"We have been told that this is the planet of Saturday Night Fever?"
At the recommendation of a friend I dug up a very ambitious film from the Unarius Academy of Science, which Wikipedia describes as:
a non-profit organization founded in 1954 in Los Angeles, California and headquartered in El Cajon, California. The organization purports to advance a new "interdimensional science of life" based upon fourth-dimensional physics principles. Unarius centers exist in Canada, Japan, Nigeria and in various locations in the United States.
Some of the ideas expressed in the film are, I believe, indicative of attitudes widespread in the New Age movement.
With the obvious and overly simple moral of "Don't be a jerk and commit genocide for no reason", "The Arrival" is a science fiction film with quite enchanting visuals, yet it is only science fiction. It relies on a couple of faulty principles that I will explain.
Firstly it assumes that technological advancement will necessarily entail moral progress, but I think this is a foolish principle. The film shows us visually just how far of a moral difference lies between us and the people of the stars. Human beings are spear-chucking cavemen and the star children descend in psychedelic spaceships. But there is no evidence that morality advances along with technology. With the invention of atomic power came the first uses of atomic warfare. Unmanned aircraft are utilized in the slaughter of third world children.
Secondly the belief system purports that souls are independent of bodies and immortal, and that the act of reincarnation cycles souls through different bodies all throughout time. While this is a beautiful idea that certainly has appeal, I think that politically it is an ineffective one to have. Even if it is true, the idea tends to encourage an indifference to the problems of the here-and-now in favor of a slow progression from life to life until nirvana is reached. I am unconvinced that meditation and enlightenment are the right courses of action in a world where there is real destruction and suffering happening all the time.
Third, there is a constant belittling of "the ego" or "the self" which I find quite unsettling. I'm no Randian Objectivist (a philosophy that borders on sociopathy) but I don't think the dignity and worth of the individual can be overstated. If we are to live in a just society, we must base it on the principle that no person is a means to an end.
Firstly it assumes that technological advancement will necessarily entail moral progress, but I think this is a foolish principle. The film shows us visually just how far of a moral difference lies between us and the people of the stars. Human beings are spear-chucking cavemen and the star children descend in psychedelic spaceships. But there is no evidence that morality advances along with technology. With the invention of atomic power came the first uses of atomic warfare. Unmanned aircraft are utilized in the slaughter of third world children.
Secondly the belief system purports that souls are independent of bodies and immortal, and that the act of reincarnation cycles souls through different bodies all throughout time. While this is a beautiful idea that certainly has appeal, I think that politically it is an ineffective one to have. Even if it is true, the idea tends to encourage an indifference to the problems of the here-and-now in favor of a slow progression from life to life until nirvana is reached. I am unconvinced that meditation and enlightenment are the right courses of action in a world where there is real destruction and suffering happening all the time.
Third, there is a constant belittling of "the ego" or "the self" which I find quite unsettling. I'm no Randian Objectivist (a philosophy that borders on sociopathy) but I don't think the dignity and worth of the individual can be overstated. If we are to live in a just society, we must base it on the principle that no person is a means to an end.
Believing that otherworldly beings will arrive preaching good will and reincarnation is not only overly optimistic, it is foolhardy. When the human race does make official First Contact, we should expect things not to become simpler, but infinitely more complex. We will be stepping into a vast world of intergalactic politics that will make the subterfuge and stalemates entertained by earthly governments look like playground games.
Maybe I am being too hard on Unarius and other New Age movements interested in extraterrestrial life and space exploration. For example, I am interested in the possibility of telepathically connecting with intelligent extraterrestrial life. Time will tell and more avenues will have to be explored. If you are a New Age advocate and have different ideas, please leave a comment or otherwise get in touch with me. I would love to explore this further.
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