Dr. A. K. Merchant*
The earth is burning, rampant devastation, largely human-induced, is making our planet increasingly unsustainable for all forms of life. Environmentalists have been warning us for the past many decades of the grave consequences of present-day unsustainable lifestyles of a vast majority of human beings. Some of the earth scientists have already proclaimed the beginning of the 6th mass extinction on our planet. Such statements have forced many to speak out whether it is possible for an alternative homeland, another planet like “the earth”. Although, as per current data available, National Aeronautics & Space Agency (NASA) has discovered more than 3,700 “exoplanets”—those likely to support life as we know it—and 2,700 planetary systems, of course, none of these are physically accessible at present. The search for more habitable worlds continues, because at least a hundred billion galaxies exist, and each galaxy is full of stars. The numbers can be mind-boggling.
While people of goodwill are striving to restore sanity in a strangely deranged world when lawlessness and “anarchy inherent in state sovereignty are moving towards a climax”, an interesting breakthrough from the point of view of astrobiology is that, ancient organic matter has been found on the surface of Mars. This finding and a few other things on the red planet provides great encouragement to the human quest for life beyond Earth. Who knows both the Moon and Mars could witness human habitations in just the next few decades?
Carl Sagan, the renowned American astronomer, who was influenced by the Hindu view of the cosmos; how the ancient cosmological ideas that were central to Hinduism form the basis of modern cosmology. “Space exploration leads directly to religious and philosophical questions,” according to Prof. Sagan. During his visit I had the great privilege to meet him and share that the Founder of the Bahá’i Faith, Bahá’u’lláh, had made interesting references on the stars, planets and the limitless universe.
This ancient universe, the Bahá’i teachings say, supports living creatures throughout its billions of galaxies. “The learned men, that have fixed at several thousand years the life of this earth, have failed, throughout the long period of their observation, to consider either the number or the age of the other planets. Consider, moreover, the manifold divergences that have resulted from the theories propounded by these men. Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute.”… “Witness the wondrous evidences of God’s handiwork, and reflect upon its range and character,” wrote Bahá’u’lláh, more than 150 years ago. Very prophetic, indeed!
Modern science, as noted above, is striving to better understand exoplanets in the habitable zone of their respective solar systems, the so-called “Goldilocks planets” suited for life as we know it to exist. Bahá’is believe that we humans are not alone – that God has created life throughout the universe; and that the perfect beauty, order, and symmetry of the universe reveals the existence of a motive force, a Creator, a First Cause.
Bahá’u’lláh’s reference to “creatures” that exist on other planets, including those around other stars, is yet to be confirmed by science. Elsewhere, in Bahá’i Writings it is stated that “there are other worlds than ours which are inhabited by beings capable of knowing God,” however, the nature of these “creatures” is as yet unknown, and “cannot be considered to be necessarily similar or different from human beings on this earth… It remains for science to discover one day the exact nature of these creatures.” This suggests that intelligent extraterrestrial life does exist and these may have reached levels of technological advancement similar to that of human beings. Going by the number of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) sighted just as humans have managed to construct space probes within the solar system and beyond, creatures on other planets may be doing likewise.
One of the important tenets of the Bahá’i Faith is the harmony of science and religion—which compels many Bahá’is to expand the world’s consciousness on these hidden mysteries in our search for truth. We may be very close or very far from this breakthrough discovery—but it will happen at some point. Our efforts will not be in vain because “All men have been created” as the Bahá’u’lláh says, “to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.
Many schools of thought, both scientific and religious, debate the idea of life beyond Earth. So far, we have little evidence to prove that such life exists—but lack of evidence does not prove non-existence. Humanity continues amassing that evidence in its scientific and spiritual quest to discover whether we are truly alone in the universe or not, and the Baha’i teachings say that we will continue to progressively and scientifically advance, which means one day we may encounter those other creatures Baha’u’llah referred to in the quote above. We will only know the nature of these extraterrestrial beings with further advancements in science.
While that important scientific research continues, there is an urgent necessity, now more than ever, that we, Earthlings, should first aim to achieve planetary unity and stop destroying this pale blue dot, so fragile, and yet so beautiful. The pivotal Bahá’i principle of the unification of all people into one human family and all nations into one global government, constitutes the most powerful solution for addressing the critical issues of human life. After attaining such lofty height progress, when humans succeed in establishing contact with the galactic neighbours, then, perhaps based on a fresh outpouring of the Cosmic Will, the next far-reaching goal could be achieving inter-planetary unity.
The essential unity of humanity transcends barriers of nationality, religion, race, caste, creed, class, and what-have-you, in the same way this mighty universe is guided by the physical laws that govern the Earth. Baha’u’llah reminds us, regardless of the nature of any potential extraterrestrial beings, all human beings are guided by the same spiritual law, which implies that we must accept the oneness of the Creator of this limitless universe, the oneness of the Divine Educators sent by Him from Age to Age, and the interdependence of all creatures that inhabit the planet. This is the task for us, a human obligation, and not to be left to Artificial Intelligence or some more advanced technology.
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*The author is a social worker, independent researcher, & member of the Bahá’i Community of India.
