Aliens, anthropocentrism and theology
If scientists and mathematicians are to be believed, the sheer size of universe all but guarantees there are advanced alien civilizations out there. This belief was most famously put forward by the astrophysicist Frank Drake, in an equation which bears his name. Whether humanity makes contact with these civilizations, before destroying itself, is another question!
Such contact would have huge implications for all aspects of our society, but recently I’ve been thinking about what it would mean for religion. I’ve mentioned before the two spiritual writers I remember my mother reading most when I was a child were the Anglican C.S. Lewis and the Hindu Eknath Easwaran. Interestingly enough, they both dealt with this question to varying degrees.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise the Hindu seemed much less concerned by the potential existence of advanced alien civilizations than the Anglican. Mainstream Christianity is far more anthropocentric than mainstream Hinduism. You can see this most clearly in their respective views of animals on Earth. Vegetarianism is an ethical ideal in Hinduism. This isn’t the case in Christianity.
I’ve yet to read Lewis’ fictional Space Trilogy, which deals with the existence of alien life, but I have found a copy of his 1958 essay Religion and Rocketry, which addresses the same issue. “If we find ourselves to be but one among a million races, scattered through a million spheres, how can we, without absurd arrogance, believe ourselves to be uniquely favored?” He writes. “I admit the question could become formidable.”
Lewis puts forward some interesting possible answers to the question. Ultimately, however, he leaves it for future generations to deal with. Lewis trusts Christianity will adapt to this theological challenge as it has to previous ones, like Copernican astronomy and Darwinism. The important thing to note is he concedes the question could be difficult for Christianity.
The Easwaran Digital Library, which features recordings of the Hindu’s talks, includes a video from June 19, 1996, in which the spiritual teacher responds to a magazine article about the potential of advanced extraterrestrial life. Now, admittedly, Easwaran is discussing the issue almost 40 years after Lewis, but it’s hard not to see how unbothered the Hindu is by its theological implications.
“This is very much the view of all sages in ancient India,” he says. “They refer to many lokas, planets, where there is life, perhaps not so badly limited as ours is by physical inadequacies, [and] by emotional inadequacies.” Easwaran hesitates to move beyond practical matters, however his implication seems to be humans could be reincarnated as forms of alien life based on their karma.
Easwaran makes a related statement in a videotaped talk from April 19, 1986. “When we discover the Self, it is one and the same in Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, America, maybe even in other galaxies,” he said. “If I were to be flown to some other galaxy, I wouldn’t bat an eyelid. They may have ten arms or twenty eyes. It wouldn’t matter. I would see the Self, the Atman.”