[Dimensio]

I am open to the possibility that there exists "higher" (for whatever definition of "higher" you are using) life forms in the universe than humans

Uhh...better define "higher." Otherwise what you just said is at best irony and at worst hoodwinkery (I just made that up, and kudos to me).

Er, who should define "higher"? Given that I was responding to the claim and not initially using the word "higher", I don't think that I'm the one who needs to define it.

Of course, using human standards when defining "higher" can be tricky -- if you're defining higher with humanity as a frame of reference, you can get stuck where you've assumed your conclusion with bad definitions...but then with the proper definition-mangling you could define humans as being "higher" beings than a God.

[Pistias]

OK, then both the original and your reply need to specify the criteria of judgement before an adequate statement of the possibility of the existence of beings closer to that criteria than humans can be attempted (that was a mouthful!).

And I agree as to the difficulty of understanding "higher"--it comes down to the fundamental question of human life: "what is the best life to live, and/or what is the best life I can live?"

We may be faced with inferring the best life from the goods we experience (but then we assume what we think are goods, are; and that our reason is capable of drawing out the curve in light of the rest of the variables in the equation, so to speak) and/or taking our bearings from an authoritative tradition.