Something happened to human beings a little over 200,000 years ago. A bunch of little twitches of DNA mutation happened all about the same time, and we became self-aware. It remains an unexplained leap in intelligence. It represents a chasm in the evolutionary theory of humans, a great gap or disconnect between what had evolved to that point and the species Homo Sapiens that exists since then.
Every human being arrives on Earth without memory of what came before, a blank slate that is ready to absorb information for the first seven years. We don’t really know where we came from.
Yet it’s easy to observe that we are something far different from the rest of the animal world. We build highways and train tracks millions of miles long, computers, and rockets to the moon. We also neglect and traumatize our own offspring, and fight millennia-long wars that kill millions. The term “scorched earth” refers to horrors no individual can understand.
Upon being born, we know none of what came before. We come to Earth ignorant and overwhelmed by stimuli. Those who came before set one example and speak another, setting up confusion in individuals and whole societies. Yet there are constants that arise above our general ignorance and confusion.
We all know in our hearts that things can be better. We yearn for something better, an end to neglect and trauma, and a fulfillment of our expansive potential. We talk about a better future and going to heaven when we die, returning to where we came from. We are like alien invaders who came here on a mission but forgot it. We instinctively recognize that we don’t belong here, so we seek to go back where we belong.
Some few try to create a better life for themselves, their families, communities and the world. The vast majority just try to conform and get along, contributing what little they can to the established order. Another few are megalomaniacs who are addicted to certainty, power and control, and dictate their own form of order on the majority.
And finally, there is an often ignored few who are inspired with clarity and try to share the message, who guide every individual toward the work of caring, fulfillment, and being present and supportive of others. We are here to build a better life not under domination, but under inspiration.
These inspired few remind us of the mission we forgot. And the forgetfulness has made us alien invaders.
Remembering, we no longer seek to escape to an ethereal paradise. Instead, we play at creation. We allow and encourage that higher order to express through each individual right here and now. The children of humanity need not conquer the Earth like alien invaders, but from their deepest souls are called to grow paradise right where we are. We are to support the mission. We are the mission. In our hearts, we have always known this.