Solving the Communion Enigma by Whitley Strieber

Author:Whitley Strieber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Lost in the Stars

IN SEPTEMBER OF 2010, RENOWNED PHYSICIST Stephen Hawking commented that contact with aliens might be risky and that life-forms advanced enough to reach here might be “nomads, looking to conquer and colonize.”

We had better hope not because, as matters stand, and perhaps despite itself, the intelligence that we are facing is probably in control of our future. This is because it is increasingly unlikely that we are going to be able to act decisively enough to prevent our environment from becoming overstressed. If we have not gained an open relationship with them by the time that it does, then what happens to us will be their decision. If they are able to reach out and save us, will they? Or will they let nature take its course?

Our own history is no indicator that the age of a civilization is any measure of its ethical development. In some small part, human history is a chronicle of gradually increasing ethical sensitivity, but it is much more largely a story of the silent suffering of billions who bear brutal elites on their shoulders. Moreover, it is not true that as we have gained social experience, our ethics have consistently increased. Far from it, the Belgian decimation of the Congo, the German genocides, and the genocidal slaughters of Africa all happened in modern times. In fact, in these latter days of our history, as methods of police control and mass murder have been improved, we have been at our most brutal and unethical.

So why should we assume that any other species would be any different? Nevertheless, if our visitors do have the power to save us from a situation like the one we face, and it seems as if they may, it is fair to ask what kind of moral compass they may possess. How ethically developed are they? Do they have compassion, or an ideal of goodness against which they evaluate themselves? Moreover, what are their motives for being here, and how can we expect them to be expressed in the life of our species and our world?

So far, the picture that presents itself is not a simple one, while, as I have said, there is some evidence of compassion, it is also true that there are disturbing elements—very disturbing elements—and I think that concerns such as Dr. Hawking’s must be considered carefully.

However, it is also true that contact with our visitors is rarely a straightforward, entirely physical experience like, say, meeting another person. There is always this difference, almost as if the way one looks at a visitor can affect the way in which it is real. One is not a passive participant in an encounter, and not only that, our visitors can control their part of it with exquisite precision. The reasons for this have to do with the way perception affects the assembly of reality. As we are now, we assume that the reality with which we surround ourselves is absolute and immutable, that it affects us rather than flows from us.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.