Orion’s Belt & The Universal Language

orions beltOne of the great questions in life. Scratch that. The GREATEST question in life, is whether or not we are alone. Billions of pounds and millions of man hours have been devoted to answering that question. But no matter how many pieces of evidence are provided, our tiny little brains cannot fathom the possibility that we are not alone. Frankly, it feels like even if a goggle eyed grey alien himself were stood blinking in front of us, we’re so damn numbed to the possibility, we’d still deny their existence.

And suuuuure, some of us are open minded. But lets be honest we are the small minority.

I talked recently about the Fermi Paradox, that questions why, if the universe is infinite and there’s infinite possibilities of life, haven’t we come into contact yet? One of the questions still left in my mind, was what if, in trying to contact ET’s we have been both sending out messages they can’t understand and interpreting messages left here completely wrong the whole time.

How would we communicate? and what is the Universal Language? Many claim its numbers and maths. But aren’t those constructions of society and humans? Numbers are a method of measuring but what if our lifetimes span completely different timescales to others, perhaps our numbers would be trivial. Damon T. Berry, writer and filmmaker has come up with a suggested answer that I find intriguing. 

125px-Arecibo_message.svg

Arecibo Message – image from wiki

The messages we have sent out have been to date, using humanistic forms of communication. The Arecibo Message, was an image (to the right) sent into space using modulated radio waves. We assumed that intelligent life forms would be able to read radio waves. But… isn’t that a little human self-centric?

Image from Wikipedia

Image from Wikipedia

We then had another go and sent a gold disc out in to deep space with the voyager spaceship ship. But again, we were totes arrogant, and used human style symbols.

Damon T. Berry, in his video series on the Forever Time (links at the bottom of the post) talks through many concepts. But one has stuck with me.

It started as a question – the best type of communication is always the most basic. If we wanted to communicate with another life form, what would the easiest method of communication be?

Surely, it would be to use the one thing we all have in common.

But what is that…?

It’s not, life, or oxygen. It’s not time, or numbers or even words. It’s far more fundamental.

The one thing everything in the universe has in common is:

Stars

And stars are around for long enough to be considered ‘immortal’.

Wouldn’t the most simplistic method of communication be to use the star constellations?

Screen shot of Damon T Berry's 3rd Epsiode of The Knowledge of the Forever Time Series.

Screen shot of Damon T Berry’s 3rd Epsiode of The Knowledge of the Forever Time Series.

Star constellations, although they move around our horizon over thousands of years, stay the same. It takes billions of years before a star dies, and even more years for that star’s light to stop reaching us once it has died.

One of the theories Berry suggests, is that UFO sightings, you know the ones – dark sky, bright lights, dumbstruck onlookers – are actually messages.

Berry suggests that the sightings and specifically the lights, when you replay footage, are actually star constellations.

Photo from Wikipedia

Photo from Wikipedia

Take the most commonly reported sighting – three lights – suspiciously like Orion’s belt.

Berry suggests that because this formation is usually the first formation seen during a sighting, it is a greeting.

Image from Ancient Origins

Image from Ancient Origins. Aboriginal Wandjina Cave painting

But messages of ‘three’, and the significance of Orion’s belt aren’t unique to UFO sightings. Ohh no. Take the most iconic architecture in the world, the pyramids. Everyone knows they are lined up with Orion’s belt too.

During the videos, Berry talks about the cave drawings found all over the world that are up to 40-50,000 years old, Berry says, and I paraphrase from memory: “these messages have been left in our world in plain sight for all of us to see, and yet we refute them, dismiss them and call them the carvings and brick work of unintelligent ape men.”

Photo taken from Wiki

Photo taken from Wiki

The other thing that he bought to my attention… I wrote a post on the Ancient Flyer recently, and mentioned the Petroglyphs the pharaoh had carved into tombs – symbols that looked suspiciously like aircraft.

I can’t believe I missed this, but does anyone else think it’s ironic that the pharaoh responsible for these petroglyphs is called Seti, and the bloody organisation currently looking for life out there is also called SETI?!?!?!?! (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) Anyone else think thats a ‘coincidence’?

Yeah. Didn’t fucking think so.

Anyway, Sacha’s mind = blown during these videos. I have gathered HUGE inspiration and ideas for book 2 in my dystopian series, The Firmament, which is based on the Flat Earth conspiracy. I know. I know. Stop working on different books. I wasn’t, promise. I just took notes. *looks away sheepishly*

What do you think? What do you think the universal language is? If you think UFO’s have visited, what do you think they are or were doing while here? DO you think they are sending messages or just watching, if watching, then why? Let me know in the comments.

If you want to watch the series:

It’s amazing, albeit quite long and a little slow in places. But nevertheless, you can find it on YouTube and it’s called: The Knowledge of the Forever Time.

The series by Damon T. Berry here: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5.

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71 comments

      1. I read a really long post that explained why that wouldn’t work because of constellations moving around in the sky, and I just thought “It’s a film about xenomorphs and you’re complaining about realism?!”

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  4. Thanks for another great post, Sacha. I too have wondered about communication and thought why is it that they don`t see the obvious? The Nephilim were reported to come from a place through Orion`s belt, the symbols are everywhere. Why aren`t they used more? Theory, they want to keep us in the dark, not the UFO`s but our own governments. hmm, more thinking by people like us and perhaps they`ll have to switch on the lights.

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    1. Agree on the government keeping us in the dark. Interested to hear about the nephilim I didn’t know that. I knew there were connections but not what they were. Did u watch the videos? I bet you would love them

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  5. A few years ago a friend and I were coming home late. Where I lived was almost on the beach, and there weren’t many streetlights, so the night sky was always clear. As we turned into my street, I kid you not, a light in the sky sort of zoomed towards us, then pulsed, and then shot off away from us, disappearing. We both went ‘what the f was that?’ That same night, more lights in the sky were filmed at a town further along the coast, footage made it on the news and everything. And whatever we saw, felt… playful, if you know what I mean. And before anyone else asks, we were sober 😀 I just think the idea of us being the only life in the whole universe is just ridiculous – however, what form that other life takes remains to be seen…

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  6. Fascinating stuff, Sacha. I love the coincidence of the name SETI! I must watch some of those videos some time. They sound fascinating. I’ll definitely be sharing them with Hub. He has more viewing time than I.

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  7. When I was away last week, my cousin and I went out to look at the stars every night. It was beautiful and much easier to see on the lake than at home. We actually talked a lot about the stars, constellations, planets, other life out there, etc. It was great and so weird to think about.

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    1. Space blows my mind. When I try to conceptualise what the universe is like, my brain fries itself in knots. But I definitely want to save for a telescope I love nothing more than star gazing

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      1. We brought a telescope with us. But it was a cheap one so it only made the white dots bigger. I don’t know what we’re supposed to see, though.

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  8. Fun opportunity to muse, Sacha. I’m certainly open to it. My guess is that any being capable of visiting us, also knows that we aren’t ready. Maybe another 10,000 years 🙂 If an alien civilization were contacting us, it seems any call and response pattern would be significant. Close Encounters used sound, and in Contact wasn’t it images of our history projected back at us? (I can’t remember).

    I suppose if we are initiating the contact, the star system would be a logical choice since we would be just sending it blindly into space, hoping that some species would pick it up. Hopefully, they won’t eat us when they find us. 😀

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    1. Oh gawd, the reptiles! *shudder*

      Didn’t know that about close encounters I’ll have to watch the film.

      You could be right on the not ready. I don’t think we will be allowed off the planet till we can live peacefully here first.

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  9. Another factor to consider is the time it takes for radio waves to reach distance stars. Radio waves move at the speed of light. But how far are the closest starts that have planets that could support life?

    For instance, in 2014, scientists, for the first time, discovered an earth-size alien planet in the habitat zone of its host star that was about 490 light-years from Earth.

    But the first radio waves that left the earth went out in 1900. That means, those first radio waves have only traveled 116 light years and have 490 more to go to reach the first habitable planet scientists have discovered.

    In 2016, 8 newfound alien worlds that could potentially support life were found. One was 470 light years from our solar system. Another one was 1,100 light years distant.

    http://www.space.com/28185-rocky-alien-planets-habitable-zone.html

    The closest possible habitable planets are only 14 light years away but what if those planets, if they have life, are still in the dinosaur age?

    http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/219708-closest-habitable-planet-may-be-just-14-light-years-away-but-dont-pack-your-suitcase-just-yet

    What if one day several centuries from now radio waves from Earth reach one of these distance planets that actually has an intelligent species capable of picking up the signals but we are gone because a Donald Trump was elected to lead a powerful country with nuclear weapons and used them? When those aliens reached the Earth excited to finally make contact with another species in the distant future, what would they discover?

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    1. I have no idea what they will discover, but I fear some kind of bizarre dystopian version of what we have now. It’s a great point about radio waves – I am off to look at those posts 😀 Thank you

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  10. Great post, Sacha. I don’t believe we are alone but suspect other life forms have seen more than enough of what humans do – The Donald, Brexit, Boris, wars and terrorism – to mess up our world. I reckon they’ve had a look and said, “Stay away from the Earhtlings, thy’re fucked” in whatever language they use.

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  12. You are assuming some kind of language beamed into space via lights is the universal language. What if there is no universal language and the others are so much higher intellectually than we are that they need no language to communicate? Nor signals for that matter. What if mankind is at the bottom of the totem pole?

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  13. I read an interesting theory the other day which stated that we haven’t come across any other life because civilisations out there haven’t reached the level of technology required to create a ‘communication’ situation.

    Life could’ve started on many planets and been wiped out (or almost extinguished) by all sorts of versions of ‘global extinction events’ just like Earth. We’ve had at least four that we know of already, and we’re only 4 1/2 billion years old. The Universe is estimated to be somewhere in the range of 14 billion years old.

    Maybe ‘life’ is just getting started, and we’re among the first to rise up out of our gravity well. 🙂

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  14. Intriguing. But would constellations look the same from different planets, viewing them from different angles? I was reading that the pyramids might be messages from ancient civilisations to the future warning of possible future disasters, ie like whatever it was, comet strike for eg, which started the great flood.

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    1. They do yes, according to mr berry I think there was something about the constellations being inverted depending which way you came from, but I heard someone else say there was no ‘direction’ in space, so to speak. But who knows – I can’t remember exactly how he described it, but it’s in the videos.

      He argues the same thing – that the pyramids are messages from ancient civilisations for us. Check out the videos if u have time I reckon u or the Mr. Might find them interesting

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  15. I think the reason why we’ve not had any contact from other life forms out there in Space is because Space is just so vast. Those that have visited Earth have been able to find the secret to travelling through space at warp speed, but I also think some have travelled through wormholes. I’m sure that one day, humans will take that step and try sending something through a wormhole (once we’ve discovered how to travel faster through Space).

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      1. Given that a lot of stuff can be leaked these days (take for example how David Cameron was going to resign was leaked out before he did the speech) if there had been contact, do you wonder why it has never been leaked out by someone by now? Maybe what is ever out there can only communicate by thought? Something us human have yet to master…or have we already done so? You’re far too young to remember this, but there was a sci-fi series back in the 60s called The Champions, where the three heroes could communicate with each other by thought.
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Champions

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  16. It’s as good a theory as any. I believe that the constellations could look different depending on the vantage point, but that doesn’t mean one couldn’t extrapolate a recognizable pattern out of them.

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      1. Direction is relative, but it is only one factor. There is also distance, perspective, as well as visibility. When we look to the sky we are actually seeing more than a few stars that don’t exist any more in real time. A system that is closer to where the light once shone would no longer recognize that star in a constellation. Inversely, there are stars that have only formed more recently and their light may not yet have reached us. That closer system would see a star we don’t, and in some cases that star might be so bright it could block out that closer system’s ability to see other stars making up the constellation.

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      2. Interesting – I am sure I read a thing that said direction didn’t apply in space! All interesting points though, I just wonder what other tech these beings have, if they exist

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      3. Also, what if these entities can detect clusters of non-visible light? This would further change the star map unless they were savvy enough to recognize that as a species humanity kept filtering light of a certain wavelength out in our messages.

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  18. Ah, this is the thing with communication. If you think about it, it’s incredible to be able to communicate. We need to have a common and compatible medium of communication, speech, radio or perhaps thought? Then there’s the language and then if you get all that right, the guy or creature at the other end has to receive it and then want to respond for us to be able to know it’s worked.

    But perhaps the biggest problem is that our messages aren’t getting or their in, neither can their spacecraft land on Earth as there’s a big dome over it! ;-P

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  19. Late to the party but this is marvelous writer fuel. Your article also reminds me of Frank Herbert and Carl Sagan’s first-contact stories–and the struggle for communication.

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  20. Excellent post, Sacha… I was particularly amazed by those Petroglyphs as you are so right, they look like aircraft…. I think you made a good point when you highlight how our attempts to communicate are obviously human self-centric… In a different scale- if you get to think it and tossing aside the differences, something similar happens with the Ethnocentric perspective in anthropology, which basically had led many anthropologists to observe and `judge´ many civilizations from a `Western and White´ point of view, so to speak…
    Constellations seem to be the key… Interestingly enough, there is also an ancient source here. It appears that in Greek mythology, Orion was a giant huntsman whom Zeus placed among the stars as the constellation of Orion.
    I will come back to check out the links in depth… thanks so much for sharing… Love and best wishes. Aquileana 🍀

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    1. I know right, they really do look like aircrafts, it’s bizarre- its hard to deny that that is what they are. I didn’t know Orion was from greek mythology – this is fascinating I will have to do some research of my own 😀

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  21. The very idea of space travel over vast distances using third density, technologically advanced tin cans as a means of propulsion or trying to communicate with life elsewhere in the cosmos using language or symbols is an exercise in futility. One word and one word only overrides all these questions, but strangely enough this word has not been mentioned once in anything I’ve read here so far. Be kind to cats because they could be of help in this respect. MEOW!

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