OTHER WORLDS Sooner or later someone is going to ask you if you believe there are other "civilizations" - somewhere out there in the expanse of the Universe?
When they do, what will your answer be?
I have already been asked the question many times and my answer is "Yes, I do." But, if I have the opportunity to add a thought, I say that so much depends on exactly how we define a "civilization". What we call by that name is much more than just the existence of human life - or, something close akin to it -.which some people mean, I suppose, when they ask the question. A civilization is a complex thing developed over centuries and never really perfected, I think, if we go by the examples we have set here on Earth. I also think that many of those asking about it really want to be told is that the civilization way out there in space is not as "good" as ours. A few would like to think of it as being "better", but that cuts off the brag instinct which comes so naturally to most of us.
We tend to think that our version of being civilized is,naturally, a good thing,but since we have only our selves to compare it with - and no inter-galactic counterpart which which to compare or contrast it, we are never quite sure about our possible standing on a scale of, let's say, one-to-ten.
We would like to think of our best as being better than anything the other side of nowhere has yet devised. We are a superior lot, we feel, by nature. Otherwise, we would not have been able to achieve what we have thus far. Wed often have a very narrow view of "civilization", too - and as we think or the American brand; the Englishman thinks somewhat differently, perhaps, as does the ancient Greek, Roman, Sumerian, Egyptian not to mention the Aztec, Mayans and an endless assorted of Oriental and African cultures. Since we have survived, (thus far) we feel we must be better than those which have gone before.
We are plural, too, remember. As mankind's adventures down through the ages show, leaders were often at the head of things but the civilization was a group effort involving masses of people. Cultural divisions formed in a maze of , sometimes, conflicting ideas, and out of it came both advancements for civilization as well as set-backs.
If you were called upon to describe our civilization, what you end up with could be far from flattering. Regardless of how well-formed much of it appears to be , there are flaws. Our "place" among civilizations, if others do exist, may not be as secure as we like to think it would be, and that worries some people who think along these line lines, perhaps, too much. Those who think of little else, end up writing books which scare the civilized pants off of the rest of us at times.
Don't take it all too seriously. Our Creator never did or does anything without sufficient reason for doing so.
A.L.M. July 13, 2005 [c531wds]
