John - Actually, as a boy and an adolescent I did firmly believe that "There's nobody out there.". I also firmly believed that "there is no God" and "there is only physical reality". Why? Because I grew up in a family that had such beliefs, and because I was a very intellectual and scientifically-minded kid, interested in empirical evidence, as mentioned by Amos.

Later in life I changed my mind due to actual experiences. I now believe in God, in spiritual aspects of life that are not materially based (although they project into and affect, indeed create, the material world...), and I believe that there is definitely somebody out there...quite a variety of them, in fact.

It seems that the world just wouldn't leave me alone in the comfort of my empirical beliefs, but insisted on confronting me with alternative experiences which brought my chosen assumptions crashing down.

This, of course, will not suffice to convince anyone else of anything, because it has been my experience, but not necessarily theirs.

The notion that "there's nobody out there" is no longer a tenable or conceivable one for me, which is why I didn't include it in my list. The notion that "they're out there, but they haven't got this far yet" falls in the same category.

However, you are right, unquestionably, that everyone has an agenda, and that it colors what they say with hidden messages. That's why it's so hard for people to communicate without getting ticked off at each other, because they don't like hidden agendas that contradict their own hidden agendas. The moment they sense one, their back goes up. One man's brilliant perception is another man's utter foolishness.

And so it goes...

- LH