Twilight of the Gods: The Mayan Calendar and the Return of the Extraterrestrials (28 page)

In the year 1600, Domincan monk Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for uttering the "monstrous idea that intelligent life may exist elsewhere in the universe. 400 years later the pontifical culture commission declared this execution to be unlawful.""

The Catholic Church has fundamentally changed its stance and it's mainly down to two Jesuits: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) and Jose Gabriel Funes (1963-). The latter is an Argentinean and has been the director of the Vatican Observatory "Specolo Vaticana" since August 2006. A total of 12 Jesuits-I call them the "papal guard of intelligence"-look after the telescopes and the Zeiss astrographs on the roof of Castel Gandolfo. The Jesuits were always the forward thinkers of the Catholic church. They make sure that the Roman Curia doesn't get stuck in the Middle Ages and also do their bit to ensure that the fame of the Jesuits extends beyond the Earth. As a result, 30 lunar craters carry the name of Jesuit astronomers.

Foremost among these forward thinkers was philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. He recognized that there was a clear link between man and the cosmos. The fundamental building block of matter is the atom, and that applies all throughout the universe. Atoms themselves consist of a nucleus and subatomic particles, and they are not simply "there"; they are subject to vibrations. Elementary particles-I mentioned this in Chapter 1-did not acquire their strange and baffling characteristics from nowhere, but from their interaction with other particles. The word itself says it: A particle is a "part" of something else, and the whole is reflected in every constituent particle. Teilhard de Chardin was already talking about this back in 1949. His term aleph covers everything, the alpha and the omega, and this includes cause and effect.19 Even his Jesuit brethren found Teilhard de Chardin a little bit uncanny. In 1962, seven years after his death, the Catholic Church decided-following years of hefty theological arguments-that Teilhard's views contradicted Christian teachings. As astrophysicists today now know, however, Teilhard de Chardin was perfectly right, just like Giordano Bruno all those centuries previously.

Jose Gabriel Fuentes, director of the Vatican Observatory, no longer has to struggle against such antiquated and outdated opinions. In an interview in the Vatican journal L'Osservatore Romano, he was asked his opinion on the possibility of extraterrestrial life. His answer:

In the same way that there are a large number of creatures on the Earth, there could also be other life forms-even intelligent onesthat were also created by God. This does not conflict with our faith, because we may not set limits on God's creative freedom. As St. Francis might say: If we look at the earthly creations as "brothers" and "sisters," why can't we also talk about an "extraterrestrial brother"? He would, after all, also be a part of creation.20

equired Forms

Evolution is truly a buzzword of our times. Down here on Earth it is at least-with a few exceptions-demonstrable. But evolution is also universal. We are just a microscopic side show in cosmic evolution. This evolution has required forms-whether it's here on Earth or anyplace else, and whether on a minute scale or a massive scale. Required forms on a small scale can be things like the fact that the brain of any intelligent species is always in the immediate vicinity of the eyes, for example. It has to be like that, because this is the quickest route for the neurons. As soon as the eye sees something, the brain reacts. Or, every nose, proboscis, trunk, or other olfactory organ is located not far from the mouth-you need to smell something before you eat it. Of the grasping tools-arms, hands, tentacles, and so forth-at least one is always aligned to the front. After all, you need to see what what you touch. We humans all believe that we've got something that we call free will. It's true, when it comes to trivial, everyday things-but not when it comes to anything important. Just try to do anything to stop curiosity!

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that dolphins are highly intelligent life forms. At night, while jumping out of the water, they observe small lights in varying degrees of brightness and different colors twinkling in the firmament. The dolphin council swims together to discuss the question: Is there anything out there? Are there other kinds of dolphins maybe? Sooner or later-in evolutionary terms it's not so important when-the dolphins decide to attempt interstellar travel to find the answer to this burning question. space travel is not possible to a non-metallic culture. To blend and cast metals, you need fire. To make fire, you need to get out of the water! Required forms!

Evolution, mutation, and selection are everyday occurrences in the universe. Solar systems and planetary systems are formed. Some of them are well suited for the transportation of panspermia; others are not so ideal (selection). Astrophysicists ask themselves: What happened before the Big Bang? Practically all of them use the concept of a "singularity"-which was the state before the Big Bang happened, around 14 billion years ago. But where did this singularity come from? Something appearing from nothing-that's certainly anything but scientific. One solution for this dilemma is "loop quantum gravity," or LQV. According to this theory, space consists of "space quanta," which are comparable to the little hills you might find on a ski piste. The skier doesn't bash his way through these; he has to adjust to them. Just like time. Quantum gravitation theory precludes the existence of socalled "worm holes" in space: "...spacetime does not consist of strings or atoms of spacetime, but a region of infinite boredom: the structure found just below the threshold will simply repeat itself on every smaller scale, ad infinitum ...... 21

We Joe Publics can't really picture it. After all, space quanta measure just one "Planck length." That's something like a billionth of a trillionth of a centimeter.

The important thing is to realize that this loop quantum gravitation can be used to "get around" the singularity (the nothing before the Big Bang). The result is no longer a Big Bang, but rather a "big bounce." Another universe existed before our Big Bang. Our big bang was, in fact, the death knell of a previous universe. And so it goes on for eternity.

It stills begs the question, of course: When did this all start? That's one that nobody's going to be able to answer in a hurry. We're getting closer to the vibrations-the oscillations that can be found in all matter. I would like to take the liberty to call these fundamental vibrations the "Great Spirit of Creation." Others might use the word "God."

omnipresent Memes

The proliferation of vibrations and matter throughout the universe can be proven and with them the existence of "memes." Two things shape us: The "gene" is a fundamental biological component. We originated and still function on a genetic basis. The "meme," on the other hand, influences our consciousness. It is present everywhere and at every possible time-past present, and future-and acts in a similar fashion to a virus. (A virus is not a true life form, by the way it needs another life form to reproduce.) Memes, too, are not life forms. They need our brains to propagate them. This functions, curiously enough, according to the same selection process as in evolution. Let me illustrate this with an example.

You, my dear reader, are reading this book. The ideas in it may excite you; you may agree with them or disagree. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that you are an enthusiastic recipient of the content of this book and you recommend it to others. They are "infected" by your thought processes, read the book themselves, and encourage others to read it. A wave of approval for the book spreads out. Or we go the other way, and spread negative propaganda. This in turn causes people not to buy the book, and our little wave is stopped in its tracks. A kind of natural selection has taken place.

This happens every day in our society. A rumor spreads or dies out; the same applies to jokes or information. Either it takes holdin other words it is considered interesting, clever, or important-or it dissolves into nothing. What is "interesting" can also be the start signal for further research, which, in itself, can be the starting point for yet more investigations. Examples include human knowledge about astronomy from the Stone Age to the present day, and mathematics from counting on fingers to the supercomputer. Memes multiply, but only when it's worth the effort (selection again). The information must be interesting and important, fascinating, and stimulating. Only then, when all minds are infected, does the world of scientific research really kick into gear. The driving force is curiosity, that beast that never stops asking questions. The proliferation of memes-the multiplication of thoughts-brings every intelligent species inevitably to a stage where it begins researching the realm of space. Why? Because at some time, most of the questions regarding earthly matters have been answered. Then all eyes turn away from the Earth and toward the next dimension. It's a compulsion!

Anyone who argues that the proliferation of information within human society is the most normal thing in the world and we don't need any "memes" to achieve this most likely hasn't got a clue what these vibrations are capable of. Animals that find food at a certain location share this information with their fellows via a kind of thought transferral process. Are these memes? It has been clearly demonstrated among various species of birds, such as crows and vultures."

The information in the gray cells in our skulls is networked and transmitted via electrical impulses. These in themselves are vibrations. What they lead to is "consciousness." Consciousness is just as unmeasurable as phenomena like love-but it exists and it vibrates. Anyone who has ever fallen in love knows that the feeling persists even when his or her partner is not there. So it's not just simply about chemical responses in the body; it's about what causes those chemical reactions in the first place. The chemicals in the body-the chains of molecules-do not just start reacting without reason. Without information from the eyes, the taste organs, the emotions, and, at the end of the response chain, the brain, sex hormones won't even be sent out on their journey around the body. The electrons within us (subatomic particles) vibrate at a rate of 10 to the power 23 times per second-it's been measured-and give off information in the process.23 How does that work? In the same way that atoms take on energy (that is, via minuscule vibrations caused by electrical energy), the electron leaves its "mother atom" quick as a flash and jumps into a nearby atom. Because the charge of an atom always has to remain constant, though, in the very same billionth of a second, an electron from this neighboring atom jumps into the gap left by the first electron following its "escape." The two electrons race toward each other-without ever touching-and then part as each electron takes up the vacant position left by its fellow, orbiting around the atomic nucleus. This is because electrons repel each other. Each electron is driven by a power that, at the same time, keeps it apart from all the others. In passing, though, the electrons exchange information! How does that happen? "Black photons" (massless light quanta with extremely short wavelengths) exchange radiation with the black photons of other electrons. This can be measured by the so-called "Schwarzschild radiation," named after astronomer Karl Schwarzschild (1873-1916).

The important thing during these thought processes is the fact that the electron is "immortal" (unlike other particles that puff out into nothingness after a short time). The electron has always been a stable particle; it has existed since the creation of the universe. Electrons penetrated (and still penetrate) the Earth, every stone, every plantand everything carries some kind of information. Bodies die and decay, the electron lives on and transports endless knowledge in relays from the past into the future-and vice versa. Wow! How? Just like in a black hole, electron time also runs backward. The electron "knows" events that lie far in the future or deep in the past.

he Electron Was Always There