-Mum, there's something you need to see, said my son.
-What? What is it? I said as I stepped out onto the verandah.
-Look. Look up there, he said and pointed to the night sky.
I looked up and saw four red glowing spheres of light
swirling and configuring themselves into different shapes.
The way they moved was really strange. It seemed as
if whatever they were, they did not behave as any kind
of aircraft I had ever seen before.
Soundlessly they hovered, dropped, looped, until
finally they made themselves into a geometric diamond
shape that they held for a few seconds. And then...they all
took off in different directions and just vanished.
-You saw that, right? my son said.
-Yes, I did, but as to what it was I saw, I have no clue,
I answered.
The next day I googled numerous sites trying find out
if there were any known aircrafts that could do/behave the
way the red spheres of lights had done, but I found no
answers.
I decided to put the experience in the ''too hard'' basket.
Which is where it would have stayed had we not encountered
the very same phenomena just a few weeks later.
This time we were sitting in my car.
While waiting
for somebody we were giving a lift to, there the red spheres
were again. Just above our heads. They did their ''thing''
and then soundlessly...…vanished.
I have never been into Science-fiction, astronomy, or
cosmology so I have never really spent much time
pondering questions such as: are we alone in the
Universe or are we not?
How do I make sense out of the red glowing spheres?
How do I fit the experiences of them into my belief-system?
We all have belief-systems. We use them to make
''sense'' out of and deal with the world we live in.
A belief-system is an ideology/set of principles/values/morals
that we use in order to help us interpret and understand
our everyday ''reality''.
In short, a belief-system are the ''stories'' we tell ourselves
about ourselves, about others, and about the world we
live in.
Have you ever found yourself saying ''that's just wrong''
without really knowing why you think so?
Or ''I don't believe that's true'' without really having
considered if you know all the facts?
I am certainly guilty of having done so.
According to those in the know, we develop
our belief-systems during our childhoods, so, long
before we have developed any kind of critical
thinking skills.
For many of us it is during adolescence that most
of us start to question whether we ''believe'' or agree
with the worldview we have been taught by our
families/care-givers, teachers, communities, friends,
etc. etc.
Discovering that we no longer agree with the belief-systems/
''blueprints'' that for years have guided how we
view and experience the world, can be
quite disconcerting and confusing.
When we go through life experiences that challenge and or
contradict our belief-systems, (cognitive dissonance) we often
try to deal with it by either justifying or rationalizing
away our unease by altering/adjusting our ''blue-prints''.
However, adjusting/altering our belief-systems is often
tricky and can bring with it a lot of change.
''If I have always believed xyz to be true, if it's not,
what then am I to believe?''
If we are feeling that we're no longer sure of that what
we believe to be true really IS true, may I suggest some helpful
questions we can ask ourselves.
What is the underlying source of my belief?
Do I have any facts or evidence to support
that what I believe to be true is true?
Is what I believe to be true something
I feel or something I think to be true?
Is what I believe to be true something
I want to be true or something I know
to be true due to facts?
If what I believe to be true can be proven
to be false, am I willing to change
my belief?
Personally, I have ventured through a number of
paradigm shifts (a major change to previously
held concepts) and I'm sure there's more
to come.
Seeing those red glowing spheres of light made
me realize that I had never really contemplated
whether we are alone in the Universe or not.
Or how we determine facts from fiction,
what we believe from what we know,
what we feel from what we think,
and what we want from what we need.
''External circumstances will not change
until internal belief systems change.''
(Myles Munroe)
about the image: photo edited in Elements
Will we one day technologize ourselves
so much that one day we will become algorithmically
created creatures void of the one thing
that makes humans humane: The ability to
feel and emphasize with others.
''Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone
in the Universe or we are not.
Both are equally terrifying.''
(Arthur C, Clarke)
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