An Essay by Fr. Schall: 8. On Extraterrestrial Intelligence

This essay is an inquiry into the relation of human intelligence to the order that is found in nature.  In addition, the question of the uniqueness of human life in the cosmos is discussed.

From the Essay:

"The fact of the existence of the cosmos pales in interest before the drama of the free creatures within it." 

"The search for extraterrestrial intelligence may well be an excuse for not seeing that the universe itself betrays an extraterrestrial intelligence in its very existing order."

"And so the question of extraterrestrial activity brings us always back to the question of why do we exist in the first place and the purpose of our existence."