Expanded perspective

At a time when mankind is looking inward and is by and large engrossed in wars and destruction, there are brave scientists who are looking outward and into space in search of life and habitable planets outside the solar system where more advanced civilisations may exist. 

The recent discovery by NASA of a planet outside our own solar system that is so close to our own in characteristics and features has, therefore, rekindled the belief that there could be life and a civilisation other than our own out there in space. 

The implications could be incalculable and far reaching. Suffice to say that should this be the case, then mankind may develop and adopt a more enlightened perspective on life on our planet, Earth, and start applying this new outlook or mindset for solving conflicts between peoples and  states, especially ethnic or religious wars that are wreaking havoc on mankind as a whole. 

NASA has called the newly discovered planet Kepler 452 B in recognition of the Kepler Space Telescope that has been scanning the Milky Way for Earth-like planets since 2009 when it was launched by the US space agency. 

True, the planet is some 1,400 light years away from Earth and is 60 times larger in size with a gravity twice that of Earth, but it has a Sun comparable to our own Sun that is 6 billion years old, making it 1.5 billion years older than ours. 

The similarities between our planet and Kepler 452B are so striking that scientists believe it may have a sophisticated form of life and an advanced civilisation much older than our own — something that we may never know for sure since it is 1,400 light years away and existing technologies do not envision a point in time when man-made spaceships can reach it within a human life span. 

Still, the message is there for all human beings to reflect on in order to strengthen their better traits for the benefit of mankind, irrespective of their racial, ethnic, religious or political differences.