What else is there?

I'll openly admit I'm starting on some heavy issues but as Socrates has told us "the unexamined life is not worth living." The other day I was driving home from my boyfriends house and I looked up at the clear night sky. The stars flickered in the silk black sky like light glimmering off crystal. The unexplainable feeling I get of being big and small at the same time washes over me. I then pondered the question of what else is out there. If we as humans exist on this small planet in a solar system who is to say there isn't other intelligent life out there. I then began to think of what encapsulates our galaxy. Our galaxy is full of solar systems, with millions of different species, due to other planets with life I am assuming, so what is it contained in. Are we big or small? I was presented with the fact in a science class that if the earths age was an hour long human beings didn't show up until the last tenth of a second. In the grand scheme of things we as humans are microscopic on the timeline of the earth. Although on the other hand the fact that I am sitting here writing this with a realization of self and my surroundings is major. No other species, on this planet, has the ability to articulate their feelings such as human beings. I then pondered what alien religion would be like. Do aliens go to heaven and hell? I think too often people think of heaven and hell as a bright white room with puffy clouds verses a cave with a floor made of fire. I think heaven and hell aren't necessarily locations but more options presented in the after life. I think hell would be an individuals soul dying. Heaven to me would be transcending your soul to be unified with all of your loved ones with the ability to travel through time and space to any place that ever existed. I also think all of life's questions will be answered. I think religions has given people this impression that heaven and hell is a place but I don't think so. I also would like to quote the great author, designer, and futurist Buckminster Fuller. He said that "God is a verb."This quote spoke to me because it altered my perception of god. God exists in human beings and I think it, not he or she, exists. In closing I would like to say that I think that asking questions that might not have answers is one of the most compelling things to me. I love to discuss these subjects with others because it really gives me an idea of who these people are. As my final thought I would like to say that I hope in my lifetime I learn more of our universe, the human person, love, God, and self enlightenment.