Talbot Michaels
Haylee Linton
Are pagans accepting/open to the idea of Aliens being real?
By Guest Mordelly, December 22, 2017 in Starters Orders (basics)
Guest Mordelly
Just wondering, because I do believe Aliens to be real. More than anything I find it impossible for intelligent life to not exist in the infinity that is out there. As we become more advanced and make discoveries which just don't add up and don't fit the narrative, I think it's becoming more apparent. How does this stuff fit in with Paganism? Could Pagan Gods and Goddesses be Aliens? Are there any Pagan paths which are fully accepting of Alien life being out there in the universe? It's all very confusing to me. If Aliens landed on Earth tomorrow and held a press conference on the mainstream news, would your Pagan beliefs be effected?
Well your first point is covered by the Drake equation which is usually interpreted as "There has to be life on other planets in other systems." Unfortunately it is possible to slide the error bars so that the calculated probability drops to zero but this would be an odd thing to do. Life seems to be an imperative, it lives everywhere that it can. DNA just might be able to stand the temperature of the CMB [3 deg.K] so if life can do its thing, it seems that it will.
As my deity is the universe then my belief can not be affected by whatever we discover it comprises. In fact that is part of its majesty. Does this help [I haven't read much of it] I'll let a polytheist answer the rest of that question.
It is common to find conjecture, supposition, anticipation and faith in nearly every philosophical group but I do not know of a Pagan grouping to which belief in ET life is central. There are or at least have been, quasi-scientific religious groups who believe in such but I am suspicious of them. [Sorry that link is Wikki but its as good as anything on this topic.] They seem to believe in a humanoid life form which to me is far too simplistic and thoroughly improbable. Humans are specifically designed for 1g, 1 bar, blue green light and with an iron/oxygen energy exchange. We seem to think of aliens as some form of animal and occasionally vegetable but what about an alien wavelength or sound sequence. What about a composite alien [don't ask me of what!] Would we recognise them? Douglas Adams in the Hitchhiker series refers to "...certain intelligent forms of the colour blue." Now THERE was an inspired imagination!
You are welcome here whatever your beliefs but we are more a philosophical, metaphysical discussion group than a quasi-scientific one. Does ANY hard evidence of deity alter belief?
If they call, do we answer the phone? Our experience of Western behaviour in North and South America, Africa, Australia, India, much of Asia and a hundred lands in between plus our observation of locusts and crown starfish, says not!
I recall Brian Cox on tv taking us through the Drake equation, demonstrating just how many life forms in our galaxy should be at a developmental stage whereby we could be communicating. He finished with an almost agonised pitch to his question:-
" ....................................... but where are they?"
Edited December 23, 2017 by Moonsmith
because there is always more.....
Veggie dancer 1448
Location:Greater london and kent
Hi Mordelly.
i certainly believe in alien life. I agree how can in the vastness and variety of the universe there not be life when life populates every corner of the earth even the most extreame environments. I also saw Brian cox's human universe which I think is what Moonsmith is talking about. It is a fantastic series of 3 documentarys, it's on you tube. It talks about all the factors needed for intelligent life and you see how very rare it must be.
There are lots of reasons why it could exist but we have not met intelligent life: distances could be just too great, we are hard to find like a needle in a hay stack, time: how long does a civilisation last? Will their existences over lap in time?
I also think there may be other civilisations with a different outlook: humans tend to want to seek out other life but maybe there are aliens not impossibly far away who are fully aware of us and are doing their upmost to remain hidden from us (that might be wise)
Perhaps as you suggest the gods are aliens. Beings from another world who have evolved some sort of non-physical form. Who knows. I don't firmly believe (today) that the gods exist outside our own minds or maybe collective consciousness. Some days I am more inclined to see them as separate beings but the word 'god' is too much I think. Really 'gods' whatever they are are not such an important part of my beliefs. I see all nature as divine I believe there is some sort of life force that resides in everything in the universe that 'wants' to exist, to make itself into life. That to me would be closer to something to call god but I don't see it as a person you can communicate with. But if there is this spirit in everything that wants to be life, I think that would have manifested itself all over the universe and in ways we cannot even imagine so YES aliens!!
Fortuna 2517
Gatekeepers (moderators)
Location:Totnes, Devon.
I don't think belief in aliens or not is really dictated by any Pagan path that I am aware of. Personally, I go with the evidence as much as possible. Exploration of our own solar system and new discoveries of exoplanets suggest that conditions suitable for life might actually be quite common. So with around 300 billion stars in our our galaxy alone and around the same number of galaxies, I really don't see how alien life cannot exist.
There is not one shred of evidence that they have ever been here though. And I get a bit fed up when people point at the achievements of our ancestors and say it must have been aliens that did it. If stonehenge was made of some amazing, unknowable alloy....... or the pyramids contained details maps of the heavens, maybe.
Is there life elsewhere in the universe? Very probably.
Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? Maybe, but no particular reason to assume so. It's scarce enough on this planet, after all.
Has intelligent life from elsewhere in the universe travelled to this planet? Until someone can tell me how that is physically possible, given the distances involved, I remain extremely sceptical.
Moonsmith - didn't Lovecraft get there first? The Colour out of Space...?
45 minutes ago, Ellinas said:
Sometimes I think 'intelligent' life doesn't exist on this planet , the way humans seem to behave.
DaveTee 2
The universe is too vast to comprehend...be very surprised if there wasn't life out there somewhere. Maybe humanity didn't originate here, but somehow got stranded...who knows.
deebs 222
Curiouser and curiouser!
Location:Melbourne
I have this in my head now, thanks folks.
"And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth! "
Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? almost certainly.
Is it possible they have made it to Earth? fairly unlikely at this point.
Snufkin 359
"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination."
#DIV/0!
Edited April 30, 2018 by Moonsmith
UK Pagan; The Valley - 8 out of 10 witches' cats preferred us.