Infectious Life and Visceral Theology

Recently I returned from Star Island, a tiny shoal island off the coast of New Hampshire, for a week-long conference on astroanthropology and astroethics. I’ll admit it, it was the setting—a beautiful-sounding car-free retreat isle—that first attracted me to the conference. But the topic—how the encounter of aliens and space would affect our bodies, our societies, and our theologies—got me to submit a paper from a Gaian perspective.

I won’t go into my position, as you’ve gotten glimpses of it here, here, here, and here, though the short of it is: a) humans are permanently tethered to the larger living system they’re part (Gaia) of so will never live on other worlds; b) we need to focus on healing and restoring that system we’re part of before spending resources on non-targeted space exploration, and c) our focus on space, at least until our planetary crisis is over should be in ways that help heal and defend Gaia (including from space rocks), which as the recent and sudden discovery of new planet- and city-destroying asteroids just weeks before they crossed our path shows, this is a necessary role only humans can play.

Instead I want to share some surprises from the conference that got me thinking which came out in some of the presentations and conversations. But be forewarned, I kind of geek out with all I learned, so hang on!

Life is an infection of the universe

It was good to be in a room of space experts who shared some of the latest data. Most surprising was the reveal of new findings from the OSIRIS-REx mission, in which a probe sampled the asteroid Bennu and brought back a bit of dust.¹ Harold Connolly Jr., a geologist who led the sampling process, shared his group’s discoveries from this 4.7 billion year old rock. Yes, that’s older than Earth. His findings describe how this rock was rich in carbon, nitrogen, and organic compounds (essential for life) and clay minerals common in mid-ocean ridges on Earth. In his talk, Connolly also discussed how amino acids have been found on asteroids, as this article from 2022 about samples from the asteroid Ryugu discusses. This strongly suggests that the building blocks of life are not rare and if amino acids can form, most likely life can and has formed all over the universe. In fact, at a final plenary discussion with the keynote speakers, one said, “Life is not some sort of miracle, it’s a cosmic infection!” The speaker, Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, didn’t mean that in a bad way (like it needs to be treated!), just that if we could, we’d probably find life everywhere. Not necessarily intelligent life, but life. And that is a really beautiful thought to sit with.

There was also much talk about whether life started on Earth or whether the building blocks (amino acids or single-celled life) could have traveled from elsewhere—a term called panspermia.² But each time the question arose, the next obvious question did as well: where did that life arise. Either way, there is something miraculous about its formation. As one Christian astrophysicist, Jennifer Wiseman, noted, something can be scientifically explainable and still miraculous! (I’d agree, though in the astounding sense of the word, not the supernatural sense.)

One other surprising fact that was shared just as an aside during a dinner conversation. Mars and Earth trade dust (e.g. when an asteroid hits one of them, for example). So perhaps we are all Martians after all, with first life forming there and spreading to Gaia. But again, where Earth life formed isn’t as important as sustaining it now that it is flourishing.

Theology is visceral

Lucas Mix—a priest, biologist, and space expert—noted in the Plenary Discussion that “Theology is visceral.” Funnily, that statement electrified me when I heard it. I felt its power (in my body) more than I understood it.

Only now, as I look up the definition of theology do I fully see why:

Theology:

1) The study of the nature of God and religious beliefs

2) Religious beliefs and theory when systematically developed.

The Gaian Way is a visceral religion. In fact, a good chunk of my presentation was about how humans couldn’t survive on dead worlds because their microbiomes would be devastated (or more accurately, eviscerated, yuk yuk), and if they went to living worlds, if they weren’t killed by the microbes there, humans’ microbes would probably cause the death of much life (just as we did when Europeans merely traveled across a large ocean). But to recognize that we physically feel our theology, that we are embodied, that our religious practices are embodied is a wonderful realization.

Now, Mix was coming to that from a difficult place, as he has microbiome issues (and thus severe dietary restrictions) and therefore feels at odds with his symbiotic passengers. But for me, I’m so much in agreement, and am constantly amazed and humbled by the fact that I’m not ‘only’ human. I am a community of organisms. And yes, I might feel differently if I had microbiome issues. Though funny story: there were a lot of children and babies on the island (it was a multigenerational conference, which is really cool) and on the fifth day I got some sort of nasty stomach bug (norovirus is my guess) and was sick and at the mercy of my guts for the final days of the conference.

Mix’s words also reminded me that we are a mini-Gaia. Of course, humans are holobionts too, but his statement reminded me of the beautiful fractal-mini that we are. More amazing, we’re not even the littlest fractal—as our cells are made up of symbiotic cells as well, with our mitochondria once a separate organism swallowed up and incorporated around 1.6 billion years ago (yup, as co-discoverer of the Gaia Theory Lynn Margulis discovered).³

Gaia is just one of many

There was one presentation by Shoaib Malik, a Muslim scientist turned theologian, who explored whether there was any conflict between the Muslim faith and discovering alien life. At one level, it feels like a silly question: even if there is, too bad for you! But of course, it could have serious implications on how we respond and interact to discoveries in the realm of space. He looked at six potential conflicts, leaning on a framework that was first applied to Christianity. These include conflicts with: theism, scripture, doctrines, traditions, the problem of evil, and narrative. Of course, I couldn’t help but go through the checklist as it applied to Gaianism while I listened.

Not surprisingly, I found no contradiction between Gaianism and life on other planets. Life on other planets almost surely exists—it’s nearly impossible to think otherwise (even without discovering amino acids on asteroids, with the sheer scope of the universe, it would take extreme hubris to think we’re unique). But even if there are a billion living planets, or a trillion, that would make Gaia no less miraculous.

Gaians have few scriptures or doctrines yet, and our traditions are pretty Earth-rooted (and not in conflict with aliens’ home rituals), so again no conflicts there. Suffering is either a natural part of life (to be born means to die), a planet to be alive means weather hazards, earthquakes, etc. Or it is unnatural—and should be addressed (corruption, greed). Even if the alien come as conquerers this wouldn’t conflict, as they are either driven by biology or a need to seize other planets (e.g. Alien or The Three Body Problem) or a greed to do so (e.g. Independence Day or V). Though, in truth, I strongly agree with John Michael Greer’s take in his novel Star’s Reach that we’re never going to go meet aliens as space is uncrossable, but perhaps one day we will at least communicate.

As for the sixth potential conflict, that’s possible. If it turns out space is crossable (multi-dimensional? foldable?), that the universe is conscious (as this new New Scientist article discusses), or some other Copernican moment that flips our understanding of our world upside down, perhaps our connection to Gaia becomes lesser to the full universe, or the galactic nerve cluster we’re tied into (the next fractal up?), or whatever. But that is far beyond my ability (and time horizon) to even imagine. And besides, religions adapt to new realities (as was also discussed at the conference).

The Truth is Out There

A final revelation from the conference came from a fascinating talk by Patrice Curtis, a Unitarian-Universalist Minister, on the practices of those seeking “nonphysical contact with nonhuman intelligent life.” Her look at people’s various practices to communicate with aliens aligned disturbingly closely with Gaian (or Buddhist or other) mindfulness practices! Breathwork, meditation, chanting, lucid dreaming—these practices all have strong roots and are surely beneficial to those seekers, just as they are seeking to those seeking to connect with the planetary being they’re part of.

Of course, the end goal is different: to make contact with life out there instead of to the life all around us. But functionally, the development of these seeker communities (Curtis focused on their gathering on Reddit), seems more about finding meaning, purpose, and a community of open-minded supportive folks. That, too, is what I’m seeking—and I’d argue/hope many of us Gaians (and nearly everyone) are seeking too.

Curtis’s presentation softened my view of alien seekers (though not my view of alien-promoting shows that are exploiting folks with their outrageous ‘aliens among us’ theories). And before you start formulating your disagreement, here’s a final thing I learned at the conference—there is a meteorite in the most sacred site of Islam, the Kaaba in Mecca. Searching online, it seems indeed to be true—a black rock found where heaven intersects with Earth. So it turns out we’ve long been obsessed with worlds beyond ours and our connection to them.

For a time that was the heavens, where gods threw thunderbolts. Then heaven, where God ruled from his throne. Now space, where aliens may come down and save us (or just tell us we’re not alone). But perhaps one day we’ll recognize that other worlds are not so far distant. Instead they are around us, and within us. They are us. And we have a chance to revel in that connection, right here on planet Earth.

Endnotes

1) Specifically 121 grams. At a mission cost of $1.16 billion, which, as Connolly noted in his talk, isn’t a great return on investment for space mining!

2) As this recent study also explores.

3) Margulis came up in a discussion I had, and I learned she was also an early cultivator of this field of exobiology (particularly as she was married to Carl Sagan at the time). As was Lovelock, of course, as he first thought of Gaia Theory while searching for life on Mars.