Aliens' impact on religion and culture

Read this with a nice cup of coffee, because this turned out a bit longer than I expected. Hope you find it interesting!

During my research into the UFO phenomena, I have of course come upon the notion that aliens are the culprit behind such objects. While I do believe that aliens are a very possible probability, and explanation to this phenomena, I’ve yet to find concrete evidence to back these claims. However, many people wholeheartedly believe in the existence of extraterrestrials, and that they are responsible for UFOs, especially when it comes to “abductions”. I want to briefly tell you what many people claim about extraterrestrials. I personally do not believe the following, but nevertheless, it is interesting how many people take the following information as facts, and in some cases treat it with some kind of religious mentality. Once again, I do not believe this, I am merely summarizing beliefs.

First things first, there are 3 main extraterrestrial species, or races claimed to exist by many people globally; 1. The Greys: These aliens are about 3-4 ft tall, greyish in colour, have big black eyes, a small nose, a slit for a mouth, 3 fingers with one thumb, long arms and long legs. These aliens are most commonly seen in abduction cases. Supposedly, it was this alien type found during the 1947 Roswell crash. These aliens come from a planet Serpo, located in the Zeta Reticuli star system. Some claim that these aliens feed on human and cattle proteins, thus the cattle mutilation phenomena. They communicate with humans telepathically, and many people claim to be in constant communication with them. When it comes to taking sides with humanity, most people claim that the Greys have a secret agenda, but is not certain if they are against humanity.

1. The Reptilians: They are 5-7ft tall, resemble lizards, very intelligent, and reportedly very violent. They are said to live in underground bases, most notably living under the city of California, These aliens are the big baddies of aliens. Some claim that they control the Greys, and that they might be the ones controlling everything. These aliens eat humans, and can also shape shift to look like a human. The Reptilians want to control everything, and have been controlling our history for a very long time. Many people claim that Presidents, and other important people have been replaced by Reptilian shape-shifters.

2. Nordics: These aliens are 6-8ft tall, humanoids, often reported to look “Swedish”. These beings most resemble the Aryan race, thus these aliens are sometimes linked to helping the Nazis. Despite these racial claims, people generalize these aliens to not be hostile, and may be here for the better of humanity. Not much more is known of these species, but they are popular due to the high number sighting reports of these beings, especially in abduction cases.

Once again, I do not believe this, I am merely summarizing beliefs. Many of the facts above are debated amongst alien communities, and there are small discrepancies in descriptions among them. However, I have generalized what I have found to be the popular opinion. These beliefs on aliens are not something a few hundred people believe in a small rural town in Nevada. No, rather, these beliefs are globally held, leading to many cults owing to aliens, or UFOs. Religions arise from these cults, and others base themselves on the belief of aliens, or cosmic beings. While I will delve briefly into religion, I will not speak against or in favour of any religious belief, and will not present any personal opinions, merely only the beliefs that these religions themselves hold as facts by members of said religion. Now, the idea of aliens is indeed not a stranger to many widespread religions. Sometimes it is part of the base of certain religions. Yet, in order to see how the following relates to Aliens, it is important to define Aliens as not human, or from planet Earth, who may sometimes possess different abilities.

• Joseph Smith, Jr who translated the Book of Mormon from golden plates, also translated the Book of Abraham. In this Mormon scripture, the planet, or star of Kolob is mentioned as the planet or star, closest to to the throne or residence of God. The only work in the Latter Day Saint canon to mention Kolob is in the Book of Abraham. Based on the verse, “If two things exist, and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them; therefore Kolob is the greatest of all the Kokaubeam that thou hast seen, because it is nearest unto me.”, the LDS Church claims that "Kolob is the star nearest to the presence of God [and] the governing star in all the universe.”, and "Kolob is also symbolic of Jesus Christ, the central figure in God's plan of salvation.”. Also mentioned in the Book of Abraham is the idea that there are many gods, and that these gods created the Earth. Thus, this idea of many cosmic beings from a distant star, being responsible for life on Earth, is incredibly reminiscent of many beliefs held by Alien communities, thus allowing us to see that this idea of aliens is in fact very prominent, even in mainstream religions.

• Raëlism is a religion that believe that technologically advanced extraterrestrials, called the Elohim, created life on Earth through genetic engineering. Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad are believed to be sent by theses aliens as teachers to teach humanity. The Elohim are said to be planning a future return, to complete their revelation and education of humanity. Raëlism is differentiated from other similar religions by claiming that they more prominently believe in joy in this life, and thus life must be enjoyed now.

• In Judaism, the Torah talks about the B’ney Elohim in Genesis. The literal translation of B’ney Elohim yields “Sons of God”. Many people interpret these beings as possible extraterrestrial life. Outside the Torah, the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 3b) states “G-d roams over 18,000 worlds.” Which also leads many to believe that the reason G-d would roam other worlds would be due to possible life in these other places, besides the life in our world. Furthermore, the Zohar mentions the existence of 7 worlds: Eretz, Adamah, Gey, Nashiya, Tziya, Arka, and Tevel. Thus, many can conclude that these different world could be inhabited by other beings, which we would consider Alien.

  • In Christianity, many people have taken the liberty to interpret many descriptions of angels and demons, as those of alien entities. Most notably in the book of Revelations, where 3 frog-like beings gather the kings of the world together, for the battle of Armageddon.

While there are many more religions that I could keep listing, the point I’m trying to get across here, is that in many different religions aliens are a core pillar, part of profound scriptures, or are simply allowed to exist within the religion due to interpretation, without directly contradicting the religion’s beliefs. This ability, to fit in extraterrestrials into many popular religions, allows one to see how easy it is for many people to jump unto the belief of the existence of aliens. In this world we live in, globally connected through the internet, tv, and radio, it seems that any idea can spread faster than ever before. This makes it no surprise that aliens quickly became a prominent belief, but also an icon in media. Hollywood made the alien phenomena big, especially at the end of WWII. With tensions high throughout the world, it was a nice distraction for people to believe that maybe, humanity isn’t the enemy, perhaps there is hope for us. This quickly turned into conspiracies, linking alien activity to different governments, made popular as the world entered the Cold War. The 1947 UFO crash further fuelled these beliefs that the governments were hiding something. Many shows like the X-Files continued the momentum aliens had gathered from the 1970s, all the way to the end of the ‘90s. At some point, aliens were discussed as fact by the general public, until science quickly caught up to the extraordinary claims, and the belief of aliens walking amongst us quickly declined as a reality. Leading to the present day, where believers in aliens are often portrayed as crazy people, wanting to live in this world of fiction they set themselves up for. But that’s the present. So what about the past? Have aliens always had a prominent place in society, in either cultural or religious terms? Although it is difficult to determine this, as various aspects of divine deities could also be interpreted as aliens, there are many cultures that are believed to have believed in beings coming from the sky above.

• The Sumer, the first recorded urban civilization to exist in the southern region of Mesopotamia around 6,000 BC, held the belief that the gods Anu (the sky) and Ki (the earth) gave birth to the Anunnaki. While some historians debate wether the Anunnaki were believed to create humankind or not, they Anunnnaki nevertheless arrived to Earth and lived among mankind for a period of time. Sumerians and Babylonians held this belief. The Sumerians created much of the arithmetic, geometry, and algebra that we use today. Due to their advanced scientific knowledge, as well as the likeness of various Sumerian hieroglyphs to those of alien beings, and spaceships, the Anunnaki are believed to possibly be the first depiction of alien life on Earth.

• Egyptians are also said to be aided by aliens mostly due to their pyramids which implied advanced mathematical and physical advancements. Although the Egyptians worshipped gods, hieroglyphs and the amount of celestial knowledge Egyptians had can be interpreted as alien involvement.

• Throughout history, many civilizations have practised artificial cranial deformation. The earliest examples of cranial deformation have been found in Iraq, Shanidar Cave about 9,000 BC. Since then, this has been practiced by the Huns, the Maya, Inca, some North America natives, aboriginal Australians, Egyptian, Sumerian, and many others. Although the true motivation behind such actions is not yet determined, there are several theories. One is that perhaps these civilizations were imitating certain individuals who had natural deformities due to genetic defects. Another theory is perhaps that they believed these cranial deformations provided higher status in a society. One other theory, is of course that pertaining to aliens. Perhaps these civilizations were visited by aliens with such skulls, causing them to alter their own skulls in order to match these superior beings, it is also suggested that some of these skulls might belong to aliens themselves. The most significant evidence supporting this fact are the 3,000 year old Paracas skulls, found in the southern coast of Peru. The DNA from some of these skulls appear to not be from Homo-sapiens. The origin of this DNA has not yet been traced back to a specific species.

The idea of beings visiting us from the skies above has been part of human history since the very beginning, religions claiming them to be gods, and others claiming them to be extraterrestrial. Who is right, if any, I do not know. But it is in my personal opinion that aliens can become a scapegoat for the world’s problem. People can easily claim that global warming, economical and racial issues, social classes, and other issues plaguing society are to be blamed, or dependent on the aliens. It allows people to not confront the issues head on, to divert it to something bigger that no one can comprehend. Or perhaps they are indeed right, and we are all subject to the game of superior beings, moved around like pawns. Whatever the truth may be, whether we are living in a universe much bigger think or not, we cannot blame others for humankind’s issues. History begins, and ends with us. I have not talked much on abductions, as this phenomena deserves a separate writing. Thanks for reading, and hope you found all this as interesting as I did. I will leave you with a quote I find to fit here quite well: “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” ― Arthur C. Clarke

Submitted January 03, 2017 at 07:38PM by hgflohrHX422 http://ift.tt/2iG54Ll