Voices From The Cosmos

by C B Scott Jones

  Jam-’i-himis the Arabic expression in this verse which specifically speaks of bringing together of life on Earth and the life elsewhere. When this meeting of the two will take place is not specified, nor is it mentioned whether it will happen here on Earth or elsewhere. One thing however, is definitely stated: this event will most certainly come to pass whenever God so desires. It should be kept in mind that the wordjama’ can imply either a physical contact or a contact through communication. Only the future will tell how and when this contact will take place, but the very fact that more than fourteen hundred years ago such a possibility was even predicted is miraculous in itself.

  This revelation of the Quran was made at a time when cosmology as a science was not yet born. A different age of conjectural visualization prevailed which had to go a long way before it could contemplate the existence of extraterrestrial life. Even today such claims are only found in science fiction.

  Amazing is it not that what the Quran asserted as a fact, around fourteen hundred years ago, is just beginning to appear as a feasible reality to the scientists of today! The Quran goes a step further when it predicts that man shall one day make contact with extraterrestrial life.

  The time for the full realization of this prophecy has not yet arrived, but its signs are appearing on the horizon. This demonstrates that the prophecies of the Quran run ahead of human scientific progress. Every new era witnesses the fulfillment of some more revelations which previous eras had no means to testify. Hence it should be clearly understood here that Quranic prophecies are intrinsically different in nature from those implied in science fiction. . .

  The case of the Divine scriptures, however, is a different matter altogether and the knowledge expressed in them cannot be confined to any particular era. Moreover, chance has no role to play in their fulfillment. The scientific discoveries of subsequent ages have never proved any Quranic prophecy to be wrong.

  So we must look forward with well-founded hope for the realization of even such prophecies as rest with the future to decide. The prophecy about the meeting of life here and the life elsewhere belongs to the same category which remains as yet unfulfilled. May we live long enough to witness the glorious day when life on Earth will establish some sort of communion with life in space.”

  The above discussion strongly suggests that formal disclosure of Earth/ET contact will not present a theological challenge to Islam. From this position of clear and strong doctrine confidence on the subject, White Papers from Islamic Universities on the anticipate impact of disclosure on all aspects of Islamic culture would presumably be positive.

  A Failed Effort to Garner Islamic Academic Attention

  In October 2003, I visited Doha, Qatar to meet with Dr. Saif Ali Al Hajari, Vice Chairman of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. In 2003, Education City was a work in progress. With enlightened royal patronage from the Emir of Qatar, the Foundation was spending millions of dollars to replicate a premier Western university system. They selected and bought branch campuses from some of the world’s leading universities. Six American universities and one each from the United Kingdom, France and Canada now are fully enrolled and operating. There are a number of additional educational and research units in Education City, including a Qatari university, the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute and Doha Debates, a public forum modeled on the Oxford Union debates.

  There is no other Islamic facility with matching capability to introduce from scientific and Islamic religious perspectives what we current know about Earth/ET contact and what formal disclosure will mean to the Islamic world.

  During my 2003 visit I introduced the P.E.A.C.E. Inc. Sustainable Peace and Development (SPD) program, and asked them to coordinate its introduction to Qatar University and other global Islamic Universities. Dr. Al Hajari was generous with his time and asked many excellent questions. He said he would present my proposal to the Chairman of the Foundation and I would receive a reply. Four months later I received a reply from a mid-level staff person that simply said that my proposal was outside of the Foundation’s mission and objectives.

  By 2008, Plan C had joined the SPD program, and in May of that year I wrote a letter to Dr. Ali Al Hajari introducing for the first time the ET connection to peace. This was followed by a letter a month later with additional details until in August when I received a rejection email message that noted “your program/project objectives do not align with the vision and objectives of the Qatar Foundation.”

  The dance with Qatar is not over. Our next approach will be designed to establish that our program not only is aligned with the vision and objectives of the Qatar Foundation, but it is importantly supportive of them.

  In The Name of God – History’s Sad Lessons

  The complex history of the religious wars that waxed and waned in Europe for over a hundred years is generally dated from 1524 to 1648. It presents a legacy of important messages. The Reformation is easily identified as the major causative factor, but more than the stresses of religious change were involved. War provides opportunities to address and redress a host of political, economic, racial, and other issues. A compounding factor was the extensive use of mercenary armies that were paid by the privilege of looting and foraging. The consequences of this were devastation of large areas resulting in famine and disease and extensive loss of life. Some of the powers involved were bankrupted by the costs of extended war, and desperate peasants rose up in revolt.

  A continuing consequence of the Reformation, over 300 years ago, is that “reformed” religions continue to transform into more and more Christian denominations. It is impossible to know how many there are today or will be tomorrow. All it takes is a charismatic (or conning) leader to convince a group that he or she has “the word,” and a new church is born.

  We believe that all the world’s current large religions will be able to adjust to the impact of formal disclosure. They are smart and powerful. We also expect many small protestant religions will not survive the consequences of disclosure. However, they will be replaced by a larger number of new, fully enlightened religions with space related names.

  There will be a period of serious spiritual confusion and wonderment. In countries with large protestant Christian populations, this unrest should be anticipated and prepared for.

  Earlier in this section we presented quotes from the Quran that provided a theological base for followers of Islam to accept the reality of extraterrestrial life. The Bible provides a similar statement that oddly the Vatican has not used to support their current strategy to prepare Catholics for disclosure.

  Paul Davies is an acclaimed physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist at Arizona State University. He also has been involved with the SETI program since it became a privately funded organization. He chairs the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Post-Detection Taskgroup. He was awarded the 1995 Templeton Prize--the world’s largest annual prize--for his work on science and religion. An author of more than twenty books, includingThe Mind of God, andAre we Alone: Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life (London, 1995). In the preface of this book he writes:

  “There is little doubt that even the discovery of a single extraterrestrial microbe, if it could be shown to have evolved independently of life on Earth, would drastically alter our world view and change our society as profoundly as the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions. It could truly be described as the greatest scientific discovery of all time.”

  In the bookExtraterrestrial Life and the Cosmic Christ as Prototype by Martin Thomson, another theologian, John Jefferson Davis is extensively quoted about his assessment of Colossians 1:15-20. This material is used with permission from Martin Thomson.

  Colossians 1:15-20

  English Standard Version (ESV)

  The Preeminence of Christ

  15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on Earth, vis
ible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on Earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

  Davis comments that this passage in the Bible has received inadequate attention in connection with the authority of Christ over the Cosmos. Davis proposes that it alone is evidence that the:

  “Redemptive effects of the atoning sacrifice of Christ are not limited to humanity, but extend in some way to the entire created order. The apostle stresses in the most emphatic way the absolute supremacy of Christ in every realm of space, time, and human experience.”

  Judaism and extraterrestrial life

  Some caution is appropriate in presuming that the three great Abrahamic religions will move easily through the extended phase of acknowledging disclosure of Earth/ET contact. Such caution is particularly appropriate if knowledge gained during the post-disclosure era challenges a religion’s fundamental assumptions of God and the relationship of God to believers. The reader will understand this point clearly when they read the interviews and dialogue with the different ET races in the chapters ahead. The fact that the ETs present a spectrum of belief and non-belief, even in our very small sample, may rationally lead to considering that God is unknowable. Perhaps when an ET does not answer the question about God, the issue of God’s name being ineffable may arise. Additional telepathic contact and ultimately face-to-face meetings will build the needed knowledge base. P.E.A.C.E. Inc. is ready to work with theological leaders ready to prepare for the predictable and unexpected consequences of disclosure.

  There is a paucity of information on Judaism’s positions on extraterrestrial life. For any future researcher on this subject I recommend starting with the website Judaism 101. Founded in 1995 by Tracey Rich, he states that he writes the site from an Orthodox Jewish perspective because “I think that’s the best place to start if you want to understand Jewish traditions.” In his section: “What Do Jews Believe?” he summarizes – “Judaism has no dogma, no formal set of beliefs that one must hold to be a Jew.”

  Not necessarily a complication, but certainly a reality is the diaspora of Jews in the world, and the distinct spectrum of observance within these global communities. A reasonable estimate (because not all countries report this data) is that there are between 13 and 14 million Jews in the world. Most of these Jews live either in the United States or in Israel, both with Jewish populations of 5 to 6 million. According to Tracey Rich, “More than half of all Jews in Israel today call themselves “secular,” and don’t believe in G-d or any of the religious beliefs of Judaism. Half of all Jews in the United States don’t belong to any synagogue.”

  An example of current rabbinical comment on ET life suggests some challenges ahead for Judaism. In a search on ET life on the website www.torah.org, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan cites the opinion of Sefer Habris who states that, “...extraterrestrial life does exist, but that it does not possess free will. The latter is the exclusive position of man, for whom the universe was created.” In four pages of theological and philosophical argument he cites other contributions to the subject from Talmud teaching.

  An argument can be made that in the end it will be the secular Israeli government based upon knowledge from actionable intelligence that will respond to the challenges and opportunities that flow from acknowledged disclosure. However, the heritage of the Jewish people, the Torah and its message are intertwined and that connection cannot be ignored. Neither should a dialogue about what we have learned be ignored.

  Hinduism as a culture and religion is supported by well-known and respected epic literature that feature a host of celestial gods and equipment. Buddhism, on this subject as noted by the Dalai Lama, is also at ease. In an address at the University of Oregon on May 14, 2013, he took several minutes out of his speech,The Path to Peace and Happiness in the Global Society,to repeat what he has said many times. “Extraterrestrials are sentient beings and we should respect them as such.”

  It thus appears that for the billions of Earth’s citizens who are under an umbrella of the world’s great religions, the issue of sharing the universe with other intelligence life has, as a minimum, been considered. And, as noted, for some, it is an integrated part of their culture, and for one there has been an announcement of a potential large increase in the number of siblings in the family. On balance, this mixed bag of “understanding” is good news because it provides a foundation for a dialogue about what will actually happen when a formal and accepted announcement is made that “they” are here –now!

  Does the reader get the point, if you do start the dialogue with your family. Take positions with the editor of your newspaper, your school board, and your spiritual leader. If you haven’t already discovered, the Internet is a hazardous place to search for reality. It has become a favorite tool for disinformation. The safest place to look is inside. That takes discipline and perhaps learning some new skills. The payoff is confidence in discernment, and discernment is critical.

  There are other important players in the game.

  The Business Community Begins to Pay Attention

  We have noted earlier that an elite group in the international financial community has been playing a controlling role in keeping information about ET/Earth contact out of the media. They also probably think that they control the timing of and how disclosure will be presented. We believe that the ETs will be the principals in making these decisions based upon action or lack of action by the nation state system to reform itself concerning institutionalized violence and other potential Earth-ending practices

  Only recently has the public learned that attention is being shown to the ET/Earth contact subject by the broader business community. This is a very important step as it will be vital component to the needed global dialogue on the challenges and opportunities that will flow from a formal full disclosure.

  Founded in 2006 by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), the 5th Annual Global Competitive Forum (GCF) took place in January 23-26, 2011, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Over three days, nineteen Panel sessions were heard by global business leaders, international political leaders, and selected intellectuals and journalists brought together for the stated purpose “to create a dialogue with respect to the positive impact organizational and national competitiveness can have on local, regional and global economic and social development.”

  On the first day, one of six panels was Contact: Learning from Outer Space. The participating invited panel members were: Stanton Friedman, a duel citizen of Canada and the USA, and has BSc and MSc degrees in physics from Chicago University. He was the original civilian investigator of the Roswell Incident and has lectured extensively at colleges and professional groups on UFOs in more than twenty countries. Dr. Jacques Valle, a French citizen received his BS in mathematics from the Sorbonne, his MS in astrophysics from Lille, and his Ph.D. in computer Science from Northwestern University. He has studied UFOs for many years and in his three books on the subject has advanced sophisticated hypotheses to explain their origin. Nick Pope, a United Kingdom citizen, worked at the Ministry of Defense for twenty-one years. Four of these years he was involved in investigating UFO sighting to determine their defense significance. Dr. Michio Kaku was born in the US to Japanese immigrant parents (with Tibetan DNA ancestry). Recognized by physicist Edward Teller as a young genius, Teller took Kaku as a protégé and awarded him with an engineering scholarship at Harvard University where he graduated summa cum laude with a BS in physics. He then received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. Currently a professor in theoretical physics at the City College of New York he is a prolific author in his field, and is noted for his skill in explain
ing complex science to the layperson. He has stated that he is 100% certain of the existence of extraterrestrial life. Dr. Zaghloul El Nagger is a noted Muslim scholar and author. The main theme of El Naggar’s books has been science in Quran. He is the Chairman of Committee of Scientific Notions in the Quran, Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Cairo, Egypt.

  It is reasonable to assume that this subject was included because Saudi Arabia’s economy is completely dependent upon its oil and gas riches. From the beginning of attention to UFO phenomena and suspected ET involvement, was a discussion that potential Earth-changing energy systems were involved. This obviously would be a vital issue for every country significantly dependent upon carbon based resources, and equally important to all other countries that have to import oil, gas and coal to meet their energy needs.

  Keep Your Eye on Davos

  The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a Swiss non-profit foundation based in Cologny, Geneva with the following mission statement:

  “The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.”

  There is nothing modest about the WEF. It was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a German-born business professor at the University of Geneva. At first it was named the European Management Forum, but in 1987, it was renamed The World Economic Forum, seeking to broaden its vision “to include providing a platform for resolving international conflicts.” That would appear to make it a mini-UN with that objective. However, as it has turned out, the WEF has something critical that the UN lacks, a budget capable to match its objectives. The WEF is funded by its 1,000 member companies. These are mostly global enterprises with more than five billion dollars in turnovers. They rank among the top companies within their industry and/or country,