Millions of Galaxies

"One night, a police commissioner and his aide, went on a camping trip," Laluna opened the talk after saying Basmalah and Salaam. "After a good dinner and a cup of chocolate, under a tent, they retired for the night, and before going to sleep, the police officer said, 'Through no fault of your own, you have been born into a world teeming with good people who mean well but to one degree or another are deranged, deluded, and just plain wrong. And most of them are eager to lure you into the fog with them.

The most effective antidote for bad thinking is good thinking. The best way to make con artists vanish is to see them. The best way to silence crazy claims is simply to listen to them with a sharp brain and then ask the right questions, just like a scientist.

Deciding to think like a scientist is the hard part; doing it is fairly easy. The mechanics are simple and straightforward: Proof comes before belief. Nothing is ever beyond question or revision. But don’t be fooled, this is a lifelong war and every day is a battle. Irrational thinkers and their crazy claims never go away. You can never declare victory and let down your guard because there are always more nearby who are looking for another mind to infect.

Is it reasonable to conclude at this time that alien spaceships have visited the Earth? No, because, although it could be true, the best anyone has ever produced to back up this claim are unreliable eyewitness accounts, stories of close encounters, and questionable photos/videos of weird things in the sky.

Indeed, being skeptical, is something natural. But being skeptical of UFO stories does not mean one can’t give serious thought to the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life existing somewhere out there. The scientific process has led us to understand how adaptive and persistent life can be here on our planet. That knowledge, coupled with the immense number of opportunities for life that exist in a very large universe, gives us reasonable cause for heightened interest, if not outright enthusiasm. The absence of good evidence means that believing in aliens down here doesn’t make sense, but thinking about aliens out there does.

But wait, what is skepticism? Skepticism and science are really the same thing and work pretty much the same way. Skepticism is just about having a healthy dose of doubt and using reason to figure out what is probably real from what is probably not real. It means not believing you know something before you can prove it, or at least make a very good case for it. Skepticism is nothing more than thinking and withholding belief until enough evidence has been presented. It also means keeping an open mind and being ready and able to change your mind when new and better evidence demands it. Proven doesn’t mean forever. A good skeptic thinks about the source of a claim and how well it ties in with what we already know about nature and people; and, most important, a good skeptic resists the temptation to make up answers to important questions. Saying “I don’t know” is not uncomfortable for a good skeptic. It’s routine.

The skeptical outlook is not a negative mind-set, as some who promote unproven claims would have you believe. Being a skeptic doesn’t mean never getting excited about extraordinary claims or dreaming of grand possibilities. Hoping and having wild dreams are natural and healthy. A good skeptic only tries to balance it all with logic and evidence. If I’m being interviewed on some radio show and alien abductions come up, my first reaction is not to snap at a host or caller for believing this unproven and unlikely claim. My immediate instinct is not to take away an unfounded belief from the brain of a bad skeptic. I’m more interested in giving them something better.'

The police commissioner paused for a moment, and asked his aide, 'What do you think, aide?' But no sound, he turned around, it seemed, the aide had fallen asleep. 'Indeed, the trip this afternoon, was really tiring. I'd better take some rest!' and the two men fallen into a deep deep asleep.Some hours later, the police commissioner woke up and nudged his faithful friend.

'Aide, look up at the sky, and tell me, what you see.'

'I see millions and millions of stars,' the aide replied.

'And what do you deduce from that?'

His aide ponders for a minute. 'Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is All-powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe.'

'But what does it tell you, Sir?' the aide was curious.

The police commissioner was silent for a moment.

'It seems that today, both of us are two idiots!' says he. 'Someone has stolen our tent!'

And it was true what the police commissioner said, from a distance, I saw both of them, lying down, no tent, there were only wooden poles and stakes.

But sadly, my time was up, I had to hurry and left them by singing,

Di antara selaksa bintang, tak kutahu ruang galaksi

[In between thousands of stars, I don't know the galaxy space]

Di antara selaksa sketsa, tak kutahu koordinat lini

[In between thousands of sketches, I don't know the line coordinates]

Kuheran, 'kan fakta ini, mengapa terjadi begini?

[I wonder, about this fact, why does this happen?]

Kenyataan yang nyata, misteri cerita

[A real fact, a mystery story]

Melayang jelas di depan,

[Floating clearly ahead]

Tanpa kusadari, akupun tertegun

[Unconsciously, I'm stunned]

Di antara selaksa tanya, tak kutahu satupun jawabnya

[In between thousands of questions, I don't know even a single answer]

Di antara selaksa warna, tak kutahu satupun maknanya

[[In between thousands of colors, I don't know even a single meaning]

Kucoba, s'jajarkan diri, kupandang diri-mandiri

[I'm trying, to align myself, to look at myself independently]

Kenyataan yang nyata, misteri cerita

[A real fact, a mystery story]

Berdiri enggan berkata

[Standing reluctantly to speak]

Tanpa kusadari, akupun mematung

[Unconsciously, I'm frozen]

Before she go, Laluna said, "Even though the technology has gone in advanced, that's what is happening, in your galaxy and in my galaxy. And Allah knows best."

Citations & References:
- Guy P. Harrison, Think - Why You Should Question Everything, Prometheus Books
*) "Misteri Galaksi" written by Gombloh & Lemon Trees Anno 69

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