My last post stirred up the emotion of challenged beliefs -- the instinct of self preservation, human beings defending what we know to be true even when that truth is wrong. Many different acts have been committed against people who didn't believe in the same thing believed by a stronger, more powerful group of people. The Nazi party of Germany had beliefs. What determines the stronger dominant social practice of a country's beliefs? Is it the collective idea which dictates the power of what we believe individually? Many great thinkers tell us that we are our own moral authority, but we are subject to the influences of our environment. Christopher Columbus told Europe that their flat-world was actually a round-world. Does a unanimous opinion/belief make that opinion/belief a fact? Our present society understands that the beliefs of our predecessors/ancestors were not always correct: the Salem witch hunt, slavery, the holocaust, etc. Horrific events caused by the beliefs of humans. Only through the power of opposition did those beliefs cease to be the dominant social practice of the places which hosted those horrific events.
The present moment of a human's understanding is that human's reality. The present moment of your understanding is all that you know. The present moment is an accumulation of all you have experienced and learned up to this always/only present moment. When Birdie told me we are aliens it challenged everything I had learned and experienced at that moment.
I didn't expect to hear anything of value when I questioned "Birdie" about his statement. He was a crazy man who lived in a park. I only asked, "How are we aliens?" because I thought it would serve as a humorous pastime for me and my friends hanging out in the park. It was the craziest, most absurd thing we'd heard up until that moment. He pulled out a mirror and changed my understanding. He said:
"Look in this mirror and tell me what a human looks like. Do we look like we are supposed to? do you look like you are supposed to? Do you smell like a natural human? Do you look like a natural human? You don't look or smell like you are supposed to. What does uncut, uncombed human hair look like? How does a human body smell without perfumes and daily baths? We detest our natural odor. We detest uncombed or uncut hair. It is part of our social contract. Humans do not wish to be humans anymore!"
I looked in his mirror at my reflection and I couldn't see the real me. I stared deeper into his mirror to see my reflection.
"The human race harnesses earth's secrets. A human thought, a human dream can be come real. Imagination exists. We create children without sex, we move without walking (all around the world) -- airplanes, boats, cars, etcetera. We make light with no sun. A human thought can be heard all around the world instantly. These are unnatural creations of humans on earth. That makes them alien creations. Shaving is alien to your natural appearance. Perfume is alien to your natural smell. Telephones are alien to your natural communication. Computers are alien to....? Cars are alien to....? Do you see where you are? How far are we removed from our natural existence? We create a synthetic world that is derived from our natural one. This planet allows we/humans to bring the thoughts and dreams of our minds into physical existence. Welcome to earth. The planet of human magic."
Magic? I couldn't see earth as magic. Magic wasn't real. Magic is entertainment to make people believe something that seems impossible become possible. The magician tosses our thoughts and beliefs out and brings in our imaginations. We watch in disbelief trying to understand as the magician performs and reveals things we cannot conceive with our normal understanding. Birdie moved the mirror closer and like the magician, he challenged my understanding. He said,
"Free your mind - Blank! Think about all human invention. Don't think about the process of invention. The process of invention doesn't allow you to see true magic. It's like a magician revealing the process of the trick. How can you see magic if you know the process of the trick? You can't see the magic like that. Take away the processes of human invention and see what magic creations humans have pulled from the earth. Allow your mind to remove the process it took to bring our inventions to life. allow the inventions of humanity to simply appear from human thoughts. Understand these inventions came from earth, but remove the process of how these inventions are derived from earth. Allow human inventions to be thoughts which earth allows to appear in physical form. A though, a dream, a nightmare can be born on this planet from the human mind. It can exist and become a live through the collective belief of human social practice. The belief of one mind can control the minds of many and many will fight to protect the collective belief created by that one mind. Where do you think you are? You did not design the system which you were born into. The practices of your daily life have been taught to you . Your family and those around you teach you from birth things that were taught to them. You know nothing from birth outside that which you are taught to believe and even if that belief is not true, it is all you know in your always/present moment. So, what happens when something you've been taught to believe (by everyone you know) turns out to be a lie? I'll tell you what happens... You've been tricked. What happens when I call you an alien? Do your beliefs kick in to protect what you know? It seems foolish to your understanding."
He removed the mirror from in front of my face. The night had fallen upon us. The city lights glowed and flickered in the background. An airplane flew overhead. He spoke,
"Look around you alien. Your reflection is everywhere. We are not natural to this world. How many can survive without the grocery store? How many can live in their areas without clothes? Early human used animals. Why do all other species live naked? We are dependent on our creations. Shoes have made feet too soft for the natural ground. Grocery stores have taken our understanding of where food comes from. Most humans on earth cannot hunt without a gun and most humans have never eaten from the bones of an animal they have killed. The process of invention. Even our food is made alien. When an animal dies within two days the animal is in rigor mortis and old blood turns brown within hours because of coagulation. Why is the meat at the grocery store still soft and red weeks after the animal has been slaughtered? Are hot dogs and hamburgers processes of human invention? It is magic in this world. Humans, welcome to earth."
The day I heard Birdie's theory my understanding of the world changed. I began to notice human invention and I realized my life revolved around those inventions. Toilets, toilet paper, windows, doors, doors that move by themselves, transportation (we move hundreds of miles in an hour?!), television, books, constitutions, space stations, space crafts (humans can live outside of earth), telephones, pictures, videos, tables, chairs, stock markets, shampoo, face lifts, liposuction, machines (x-ray) which can see inside a person's body without opening them? How come I didn't see it before? These creations came from a thought. A thought in someone's mind is all around me and all of it came from earth. Look into a forest and think about television. Yes, the process was gradual, but the end result is still the same. The television came form earth. The computer came from earth. I wonder sometimes, are inventions really free thought?
I ran into the street to tell everyone what I had learned and yes, I sounded as crazy to everyone around me as Birdie had sounded before I heard his theory. We are aliens? Don't sound so foolish. We humans are just like every other species. I don't talk much about this topic. I don't want the labels that come with a notion so absurd. Don't look at this post as a nature platform. Like a drug addict who flees from intervention, I don't believe I could cope well without my alien comforts. I know what I am as I send this message all around the world in seconds. I am just like you and everyone else reading this. I am extraterrestrial. Call NASA... Let's take a space ship to another planet. I'll call you when I get there.
.jpg)
