“Creatures from Different Stages of Evolution”, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

A molecule, according to our hypothesis, is an infinitely complex matter. Creatures known to us – as well as those who supposedly live close to suns and on planets – are composed or built from molecules of different types (oxygen, hydrogen, iron, carbon, etc.). Let’s look back to the past and imagine the Universe billions of decillions – or as many as you like – years ago. At that time molecules were less complex, and there were other planets, other suns and other creatures, composed from these more simple molecules. When forming chemical compounds, they emitted light of other kind, which now is invisible for us; it couldn’t be perceived by our organs of sight because the size of ether waves was smaller at that time and ether environment was different – thinner and more resilient. Creatures of those days were less dense but they also were subject to evolution, they also struggled for existence; they also became – ages ago – the acme of perfection, and they became immortal rulers of the world, they achieved what humans still are to achieve and what space dwellers akin to us have already achieved, and they obtained bliss.

Could they manage to survive up to now and are they living among us invisible? Or maybe they decomposed, giving birth to creatures of our visible world?

This issue is rather difficult to tackle. A philosopher would say that the origin of matter is common; however, matter, undergoing continuous and, as it seems, simultaneous evolution, exists it in the great number of kinds: from dense metals to ether, which is trillions of times less dense.

If the previous types of unorganized matter somehow managed to preserve, having no intelligence, all the more reason sentient beings could preserve.

Bacteria and the other Protista have existed for ages, but they gave birth to other beings, including humans. But do invisible suns, planets and creatures surround us, like bacteria, which only now humans are able to see? Where do these higher ones live?

Do they inhabit only certain corners of Universe or are they dissipated everywhere and can live wherever they want? What are their properties? Do they have any connections with currently existing creatures? Do they represent the beginning of life for humans and celestial creatures – related to them, although perfect? Or do they represent their soul (or its part)? Do they for some purpose possess animals or humans at conception? Odd questions with no answers. All the same, let’s try to answer the last question, i.e. do these creatures of the past serve as a foundation of a man, do they enter his body at birth and do they represent his soul with its properties?

But, firstly, all properties of a man’s body and soul find explanation in morphology of his body and brain. And even if not all of them are explained yet, we can hope that in future they will be.

Secondly, if these beings enliven a man, it is difficult to deny the same to an animal. At conception all of them must be inhabited by spirits from earlier days. It looks rather odd! Why do they need suffer in animal and human bodies?! And, finally, why then a man or an animal does not become perfect (in its way) immediately, if a spirit inhabits him at birth? Why a baby is not so clever, as an adult? Why do we acquire intelligence by means of schooling and labor? How does perfection of spirit always depend on the type of animals and perfection of their organs? (To explain this, there is a lousy hypothesis about prestabilism). Why does with destruction of organs spirit weaken as well? Why a higher spirit doesn’t take possession of some fly and turn it into Newton?

It seems to me – well, I do believe – at least my philosophy tells me that special creatures incomprehensible for us exist – but they do not live in our bodies, neither they live in bodies of plants and animals.

Only primitive ignorance could make up such a hypothesis to explain phenomena of life when morphology of living creatures wasn’t studied at all…

So, in regard to our world we come back to atomism with its potential for life…

Imagine a “dead” planet; it has just covered with a hard crust, which becomes the cradle of life. Life develops, spreads and covers the surface of a celestial body. So it was on every planet, number of which is infinite.

Now imagine an incandescent planet shining like a sun. It consists of mixture of thin gases. What could be inside it?! What life could exist here?! It looks as though there is none. But our little sun cools off and inevitably becomes filled with life. If life appears there, it did exist before – but in other, simpler, form. Everything is alive – in its own way. We cannot understand all. Life is continuous, and so is everything.

Sometimes it makes abrupt jumps (the phenomenon of “death”) – but that’s all. In fact, a country sometimes falls suddenly. Sometimes it takes a higher form, and sometimes spirals into utter chaos: its members are beaten unmercifully, taken captive, et cetera.

It is impossible for any location to have no matter, no time, and no space. They are endless, unceasing and eternal. Also, it is impossible for any spot to have no life. Life is also eternal, continuous and omnipresent.

Let’s now step back, taking a mental look at the time decillions of years before ours, – why not take such a step – or much longer one – back! At that time matter and molecules were even simpler and creatures were even less dense. They made up the third world, not visible even to the second one, which, certainly, cannot be perceived by our sense organs so far.

Whatever number of such steps we did, however far we leaped through decillions of years, to the beginning of the world, we would never reach it – we would be as distant from it, as we previously were. This follows from our hypotheses of time being beginningless and matter being endlessly divisible. While proceeding back by giant time steps, we meet more and more new worlds of living and intelligent creatures, endless gradations of generations, becoming more and more ethereal. There is no end to these snapshots, like there is no end to time – either to past, or to future.

Could it be true that all these creatures transformed – like less dense matter transforms into denser one? How come reasonable creatures appeared to be less powerful than unorganized matter, which preserved, as I have already said, in different densities!

If part of them remained, aren’t these creatures simpler, like bacteria are simpler than animals and humans? No answer to this question as well.

I think that both simple and sophisticated ones – more sophisticated than humans and even their perfect descendants – could have remained. Assuming transformation or destruction of some of them, it is difficult to assume that all of them underwent transforming or destruction – how could it happen, whilst there are lots of categories?!

If they preserved, are they connected with one another, do one serve, as we already mentioned, as foundation for subsequent ones? These questions are tough, but everything is possible.

Are these creatures servants of space, and should we be the same? How society of every category is organized? Are there upper and lower creatures among them?

This is a quote from my “Ethics”. In support of these ideas, we have a great number of facts, collected by trustworthy people. These facts suggest presence of some forces, some reasonable beings, interfering into our human life. They cannot be always explained from the point of modern science, relying on forces of nature known to us, not supposing existence of a special intelligent force.

Frankly speaking, until recently I, staggered by brilliant light of science, denied all mysterious phenomena and explained them either by known natural laws or by hallucinations, deception, conjuring tricks, forgetfulness, ignorance, by effect of sickliness, et cetera. Now I think that more than 99% of these phenomena are exactly such, as I considered them before. But not all of them. Some very small part of them, despite being natural, cannot be explained without intervention from reasonable forces, originating from conscious creatures unknown to us. Some of these creatures are similar to us (my monism), they only are more perfect, and we will be like them (evolution), other ones consist of more light elements, which dominated decillions of decillions years ago. It is difficult to determine what kind of these creatures interferes into our life. It is simpler to suppose participation of beings similar to us – which developed from creatures as imperfect as we currently are.

Certainly, it does not contradict with known forces of nature, but until now we denied possibility that other creatures could participate in earthly life.

The concept of it was the following. Humankind is tied down to Earth. Its destiny is to remain in such a state forever. Destiny of other creatures on other planets is the same. The general idea of development of a man and his power was limited. We hardly can imagine anything higher than earthly creatures in terms of qualities and technology. That is why, having such a restricted outlook, we deny possibility of other creatures’ interference into earthly affairs. This error is a minor one. It is not in the drawbacks of science, but only in narrow-mindedness of conclusions driven from it. Plenty of the phenomena from this narrow point of view remain inexplicable. <…>

You have read the article by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

You can download it for free in PDF format from the “The Collection of Works” section of the website. Unfortunately, most of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s works have not been translated into English. You can familiarize yourself with the works in Russian from the “Научное наследие” (“Scientific heritage”) section of the website.

Enjoy the reading!

“Creatures higher than a Man”, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, 1939

Development (phylogenesis) of organic world have not ceased on the Earth, especially development of a man. A thousand of years ago he was not the same as he is now, 5,000 years back – he was even simpler, 10,000 years back he was close to animals, and 100,000 years ago he was a relative of apes. Going further back, we will reach mammals, reptiles, fishes, worms and bacteria.

And a man has passed through all these stages, before he became the nowaday “tsar” of animals. It is clear that in 1000, 10,000 years he will be a different creature, of a higher type. Since before we saw only his progress in regard to weight, complexity, intelligence, knowledge and power, in future we could not expect it to be otherwise. So, we expect for higher creatures on the Earth. On a million of billions of another planets there also must be animals. What are they? On the Earth their height depends on their generical (phylogenetic) age, and so is on another planets. But age of the Earth is extraordinarily young, particularly, age of humankind. Babies, in general, are the fewer in numbers, the less they have lived. So, there are not so many of such infantile planets as Earth in the Universe. Most of planets, in particular, their humankind, have attained mature age, so will the Earth – in course of time.

In this mature age, animals must be perfect as to body, feelings, mind, knowledge and power.

This power must be enormous. Even now a Man hopes not only to subdue nature, but also to travel among planets and stars of the Universe, so how inconceivably high will his real power be – and, the more so, power of mature planetary creatures?

Here you are: the first category of higher animals; almost all creatures in the Universe are of this kind.

But these creatures are not identical; the same as animals and people on our planet are different. All people will be high, but the degree of this highness is far from being unvaried. Similarly, perfection of habitants of any planet is not equal: the select few are higher than ordinary ones. But on each of the planets there are different levels of selection – someway, different “commanders”. All these people vary in degree of merit. The highest degree will belong to the very last one, chosen from the chosen, the most eligible creature of the planet. He, together with a council, manages the entire planet. How high must he be?! It will happen on the Earth; it took place on vast majority of planets long ago.

Here you have the second large stage of higher animals of the Universe. But every planet is tiny in comparison to the space surrounding a sun. A planet uses one-billionth part of sunbeams’ energy. Why waste it?! Might of planetary habitants allows them to use all the radiation energy of their sun. They take possession of circum-solar deserts, build their dwellings there, adapt to new conditions and propagate conformable to surrounding solar energy. Their population increases billionfold compared with that on the Earth. At the same time grows the number of successive elections, and so does perfection of the last one elected, i.e. the president of a solar system.

Well, here you have the third large stage of higher creatures: rulers of solar systems. The number of them in the known Universe (space) must be equal to the number of suns, i.e. a million of billions.

Wouldn’t the nearby groups of suns unite? They can have joint activities and elect a council with its head.

Spiral nebulae (milky ways) can also unite and provide electees of their own. The entire Universe can unite under leadership of one creature.

You may say: it takes a stream of light 200 million years to travel from one end-most spiral nebula to other one, which is at the diametrically opposite point, i.e. through all known Universe. What kind of communications can be here, what decisions, what instructions? They are always late, and it is better to deal with issues locally, in local council, for example, planetary or solar one.

But, firstly, time is a relative concept for any creatures – what is much for us, for others is nullity. Secondly, aren’t there any agents more resilient than luciferous ether, known to us? This new environment can distribute radiation energy millions and billions of times quicker than known ether. Time is endless. Consistent with it, surprises of the Universe also are infinitely various, wonderful and never-ending.

Of course, all these creatures influence one another and exist in mutual dependence. On every mature planet most authority – with an ordinary citizen – has a (conditionally speaking) rural council, which the citizen personally votes for, and its president. Less influence is exerted by the president elected not by him, but by subordinate presidents he elected, etc. The least interference into affairs comes from the supreme president of the planet. But planetary presidents are not totally free: planetary affairs are sometimes influenced by the solar council, etc. The most rare intrusion hails from the general president of known Universe. We do not know, what sort of intrusion of an endlessly unknown Universe it is – but it probably exists, although it is possible to say that it is extremely rare. In general, the mightier and higher the leader is, the rarer his power shows up. But yet his power is unimaginably great.

You have read the article by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

Enjoy the reading!