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I’m not much for sci-fi movies. Probably because I don’t like being scared. Nope, my ideal movie is a good comedy or perhaps an action type movie with a bit of suspense… “The Bourne Identity” movies work for me or maybe a good western like “Tombstone” or “3:10 to Yuma.”
So it’s surprising that years ago I actually willed myself to go see “Alien” starring Sigourney Weaver. To this day, that film is one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. For my money, it’s a classic. It has all the elements of a good sci-fi flick. There’s the deep darkness of outer space. You have powerful combat troops and high technology juxtaposed to vulnerable children including an adorable little girl named Nute who is just too cute to meet her demise at the hands/paws/claws of a slimy alien with what I imagine to be very bad breath.
Obviously movies like this are built on our innate fear and suspicion of what exactly might be lurking ‘out there,’ in galaxies beyond ours and beyond anything we’ve known or yet discovered. And, I suspect, Hollywood has not produced its last film in an attempt to capitalize on such fears.
Just think about it, could you imagine what would happen if a spaceship full of aliens actually did come to earth? Not only that, what would the collective governments of the world do in response to say, oh, the destruction of over 100 million of earths citizens by such an alien force?!
Do you think things would continue on as if nothing or very little had actually happened? Would the world’s governments continue their self-centered and geo-political shenanigans? Would it be business as usual? Would the U.N. produce a few more teeth-less sanctions regarding aliens complete with a letter of condemnation for such barbaric actions?
I think we know the answers to those questions – we might not know the specifics, but we know the answers – the entire planet would work together to stave off such an invasive assault. There would be no lines of demarcation between governments and people groups. There would be one world, one humankind acting in unison to defend itself against such a threat.
Well, here’s the bad news; the really scary news – 100 million of our citizens have been killed – just in the last century alone. Not by aliens from outer space, but by humans who collectively have acted out from the depths of a horribly desensitized inner space. And little by little it is this ‘inner space’ that is killing us and that almost certainly threatens our existence as a species.
And the really insane thing is this: the world goes on with business as usual, as if no emergency is at hand.
Meanwhile, children every bit as cute as Nute are in peril. Some are starving, some dying of diseases that are quite curable, others are being abused in ways you and I don’t even want to think about. And the part that should stir us to action is that this isn’t a movie that ends. It may not even be a reality that ends.
The world would be blessed if you and I spent more time thinking about these things, holding discussions on them, reading books like Brian McLaren’s Everything Must Change and playing a role in awakening our neighbors to the urgency of the moment. It can happen. You can be a part. Spread the word! Forward this post to others – think of four or five right now – send it. Let’s go viral for a movement of peace and oneness, of justice and charity. Let’s all begin reclaiming our ‘inner space’ – for Nute and the rest of the children.
Blessings.
13 comments to “Aliens from Outer-Space…What Could be More Frightening?”
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We have met the enemy and he is us.
Is the world, and are we, yet willing to pull back the veneer, and to look at what we have created via our individual and collective egos …? And how violently we all seek to retain status quo …?
Nah, we’d rather take the stuff we refuse to look at in ourselves, and project it onto an imagined enemy (be it a neighbor, a spouse, a child, a government, a tribe, a nation, a religion, a whatever-is-handy), and scape-goat them … projecting our own crap onto them, and then banishing and/or slaughtering them, in a vain attempt to appease our own imagined guilt ..!
And all the while, it’s meant to be our salvation … to be enabled to SEE our blind-stuff projected onto another, to see it, to forgive it (for there’s nothing to forgive, but what we’ve imagined), and thus to forgive ourselves for our own imagined sins..! For we know not what we do …
But our ego demands that we attack and defend (which is just a form of attack), and retain the insane status quo that’s so familiar … and thus perpetuate the insanity.
Christianity is built upon this very insanity (notice how they rhyme…?).
In claiming to be THE answer, it perpetuates (& institutionalizes) the problem … the belief that we are separate from God, and from each other …
Oh what manner of webs we weave …!
We can’t fix anything … we have to wake up and realize that the mess is our own projected illusions … when the Light shines on the darkness, the darkness is just absorbed, without a fight.
Preach it, Tim…! I see your shiny-Light…!
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We need a fundamental culture change and it’s hard to see how that could happen. The political and economic systems are based on capitalism and nationalism as if they were laws of nature. The basic driving force is greed. The goal is short term gain. There is little attention for long term structural strategies.
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Hi Tim,
Enjoyable read! I agree with the ideal you put forth. But… the reality is well expressed in your own words:
” …the entire planet would work together to stave off such an invasive assault. …There would be one world, one humankind acting in unison to defend itself against such a threat.”
What would we be doing? Holding a love fest? No, according to your post we’d be defending ourselves against the threat.
And that’s the reality. If the day comes when all people can agree to live together peacefully then the ideal you describe might have a chance of becoming reality. But as long as there are people or nations who choose to attack others, there will be nations that will respond by defending themselves, their allies and their interests.
God Bless!
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Hear ye hear ye!
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Bingo, Tim…!
It’s not about doing something differently .. but SEEing everything differently.
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Just over at Dena’s blog I read the following about Mass-Ego: “perhaps it explains why so few of us can attest to encounters of the God-kind.”
Dena was referring to the mask of ego that filters out our true vision of each other as reflecting God and ultimately we are Life itself to the fabled “other” or alien we speak of.
Brian and I were talking the other day about how hard is to accept that someone so evilly “other” as Hitler and other “others” is simply doing acts to a more extreme degree than than we do or feel we are capable of.
Just read something else wildly encouraging today… Greg Boyd has written a book which I’ve read a review of. It says that Greg’s view is that the wrongs that the Old Testament seems to say God approved of were only allowed not approved. Furthermore that those wrongs he attributed to himself in order to take the responsibility of them off the shoulders of the blind and benighted ones… in the spirit of divine grace.
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I’m a huge sci-fi nut, but tend more to the optimistic rather than the dystopian.
Still, back in the day I did enjoy reading the sci-fi-ish graphic novel “The Watchmen”, which was made into a feature film this year. It hits on exactly the point you’re making here — that we’re not doing so well in the battle for inner space. So in that story, a character creates a situation that will unite the world against a common foe.
And it’s not even that scary!
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I just finished reading Brian’s book today! (I spent the last 3 1/2 days in a deer stand. Me, God, a good book, fresh air, and nature. Hope to go back tomorrow evening with another good book.)
Brian certainly presents a challenging perspective for the average American/Northerner and got me thinking about quite a few things. I’ve been Googling Brian McLaren and listening to interviews and reading some of his information on the internet. The searching peaked my interest and a friend loaned me his copy of Everything Must Change. A thought provoking read.
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I am going to try to put down in writing what I am thinking and hope that it says what I want it to say!!. In reading the old Testament I wonder if many of those times when the writer says things like GOD SAID or GOD TOLD ME TO is just a way to lay the blame on GOD instead of the person doing the deed taking responsibilty for his or her own actions . I my mind doing things this way reflects the consequences away from me and on to God if things go badly, which they did much of the time. Even today Pastors and teachers of Bible use God as a scape goat for thier wild ideas, knowing that if what ever they believe God told them doesn’t pan out then it isn’t their fault, after all God told them to do it!!. Reflecting Blame on God is always easier then taking responsibility for our own actions. I think if all of us humans could just swallow some pride especially in world affairs we most certainly would be better off. Funny thing though, Humans are quick to take full credit if whatever they decide God told them to do works, when that happens all of a sudden God’s part in it is strangely missing!!. I hope this makes sense!!
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BINGO, Andy!!!
Much of the Bible is written from the perspective of the ego …man’s view rather than God’s view …we didn’t “get” God ’til Jesus showed up, and even then, He said He had *much more* to show them/us … but they/we couldn’t yet bear it.
May He increase our bearability!
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Being a fan of science fiction films, I’m happy that Alien did something for you. Sci-Fi and Westerns have a lot in common. What amazes me is that so many people are willing to watch humans getting killed by something alien and have no problem with that.
I personally love horror and sci fi because I have learned that the realities presented in the films and stories can scare you into the Kingdom of God.
I suggest you watch all the Alien movies and see how Ripley is slowly turned into a Messiah figure. And watch the director cuts of all 4 of the movies. As Dena said, “We have met the enemy, and they are us”.
The Alien represents the evil that can come from all of us, that has no moral sense and will kill just to survive. I like the idea of destroying the “alien” within us, so that part of God that wants to live through us can truly live.
hey Tim, you and I pretty much have the same taste in movies, I have really never been a fan of movies that scare the you know what out of you!!. But I have always loved a good old western movie or a good suspense movie.
But also you are right about how our world just doesn’t seem to get it ,I have often wondered what it would really take for the powers that be around the world to really work together for a common good? Throughout history wars have never produced anything but suffering and death and yet our world’s leaders seem to believe that one day a war will be fought that will produce the freedom they seek. As Dr. Phil has said on numerous occasions, people keep doing the same thing over and over hoping for diffrent results. The one thing that the world seems to dismiss is “LOVE”. Jesus was the perfect example for us to follow and yet even the so called Christian Church has rejected it in favor of building a war machine hoping the next war will produce the peace they so desire.