Life is amazing and humanity is magic.
As scientists look into the past of our planet and our species, the odds of basic life evolving on a planet like Earth are good because all the necessary ingredients are here and in ample supply. The odds of complex organisms developing are significantly less because the necessary environment for such creatures to thrive is far more specific. The likelihood of intelligent, conscious life forms prospering is miniscule, even here. In the long history of Earth, it has only happened once as far as we know.
The massive meteor that slammed into the Earth and ended the age of dinosaurs paved the way for mammals and humans. Without that collision, the formation of humans was probably impossible. And that's just one of the many unlikely occurences over many millions of years - flipping a coin and landing heads 100 times in a row - that somehow made homo sapiens possible.
We know that magical story because of the hard work and diligent investigating by creative and curious minds over the centuries. Today's scientists continue to reveal humanity's spectacular origins on Earth. Meanwhile, their colleagues looking beyond our species and our home have uncovered an even more amazing tale. We live in a galaxy with as many as 400 billion stars and in a universe that may contain as many as 200 billion galaxies.
What a story.
Humans crave stories. Our desire for narrative is one of just a handful of criteria that separates us from our primate cousins. Yet the story of our origins and our place in the universe is so massive, so complex, so mind-blowingly fantastic that many people retreat to simpler constructs, be they moral, philosophical, religious or supernatural.
Theresa Caputo falls into that final category. The Long Island Medium appeared at Prince George's CN Centre Saturday to showcase her talent for being able to communicate with the dead for an audience of about 3,000. By all accounts, her performance was riveting and emotional.
Magicians, from Harry Houdini a century ago to Penn and Teller today, have fully discredited psychics, mediums and anyone purporting to have paranormal abilities as clever tricksters, illusionists unwilling to confess to the real-world sources of their magic. Those efforts exist on top of the rational understanding of the natural world that rules out the possibility of such communication. The scientific discovery that souls can exist independently of their biological bodies and then communicate with those left behind after their living host has died would be on par with learning that chairs are sentient creatures who don't like it when people sit on them for too long.
Whether Caputo's ability as a medium is real or fake is irrelevant, in the end. Her unquestionable talent is in connecting with people and telling stories, a powerful skill always in high demand. In Caputo's case, she makes a substantial amount of money to support her family and donate to charity while providing comfort to the living longing for closure with the dearly departed. Some call that exploitation, others call it consideration but everyone can agree to call it recreation - a diversionary spectacle outside of every-day experience that brings powerful feelings to the surface.
The scientific origins of humanity and the universe can't compete on an emotional level with such poignant personal stories and scientists wielding dense mathematical formulas have no chance against messengers like Caputo. Like the best entertainers, she makes people feel special, connected both to her and to a transcendent reality so close but tantalizingly out of reach.
Fortunately, science and reason are more than robust enough to withstand such assaults because they share similar roots, sparking the same deep-seeded desire for understanding and meaning of life's mysteries. It helps that the natural world has wonders that easily eclipse the prospect of communicating to the dead, from dogs that can sniff cancer and tell time to brain-controlling parasites than can turn their hosts into zombies.
Or the ability to hear the Big Bang, the moment the universe was born, in the static of radio and TV signals.
And it turns out existence really does revolve around us. The Big Bang theory, supported by mathematics and astronomical observation, shows there is no centre of the universe because it is expanding equally everywhere at the same time. In other words, the middle of all existence is inside each of us, wherever and whenever we are.
To be part of that kind of magic show, as both participant and observer, is truly divine.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
