It'll truly tear the cover off of things...

I was contemplating things as I tried to sort out configuring a device for the company I'm visiting here in Houston and wondered what it'll be like when/if we encounter beings that are not of this Earth, either in a physical or mental sense. ID4 didn't even touch the fact that the appearance of the "alien fleet" could cause many to go entirely insane, since the current structure of things is, by and large, based on tangibility, either in the physical or mental senses of the word. If we can't deal with something and its significance (or insignificance), humanity then seems to go into shell shock.

Granted, this syndrome is nothing new. Many encounter it when faced with decisions that have genuinely uncertain outcomes, both optimistic and pessimistic. I know I am one who has hit this more than once and am facing it again now. Certainly the optimistic view on things sees a brighter world where things are free and obligations don't feel like obligations, just simple tasks to accomplish on the long thruway of happiness. The pessimist sees that the world after such an event will be one of loneliness, spite, vitriol, and depression, mostly due to a lessened feeling of being in control.

Control is what it's all about. We are jealous of those who have control of their lives and, to some extent, the lives of others, and we are happy when we are in that catbird seat. Surrendering some control is often OK when it's for an established time, such as an airplane flight. There's a definite outcome at the end and clear demarcation of when the control is returned to you.

Things emotional, however, are about balancing the loss of control (i.e. stability) with the regained control over one's life that comes after resolution has come and passed (happiness and freedom, though only sometimes after a period of mourning). For these reasons, among others, emotional issues always seem to generate heartburn, both in acid reflux and the weight on the heart that comes with a lack of resolution. More than a lack of resolution, actually, it is a lack of grasping and being able to articulate what's really right and wrong (as in functional/dysfunctional) about a situation or the lack of an appropriate audience to tell and recollect thoughts while doing so.

So, back to the "alien" subject, perhaps this is why I have so many dreams about aliens coming to Earth. There's a lot I don't know of their intentions; sometimes the dreams go well and sometimes they don't. Regardless of outcome, their presence is still something that boggles my mind, even in dreams where I'm supposed to have some sort of control. Most times where things go bad in my dreams, I end up being with my friends, a couple of them in particular, and things work out OK. They're tough, certainly, but they work out.

I have seen the alien fleet arriving on the horizon. It's mighty big.