By: Raymond Greiner

    Preparing for winter.  It is mid-October and the trees are spectacular.  I anticipated autumn to be less colorful.  We had such a dry summer; driest of the ten summers I have lived at this place.  The pond is very low; we desperately need rain.  Early summer rains yielded this radiant scene.       

     The sun sets earlier now.  As the sun lowers it is blocked by trees just west as crimson light filters through open spaces highlighting the eastern side of the property displaying vivid colors of maple, oak and hickory leaves, a dazzling show.

     Daily we are inundated with news disclosing a range of events.  Politicians posture fabricating exaggerated promises and agendas seeking election, Incidents of heroism, medical breakthroughs and social disarray in a profusion of human activity.  I often contemplate this unfolding, questioning humankind’s presence, purpose and attachment to universal alignment.  Global cultural division is widespread although, specific functions are uniform and inspiring, strengthening collective progression toward cohesiveness.  Love of family, bonding with nature, embracing spiritual faiths and reproducing unfolding idealistic endeavors encouraging meaningful direction.  The dark side of humanity is more difficult to assess reason and sensibility.  The horrific evils haunting our species are of no value toward gaining peaceful coexistence and enlightenment.  These atrocities are illogical yet continue and often dominate.      

     The Universe is a mysterious mass; greater understanding emerges as the force of time marches in cadence with cosmic rhythms.  The most significant reality is we would not exist without pulsating universal expansion.  The Earth is four and a half billion years old, but until the Sun increased in size enabling life to form Earth was barren.  One billion years ago early life forms appeared on our planet.   As I view the magnificence of autumn I think of this.  All life on Earth is the result of the Sun’s evolution.  We are absolutely connected to the Sun, the Universe.

     It challenges the mind to comprehend the vastness of the Universe causing tendency to place it secondary.  However, combining knowledge and imagination broadens cognition.          

     Stars have captivated humankind since ancient times.  In this modern era many react to star presence in a mundane manner, disregarding significance, casting off universal immensity choosing an approach: “Why concern ourselves with something that weaves its fabric with threads in billions, as the human tapestry is miniscule by comparison?” The argument is that small by comparison does not cancel importance.  We are important, as important as any particle of matter within universal entirety; thus, should merge within this scope of recognition. Universal consciousness adds purpose and dimension to the human experience.     

     Mysterious events have occurred throughout Earth’s history.  Many such events remain locked in time, undocumented. As we discover physical evidence of these mysteries we fail to comprehend precise understanding of what these revelations represent, infusing modern propensity requires tangibility. It may be ancient cultures were less distracted, as spiritual bonding with Earth occupied prominence within day-to-day living designs. The ancients were astute recognizing values and importance within our planets natural functions. They were awestruck, as they attached to Earth’s ebb and flow, dancing with all life forms, learning to blend and thrive in a world structured with natural blessings, simplistic, earth-born elements, opening opportunity for recognition of universal worth. 

     I was fortunate to attend a series of lectures by futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard in Sarasota, Florida in the mid nineties. Her lectures highlighted humankind’s relationship to the Universe. Barbara’s theory is present day humanity is in extreme infancy, extrapolating the time span of human existence to the age of the Universe, and the Earth. Science teaches the Universe is in excess of fourteen billion years old, and its ability to expand is likely infinite. Science also reveals humans, similar in stature to humans today have been walking the planet for only 200,000 years.  Barbara believes humankind will experience massive changes, suffer horrific events, but ultimately will advance transcending these reversals, continuing to develop as a species, attaining a zenith at a much higher position than present day.  If we have developed to this point in 200,000 years, imagine what we will become in a billion years. As we know, change jumps to the quantum. This is the crux of Barbara’s message, as we gain closer time relationship to the Universe we will grow more intensely connected to its overall force and purpose. In her view, we are primitive, compared to subsequent evolutionary transformations. The ubiquity of hate, wars and inequality will dissipate, gaining ability to transcend higher within ourselves, extending compassion, embracing complexities with greater knowledge resulting in more profound togetherness and significance. 

     There is also evidence of star connections attached to Earth in physical form, and as difficult as this is to grasp it is also difficult to ignore. Located in South America are long road-like lines, displaying symbolic images and designs only recognizable from high altitudes.  There is a lake, named in ancient times “Rabbit Lake”, displaying a rabbit’s image, only detectable at 3000 feet in altitude. 

     The Pyramids were largely ignored for over 3000 years, until the Greeks took interest in them. Modern archeologists have been astounded by certain findings relating to the Pyramids. These are very large structures, and measurements from corner to corner are within six-inch tolerances. Large, modern buildings, not nearly the sizes of the Pyramids, are unable to attain this architectural tolerance ability.  The Egyptians, during the pyramid construction era, had no pulley or wheel systems available to maneuver such large blocks of stone, which were quarried across the Nile, then moved to the construction site and the Pyramid’s internal main shafts align perfectly with the star Sirius, causing wonder. Some historians theorize that the Pyramids were not originally constructed as tombs, but ultimately used as tombs.  The irony is from time beyond the Pyramid construction era tombs were constructed in a more conventional manner in the Valley of the Kings. 

     When the Pyramids were new they were finished smooth, shined in sunlight, and had capstones.  Modern science is unable to explain the complete history or purpose of the Pyramids.

     One compelling detail has emerged. An ancient tribe of people, the Dogon, migrated to West Africa from Egypt. Their origin is from the vicinity of the Pyramids during the Pyramid construction period. According to Dogon tradition, the star Sirius has a companion star, which is also depicted in ancient Dogon cave drawings. This star is invisible to the naked eye, but the Dogon had knowledge of this star and also knew it orbits Sirius every fifty years. Two French anthropologists Marcel Grianule and Germain Dieterlen recorded this from a Dogon priest in 1930.  How could an ancient tribe lacking astronomical devices have knowledge of an invisible star?  They also knew Jupiter had four major moons and Sirius’s small companion star was extremely dense, as modern science would discover. One teaspoon of matter from this tiny star would weigh 5 tons on Earth.  The star, which scientists eventually named Sirius B, was not officially seen or recorded until the late nineteenth century when telescopes were developed enough allowing visual identification. It was not photographed until 1970.

     According to Dogon ancient oral history a race of people from the Sirius system called Nommas visited the Earth. They also appear in Babylonian, Acadian, and Sumerian myths. According to Dogon legend the Nommas lived on a planet that orbits another star in the Sirius system. They landed on the Earth in an ark that made a spinning decent to the ground with great noise and wind. It was the Nommas who gave the Dogon knowledge of Sirius B, and may have been responsible for Pyramid construction. The Sirius system is close in proximity to Earth, eight light years, and in comparison to the depth of the Universe a twenty minute commute. The furthest known distance in our Universe is thirteen billion light years, a fascinating comparison. 

     What can these revelations possibly mean, and how does it affect people of modern times?  Much can be hypothesized compounding into various assessments.  The ancients serve as our guides; we are their reflection, as we may be to those who replace us in 100,000 years. Looking at the ancients more closely, the Neanderthals represent an interesting beginning. Anthropologists tell us beings much like ourselves were first known of 200,000 years ago and called MHS (modern human species).  Yet, earlier species appeared before MHS and among the earliest were the Neanderthal: their history goes back 500,000 years. They were a bit different, smaller, stoutly built, had short life spans, around thirty years; yet, they represent much more.  Modern times characterize Neanderthals as dull-witted, slow thinking, lacking creativeness, with low-level mental processing ability.  Nothing could be further from the truth. The Neanderthal depicted the essence of the human spirit exhibiting extraordinary ability to rise to challenge and adversity.  The Neanderthal’s brain was larger than modern humans, but science tells us their brains functioned differently, enhancing capacity to calculate basic survival rudiments, manufacture tools directly from the Earth, learning to hunt, gather food, fabricate clothing from animal skins, assimilating with Earth more profoundly than any form of human beyond their time. They migrated from Africa to what is now Europe, and went as far north to what is now Russia. They adjusted to various conditions, enduring extreme cold thriving in high, harsh latitudes, an amazing feat. I have spent blocks of time in wilderness areas using modern, high-tech equipment and the conditions are often challenging. To imagine starting from nothing, it is astonishing to think how they were able to endure extreme climatic conditions. Yet they did, exemplifying how diverse and adaptable humans can be.  Neanderthals disappeared 40,000 years ago, and anthropologists surmise the MHS eventually moved into the regions occupied by Neanderthal, and a form of bonding or destruction occurred resulting in their demise.  This is theory specifics remain a mystery.   

     Envisioning the immensity of the Universe, comparing it to our individual lives, we seem miniscule. However, as our lives open to higher dimensions of consciousness we become flecks of gold in the prospector’s pan. As we sluice gravel from the creek we are given, representing our time on Earth, the nuggets we find are where we discover love of life and recognition, not only displaying contemporary purpose; we reflect the past and project the future.  We are the Neanderthal, we are the modern, new, high-tech species; the gardeners that grow the wheat feeding the next generation, which moves forward replicating life’s ever-present energy.

     In 1970, I lived at another place, also rural. My neighbor, Mr. Davis, lived across the road. He was in his 80’s when I met him. I visited him at his house where he was born and lived with his sister his entire life. He invited me in, proudly showing me a photo album dating to the early years of the twentieth century, showing him during the only time he had not lived in this house, when he was a soldier in WWI. I was so enthralled.  We then sat on his porch and had tea, and I mentioned how beautiful the big hardwoods surrounding his house were.  These were mature trees. Mr. Davis told me he planted these trees as a boy. I imagined a young boy planting seedlings that were now majestic giants. This experience offered awakening that we can and do leave a mark as we traverse life.  He also told me of a tornado in 1910 knocking all the windows out of his house.  The property where my house is located was a cabin and it was destroyed. My house was built in 1911 and Mr. Davis, in his youth, watched the carpenters work each day.

      A few of us will make the century mark. Most won’t, but it’s of less importance how long we live than what we do with time given. It was late evening when I left Mr. Davis’s porch, the moon was shining through his big oak tree. As I walked across the field to my house, stars filled the sky and I found Orion. It was a sensuous moment. I then squinted my eyes looking skyward, seeing the stars in a diffused blur, and it seemed I could hear an echo.