Have you ever seen a termite mound?
They are splendid structures. Some might even call them works of art.
Termites are natural architects, and their mounds are both structurally sound and make excellent use of space.
So are they following some sort of plan as they build? Are there termite blueprints, detailing which room goes where?
No. Of course not.
Each termite is simply an oblivious cog in a tremendous machine programmed by millions of years of termite DNA.
It is doubtful an individual termite has any idea what its contributions are helping to create.
But a human does.
We can appreciate the elegant forms of their alien cathedrals... We can see the simple beauty of their perfect functionality...
We can understand the splendid planning of their structure...
In other words, only an intelligence of a higher order can understand the beauty of what the termite builds.
Now consider humans.
Why are we alive?
Why do we love, and give birth? Why do we create? From where do our cultures spring?
There are many theories, but no one knows the truth.
We are oblivious cogs in a tremendous machine programmed by millions of years of human DNA.
No doubt you see now what this analogy is supposed to illustrate.
Yes, I mean to say humans are not different from termites.
We trudge through our lives with no greater understanding of our ultimate goal.
You might say we don't understand what we're building.
Only an intelligence of a higher order than ours can understand what we're doing.
Imagine how we might look to such an intelligence...
We may be building some structure so perfect and elegant we can't even perceive it.
Whatever it is, we've likely been building it on a dimension just above the ones we know since time immemorial.
If we are like the termites, then what we've created is almost certainly something of tremendous beauty.