox. If we are being visited by beings from other worlds why aren't we told about it? Why hide the facts?

If that is so the answer once again is fear. Fear of the unknown, inexplicable and "impossible." It is assumed, ipso facto, that all creatures from another planet are hostile, dangerous in their technical superiority and out to destroy our civilization.
If and when a world Air Force develops a flying machine that can go as fast and maneuver as well as some UFOs are reported to do, it will probably trail one and shoot it down.

We have been convinced that any visitor from outer space is by nature an evil creature intent on destroying the earth or taking it captive. But why is that necessarily so? We are all trying to improve the earth and make it a better place for all of us, and we're exploring outer space ourselves not to destroy but to discover. As far as anyone knows, we mean no harm to the planets we may travel to. We are merely claiming our rights as curious and exploratory creatures. If we have visitors from another planet why can't we allow them the same rights?

DB - Vagabond Journeys
****************
Have lots of happy thoughts, friend.
__________________
AUTUMN QUESTION



This is not a contest.



If you could be remembered for one thing, what would it be and why?





You have all Fall to answer if you wish,

Reply here or at dbdacoba@aol.com



1 response so far



Thank you



DB