[This blog post contains spoilers about the movie 'Prometheus'. For those who still wish to see it relatively unspoilered; turn back now.]
A few weeks ago, I saw Prometheus. Long story short; it's an average movie at best with two, maybe three, scenes that make it memorable enough not to suck completely. It's also very pretty and very well made in regards to the visuals. During its opening scene, an imposing space ship comes down through the clouds and lands on a desolate planet. Fast forward a bit to a human-like alien standing on the edge of a waterfall with a small cup of black liquid in his hand. With a bit of hesitation, he drinks down the liquid and during the following minute, we see how his body dissolves from the inside out. He topples forward, into the water, and completely falls apart... setting in motion the evolution of life on Earth.
It's not the first example of an alien hand in our creation within science fiction. An alien hand, as well as the worship of aliens as our Gods, is a common theme. 'Stargate' comes to mind, with the Goa'uld posing as our Egyptian Gods and the Asgard as the Norse ones. Many pantheons are covered within the Marvel comic book universe and many of those came from other planets.
In all honesty, as a science fiction lover, it's one of my favorite pet fringe theories; that our Gods are actually advanced aliens who take on a shape that matches ours and influence our evolution. Talking about aliens in the Pagan community is a surefire way to lose all credibility within said community (just take a look at the Pagan Hierarchy chart to confirm this) so I will put a disclaimer on this post and say that I do not believe this theory. The thought is fascinating, though.
If it were true, our Gods were--or are--actual, flesh and blood, creatures who not only walked this earth but who actively helped (the formation of) our race along. It means that the powers we contribute to nature or explain away with science are not just domains of our Gods but actual powers of these beings. Beings who control electricity and can create lightning. Beings who need only touch plant life to make them grow. And if these beings can do this, will we be able to do this as well, after a few more millennia?
While I don't believe in little green men, I can't imagine Earth is the only planet capable of sustaining life, divine influence or not. If they have space ships or stargates to reach our planet and want to take an active role in our evolution is a completely different story.
If we ever get to the point where space travel becomes a reality, I doubt we would aspire to do anything on other planets besides terraforming it so we could live there, as well as on our home world. But what if there were less evolved life forms already living there whose budding awareness regarded us and the 'miracles' we perform on a daily basis? Would they consider us their Gods? Would we take up that role and meddle in their evolution?
In the end, whatever happened to form our Gods is lost in antiquity. I have my theories--none of which include aliens--on how the Gods came to be but no way to prove them, nor do I want to. For me, Their creation is of lesser importance than Their continued involvement with us now. Still... I gleefully entertain the notion of alien Gods.
A few weeks ago, I saw Prometheus. Long story short; it's an average movie at best with two, maybe three, scenes that make it memorable enough not to suck completely. It's also very pretty and very well made in regards to the visuals. During its opening scene, an imposing space ship comes down through the clouds and lands on a desolate planet. Fast forward a bit to a human-like alien standing on the edge of a waterfall with a small cup of black liquid in his hand. With a bit of hesitation, he drinks down the liquid and during the following minute, we see how his body dissolves from the inside out. He topples forward, into the water, and completely falls apart... setting in motion the evolution of life on Earth.
It's not the first example of an alien hand in our creation within science fiction. An alien hand, as well as the worship of aliens as our Gods, is a common theme. 'Stargate' comes to mind, with the Goa'uld posing as our Egyptian Gods and the Asgard as the Norse ones. Many pantheons are covered within the Marvel comic book universe and many of those came from other planets.
In all honesty, as a science fiction lover, it's one of my favorite pet fringe theories; that our Gods are actually advanced aliens who take on a shape that matches ours and influence our evolution. Talking about aliens in the Pagan community is a surefire way to lose all credibility within said community (just take a look at the Pagan Hierarchy chart to confirm this) so I will put a disclaimer on this post and say that I do not believe this theory. The thought is fascinating, though.
If it were true, our Gods were--or are--actual, flesh and blood, creatures who not only walked this earth but who actively helped (the formation of) our race along. It means that the powers we contribute to nature or explain away with science are not just domains of our Gods but actual powers of these beings. Beings who control electricity and can create lightning. Beings who need only touch plant life to make them grow. And if these beings can do this, will we be able to do this as well, after a few more millennia?
While I don't believe in little green men, I can't imagine Earth is the only planet capable of sustaining life, divine influence or not. If they have space ships or stargates to reach our planet and want to take an active role in our evolution is a completely different story.
If we ever get to the point where space travel becomes a reality, I doubt we would aspire to do anything on other planets besides terraforming it so we could live there, as well as on our home world. But what if there were less evolved life forms already living there whose budding awareness regarded us and the 'miracles' we perform on a daily basis? Would they consider us their Gods? Would we take up that role and meddle in their evolution?
In the end, whatever happened to form our Gods is lost in antiquity. I have my theories--none of which include aliens--on how the Gods came to be but no way to prove them, nor do I want to. For me, Their creation is of lesser importance than Their continued involvement with us now. Still... I gleefully entertain the notion of alien Gods.
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