College was out for the summer. The evenings were busy but the day could get boring. How much TV can a sane person watch?! So I devoured books, wherever I found them. And that’s how came across Daniken’s ride on the chariot of pseudo-scientific thriller... from a friend who swore it would ’’open my eyes’’.
How do I describe the experience?
It all begins, continues and ends with doubts.
How did the ancient Incas carry giant spheres of rocks up to hill-tops, over hundreds of kilometers of lush jungle? How did the Egyptians have such advanced astrological information? Why are giants mentioned in ’’all’’ ancients texts, from Indian mythology to the Bible, from cave paintings to celebrated epics?
Then Daniken pulls a clever, if remarkably simple trick... he solves every mystery for you!
How?
Why, it’s simple: use fire to kill fire and doubt to kill doubt.
Everything that has ever happened in the past 50, 000-odd years of human existence - our superstitions and traditions, our fears and hopes - is neatly classified under... ’’ALIENS’’.
That’s right. Consider this: all of us know just about nothing about UFOs, but most of us still feel that ’’Maybe...’’ deep inside our minds. Daniken uses this to open a giant tin of... well, cow manure. He asks us to believe that humans were created by aliens, educated, nurtured and disciplined by them, and even today are under their benign observation.
Sorry, Mr. Daniken.
Sometimes doubts are good. They force you to learn, think and adapt. Isn’t that the essence of being ’’human’’?