I was traveling home from a trip to the north of Germany, trying to sleep away some of the insistently boring landscape. As one is apt to do, when confronted by miles and miles of farm land, my mind started to drift and meander. Ideas, thoughts, images began to flow: not all of them coherent. However, one sequence of thoughts / images did escape the trash bin of my mind, to form a fairly coherent narrative.
Follow me if you will -and I will show you the world in a grain of sand.
One man, sitting on a train with approximately 300 other people.
One train, out of several dozen moving throught out Germany.
One country, of about 80 million people in Europe.
One continent*, of about 855 million people.
One world, of about 7 billion people.
One planet, of 8* in our solar system.
One sun, of about 200 billion stars in our galaxy.
One question, are we alone?
In perspective, in context, the absurdity of saying "we're alone" should be self evident. How utterly arrogant is it to say, "we are the sole arbiters of logic, reason and understanding" To proclaim to the heavens above "I think, therefore I am- And I am the only capable of thought and reason" Yes, the inverse would be true too; to proclaim "we're not alone" and I know it because, I can think, reason and deduce.
Dare I say, the only "reasonable" course to take, is one of agnostic skepticism, armed with our clumsy, but trustworthy, sword of scientific method? It seems to be the only solution is just that- after all, it is all we have.
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