EARTHFUTURE.COM by Guy Dauncey

I want to write about other life in the universe – aliens, little green men, or as I prefer, human equivalents: “humanees.” I hope you’ll stay with me to see where I’m going.
As I wrote last month, our galaxy contains between 100 and 400 billion stars; the staff at the Hubble space telescope reckons there are some 125 billion galaxies in the universe. That gives us 20,000 quadrillion stars, each of which might have planets in orbit. Since none of us has been there, it would be pretty self-centered to assume that out of all those stars, Earth is the only place where life has developed in the universe.
The universe has been evolving for some 14 billion years, but the earliest humans only appeared seven million years ago. That’s a very thin slice of time – the last 18 days – if we shrink evolution down to a year. We’ve only developed science in the last 250 years – the last 90 minutes – and travelled in space since 1961, the last 16 minutes.
If other civilizations have developed, they could easily be a million or even a hundred million years more advanced than us. If we assume a 50/50 chance that some are more advanced, and some less, that’s still an awful lot of civilizations that could be more advanced. Considering the changes that have happened since 1906 on Earth, can we conceive of life in another 100 years from now, a million years?
From everything we know, the entire universe is made from the same basic atoms and governed by the same laws of gravity and light. Take away gravity, and every planet would rush away from its sun at its speed of orbit; we, Earthlings, would be deep-frozen in minutes. In their physical forms, the universe’s civilizations are probably governed by the same basic laws.
In the world I inhabit the spiritual realm is more “solid” than the material. My life’s experience tells me that prayer works, meditation works, and that we live within a vast and loving invisible connectedness that is just as real as rock and water. I don’t need religion to know this, although religions have accumulated a good supply of music and ritual that can help us on our journey, provided we stay away from the brain-control and small-mindedness some preachers seek to impose.
Ever since I was a teenager, I have known that the universe must be a single unity. How could it be otherwise? If there were two universes they would be in relationship to each other, and that relationship would create a unity. One universe, one unity – and since if there is a spiritual realm it must exist everywhere – that means one loving connectedness throughout the universe.
When white people first met black, they were shocked; when we first met elephants, we were also shocked. We got used to it, and found that we could share love. With time we have learned that when fear is removed, love is the natural condition. This logic tells me that when we do meet beings from another planetary civilization, whether in physical or psychic form, once we get over the shock, we will discover love.
Now, let’s return to the present, where we spend so much energy fighting over whose religion is best, whose views are best and which country, or region, will dominate the others. It’s like a cosmic stupidity, two-year olds fighting over their toys, each determined to impose his or her will on the other. As two-year-olds we hopefully learn that accepting the discipline of the larger family brings peace and stability. If we don’t, later life becomes very difficult.
What will it take for us to learn the discipline of cooperating together today as a global family? If we had such cooperation it would be easy to tackle global warming, hunger, warfare and everything else, and we could blossom together, in conditions of peace and stability. We have no parents to impose this on us; we have to step forward and do it ourselves. If we don’t, our life will soon become very difficult.

Guy Dauncey is the author of Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change and other books, and president of the BC Sustainable Energy Association
(www.earthfuture.com).