What if Jesus Christ was living right next door to you? Would you recognise him? Would you feel his presence, understand his message and become a disciple? Would you respect his beliefs and opinions, without necessarily adopting his religion? Or would you want to crucify the bastard for having yet another rowdy party in his backyard, with all his hippy mates, drinking wine and passing around plates of smelly fish. What about if your son or daughter were recognised as an incarnation of Buddha? With so many undeniable points of proof concluding undoubtedly that your little sprog is a living, breathing deity, would you still yell at your child for not eating his or her peas?
I believe it’s all about having an unbiased respect for humanity. If you’re anything like me, we mostly get this wrong. We make judgements about things we don’t understand. We push and struggle against each other every day, trying to find the right words to communicate our thoughts, trying to find the right physical expression to compliment our internal emotions. We fight each other everyday and don’t even know we’re doing it. It always seems to be us against them. Therein lies the problem—sides.
The fact two sides have to exist merely perpetuates the idea of Us against Them. The bottom line is there is no Us or Them. We are all the same, regardless. Some of us choose to work harder and make more money while others choose a different path. Some become bitter and jealous of others achievements, without ever blaming themselves. When it comes to crunch time, we are each responsible for our own choices. If a big meteor roars out of space and smacks straight into our little world, we’re all going to feel it. Even if our planet doesn’t die for another 100 millenniums, we are always going to feel everything together. The world is not so delicate that it won’t survive without us. But we know we can’t survive without our world.
The basic premise of respect for your fellow man, the values of spiritual and cognitive insight, even our own personal moral codes, would all be put into question straightaway. I imagine the above scenarios would cause the same consternation in some as the idea of aliens does in others. Sure, undeniable proof of alien existence would throw shadows over the faith of some individuals. It would certainly mean a lot of the zealots out there wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. Those who have true faith can never be swayed and never doubt their belief system, not even for a second. Wouldn’t it be great if we could draw on that doubtless strength when we deal with each other, because with it comes compassion and patience, two traits I personally see less and less of everyday. I believe it’s time for us to realise we are not alone in space. Maybe then we’ll start treating each other better. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, bring on the little green men.