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Link to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/weltall-ist-da-noch-jemand-en.htm
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Is
there still “someone” in this huge space? Are
there Aliens? Are
there other inhabited planets in space? Are
there other beings with consciousness – similar to humans – in space? Scientific
and theological considerations Scientific considerations: The
distance to the nearest sun (fixed star): The
next sun (=Alpha Proxima Centauri) is 4.25
light-years away (=40.375.000.000.000 km = 40.375 trillion km). A
rocket flying 11 km per second would take a good 70,000 years from Earth for
that distance. Radio
waves for a telephone call would take 4 years and 3 months for this distance.
(So a very arduous phone call: One would have to wait eight and a half years
for an answer). With
today’s technology, therefore, lively communication and visits to possible
animated planets are unrealistic from our side. If
every hundred thousandth star in our galaxy (milky way) had a life-friendly
planet, there would be about 1 million living planets in our galaxy alone. If
these were evenly distributed in the Milky Way, the
nearest one would be about 200 light-years away. If
each galaxy had only one living planet, there would be about 100 billion such
inhabited planets. But
planets that are inhabited by animals and plants do not have to be inhabited
by human-like beings with consciousness: In the
4.6 billion years of planet Earth’s history, there have only been intelligent humans for about 10,000 years;
Before that there was about 3 million years of
primeval men and later stone age people. If
intelligent beings from other star systems had visited us in the 500 million
years before, they would have found only thousands of different animal and
plant species, but no humans. So it could be on many
other planets, should there be life there. On the
other hand, it would of course be possible that some human-like cultures are not only developed for thousands but millions of years
than we do. Nobody
before 200, 1000 or 10,000 years ago had an idea of the technical
possibilities with which we are living today, neither we can imagine today
what knowledge and technical possibilities people will have in 200, 1000 or
10,000 years – if we do not destroy ourselves beforehand by modern weapons or
by environmental poisoning. But
earth’s inhabitants have already managed to fly to the moon just a few
decades after the development of technically driven vehicles (electric and
gasoline engines). And perhaps even more important:
We have calculated the age and size of the entire universe. The
discovery of the secrets of nature, its hidden powers and possibilities, in
the next centuries and millennia, is unimaginable in the present. On the
one hand, the universe seems to be very life-friendly, on the other hand, the
circumstances on Earth, which have led to a higher development of life to
man, seem to have depended on such a vast variety of “random” factors that
the likelihood of this development seems to be extremely low. But the
enormous number of stars and possible planets makes the improbability more
likely again. In any
case, it would become one of the most dramatic events in human history if
extraterrestrial visitors were to be clearly identified
as such and make permanent contact with us. Theological considerations: When
students asked me: If
there are human-like beings on other planets in space, do they have the same
faith as we do? My
answer: As
soon as beings that have consciousness develop on a planet, they form an
inner spiritual-soul world of thoughts and an inner world of consciously
perceived feelings. In this way, they wonder how they are connected with the
other fellows and with the other living beings and
with the great community of nature. Since
they realise that the others also have an inner world of thoughts and
feelings that cannot be perceived from the outside,
they do not know how others see them: Are they hostile or benevolent to them?
So the
mental problem of distrust and trust arises. Because
such “primitive human beings” consider other living beings and also the
natural elements and forces of nature to be enlivened, the dynamics of trust
and distrust are also related to the natural environment, then
also to nature as a whole and to the “spirits”, “demons” or “gods”, which are
supposed to be the stewards of natural events. So: Consciousness => Inner World => Trust and distrust => How can
one find trust in the whole of life and the world (= “believe”)? The
Christian faith is the spiritual-soul realisation
(“Revelation”) that life, world and cosmos – despite
many disasters and situations of suffering – are enlivened by a loving and
life-affirming force. Christians believe that this “loving power” enables us
humans to trust in the value and meaning of our own life and the whole of the
world and the cosmos and to meet our fellow human beings worldwide (and even
aliens) with a fundamental respect and appreciation. The
fundamental question of “confidence in the whole of reality” has not changed
for the modern man of our time either: So the
famous physicist Albert Einstein asked the question What is the most
important question a person can ask? responded: The most
important question is: Is space a friendly place? Perhaps
you can put this question in this way: “Is
there a last positive sense for the universe and for the life of man?” Or: “Is
there a source of benevolence and goodness in this universe or from
beyond the universe, which can reach every living being within the universe
and touch it to the very heart of its being?” Religious
faith originates from such a “source of positive psychic forces” which has
been given the name “God” as a personal counterpart. Religious people believe
that through meditation and prayer they can open themselves internally to
these psychic forces of this “source”, so that they flow to you and cause
life affirmation, love, mercy, responsibility, etc. in one. Healthy
religious belief (there is also unhealthy, harmful religious faith!) is therefore
the discovery of a comprehensive and fundamental being of love and
affirmation and the cultivation of the resulting ability to
fundamentally and comprehensively affirm life and existence and to
live accordingly responsibly. Manfred Hanglberger (www.hanglberger-manfred.de) Link to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/weltall-ist-da-noch-jemand-en.htm
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