Helicopter, submarine, zeppelin and a glider? Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Ever since I discovered the History Channel series Ancient Aliens I’ve been hooked. I’m well into the second season (on Netflix) and find the reasoning that aliens have played a huge part in human history quite compelling.

For the handful of folks in the universe who haven’t seen Ancient Aliens, here are some of the revelations (Yes, revelations. I’m that hooked):

Aliens were likely the masterminds responsible for the building of pyramids all over the world, along with many other stupendous constructions, including Atlantis.

Aliens may have altered the DNA of not-much-more-than-a-monkey “humankind” to cause a previously inexplicable leap in abilities and intelligence on the part of our ancestors.

The most mind-altering idea of all is the persistent theme that the gods as recorded in sacred writings were nothing more than aliens whose technology far, far exceeded the meager skills of early humans.

Imagine that the Greek Gods of Mount Olympus, the ones who liked to come down from the mountain and romp with the humans, were simply more developed beings. Yow! One may speculate that those gods could have been mortal, in an alien sort of way, of course.

Wood-cut from 1566, often described as a UFO battle. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Ancient Aliens suggests that the wars in the sky depicted in some sacred texts were possibly wars between different extraterrestrial factions. A chilling thought, that aliens with their superior technology might be even more war-like than we.

Further, that magic carpet rides were only a way to explain UFO’s to a population more familiar with rugs than shiny machinery.

That angels are extraterrestrials and their wings are human symbols of aliens’ ability to fly. That saints rise up to heaven in space ships. That the recurring myths of gods coming to earth to impregnate human females in a magical way are merely misinterpretations of aliens further tampering with “our” DNA.

This is all a kick in the head for those of us who believe that somehow there is something on the ethereal plane that will be revealed to us after death, and perhaps glimpsed or hinted at in this lifetime. Whether that place has harps or not, or bliss or not, or angels and trumpets or not, we have tenaciously clung to the idea that some sort of something exists beyond this all-too-short human existence.

What if our beliefs are based on no more than faulty history and faulty thought? What then?

Viktor Vasnetsov. The Flying Carpet (1880). Image courtesy of Wikimedia.