The possibility of extraterrestrial life has fascinated the human imagination since time immemorial. This is a topic that evokes hopes and fears alike in our curious minds. Do Aliens really exist? Would they try to visit Earth, and either befriend or attack us, like often depicted in popular media and countless Hollywood sci-fi movies? The 1940s and 50s were rife with reports of ‘flying saucers’ and inexplicable sightings of ‘unidentified flying objects’ (UFOs). Notable scientists and astronomers have often talked about the potential of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, but vehemently dismissed the idea of aliens visiting Earth.
According to NASA’s official website, astrobiologists maintain that while extraterrestrial life has never been discovered, it does not mean that it doesn’t exist. Icy moons in the solar system like Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa seem to have subsurface oceans that could be habitable – and this is only our solar system! The more exoplanets that are found around other stars, the more the potential for different environments that could exist for life. There is definitely something exciting and awe-inspiring about the prospect of us not being alone in the universe. What would this mean for us as a species? Could this be beneficial for our well-being in some way? What does this imply about our place in the universe, and the belief systems we cling to?
Sadhguru: “It’s extremely obnoxious for human beings to think that the cosmos is human centric. It is from this obnoxious nature that… this one mistake that they made about telling you, “God made you in his own image” has made human beings so stupid and wanton about everything. Why can’t God look like a grasshopper? I’m asking, why not? “No, he looks like me.” No, maybe he looks like a bug, maybe he looks like a buffalo, maybe he looks like a tiger, maybe he looks like an elephant, or maybe he does not look like any life on this planet, he looks some other way, or maybe he doesn’t look like anything. So, this idea that certain religions have put into people’s mind made people believe that the whole cosmos is human centric, that everything is here for us. This wanton idea has destroyed the planet.”
“If we see a bird, we want to know how to use it. If we see a flower, we want to know how to use it; a bug, a beetle, an atom. It doesn’t matter what – everything we should know how to use for our well-being. We’ve learned to use most of the things, but still well-being has not come, isn’t it? We’ve learned to use everything, including human beings, but well-being has not come.”
“If you just have the patience to sit down and observe either groups of ants, or bees, or birds, or any other animals, they have a full-fledged life and their own social interactions of their own, one hundred percent; far more active and vigorous lives than human beings, actually. If somebody finds out tomorrow how to extract protein from ants, finished, all the ants are gone. We think this is science. This is madness, you know? This is sheer madness. Everything has its place; if we don’t see that, then we’ve lost it.”
“So, about… is this cosmos human centric, are we the only life? Just now, I was priding myself that I’m very logical. If I talk about my experiences, you will think I’ve gone crazy. So, I will leave it at this. But it can’t be human centric, it is too big. It can’t be just human centric. It is not.
For me, it’s a living experience that it is not. It is just that I don’t want to lose my reputation as being very logical. Because of that, I refuse to talk about a few things.”
Do Aliens Exist? Sadhguru Answers
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