Is There Any Intelligent Life On Earth?
By Vincent Tarantola
The question many people ask themselves is whether there
is any intelligent life in the universe. The premise seems to
be that if there is, we would be able to recognize it and to communicate with it. If an alien came to earth and happened to turn on television or read our newspapers, he might wonder what kind of mind or intelligence we have. Everything is either black or white, either good or bad, either right or wrong. That is certainly not the way things are in the universe, on more advanced planets.
God gave us a mind for us to use and that means thinking and conceptualizing. But what does that mean? Does it just mean to think about what you are going to wear this morning for work, or what to cook for dinner, or what program to watch on television? Although this is thinking, it is concrete or practical thinking.
However, the mind is made in such a way that it is perfectly capable to do abstract thinking, to meditate on the deeper meaning of things, on the greater issues of life. Is there life after death or before birth? Do we really die or could we be mistaken about that? Who am I? Where do I come from? Where will I go after I finish my present stint on earth? Is there a permanent place for me in the universe, somewhere where I feel that I belong and can feel perfectly safe and useful? Why am I here on earth? What is the purpose of my life, the task I am supposed to fulfill, and for whom? Is all I am supposed to do
to work, raise a family, and perhaps have a little fun? Or
could there be more to my human life? What is our relationship with one another, and with the Creator?
These are the kinds of questions that keep the mind young and vibrant, and that can help prevent such devastating diseases as Alzheimer's and dementia. The human mind is a marvelous instrument, but we all know that most of us use no more than five to ten percept of our brain capacity. What is the other ninety percent doing? How is it being nourished? What happens
to a brain cell when it is deprived of nourishment? Does it eventually die? Isn't that what happens to any muscle?
Think about all this and then ask yourself whether what you think about all the time is something that you yourself have thought of, or whether you are just using what the so-called experts have said, or thought about, or written about in their books, and you are merely wearing ideas that you have taken off the shelf, so to speak.
In other words, how much of what you think of and believe in is yours, that you have personally thought about, and how much of it really belongs to someone else?
The more you think about such things, the more alive and vibrant your mind will be and the less likely you are to get old, at least mentally. The mind is a gift from God, but if we fail to use it properly and nourish it lovingly, with the best possible foods, then we are wasting this marvelous instrument and are hurting ourselves and others.
You don't want to be the kind of person who can sit across from another human being and have absolutely nothing to say, do you?