Of the myriad of guilty pleasures that are mine, one, is for the show on the History Channel called ‘Ancient Aliens’. If you haven’t see it, it is a show that posits everything about humanity from the pyramids to Stonehenge to the Pythagorean theorem were the direct result of extraterrestrial influences on humanity. It assumed humanity is nothing but incompetent savages and only from outside influences have we ever moved forward. All of the fundamental notions of the show I find intellectually vacuous, and largely repellent. And yet I continue to watch the show.
I am not exactly sure why I watch. On some level, I watch for the same reason I gawk at a car accident, house fire, barn fire, or a crime in progress. Part of me wonders what new lower level they will stoop to in assuming the worst about humanity and our ability to advance on our own. I do find the creative application of adaptive theory while using negation on conventional understanding to be entertaining.
And then there’s the anti-gravity hair aspect of one of the show’s so-called experts. I wonder what alien race made that hair style possible more than anything while watching than anything else. It all combines together to make for marginally compelling television when the other choices are Judge Judy or the Jerry Springer show.
In doing some thinking while watching a new episode, I hit upon an interesting revelation. My responses to the show are fairly consistent to my responses to true revelation. By that I mean this, when some conventionally held item is found to be untrue, I tend to respond exactly like I do to the show. The realization that the concept of a solid is a functional myth of perception caused me to recoil as if I was told it was ‘aliens’.
There are plenty of other examples but the truth is there. Revelation lays bare conventional wisdom to be fraudulent. It exposes our ignorance. It exposes our blindness. And it causes some of the worst responses possible of the human condition.
It puts is in a binary state in relation to the revealed truth. We can select to retain our blindness and continue in our ignorance. Alternatively, we can opt to investigate the revealed truth. Notice I did not say the word ‘accept’ the revealed truth. And that was intentional. Homo sapiens as a species are not capable of immediate acceptance at the point of revelation.
Acceptance requires experience, and experience requires investigation. We require confirmation from multiple trusted sources before we can enter into the abode of acceptance. We are much like the water being exposed to tea leaves. we don’t immediately become tea having been shown the sachet holding the fragrant concoction we typically call ‘tea’.
We have to marinade in our be steeped in the essential nature of the revelation. It has to into the fabric of our very being. We have to be changed at a fundamental level before we can accept. The conventional wisdom that the revelation is meant to replace must slowly be destroyed, deconstructed, and dismantled before revelation can replace it.
Whether the revelation is Pluto is not a planet (something I am still unwilling to accept) or Stephen Hawking’s recent paper on the essential nature of black holes contradicting all of his previous work, reaching acceptance is always a work in progress. In some instances it is easier than it is for others. Humanity struggled to accept that the earth was not the center of the universe. Many scientists were persecuted for suggesting otherwise. My only hope is that we as a species are doing better at the point of revelation than our ancestors.
Absent the direct action of an alien intelligence I think that our ability to accept at the point of revelation will never happen. Not that there aren't those out there that believe that can happen. I mean look at the pyramids. Human beings could not have possibly done that right?
I am not exactly sure why I watch. On some level, I watch for the same reason I gawk at a car accident, house fire, barn fire, or a crime in progress. Part of me wonders what new lower level they will stoop to in assuming the worst about humanity and our ability to advance on our own. I do find the creative application of adaptive theory while using negation on conventional understanding to be entertaining.
And then there’s the anti-gravity hair aspect of one of the show’s so-called experts. I wonder what alien race made that hair style possible more than anything while watching than anything else. It all combines together to make for marginally compelling television when the other choices are Judge Judy or the Jerry Springer show.
In doing some thinking while watching a new episode, I hit upon an interesting revelation. My responses to the show are fairly consistent to my responses to true revelation. By that I mean this, when some conventionally held item is found to be untrue, I tend to respond exactly like I do to the show. The realization that the concept of a solid is a functional myth of perception caused me to recoil as if I was told it was ‘aliens’.
There are plenty of other examples but the truth is there. Revelation lays bare conventional wisdom to be fraudulent. It exposes our ignorance. It exposes our blindness. And it causes some of the worst responses possible of the human condition.
It puts is in a binary state in relation to the revealed truth. We can select to retain our blindness and continue in our ignorance. Alternatively, we can opt to investigate the revealed truth. Notice I did not say the word ‘accept’ the revealed truth. And that was intentional. Homo sapiens as a species are not capable of immediate acceptance at the point of revelation.
Acceptance requires experience, and experience requires investigation. We require confirmation from multiple trusted sources before we can enter into the abode of acceptance. We are much like the water being exposed to tea leaves. we don’t immediately become tea having been shown the sachet holding the fragrant concoction we typically call ‘tea’.
We have to marinade in our be steeped in the essential nature of the revelation. It has to into the fabric of our very being. We have to be changed at a fundamental level before we can accept. The conventional wisdom that the revelation is meant to replace must slowly be destroyed, deconstructed, and dismantled before revelation can replace it.
Whether the revelation is Pluto is not a planet (something I am still unwilling to accept) or Stephen Hawking’s recent paper on the essential nature of black holes contradicting all of his previous work, reaching acceptance is always a work in progress. In some instances it is easier than it is for others. Humanity struggled to accept that the earth was not the center of the universe. Many scientists were persecuted for suggesting otherwise. My only hope is that we as a species are doing better at the point of revelation than our ancestors.
Absent the direct action of an alien intelligence I think that our ability to accept at the point of revelation will never happen. Not that there aren't those out there that believe that can happen. I mean look at the pyramids. Human beings could not have possibly done that right?
RSS Feed
