arthra

I've always been fascinated by this subject..maybe because I have a scifi interest from long ago along with my uncle who had a garage full of Amazing Stories pulp magazines...

"Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute."

~ Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 162


An interesting article that suggests "creatures" on other planets:


Billions Habitable Planets in Milky Way | Search for Life on Alien Planets | Space.com

LordOfGoblins

I saw this on 60 minutes. In terms of how caves come it is pretty much a wonder of the world. It was found near a mine in mexico and they had to drain it to reveal this spectacular cave.
This is relevent because when they did more studies they found there is actually minute bacteria living on some of the cystals which is a startling revelation as it shows things can live in inhospitible conditions somewhat like how it would be on other planets.
CHeck this.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...an-ice-palace/


"Alien Underworlds

As mind-boggling as the idea of a possibly globe-spanning, underground bacterial network may be, some scientists see potential links between the Cave of Crystals and even farther-flung hot spots—for example, extreme environments on Mars and other worlds.

Though Martian geology might be more static overall than Earth's, "there may be residual pockets of geothermal activity that could provide a zone where water could be liquid and where chemically reduced gases from below can percolate up and act as a nutrient source," as in the Cave of Crystals, Boston said.

(See "Mars Has Cave Networks, New Photos Suggest.")

Poirier, the Ontario astrophysicist, agreed.

"For Mars, our best bet of finding life is to look underground," Poirier said. "So there are a lot of parallels between humans exploring subterranean caves looking for microbes and Martian exploration in the future."

If the caves on Mars are anything like the caverns beneath Naica mountain, she said, future Martian explorers will have to be trained to ignore the strange sights surrounding them.
"

Essence of GOD

key word "fixed"

tonyfish58

Yes I too like this subject lots - I believe that one day in our existence as humans we will have to become unified with creatures not of this earth

Maybe a Prophet mission of the distant future

Cheers Tony

BruceDLimber

Except drop the word "own," which isn't in the text (in either place).

Peace, :-)

Bruce

ahanu

Looks like a double-edged sword to me. The writer in the link also concludes:

"Since these stars are cooler than the sun, their habitable zones are much closer in than ours. That puts any planets there at risk of being hit with stellar eruptions or flares, which are common on red dwarfs. Such flares could release X-rays or ultraviolet radiation that could harm or inhibit the development of life, scientists say."

But there is hope! A star much like our Sun may have more planets than we do.

A nearby star may have more planets than we do! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

ahanu

I'm now thinking about the moons orbiting those Saturn-sized planets . . .

I'm assuming some of those planets have moons.

Could they feature life? Avatar's Pandora!

armin

Has anyone ever thought that the intended meaning might be something other than the apparent physical meaning of the words!? ...

ahanu

"As to the existence of spirit in the mineral: it is indubitable that minerals are endowed with a spirit and life according to the requirements of that stage. This unknown secret, too, hath become known unto the materialists who now maintain that all beings are endowed with life, even as He saith in the Qur’án, 'All things are living.'"
-Abdu'l-Baha

jimhabegger

Arthra, I enjoyed reading about that. Thank you!

LordOfGoblins

I personally think that it is literal. It is just that those 'creatures' are small bacterium often-times perhaps underground as per the cave example that I gave in the youtube clip. If that is the case solar-flares wont matter to those bacterium at all. They will be in their own little ecosystem under the planets crust.

armin

That's some good logical thinking LOG. That is more or less how I interpreted that passage some time ago. Now however I'm not so sure! It's always good to think deeply and ponder and consider all possibilities.

jimhabegger

I never thought that "creatures" had to be what we call "living" creatures. In dictionaries, and in common usage, a "creature" can be inanimate. Without knowing the Arabic word, and how God uses it, I don't see how we can be sure it means living creatures.

In some cases at least, in English translations, "creatures" does not always mean living creatures.

On the other hand, I just searched in Gleanings, and in all but three of a few dozen cases, "creatures" refers to those with the capacity to know and love God.

ahanu

Inanimate. If inanimate matter could evolve, would you consider it to be alive?

"Matter that can evolve is alive."
-Lee Cronin

Lee Cronin: Making matter come alive | Video on TED.com

jimhabegger

It's just a matter of how much you want to stretch the word "alive." I think our sense of things being alive comes from seeing them die. The dramatic disappearance of activity when something dies, creates the impression of an animating force that has gone out of it, and we call that "life."

ahanu

Since this is an alien-related post, I want to share an interesting idea I read from Psychologytoday.com on using the Sun as a lens:

A better way to listen for messages from the stars | Psychology Today