Carl Sagan

My brother gave me a book for Christmas by Carl Sagan. It's called "A Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark." Much of the book describes the skeptical viewpoint of extra-terrestrial abduction stories and why they have been so common in America in the last 60-70 years. A majority of the abductees describe very similar experiences. The story is so well-worn at this point that it seems contrived rather than shocking or horrifying. The person is asleep and remembers waking up feeling paralyzed. They sense a presence in their room and often see some glowing face or body hovering or near their beds. They remember levitating, being taken into a vessel and examined by several other alien-like bodies. Most often, they report their genitalia being manipulated or examined. They wake up not sure if what they remembered actually happened, sometimes with identifying marks on their bodies.

It's strange that, as I read page after page of debunked story and theory, I got chills thinking about it. I know that none of it is true, but the thought still affects me somehow. I've never had a dream or occurrence in which anything like an alien abduction happened. So why this eerie feeling? Perhaps it's not aliens that creep me out, its the fact that these people are so convinced that it actually happened that is disturbing. I've always been creeped out by the thought of mental institutions. There's something very unnerving about a collection of humanity that operates on such a different brain function than the rest of us. They're trapped inside their malfunctioning brains, haunted by synopses gone haywire, sending mixed signals and disconnected thoughts at all times of the waking day. There's always been a fear that I would be in a similar state. Having thoughts but unable to communicate. Living in perpetual fear of the voices in my head or what my brain is capable of conjuring if it stopped working properly. Living like an unattached shell of a person while all the frightening, horrible images I've encountered during my lifetime spin, unfiltered through my thoughts. My imagination left only to its own devices without reality to ground it.

The fact that there are so many reported cases is disturbing. Obviously, the thousands of reported abductions did not actually occur. What's disturbing are the sheer number of people who have reported alien abductions and the multitudes who believe that they occurred. Sagan found this equally disturbing and feared for the stability of the country. If so many people are willing to believe in alien abductions, faith-healers, psychic powers, UFOs, Jesus, angels, demons, the devil, etc. how can we progress as an enlightened people? The alien abduction story has been told over the centuries with different abductors playing basically the same role. At first it was demons, then incubi and succubi, then fairies, or angels or any other supernatural being that visited people in the night and took them away. What's strange is how, through the centuries, the abductee reports being sexually molested in some way. Sometimes claiming that they were impregnated by demon or alien sperm.

This sounds crazy to me, but so many people believe it. So many people will believe anything as long as it fits in their already-existing mind set. "I prayed to Jesus and I got better" is a common claim. So few people say "I prayed to Jesus and it got worse" which is more likely the case. So what compels people to believe in all this? Sagan writes that it's the lack of a skeptical mind and culture that exalts the supernatural. We're raised to believe in supernatural beings that do all sorts of favors for us. The tooth fairy takes are discarded teeth and rewards us monetarily. Santa Claus rewards good behavior with gifts once a year. The Easter Bunny....not quite clear on his story, but the fact is, he sneaks into your house and gives you Easter-related gifts including dyed hard-boiled eggs. Strangely enough, we're all okay as children with the idea of supernatural being breaking into our house, monitoring our moral and dental behaviors and giving us gifts. Why wouldn't we believe that aliens watch over us, have access to our house and can take us away in the night and do with us what they please?

We are indoctrinated with the supernatural and the sublime from birth and parents who teach their children to be rational and to be skeptical of all things are thought of as not letting their kids have any fun. Imagine if we spent half the time teaching children science as we do teaching the story of Christmas. The message of that story can be grasped after a single telling and yet, we are told the story every year at Christmas. The birth of Christ was miraculous and humble and he went on to do great things after being born in a barn. However, the story of the monk Gregor Mendel persistently breeding pea plants so that certain traits would appear is taught maybe once or twice in an academic career.

What happened to the Age of Enlightenment? We live in an age where information is more readily available than at any other time in history. So why are we still so in the dark? Sagan believes that people are beginning to view science as some evil force that's out to ruin people's livelihoods and religions. People fear and often hate scientists and atheists. They represent a threat to their religions and their deeply-held beliefs. They are content to believe that supernatural, heavenly beings manipulate their lives. Angels saved them from a car crash, the devil led their son to drugs, God wanted me to go to Wal-Mart. Is it easier to be a puppet of divinity than to have control over one's own life? If America is in a self-imposed dark-age where God is in control and their are agents of Satan around every corner, how are we to compete in a secular, industrialized world? People are willing to blame almost anything for the dumbing down of America, but most likely, it's religion.

Sagan has changed my views on the existence of extra-terrestrial life. Mostly through mere statistics. There's no proof, but it is more statistically likely that there is life on other planets than not. Out of 400 billion stars each with possibly 10-15 planets on each, each planet composed of roughly the same organic compounds that exist on earth, at least one of them has bred some sort of life form. I'm still not sold on whether or not that life has the capacity for intellectual thought, but I can't rule it out as a possibility. I will say this: It is far more likely that intelligent beings on other planets exist than God.

I worry that when I finally have my own classroom, I will be frustrated by the indoctrinated beliefs of the students and of the ignorance of the other teachers. I've been working in schools for a while now, and I am often shocked at things that teachers say. The majority go to church, rarely read any new literature in their respective fields, seem to care very little about what they are charged with teaching and bring up the divine in casual conversation. Perhaps all of the more-informed teachers eat alone in their classrooms poring over scientific journals or reading up on the newest developments in the Modern Language Association. Perhaps I am judging the many by the few. I for one would and often do eat lunch in my classroom, avoiding the tea-time gossip that passes between the people we trust to educate our children. More, now than ever, I feel the need to teach and to enlighten and inspire. I may end up teaching English, but mostly, I will teach children and young adults how to be free thinkers and to never accept what is sold to them without first researching and investigating the facts.

Thank you Dr. Sagan for inspiring and charging my proverbial battery. Perhaps we shall receive a message from you in the not-to-distant future via radiotelescope. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 39....