2087 lines
113 KiB
Plaintext
2087 lines
113 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: MESSENGERS OF TRANSCENDENCE FILE: UFO2732
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Filename: Panpsych.Edi
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Type : Editorial
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Author : Randall O. Littlejohn
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Date : 06/19/93
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Desc. : Messengers of Transcendence
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(Panpsychic Interactionism Integration)
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Response to this editorial is both welcomed encouraged by the author.
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Please direct all responses via this echo to "Randall Littlejohn"
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Copyright 1993 Randall O. Littlejohn
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MESSENGERS OF TRANSCENDENCE
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By
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Randall O. Littlejohn
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The part always has a tendency to unite with its whole
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in order to escape from its imperfections.
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- Leonardo Da Vinci
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We must assume our existence as broadly as we in any
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way can; everything, even the unheard-of, must be
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possible in it. This is at bottom the only courage that
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is demanded of us: to have courage for the most
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strange, the most inexplicable.
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- Rainer Maria Rilke
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Research suggests that abductions (in the current ufological sense) may
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have begun as early as the late nineteenth century.1
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A controversial analysis of the data from three national surveys
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conducted by the Roper Organization in 1991 suggest that one out of
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every 50 adult Americans may have had an abduction experience.2
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In the same report, 5% of the sample population reported that they
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remember UFO imagery in their dreams.
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According to the Fund for UFO Research, there are more than 1,000
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abduction cases now reported, with more coming in all the time.3
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The Mutual UFO Network is sponsoring an on-going program of data-basing
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new abduction reports for future statistical analysis.
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Regardless of the exact numbers, all indicators point to an internally
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consistent experience that is occurring world-wide, with ever
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increasing frequency of incidence.
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Abductees are often deeply traumatized by their experiences. Lives are
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changed forever. Political and social beliefs are reversed, or at least
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altered. Abductions and all UFO phenomena challenge our notions of
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reality and truth.
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In this article I will take an interdisciplinary approach to the
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subject of UFO and related phenomena and argue that only by stretching
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the boundaries of traditional scientific inquiry will we be able to
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make headway in our understanding of these experiences.
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I will build three hypotheses. Together, they support the thesis that
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at least part of UFO and related phenomena may be a creation of
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humankind, and at the same time very real (tangible) events.
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The first hypothesis contends that UFO phenomena, culminating in the
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abduction experience, may be a product of latent metanormal4 abilities
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inherent to homo sapiens. While latent in most individuals, the stress
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of the combined anxieties of our time may be activating these abilities
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on a collective, if unconscious, level with strength enough to manifest
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simi- real events.
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The second hypothesis argues that the abduction experience can be
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analyzed as an allegorical narrative where each stage of the experience
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(as developed by David M. Jacobs, Ph.D. in Secret Life5) is a metaphor
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for a specific collective anxiety.
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The third hypothesis suggests that hypothesis one and hypothesis two
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are informed by an emerging world-culture which represents an
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evolutional leap in consciousness.
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***
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Among ufologists and abduction researchers, explanations have generally
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fallen into psychosocial (or cultural) and literalist extraterrestrial
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categories. UFO and related phenomena play havoc with this traditional
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dualality.
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Psychosocial hypotheses, at least in the Western materialist sense, are
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seriously flawed. Unless we are willing to extend our notions of the
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powers of the psyche to include 1.) physical traces appearing on
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abductees, such as cuts and bruises, 2.)hundreds of highly elaborate
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and traumatic experiences similar to one another in minute detail among
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individuals who have not communicated with one another, and 3.) all of
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the physical phenomena associated with the UFOs themselves, such
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explanations are clearly inadequate. There are often explanations for
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one or to facets of a UFO related occurrence. Usually, no explanations
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take into account all aspects of a single complex event such as an
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abduction experience.
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At the same time a literalist extraterrestrial hypothesis must account
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for 1.) the relative paucity of solid physical information, 2.) the
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high level of apparent absurdity that is characteristic of these
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experiences and 3.) the seemingly insurmountable problems related to
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accounting for the origins, culture and motive the aliens themselves
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within the framework of scientific inquiry.
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The Western mind is not well suited to dealing with phenomena that
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straddle traditional boundaries. The orientation of Western culture and
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consciousness has been dominated by materialism, rationalism and the
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scientific method, that is, toward reductionism and analysis rather
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than synthesis. Thus, our age is one of ever-increasing specialization.
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One finds evidence of this in modern scholarship and in science. Such
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experts tend generally to regard fields other than their own with
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indifference or suspicion. Therefore, experts in a given field
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typically have little acquaintance with knowledge produced outside
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their own scholarly or scientific domain. Eclectic or interdisciplinary
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research is often discouraged as being too speculative.
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History, knowledge and reality itself cannot be segmented and
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compartmentalized according to more or less arbitrary pigeonholes. Any
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responsible researcher must, like a detective, pursue whatever clues
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come to hand, however seemingly improbable. One should not dismiss
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material simply because it threatens to lead into alien territory. One
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must be flexible, able to move freely between disparate disciplines.
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One must be able to link data and make connections between people,
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events, and phenomena widely divorced from each other. In short, one
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must synthesize. Finally, it is not sufficient to confine oneself
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exclusively to facts. One must discern the repercussions and
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ramifications of facts. We must proceed with both prudence and
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imagination and thus, adopt a posture supportive of intuitive leaps.
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Regarding UFO phenomena, noted UFO researcher Dr. Jacques Vallee
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believes that "...we are dealing with a yet unrecognized level of
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consciousness...(and)...that an understanding of the UFO phenomenon
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would come only when we expanded our view of the physical universe
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beyond the classic four-dimensional model of spacetime."6 Jung
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speculated that UFOs are archetypal responses to "vital psychic need".7
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As we regard UFO phenomena culminating in the abduction experience, we
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need to embrace a wide range of inquiry: from modern abduction research
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to the sacred traditions East and West; from scientific studies of
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mystical cognition and other metanormal abilities, to modern religious
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studies; from anthropological studies of shamanism to mythology and
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evolution.
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The following array of information is necessarily complex. I offer the
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following outline as a guide through material that may otherwise seem
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convoluted.
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First we will take a brief tour of abduction history. I will argue that
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this experience need not necessarily be taken at face value. We will
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look at the complexities that confound traditional approaches to
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solving this enigma.
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Next, we must gain a basic understanding of the field of metaphysics.
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We will take a look at evidence for metanormal abilities in humankind,
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and list the abilities relevant to hypothesis number one, above. There
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is ample evidence to show that nothing is happening in the abduction
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experience that humans are not able to manifest themselves.8
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Hypotheses number two and three must have sociological frames of
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reference. Therefore we will turn to the works of Carl Gustov Jung and
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Joseph Campbell.
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Finally, I will demonstrate a allegorical analysis of the abduction
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narrative, and suggest the relevance of this experience to our unique
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place in history.
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In his Religio Medici, English essayist Thomas Browne characterized man
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as "that great and true amphibian whose nature is disposed to live, not
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only like other creatures in diverse elements, but in divided and
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distinguished worlds."9
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I believe it is possible that UFO and related phenomena calls our
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attention to a new era - one in which, like amphibians, we are
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maintaining access to our present reality as we venture into a world
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that will subsume the old one.
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There is precedent for such a cultural process. Hegel suggested a
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process which suggests both annihilation and preservation to describe
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the frequent subsumption of cultural forms by their successors. In the
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dialectic of history, he claimed, earlier kinds of human behavior and
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consciousness have been "lifted up" to higher levels.10 Evidence for
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such a process is all around us. The UFO enigma may provide a large
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body of such evidence. A brief overview of applicable UFO research is
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in order.
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***
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The Abduction Experience
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As far back as the 1960s, John A. Keel revealed his discovery that the
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majority of all UFO witnesses had latent or active psychic abilities.
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Other investigators around the world confirmed his research. Now it is
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known that abduction experiencers also often subsequently experience
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other paranormal phenomena.
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In 1966 John Fuller changed the UFO scene forever with his Interrupted
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Journey, the now-familiar story of Barney and Betty Hill, who claimed
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that aliens removed them from their automobile, gave them physical
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examinations, and then released them. The psychiatrist who had used
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hypnosis with the Hills to bring out the mainly forgotten story thought
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the case was an example of shared dream.
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Researchers had collected a few more abduction cases in the 1970s, but
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they were so seemingly different from one another that it was almost
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impossible to decipher the facts. Virtually all abductees suffered from
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a form of amnesia that prevented them from remembering exactly what had
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happened during the abduction. The preferred technique for retrieving
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these lost memories was hypnosis, but it was common knowledge that
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memories collected in this manner were not reliable.
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At first, abductions appeared to be an isolated phenomenon that had
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occurred to just a few people around the country. Now we know this is
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not the case.
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Since the late 1970s Bud Hopkins had specialized in examining abduction
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cases, and his first book, Missing Time, was published in 1981. In this
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pioneering work, he investigated a small group of people who he thought
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might have had abduction experiences. Using a psychologist to
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administer hypnosis, Hopkins collected data much more systematically
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than had been done before. New data came to light: lapses in time,
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mysterious scars, bizarre physical examinations, and screen memories.
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Hopkins theorized a possible generational link between parents who were
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abductees and their children. During this time David M. Jacobs, Ph.D.,
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a history professor, began to do research into the abduction
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phenomenon. As a historian, Jacobs was interested in trying to
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establish an abduction narrative with a beginning, middle and end. So
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far, the bits and pieces of information gleaned from the few cases
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researched remained frustratingly disconnected.
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In 1987 Dr. Thomas E. Bullard published a massive study of 270
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published abduction cases. With careful analysis Jacobs was able to
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show numerous structural similarities between the cases, but in his
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words, "Most researchers still did not understand the implications of
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the new data."11
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Jacob's found that even though most of the abductees did not know each
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other, they all told the same stories: they were abducted by strange-
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looking beings, subjected to a variety of physical and mental
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"procedures," and then returned to the site of abduction. Abductees
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were powerless to control the event, and, when it was over, they nearly
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always forgot most of it. These people were left with the feeling that
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something had happened to them, but they were not sure exactly what it
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was.
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The events that the abductees related seemed completely implausible.
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Time after time they would describe apparently absurd situations, such
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as being floated through a closed window at the hands of small
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creatures.
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Nevertheless, Dr. Jacobs was intrigued by the convergence of minute
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detail, the multiple abductions, and other witnesses. He began his own
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hypnotic sessions, taking care (says he) to avoid the typical problems
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with data retrieved by hypnotic regression. In 1992 he publish a book
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containing the results of his work called Secret Life. Jacob's work
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provides us with the most complete abduction narrative to date. Many
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others continue with other large scale comparisons of data.
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Dr. Jacobs found patterns in his subjects" descriptions of their
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experiences. These patterns consist of what he calls "primary,"
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"secondary," and "ancillary" experiences.12 Later, we will come back to
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these designations.
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Whether or not UFO and related phenomena are real in the usual sense,
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the people who have these experiences suffer real pain. They seemed to
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suffer from a combination of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the
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after-effects of rape. Interestingly, however, these "experiencers", as
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they have come to be called, are also sometimes profoundly moved, as
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outlined above. This may be the key point.
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Abductions are not confined to the United States. British UFO
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researcher Jenny Randles has catalogued many abductions in the United
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Kingdom. The same material seems to be coming out of those accounts.
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Evidence points towards world-wide phenomena.13
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With certain exceptions, abductions can occur anywhere. They happen in
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rural settings and in cities. Being with other people is no deterrent.
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According to Jacobs and others, and if we are to take abductions at
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face value, the "aliens" want to use the ability humans have to
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recreate themselves. They seem to want to achieve some kind of hybrid
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species of being. They want knowledge of our mental and nonreporductive
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physiological processes. They are curious about how humans function in
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society. They don't seem interested in disclosing much information
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about the technicalities of what they are doing. When they do offer is
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often absurd by traditional measures. The "aliens" seem confident that
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we are unable to stop them.
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By far the most common types of entities reported are the short
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statured, and so-called "Greys." Also reported frequently are similar,
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but somewhat taller Greys. The small beings are thin, slight, and
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hominoid in appearance. Taller beings stand from two to six inches
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above the small beings and also share the same gross physical
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characteristics with humans. The taller beings seem to be in charge.
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Descriptions of the aliens" skin color varies but is usually reported
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to be grey, hence the moniker. The skin color is uniform, without
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darker and lighter spots or areas. According to Jacobs, it is reported
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that alien skin is extremely smooth, without the pores, hair, freckles,
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warts and other common elements found on human skin.
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Abductees are often vague about what these grey aliens wear, or even if
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they are wearing anything at all. Sometimes the color of their skin and
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the color of their clothes are reported to be exactly the same. Though
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different descriptions exist, the overall impression is of nondescript,
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tight-fitting, seamless outfits.
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Usually, their faces do not betray a readily detectable uniqueness that
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might distinguish one from another. Nor do they seem to have any overt
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sort of emotional characteristics that can be seen on their faces.
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According to Jacobs, when abductees have had experiences for thirty or
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forty years with presumably the same group of aliens, they report that
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the aliens look the same during the last experience as they did during
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the first.
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The heads of the creatures are, in human terms, disproportionately
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large for their bodies.
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While hominoid, the alien face has many divergent characteristics. The
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huge eyes are the single most striking feature. They are largest in the
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center and taper off to a tip on the side of the head. They contain no
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pupils, irises, or corneas. Abductees see black, usually opaque organs.
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The majority of the reports indicate these beings have no more than a
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slight raised bump where a human nose would be, but no nostrils or
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openings. According to Jacobs, the aliens" slit-like mouth does not
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seem to have teeth, tongue, or saliva. The entities do not use their
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mouths for communication. These creatures do not appear to have a jaw
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or jaw hinge below where the ears would be. Aliens sometimes may have a
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small raised feature where human ears would be, but without an opening.
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The head is attached to an extremely narrow, short, tubelike neck that
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seems too thin to support the head's weight. The head does not fit onto
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the neck as human heads would. The arrangement reminded one of Jacob's
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abductees of "a pumpkin on a stick."
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The entities feature long, thin arms with no apparent musculature or
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boniness. The arms are apparently the same diameter from the shoulder
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to where the hands join, without visible wrists.
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The alien's short, thin legs go straight down with no sense of a thigh,
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calf, or ankles. They blend smoothly with the feet. Little is known
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about the feet, but toes are not usually noticed.
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In short, except for the fetal-like overall stature and the huge, black
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eyes, these beings give an impression of something like a mannequin. My
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point is, they can otherwise be seen as the perfect "generic hominid,"
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right down to the gray color. One would almost expect to find a bar-
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code somewhere on each model.
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These three general characteristics - large, opaque-black eyes, overall
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fetal-like stature, and generic appearance, may each have a symbolic
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meaning. These meanings will be dealt with below.
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***
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Not everyone agrees that the abduction experience should be taken at
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face value. In the words of Jacques Vallee, stories of alien
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crossbreeding are so "scientifically ludicrous that (they do) not even
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deserve to be refuted...It reveals a dramatic lack of information about
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the current state of the art in genetic engineering."14
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Even with our apparently "primitive" knowledge of medicine by
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comparison, humans could use simpler procedures that would yield more
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accurate results without leaving scars. As Vallee notes, "Any doctor
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today can draw one cubic centimeter of blood without leaving a scar or
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mark. From the analysis we could determine if the patient used to have
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a Siamese cat as a pet when he was six years old! Molecular biology, a
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science in its infancy, is already capable of providing incredible
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amounts of information from minute amounts of human cells. In vitro
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fertilization has reached a level such that the so-called genetic
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experiments allegedly performed in UFOs seem ludicrous and grotesque.
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The ufonauts should go back to medical school."15
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In addition one might ask, why hasn't their data-gathering become more
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sophisticated over the decades? As far as we can tell it hasn't changed
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since Betty and Barney Hill were abducted in 1961.
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And finally, even humans can erase a subject's memory beyond any chance
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that a hypnotist could retrieve any information at all about the event.
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Yet, even an amateur hypnotist can re- cover previously locked-away
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memories of abductions.
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Nevertheless, these "aliens" demonstrate that they actually have a
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highly detailed knowledge of human psychology, physiology and anatomy.
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Abductee reports show that the aliens can completely control the human
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nervous system. For instance, abductees are routinely paralyzed and
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placed in suspended animation. The mere touch of an alien hand can
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block a person's perception of pain. There are reports of instant
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healings, altered memory, and distortion of an abductee's sense of
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time.
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Some conclude that very real beings are staging simulated operations,
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very much in the manner of gorilla theatre. Others decide that
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abductions are complete fantasies drawn from the collective
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unconscious, perhaps instigated by some metaphysical trigger. In a
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recent article16 Carl Sagan would have us believe that all abductees
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are hallucinating. None of these theories alone are completely
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satisfactory.
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Some researchers, including Vallee, have noted the resemblance between
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UFO encounters and the initiation rituals of secret societies. It is
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true that a typical initiation ritual matches perfectly with the stages
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of an abduction experience as described by Jacobs and others. We will
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return to this theme below.
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The apparent absurdity of UFO and related experience is another factor
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to be dealt with. The phenomenon often contradicts itself. Some of the
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principles demonstrated, some of the information conveyed seem true;
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some are apparently false. In attempting to determine which material is
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true one is frustrated by a kind of "absurd logic."
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There is a persuasive argument that absurdity is designed into UFO
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experiences in order to permit thought transference while the mind is
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confused.17 Remembering that the abduction experience seems to have
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arrived at a grand, world-wide scope, one might wonder, could this
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confusion technique deliberately be used to change the consciousness of
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humankind on a major scale?
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If one were to strive to convey a truth that lies just beyond the
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understanding of ones audience, one must construct apparent
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contradictions in terms of ordinary meaning. In striving to make sense
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of the contradictions, one's understanding is challenged. If one
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embellishes the process by constructing a complicated narrative that,
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for instance, enigmatically mingles both elements of Newtonian-
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Cartesianism realism with apparent absurdity, and in this way draws the
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audience into a search for a deeper meaning, this is allegory.
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Allegory has long been used as a tool through which authors have side-
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stepped the Church, State, even the intelligentsia, to plant deep
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within societies far-reaching doubts concerning basic philosophical
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tenets. Information issued forth this way has a profound effect on the
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collective consciousness. Like allegory, UFO experiences are
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compelling, yet also sufficiently absurd to be formally "unbelievable".
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Events structured in this way cannot avoid striking deep within the
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psyche, while keeping rationalists at a distance.
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Vallee suggests that human belief is being controlled and conditioned
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by these alien conspirators.18 If the hypothesis is true, these
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manifestations could be "not unlike a thermostat in a house."19 UFOs
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may serve to stabilize the relationship between humankind's
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consciousness and the evolving complexities of the world we try to
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understand.
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Vallee pointed out that it is interesting to observe that the pattern
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of UFO flaps (periods of intense UFO activity) has the same general
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structure as that of a schedule of reinforcement, even after accounting
|
|
for the affect of media exaggerations on these patterns. The best
|
|
schedule of reinforcement is one that combines periodicity with
|
|
unpredictability. Learning is then slow but continuous. It leads to the
|
|
highest level of adaptation. And it is irreversible.20
|
|
|
|
There is an observable change in our culture. Many have noted the
|
|
increasing willingness to believe in extraterrestrial life. Television
|
|
programming includes more and more shows about UFOs and abductions.
|
|
More feature length films are being made about the issue, such as the
|
|
recent Fire in the Sky, based on the Travis Walton abduction. Attitudes
|
|
have changed among scientists too. There is the renewed SETI program,
|
|
for example. Psychologists are beginning to take the abduction
|
|
experience seriously. Are these signs of a shift in our collective
|
|
mythological structure? Is the human learning curve bending toward a
|
|
new cosmic point of view? Perhaps when irreversible learning is
|
|
achieved, the UFO phenomenon will go away. Or, perhaps we will witness
|
|
further, and more straight forward manifestations. The effects could be
|
|
far reaching, for like evolution itself, these learning curves may be
|
|
measured in terms of centuries.
|
|
|
|
If UFOs are acting at the mythic and spiritual level, it will be next
|
|
to impossible to make much headway with a strictly empirical approach.
|
|
Spirituality and mythology rule at a level of our social reality over
|
|
which normal intellectual pursuits have little real power.
|
|
|
|
Modern science maintains that the two major approaches to inquiry,
|
|
which might be termed technological and psychological, must be
|
|
carefully separated. At the same time, the concept of "spirit" has been
|
|
set aside for those of a somewhat naive mentality. The UFO phenomenon
|
|
is a direct affront to these artificial separations.
|
|
|
|
No theory of UFOs can be complete unless it addresses the need to
|
|
integrate somehow abduction narratives based on alien technology into a
|
|
meaningful social framework.
|
|
|
|
No theory of UFOs can be complete if it does not account for the
|
|
reported metaphysical effects produced during these experiences.
|
|
Effects such as objects that can shape-shift, disappear and re-appear
|
|
seemingly at will, or move in a way that defies the laws of physics as
|
|
we currently know them. Effects such as apparent telepathic
|
|
communication with ufonaughts, and abducting greys who walk through
|
|
walls and spirit away their victims through closed windows.
|
|
|
|
Obviously, the evidence goes beyond the notion that these are simply
|
|
technological vehicles produced by advanced races on another planet, at
|
|
least by our current notions of technological. And we can not afford to
|
|
ignore the social impact of UFO and related phenomena.
|
|
|
|
Only an interdisciplinary approach could account for the physical
|
|
effects, for the impact on society, for the appearance of the
|
|
occupants, and for the seemingly absurd, dream-like elements of alien
|
|
behavior.
|
|
|
|
***
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Case for Uncommon Human Capacities
|
|
|
|
Metanormal functioning is no longer only a topic of tabloid journalism,
|
|
so-called New Age revelers, and quaint parlor room gatherings of
|
|
neighborhood spiritualists. Though many scientists and academic
|
|
philosophers still argue that paranormal events do not occur, there now
|
|
exists considerable evidence for such events provided by competent
|
|
researchers. Experimental data produced by parapsychologists have been
|
|
presented in several credible journals for more than 50 years.21
|
|
|
|
If we look closely at the evidence for metanormal abilities in
|
|
humankind, we will find that nothing is going on in UFO and related
|
|
phenomena that humankind has not demonstrated as one of its own
|
|
abilities. No strange feats of mobility, communication, or manipulation
|
|
of environment witnessed in the UFO experience are beyond our own
|
|
powers.
|
|
|
|
Because we harbor capacities such as those described below, it is not
|
|
unreasonable to think that, in spite of our tendency to destroy
|
|
ourselves, we may even be involved in a kind of evolutionary
|
|
transcendence.
|
|
|
|
The discoveries of modern science give us a new perspective on the
|
|
world and our human capacities. In the context of evolution, "...our
|
|
planet has been revealed not as a static or cyclical world, but as an
|
|
arena in which graduation upon graduation of species have occurred for
|
|
several hundred million years. This stupendous advance suggests that
|
|
humans might develop further." Indeed, evolution "...has even exceeded
|
|
its own bounds before - as, for example, when life arose from inorganic
|
|
matter and humankind from its primate ancestors..."22
|
|
|
|
Space does not allow a thorough investigation of each phenomenon and
|
|
the scientific proof for its existence. In his book The Future of the
|
|
Body23, Michael Murphy has listed human attributes that characterize
|
|
this emergent level of development. The reader may choose to examine
|
|
for him or herself the pages of Murphy's exhaustively researched
|
|
masterpiece. Following are examples of the classes of developing
|
|
attributes that apply to the hypothesis that the abduction experience
|
|
is a metanormal creation of humankind:
|
|
|
|
Perception of External Events -
|
|
|
|
"Feeling" people in a house though you cannot see or hear them.
|
|
|
|
Spontaneous, unexpected perceptions of distant events.
|
|
|
|
Sensing a numinous presence during meditation, intimate conversation,
|
|
or other circumstances.
|
|
|
|
Seeing lights around people or inanimate objects for which there are no
|
|
apparent sources.
|
|
|
|
Spontaneously apprehending the presence of someone physically distant
|
|
or dead, by direct and vivid contact.
|
|
|
|
Communication Abilities -
|
|
|
|
Correctly intuiting someone's (negative or positive) feelings or
|
|
thoughts about you or a third party.
|
|
|
|
Telepathically stimulating feelings loving or hateful, serene or
|
|
agitated moods in another person.
|
|
|
|
Saying something unexpected in unison with someone else.
|
|
|
|
Sensing correctly who is calling on the telephone, even though the
|
|
caller hasn't communicated for a long time, or thinking about someone
|
|
who then calls you.
|
|
|
|
"Feeling" what someone else is thinking. Having the same dream a friend
|
|
does.
|
|
|
|
Movement Abilities -
|
|
|
|
Experiencing flight as if in a subtle body, during an especially vivid
|
|
dream or state of creative absorption.
|
|
|
|
Out-of-body experience (during which you may see your own body) after
|
|
which you report events that could not be known to you in ordinary
|
|
circumstances.
|
|
|
|
Experiencing an extraordinary pleasure in movement accompanied by an
|
|
apparent release of new energies in particular body parts. (Note the
|
|
similarity to abilities reported in the Andreasson case, exhaustively
|
|
researched by Rayhmond E. Fowler and presented in his Book Watchers).
|
|
|
|
Pain and Pleasure -
|
|
|
|
Eliminating pain by simply willing it away.
|
|
|
|
Cognition -
|
|
|
|
Correctly sensing unexpected danger.
|
|
|
|
Apprehending an exceptionally complex and original set of ideas all at
|
|
once, in conjunction with great excitement and joy.
|
|
|
|
Remembering extremely complex material with perfect detail.
|
|
|
|
Correctly determining historical events connected with a particular
|
|
location or object, as if by some sort of clairvoyance.
|
|
|
|
Experiencing a sense of mystical contact with God, perhaps at work, or
|
|
during a festive event, or while engaged in intimate conversation, or
|
|
in the midst of suffering.
|
|
|
|
Volition -
|
|
|
|
Waking from sleep at a designated moment without assistance from an
|
|
alarm.
|
|
|
|
Spontaneously exerting subliminal influence upon others in such ways as
|
|
harmonizing conflicting parties, bringing peace to potentially violent
|
|
situations, or -conversely- causing discord and suffering.
|
|
|
|
Individuation and Sense of Self -
|
|
|
|
Awakening to a witness self that is fundamentally distinct from
|
|
particular thoughts, impulses, feelings, or sensations.
|
|
|
|
Feeling for a moment as if your body is only a small part of yourself,
|
|
or that it is located at a specific point in the field of awareness.
|
|
|
|
Experiencing an identity that self-evidently existed before your birth
|
|
and that will outlast your body's death.
|
|
|
|
Bodily Structures, States, and Processes -
|
|
|
|
Radical alterations of body image, as if you are much taller or
|
|
shorter, for example, or shaped like a sphere, column, diamond, or
|
|
point. (Again, note the material reported by Fowler regarding the
|
|
Andreasson case).
|
|
|
|
Sensing that new structures, which seem to be made of subtle matter,
|
|
are forming inside your body or on your skin.
|
|
|
|
|
|
There is now a large body of clinical evidence that ESP operates in our
|
|
everyday lives in ways we do not typically recognize. It has been
|
|
demonstrated with consistency by subjects in contemporary experiments.
|
|
Because of the success of their experiments at SRI International Targ
|
|
and Puthoff wrote:
|
|
|
|
We have not found a single person who could not do
|
|
remote viewing to satisfaction... The indications are
|
|
that this is a widespread human talent."24
|
|
|
|
Some people apprehend phantom figures or extraphysical worlds that seem
|
|
to be more than figments of their imagination. Climbers Estcourt and
|
|
Scott, explorer Ernest Shackleton, seafarer Joshua Slocum, and aviator
|
|
Charles Lindbergh, for example, described disembodied entities that
|
|
tried to communicate with them and that persisted for hours or days.
|
|
Many people recount near-death episodes in which they perceive beings
|
|
that seem to know what is happening in this world. Contemplative adepts
|
|
have detailed their perceptions of otherworld entities and vistas that
|
|
seem not far removed from our normal environments. During such
|
|
experiences, the subject typically feels as if he or she is
|
|
apprehending something real, something with its own objective status,
|
|
that is somehow related to our physical universe.
|
|
|
|
"There is a long-standing witness to phantom figures in every religious
|
|
tradition, a great many descriptions of them in the literature of
|
|
psychical research, and a considerable body of speculation about their
|
|
nature and causes. It has been proposed, for example, that because
|
|
human perception is shaped by habitual mind-sets, disembodied entities
|
|
are typically perceived as the angels, jinn, devas, elves, or (in our
|
|
time) UFOs, of the subject's culture."25
|
|
|
|
A large body of evidence testifies to another extraordinary human
|
|
ability - psychokinesis, the direct influence of mind upon either
|
|
living or inorganic matter. "Metanormal influence upon our surroundings
|
|
includes these three types of activity:
|
|
|
|
1. Telergy: the direct influence of a mind upon brain or other living
|
|
tissue without any mediations observable by the ordinary senses (or
|
|
extensions of them such as microscopes), as for example in spiritual
|
|
healing.
|
|
|
|
2. Telekinesis: influence upon inanimate objects at a distance from,
|
|
and without material connection with, the motive cause or agent.
|
|
|
|
3. The direct modification of some portion of space by mental
|
|
influence.
|
|
|
|
There is also good evidence that some people can deliberately imprint
|
|
images on photographic film by mental influence. Unlikely as this
|
|
phenomenon seems, it has since the 1860s been demonstrated again and
|
|
again in Europe, Japan, and the United States.26
|
|
|
|
These experiences occur in all sorts of people, even when they are
|
|
neither sought nor expected. They do not seem to be entirely created by
|
|
social processes. They can not be completely suppressed in cultures
|
|
that do not support them. That so many of these experiences appear
|
|
among us without benefit of formal discipline, in people with different
|
|
backgrounds, temperaments, and cultural conditioning, strongly suggests
|
|
that we are talking about innate (if normally latent) human abilities.
|
|
Notice how closely the above observation matches the profile of people
|
|
who experience UFO and related phenomena.
|
|
|
|
Jung believed that psychic phenomena "...can appear objectively and
|
|
concretely in the form of physical facts.... In this case the
|
|
observation is not an endopsychic perception (fantasy, intuition,
|
|
vision, hallucination, etc.) but a real outer object which behaves as
|
|
if it were motivated or evoked by, or as if it were expressing, a
|
|
thought corresponding to the archetype.27
|
|
|
|
The archetype is not evoked by a conscious act of the will; research
|
|
shows that it is activated, independently of the will, in a psychic
|
|
situation that needs compensating by an archetype. One might even speak
|
|
of a spontaneous archetypal intervention."28
|
|
|
|
Journeys into extraphysical worlds comprise yet another class of
|
|
extraordinary potential latent in most individuals, but expressed by
|
|
shamans, mystics and saints, as perhaps forerunners of human evolution.
|
|
Like other metanormal abilities, such experience has been studied by
|
|
modern psychical researchers. In addition, there is a huge body of
|
|
modern literature about extraphysical worlds, which each of us can
|
|
asses for ourselves. A few examples listed by Michael Murphy are as
|
|
follows. "In the yoga tradition, for example, the manomaya and
|
|
akashaloka siddhis provide access to other dimensions of the universe.
|
|
Siberian shamans go down to the underworld, ascend the sky, and enter
|
|
worlds of ancestral spirits. In Iranian mysticism, Hurqalya, the
|
|
celestial earth, is accessible to spiritual travel."29
|
|
|
|
Taken together, the above inventory of metanormal abilities give
|
|
humankind more than enough firepower to manifest physically UFO and
|
|
related phenomena. Yet, something is missing. If humankind is
|
|
collectively creating these experiences, some sort of communication is
|
|
implied.
|
|
|
|
Several philosophers and researchers have posited a universe in which
|
|
these supernormal occurrences can be thought of as the norm. Their
|
|
concept of "prehension" could be the mechanism by which the entire
|
|
field of metanormal experiences operate, including UFO and related
|
|
phenomena.
|
|
|
|
These philosophers emphasized the novelty (or creativity) evident at
|
|
all levels of the universe. "This means that the basic things or
|
|
entities are events, spatio-temporal processes of becoming. [This]
|
|
...view not only generalized the Einsteinian notion of the
|
|
convertibility of matter and energy, but also employed another basic
|
|
Einsteinian notion, which is that space and time are inseparable...
|
|
things comprising the world... take -or make- time, as well as space,
|
|
to occur... therefore, all actual entities are "actual occasions." No
|
|
actual things simply endure passively. Each real thing is a spatio-
|
|
temporal happening."30
|
|
|
|
According to philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, "...such patterning
|
|
and structural integrity are mediated by an activity inherent in all
|
|
spatio-temporal happenings, or actual occasions, namely prehension.
|
|
Subatomic entities, cells, and humans alike prehend other spatio-
|
|
temporal happenings, either including them in their own activity (by
|
|
positive prehension) or excluding them (by negative prehension).
|
|
Prehension does not necessarily involve sensory perception or
|
|
consciousness, as it goes on continually in the physical elements and
|
|
among humans at both conscious and unconscious levels. It does,
|
|
however, involve contact with other entities (or occasions), and
|
|
influence from and upon them."31
|
|
|
|
This view of physical things finds support from quantum theory, which
|
|
suggests that subatomic events may be influenced by perception itself.
|
|
|
|
Through prehension then, all entities constituting this universe
|
|
continually contact and influence other entities, with some degree of
|
|
creativity, either on a cognitive or pre-cognitive level.
|
|
|
|
The view that the entire universe is a continually prehending process
|
|
has been called panpsychism. This panpsychic view of the universe
|
|
"...led David Griffin to suggest a "nondualistic, or animistic
|
|
interactionism" to account for telepathy, psychokinesis, and
|
|
psychophysical transformations.... In this view, all consciousness, all
|
|
soul, even a disembodies soul, interacts with other entities, whether
|
|
inorganic, animal, human or superhuman, through a prehension that does
|
|
not always depend upon sensory processes, language, or the direct
|
|
application of muscular force. .... In the animistic framework Griffin
|
|
proposes, perception and causal influence are simply two aspects of the
|
|
same event."32
|
|
|
|
University of London physicist David Bohm, a former protege of
|
|
Einstein's and one of the world's most respected quantum physicists,
|
|
and Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram, one of the architects of
|
|
our modern understanding of the brain -two of the world's most eminent
|
|
thinkers - believe that the universe itself may be a giant hologram;
|
|
literally a kind of image or construct created, at least in part, by
|
|
the human mind. The holographic paradigm explains, with empirical data
|
|
to back it up, how panpsychism works, and turns the Newtonian-Cartesian
|
|
paradigm of Western Science on its head. In the holographic paradigm
|
|
there is evidence to suggest that our world and everything in it - from
|
|
this magazine to the space shuttle, from electrons to distant galaxies
|
|
- are also only ghostly images, projections from beyond both space and
|
|
time."33
|
|
|
|
The most interesting thing about the holographic model, for our
|
|
purposes then, is that it demonstrates a scientific context, to go
|
|
along with the philosophical context, within which a wide range of
|
|
phenomena such as telepathy, precognition, mystical feelings of
|
|
oneness, psychokinesis and the myriad UFO-related phenomena are
|
|
permitted.
|
|
|
|
We must look at the possibility that humankind, through panpsychism,
|
|
(allowed by the holographic paradigm) may be manifesting at least part
|
|
of UFO and related phenomena. It seems to me odd to accept the idea of
|
|
extraterrestrials visiting our planet from star systems light years
|
|
away, possibly assuming faster-than-light travel, or at least faster-
|
|
than-light communication of some form, and yet exclude other processes
|
|
equally possible under the umbrella of vanguard quantum physics.
|
|
|
|
If collective humankind is creating at least some of these phenomena, a
|
|
new kind of, or degree of, consciousness is inferred.
|
|
|
|
Philosopher Henri Bergson and others have emphasized the idea that new
|
|
levels of consciousness appear in the course of human history, like
|
|
other emergent properties of the universe. Even if they have roots in
|
|
eternal or preexisting orders of existence, new kinds of knowing have
|
|
become manifest for the first time on earth in particular societies and
|
|
individuals, then spread to others by education or example, and now we
|
|
can add by panpsychism. Through panpsychism, a new form of
|
|
consciousness would spread through the matrix of existence itself.
|
|
|
|
Bergson "...found a divine purpose in evolution, which could be known
|
|
by intuition. Elan vital, the force that impels universal development,
|
|
is sometimes communicated "in its entirety" to those mystics who
|
|
achieve partial coincidence with the creative effort that is "of God,
|
|
if it is not God Himself." This experience, however, does not end in
|
|
passivity, but leads to intense activity that embodies ... love for the
|
|
world. Mystics are impelled to advance the divine purpose by furthering
|
|
the good of their fellows. The spirit of the mystics, Bergson believed,
|
|
must become universal to ensure humanity's further development."34
|
|
(Italics mine).
|
|
|
|
When this trans-ego communication called panpsychism begins to bubble
|
|
to the surface of cognition, then, it brings with it a spiritual depth
|
|
that goes far beyond the sharing of common cultural symbols, because
|
|
these shared experiences, though powerful, are primarily intellectual.
|
|
Panpsychism, on the other hand, working primarily through the
|
|
unconscious, circumvents the intellect, languages, cultures, politics
|
|
and religious dogma to strike resoundingly within the soul. Such an
|
|
intimate connection, when aroused en masse, fires an empathy beyond
|
|
normal psychological processes. Bubbling just under consciousness,
|
|
rising to the surface at times, there is a love of life and of the
|
|
creative force. At the same time, those who tap into this spirit of the
|
|
mystics must also endure the unnecessary pain we inflict upon each
|
|
other, since all is known without rationalization within this realm of
|
|
panpsychism.
|
|
|
|
I think it possible that through panpsychism, and because of the
|
|
combined stresses of our time (enumerated below), this awareness, this
|
|
spirit of the mystics, is the force behind an emerging world culture. I
|
|
think it possible UFO and related phenomena are the symbols of this
|
|
emergence.
|
|
|
|
To summarize this section: humankind has been shown, by scientific
|
|
experimentation over many years and around the world, to exhibit
|
|
abilities that far transcend normal functioning. These abilities enable
|
|
humans to manifest any of the unusual feats expressed by the alien
|
|
entities popularly called greys.
|
|
|
|
The concept of panpsychism, supported by quantum physics and the
|
|
holographic paradigm, suggests a world in which such events are
|
|
permitted.
|
|
|
|
Panpsychism may play a part in an emerging world culture. By
|
|
panpsychism, collective humankind could be experiencing a metanormal or
|
|
"spiritual" kind of emotion called the spirit of the mystics by
|
|
Bergson. This experience may be providing an impetus to "advance the
|
|
divine purpose by furthering the good of [our] fellows."
|
|
|
|
Panpsychism may also be the mechanism by which an alarm is being
|
|
sounded en masse, and the mechanism by which normally latent abilities
|
|
of enormous power are manifested.
|
|
|
|
Given that quantum physics has shown us that mind and matter are
|
|
inextricably linked, UFOs and related phenomena may be evidence of this
|
|
ultimate lack of division between the psychological, spiritual and
|
|
physical worlds. These phenomena may indeed be a product of the
|
|
collective psyche of humankind, but they are also real - neither
|
|
subjective nor objective but (to borrow a term from Michael Talbot)
|
|
"omnijective".
|
|
|
|
UFO and related phenomena, then, may be expressions of matenormal
|
|
abilities, and of the emergence of humankind's move away from the old
|
|
boundaries of state, social status, race and religion. The very fact
|
|
that we are speaking of an emergence implies a primarily pre-cognitive
|
|
process.
|
|
|
|
***
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Social Implicate
|
|
|
|
Vallee believes that UFO and related phenomenon "is the way through
|
|
which an alien form of intelligence of incredible complexity is
|
|
communicating with us symbolically. There is no Indication that it is
|
|
extraterrestrial."35 I agree.
|
|
|
|
However, the only "alien" may be the alien part of ourselves, a part we
|
|
are just now beginning to acknowledge.
|
|
|
|
UFOs and related phenomena may be a form of communication for and of
|
|
this specific moment in history. In order to understand why collective
|
|
humankind would begin to manifest metanormal events on such a grand
|
|
scale at this particular time and in this particular way, we will need
|
|
a basic understanding of the social side of this entity, "human being".
|
|
|
|
When certain awarenesses, behaviors or incidents are misunderstood,
|
|
humankind has usually attributed such experiences to powers outside the
|
|
ordinary self. This is especially true when they seem to exceed
|
|
radically our normal capacities, but also when they seem well formed
|
|
before their appearance and when we cannot adequately account for them
|
|
in terms of familiar human processes or knowledge. Experiences such as
|
|
mystical illuminations, artistic or scientific epiphanies, religious
|
|
visions and of course UFOs, are examples of the sort of extraordinary
|
|
experiences that are attributed to agencies beyond the human scope.
|
|
|
|
These agencies are treated symbolically in mythologies and religions.
|
|
The motifs of which mythologies and religions are made, in turn, refer
|
|
back to humankind's basic, universal, experience of life.
|
|
|
|
There are at least four methods by which universal motifs, perhaps
|
|
informed by panpsychism, may manifest symbolically. The four methods
|
|
are symbols, metaphor, allegory and mythology which encompasses
|
|
features of the others. Symbols intrigue the mind by suggesting that
|
|
which cannot be said. Metaphor allows that which cannot be said to be
|
|
inferred by comparison. Allegory provides a narrative structure through
|
|
which that which is not said can be suggested. Myth provides a durable
|
|
structure upon which a collection of these allegorical stories,
|
|
metaphors and symbols are rendered, thereby providing a means by which,
|
|
over time, they become part of either the tribal or the universal
|
|
psyche.
|
|
|
|
In objectively comparing the religious and/or mythological traditions
|
|
of humankind, one becomes aware of certain mythic themes that are
|
|
common to all, though differently understood and developed in the
|
|
differing traditions. Swiss psychologist, psychiatrist and author Carl
|
|
Gustav Jung (1875-1961) termed these shared mythic motifs "archetypes
|
|
of the collective unconscious," and in doing so, emphasized the
|
|
subliminal realm out of which dreams arise. According to Jung, an
|
|
"archetype" is a certain elemental experience, or pattern of
|
|
experience, common to all humankind - an experience, or pattern of
|
|
experience, which people have shared from time immemorial.
|
|
|
|
Archetypes and archetypal patterns are not obscure or mystical. Indeed,
|
|
these days we tend to take most of them for granted. They would include
|
|
such events as birth, puberty, sexual initiation, death, the cycle of
|
|
the seasons, the traumas of war, as well as more abstract concepts such
|
|
as fear and desire, the yearning for a "spiritual home", or simply the
|
|
quest for meaning.
|
|
|
|
Because such archetypes form the basis of the most elemental and
|
|
primeval facets of human nature, their significance often defies all
|
|
but poetic language. Language is a product of the intellect and of
|
|
rationality; archetypes and archetypal patterns extend beyond the
|
|
intellect and rationality. In consequence, they generally find
|
|
expression most directly by means of symbols, because a symbol does not
|
|
address itself to the intellect alone. Symbols evoke resonances deep
|
|
within the psyche - from within a realm the psychologist calls "the
|
|
unconscious."
|
|
|
|
Archetypal symbols (as opposed to tribal or personal symbols) pertain
|
|
to mankind as a whole. The phoenix, for example, with its connotations
|
|
of death and rebirth, is a typical archetypal symbol. We must note how
|
|
often the phoenix shows up in the abduction experience. Archetypal
|
|
patterns are also frequently symbolized by anthropomorphic figures.
|
|
|
|
When symbols are organized into a coherent narrative, and become a
|
|
myth, the idea of "myth" should not be thought of in terms of "fiction"
|
|
or "fantasy". On the contrary, myths imply something altogether more
|
|
complex and more profound. Historically, myths were not devised simply
|
|
to entertain and amuse, but to explain things - to account for reality.
|
|
|
|
Most collective myths have both an archetypal and a purely tribal
|
|
aspect. Either of these can be emphasized at the expense of the other,
|
|
and the myth itself then becomes either archetypal or tribal. An
|
|
archetypal myth, as stated above, like the universal symbols it
|
|
embodies, reflects certain constants of human experience. Whatever its
|
|
origin in a specific time or place, an archetypal myth will transcend
|
|
such factors and refer to something shared by humanity as a whole. The
|
|
unique quality and virtue of an archetypal myth is that it can be used
|
|
to bring people together by stressing what they have in common.
|
|
|
|
Tribal myths, in contrast, emphasize not what men have in common, but
|
|
what divides them. Tribal myths do not pertain to the universal and
|
|
shared aspects of human experience. On the contrary, they serve to
|
|
extol and exalt a specific tribe, culture, people, nation or ideology -
|
|
necessarily at the expense of other tribes, cultures, peoples, nations
|
|
and ideologies. Instead of leading inwards towards self- confrontation
|
|
and self-recognition, tribal myths point outwards, towards self-
|
|
glorification and self-aggrandizement. Such myths derive their impetus
|
|
and energy from insecurity, from blindness, from prejudice - and from
|
|
the willful creation of a scapegoat.36
|
|
|
|
Cultural myths reflect a deep-rooted uncertainty about inner identity.
|
|
They define an external identity by means of contrast and negation.
|
|
Everything that the enemy is, one is not. Everything that the enemy is
|
|
not, one is. This can be seen in recent times, of course, in the cold
|
|
war policies of the former Soviet Union and the United States, and this
|
|
is the source of religious intolerance, and of bigotry.
|
|
|
|
Societies conspire to hijack archetypal myths as a matter of course.
|
|
Psychologist Charles Tart has compared hypnosis with the socialization
|
|
process, arguing that enculturation has many features in common with
|
|
the hypnotic inductions and behaviors observed in the laboratory. A
|
|
culture's power to induce hypnosis, however, is more pervasive, long-
|
|
lasting and effective than a single hypnotist's, for it is not limited
|
|
to a few sessions and may use innumerable punishments and rewards to
|
|
strengthen its effects. Nearly all members of a given culture share a
|
|
"consensus trance," which is virtually unbreakable, so that they are
|
|
continually re- hypnotized by most of the people they encounter.37
|
|
|
|
Since time immemorial and continuing now, the same triad of urgencies,
|
|
of feeding, procreating and overcoming are the motivating powers. These
|
|
primal concerns are the source of constant anxiety and the source of
|
|
fear-driven philosophies such as those just mentioned. In order to
|
|
assure these urgencies, the first requirement has heretofore been the
|
|
suppression of the natural impulse to mercy. In other words, tribal
|
|
myths work against the spirit of the mystics mentioned earlier.
|
|
|
|
The quality of mercy, empathy or compassion is a gift of nature. It is
|
|
apparent in all the higher mammals. Compassion is not tribal -or
|
|
species- oriented but open to the appeal of the whole range of living
|
|
beings. Therefore, one of the first concerns of the elder, prophets and
|
|
established priesthoods of tribal or institutionally oriented
|
|
mythological systems has always been, writes Joseph Campbell, "...to
|
|
limit and define the permitted field of expression of this expansive
|
|
faculty of the heart, holding it to a fixed focus within the field
|
|
exclusively of [the localized mythology], while deliberately directing
|
|
outward every impulse to violence. Within the [specific culture] deeds
|
|
of violence are forbidden: "Thou shalt not kill... Thou shalt not covet
|
|
they neighbor's wife" (Exodus 20:13, 17; also, Deuteronomy 5:17,21),
|
|
whereas abroad, such acts are required: "you shall put all its males to
|
|
the sword, but the women... you shall take as booty to yourselves"
|
|
(Deuteronomy 20:13- 14). In Islamic thought the nations of the earth
|
|
are distinguished as of two realms: dar al'islam, "the realm of
|
|
submission to Allah," and dar al'harb "the realm of war, " which is to
|
|
say, the rest of the world. And in Christian thought, the words
|
|
reported of the resurrected Christ to his eleven remaining apostles -
|
|
"Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19)
|
|
- have been interpreted as a divine mandate for conquest of the
|
|
planet."38
|
|
|
|
"It all comes of misreading metaphors, taking denotation for
|
|
connotation, the messenger for the message...[and thereby] throwing
|
|
both life and thought off balance. To which the only generally
|
|
recognized correction as yet proposed has been the no less wrongheaded
|
|
one of dismissing the metaphors as lies (which indeed they are, when so
|
|
construed), thus scrapping the whole dictionary of the language of the
|
|
soul (this is a metaphor) by which mankind has been elevated to
|
|
interests beyond procreation, economics, and "the greatest good of the
|
|
greatest number.""39
|
|
|
|
The UFO complex could be the grand messenger of our time. Yet, most
|
|
ufologists may be guilty of taking denotation for connotation, the
|
|
messenger for the message. At the same time mainstream science promotes
|
|
the policy of dismissing the metaphor as a lie.
|
|
|
|
Though those who promote a tribal reading of mythologies would have us
|
|
believe a literalist's point of view, Joseph Campbell writes, "Like
|
|
dreams, myths are productions of the human imagination. Their images,
|
|
consequently, though derived from the material world and its supposed
|
|
history, are, like dreams, revelations of the deepest hopes, desires,
|
|
and fears, potentialities and conflicts, of the human will - which in
|
|
turn is moved by the energies of the organs of the body operating
|
|
variously against each other and in concert. Every myth, that is to
|
|
say, whether or not by intention, is psychologically symbolic. Its
|
|
narratives and images are to be read, therefore, not literally, but as
|
|
metaphors."40
|
|
|
|
If enculturation is pervasive, archetypal motifs are sempiternal.
|
|
Jacques Vallee has described four components to myth, in the context of
|
|
UFO phenomena, to explain the power these experiences have to change
|
|
our beliefs: the emotional, the celestial, the psychic, and the
|
|
spiritual.41
|
|
|
|
The emotional component is a kind of seduction that intrigues the
|
|
psyche and nevertheless hints at danger. This would include some
|
|
stories of sexual encounters that may seem absurd and shocking but form
|
|
a significant part of the total mystery.
|
|
|
|
The celestial component includes heavenly signs, contact with angels
|
|
and with the creatures of other planets, and the rest of those denizens
|
|
who form tales of outside intervention in human affairs.
|
|
|
|
The psychic component in the sightings is the most difficult to
|
|
research because ordinary logic does not apply to the paranormal. And
|
|
yet, a thread of apparently absurd events remain consistent from case
|
|
to case. In his book Secret Life, Doctor Jacobs notes the convergence
|
|
of minute detail found in the 300 abduction cases he researched. His
|
|
work supports, rather than diminishes, the work of others in the field
|
|
of abduction research. Vallee calls this thread of non-ordinary "logic"
|
|
which connects the seeming absurd details of these reports "metalogic."
|
|
|
|
The spiritual component is perhaps the most ominous aspect of the UFO
|
|
myth. It is unnerving to witness how well UFO and related phenomena
|
|
fits into the framework established by the entire complex of miracles
|
|
recorded in human history; from gods descending from the stars in
|
|
ancient Sumerian mythology, to the Pillar of Fire and the Burning Bush
|
|
in the Old Testament, to apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVMs),
|
|
to Joseph Smith's visions of Angel Moroni leading to the creation of
|
|
the Mormon Church.
|
|
|
|
In our times, perhaps more then at any other time, we see a tremendous
|
|
struggle between tribal and archetypal mythologies, as traditional
|
|
institutions of meaning begin to fail us and we begin to look
|
|
elsewhere. The anxieties created by this cosmic tug-of-war add to the
|
|
already overwhelming stresses of our time. As mentioned before, such
|
|
stress is at once an impetus for change, and responsible for fear-
|
|
driven adherence to tribal and religious dogma.
|
|
|
|
One of the most powerfully resonant of all symbolic and mythic motifs
|
|
is that of the apocalypse. It occurs frequently in the history of most
|
|
the world's major religions, and is used in a variety of ways.
|
|
Sometimes it is employed archetypally - to induce, as a preliminary to
|
|
judgment, soul-searching and self-assessment, whether of an individual
|
|
or of a culture. Sometimes it is produced as an explanation for
|
|
assorted ills, real, imagined or anticipated. But mostly, it is
|
|
deployed to intimidate people, to play upon their guilt, break down
|
|
resistance and extort trust. Sometimes it is utilized in a crudely
|
|
tribal fashion, as an instrument for creating a self-styled elite of
|
|
the "saved" and opposed to the mass of the "damned". Sometimes it is
|
|
even made to serve as an excuse for persecuting the supposedly
|
|
"damned". Sometimes this motif is corrupted by a charismatic madmen who
|
|
leads hundreds to their death. It is interesting to note how often the
|
|
apocalypse motif shows up in the abduction experience.
|
|
|
|
A second archetype worthy of note in light of our topic is what might
|
|
be called the cabal, or the "invisible junta" or secret society. These
|
|
can be found across the world, in every culture, in every age. Usually,
|
|
the secret society is characterized as a conclave of puppet-masters, a
|
|
clandestine circle of individuals working for good or ill "behind the
|
|
scenes", manipulating others, orchestrating events, applying pressure,
|
|
pulling strings, "making things happen".
|
|
|
|
Dr. Vallee and others have pointed out, and I have mentioned above,
|
|
that the abduction experience matches in general structure the kind of
|
|
initiatory experience utilized by secret societies. I believe it
|
|
possible that these experiences are indeed initiatory and that they are
|
|
produced by collective humankind in preparation for bringing to
|
|
consciousness the moment of transcendence we are now experiencing.
|
|
Below are the general stages of a typical abduction experience followed
|
|
by the general stages of an initiation ritual in parenthesis:
|
|
|
|
1. An unsuspecting person is confronted by small, strange looking
|
|
creatures, often with odd clothing (The candidate is confronted by
|
|
members of the group wearing special costumes.)
|
|
|
|
2. From the first few seconds of an abduction, nothing is within the
|
|
realm of normal human experience. S/he is paralyzed, and rendered simi-
|
|
conscious (S/he is blindfolded.)
|
|
|
|
3. The abductee is spirited off, often by levitation, often somehow
|
|
through closed windows, out into the night, up into a waiting craft
|
|
(S/he is led by the arm through a rough and difficult route).
|
|
|
|
4. The abductee is taken to a specially designed chamber that has no
|
|
windows and is placed in such a way that s/he can only see part of what
|
|
is going on (S/he is taken into a specially designed chamber that has
|
|
no windows and is placed in such a way that s/he can only see part of
|
|
it).
|
|
|
|
5. After a physical examination by short creatures, the abductee is
|
|
confronted by a creature that looks similar to, but is taller than, the
|
|
short creatures. It is obvious this taller creature is "in control"
|
|
(S/he is placed in the presence of a "Master.")
|
|
|
|
6. The taller creature puts the abductee through further physical
|
|
procedures, then moves on to various mental procedures, part of which
|
|
is often to answer questions, or to solve a problem) S/he is given a
|
|
test and made to answer questions.
|
|
|
|
7. During the mental procedures administered by the taller being, the
|
|
abductee is often made to see images telepathically, or is taken into a
|
|
kind of multimedia room and show images on a screen. The images often
|
|
have to do with various forms of personal or mass destruction (S/he is
|
|
shown a variety of symbols designed to remind him of death.
|
|
|
|
8. Often the abductee sees other humans in dire circumstances, or even
|
|
parts of humans in large vats. The physical procedures are often
|
|
painful and always frightening (The situation suggests that s/he may
|
|
not survive the ordeal.)
|
|
|
|
9. Often the abductee is given something to drink (S/he is given food
|
|
or drink.)
|
|
|
|
10. The abductee is rendered unconscious, or simi-conscious and then in
|
|
various ways deposited outside the craft (S/he is blindfolded again and
|
|
led outside).
|
|
|
|
What happens if we begin to read UFO and related phenomena as
|
|
archetypes, metaphors, as the essence of myth?
|
|
|
|
Vallee draws a parallel between religious apparitions, the fairy-faith,
|
|
the reports of dwarf-like beings with supernatural powers, other
|
|
denizens of folk lore and mythology and the present reports of UFO
|
|
landings and abductions. He writes, "Such contact includes abduction,
|
|
ordeal (including surgical operations), and sexual intercourse with the
|
|
aliens. It often leaves marks and scars on the body and the mind, as do
|
|
UFO abductions."42 Valley believes the mechanisms that have generated
|
|
these various beliefs and experiences are identical. Their human
|
|
context and their effect on humans are constant. The phenomenon has
|
|
stable, invariant features.43 If the UFO complex is indeed an outward
|
|
expression of archetypal motifs, then of course, he is right.
|
|
|
|
As the imagery of a dream is metaphorical of the psychology of its
|
|
dreamer, that of a mythology is metaphorical of the psychological
|
|
posture of the people to whom it pertains. The sociological structure
|
|
which arises out of this psychological posture was termed by the
|
|
Africanist Leo Frobenius (1873- 1938) a cultural "monad."44 So, who are
|
|
the people who inform the UFO mythology? Not just the people of the
|
|
United States, for UFO phenomena is world-wide. Not just the Western
|
|
cultures, because UFO phenomena occur in all cultures. Not just those
|
|
who reside in industrialized nations, for UFO phenomena occur in Third
|
|
World Countries. The pervasiveness of the phenomena points towards a
|
|
collective humankind.
|
|
|
|
In The Decline of the West, Oswalk Spengler (1880-1936) distinguished
|
|
"eight colossal monads of great majesty," with a ninth now in
|
|
formation, as having dominated world history since the rise, in the
|
|
fourth millennium BC, of the first literate high cultures. They are:
|
|
(1) the Sumero-Babylonian, (2) the Egyptian, (3) the Greco-Roman
|
|
(Apollonian), (4) the Vedic-Aryan, of India, (5) the Chinese, (6) the
|
|
Maya- Aztec/Incan, (7) the Magian (Persian-Arabian, Judeo- Christian-
|
|
Islamic), (8) the Faustian (Goth-Christian to modern European-
|
|
American), and now, expressed through a Marxian cultural overlay, (9)
|
|
the germinating Russian- Christian.
|
|
|
|
I propose another "colossal monad," one that is informed by an emerging
|
|
world culture. This world culture, having access to probably more
|
|
religious, contemplative, shamanic, and esoteric lore than at any other
|
|
time in history and having a greater and more immediate access to world
|
|
events than ever before, will subsume all previous cultural monads in
|
|
time.
|
|
|
|
These sociological structures have been, up until this time, localized
|
|
(in time and space) and constellating variously in relation to current
|
|
needs and interests. But when a society looses faith in the ability of
|
|
old tribal myths as a source of meaning, the control factor is
|
|
neutralized; primal bioenergies are unbridled.
|
|
|
|
Rising urban crime, corporate greed and personal selfishness can be
|
|
seen as fear driven strategies - an apparently necessary evil as the
|
|
institutions we once relied upon for meaning fail us and insecurity
|
|
becomes the prime motive force. However, the stress resultant from such
|
|
psychological positions may also serve as an impetus to search for
|
|
meaning elsewhere. To seek meaning is native to our species. If I am
|
|
right, UFO and related experience say that we simply must come to terms
|
|
with our modern anxieties and their root causes. We are no longer are
|
|
allowed denial.
|
|
|
|
"Heideger has said that we are living in the time between the death of
|
|
the old gods and the birth of the new, a theme that resonates with
|
|
Jung's idea that UFOs are fundamental symbols of "changes in the
|
|
constellation of psychic dominants, of the archetypes, or [gods] as
|
|
they used to be called, which brings about, or accompany, long-lasting
|
|
transformations of the collective psyche.""45
|
|
|
|
Jung realized that religious vision are experienced "...in times of
|
|
personal and collective distress or danger, or in response to "vital
|
|
psychic need"." He has also noted that today, individuals and cultures
|
|
are faced with a threat, "...namely of being swallowed up in the mass.
|
|
Hence in many places there is a wave of hope in a reappearance of
|
|
Christ, and a visionary rumor has even arisen which expresses
|
|
expectations of redemption. The form it has taken, however, is
|
|
comparable to nothing in the past, but is a typical child of the "age
|
|
of technology." this is the worldwide distribution of the UFO
|
|
phenomenon..."46
|
|
|
|
Writes Kieth Thompson in his book Angels and Aliens, "From the
|
|
archetypal perspective pioneered by Carl Jung, it could be argued that
|
|
each case (of UFO encounter) was a specific instance of an emerging
|
|
shift in the collective structure of reality. Perhaps some entirely
|
|
new, or latent, dimension was beginning to "bleed through" into
|
|
collective consciousness, via particular individuals in particular
|
|
places. Or perhaps something quite ancient from the world soul was
|
|
making its periodic return, in a novel form, as part of a larger cycle
|
|
or spiral of manifestation."47
|
|
|
|
Jung noted that he was not pleased to conclude that the appearance of
|
|
UFOs clearly indicated "coming events which are in accord with the end
|
|
of an era." Such large-scale anomalies typically arise when wholesale
|
|
changes are under way in the balance of forces in the collective
|
|
unconscious. Jung had no doubt that humanity was entering a time of
|
|
profound transition from one set of ruling images - those of the
|
|
Piscean Age coinciding with the rise of Christianity - to a new
|
|
collective disposition of psychic elements related to the era of
|
|
Aquarius.48
|
|
|
|
The life of a mythology derives from the vitality of its symbols as
|
|
metaphors delivering, not simply the idea, but a sense of actual
|
|
participation in the realization of transcendence, infinity and
|
|
abundance.
|
|
|
|
In 1990 Clive Potter, Phillip Mantle and Andrew Walmsley published four
|
|
summaries of cases in which each individual witness claims an "alien
|
|
contact" of some kind. The cases were part of British UFO Research
|
|
Association and Independent UFO Network joint abduction/contactee
|
|
research. In each case the abductee felt that as a direct result of
|
|
their UFO contact experiences, they had been given information - or a
|
|
new awareness - with regards to the future. Further, each felt they had
|
|
a role to play in any future society, or at least, in the transition
|
|
between the old and the new one. In all four cases the experiencer was
|
|
convinced that this information was, and in some cases, still is coming
|
|
to them via "alien contact."49
|
|
|
|
During my own studies over the past ten years I have repeatedly noted
|
|
research with UFO experiencers and abductees that brings to light the
|
|
powerful dimensions of personal growth that can accompany those
|
|
traumatic experiences, especially when these people receive appropriate
|
|
help from knowledgeable mental health facilitators. For instance, an
|
|
intense concern for the planet's survival and a powerful ecological
|
|
consciousness seem to develop for many abductees.
|
|
|
|
It is difficult to avoid the impression that while the debate between
|
|
true believers on both sides of the UFO question presses on with
|
|
questionable productivity, personal and collective belief systems have
|
|
been changing in momentous ways.
|
|
|
|
While we look the other way, the human mythological structure is
|
|
undergoing a fundamental shift. Public opinion surveys reveal that more
|
|
people than ever now take for granted that we are not alone in the
|
|
universe - "inner" as well as "outer" universes, if such a duality
|
|
actually exists. UFOs and related phenomena prod us to take apart
|
|
Western dogma concerning the supposedly interminable gulf between mind
|
|
and matter, spirit and body, culture and world and other familiar
|
|
dichotomies.
|
|
|
|
Joseph Campbell tells us that a fundamental transformation of the
|
|
historical traditions usually subjugating humanity is in prospect. The
|
|
age of the conquering armies of the contending colossal monads may be
|
|
about to close. Boundaries are dissolving. "And along with them, the
|
|
psychological hold [of their] mythological images and related social
|
|
rituals by which they were supported. Old gods are dead or dying and
|
|
people everywhere are searching, asking: What is the new mythology to
|
|
be, the mythology of this unified earth as of one harmonious being?
|
|
|
|
Campbell continues, "One cannot predict the next mythology any more
|
|
than one can predict tonight's dream; for a mythology is... something
|
|
experienced from the heart, from recognitions of identities behind or
|
|
within the appearance of nature, perceiving with love a "thou" where
|
|
there would have been otherwise only an "it.""50
|
|
|
|
With our innate ability to experience compassion, and our collective
|
|
realization of the threat to humankind's viability in the future,
|
|
experienced during a time of profound absence of meaning as familiar
|
|
institutions crumble around us, our natural tendency, therefore, is an
|
|
urgency to take action. And yet enculturation subverts this process by
|
|
reinforcing individuation through tribal mythologies. Thus, in our
|
|
time, we seem to be stuck at an impasse. No wonder we are experiencing
|
|
a profound collective anxiety, and perhaps because of it, close
|
|
encounters of the symbolic kind (CE-S?).
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately, we have more than ancient tribal beliefs and
|
|
enculturation standing in the way of future human evolvement. Though we
|
|
continue to try, it is becoming impossible to ignore runaway
|
|
technology, medicine without compassion, global economies, diminishing
|
|
resources, increasing population, a seemingly doomed ecology, and
|
|
ourselves: an intelligent species floundering in a mythless void,
|
|
cowering in the face of the power to create a new vision. If someone
|
|
would just teach us how to do it.
|
|
|
|
What is needed, then, is a powerful symbol - or symbols, the precursors
|
|
of a mythology, that will suggest a path towards restored harmony and
|
|
well being - that is, the intent of the world-culture monad. It is my
|
|
arguement that the abduction experience provides just such a vehicle
|
|
for change. As the various ethnic and cultural forms dissolve, it is
|
|
the specter of androgynous Anthropos that emerges. In other words,
|
|
generic humankind. And the perfect symbol for that is, the Greys.
|
|
|
|
I think it possible we have collectively created a simi-real
|
|
environment in which such a pedagogical narrative takes place. In this
|
|
scenario, all the members of humankind are held, both in mind and in
|
|
sentiment to the knowledge of our common threat, and thus are moved to
|
|
live in accord with this knowledge. This is the over-riding motivating
|
|
force of the emerging world-culture monad - survival in the face of the
|
|
error of our ways. I think it possible that we, a world culture formed
|
|
of a species gifted with usually latent but potent abilities of
|
|
manifestation, have created a planetary Host, one specially formed to
|
|
communicate this monadic impetus, if in an allegorical form.
|
|
|
|
Allegories are usually a long and elaborate story with many characters
|
|
and incidents through which is illustrated an unstated moral principle
|
|
or abstract truth. By having an apparently absurd, or bizarre surface
|
|
structure, allegory immediately elicits an interpretive response.
|
|
Allegories are based on parallels between two levels of meaning. One is
|
|
suspected while the other is literally presented in an understandable,
|
|
if unbelievable, story. Nothing appears more often in ufology than an
|
|
impulse to get to the "real truth" beyond "mere appearances".
|
|
|
|
In summation of the material thus far presented: I think it possible
|
|
the collective need of humankind to preserve itself in uncertain times
|
|
has called forth latent metanormal abilities to make manifest a
|
|
metaphorical actuality appropriate for this time: UFO phenomena
|
|
culminating in an abduction allegory.
|
|
|
|
In this scenario:
|
|
|
|
First, a threat has been perceived in the collective unconscious of
|
|
humankind. Through panpsychism humankind is moved to collectively
|
|
experience the spirit of the mystic. The subsequent call to action to
|
|
"advance the divine purpose by furthering the good of [our] fellows"
|
|
forms the core of an emerging world culture. Enculturation works
|
|
against the emerging evolution of consciousness. The resulting impasse
|
|
causes stress. Further stress related to ecological decay, overall
|
|
anxiety about our future viability and the failure of traditional
|
|
institutions to impart meaning, forces us past a threshold. An
|
|
allegorical narrative is manifested in semi- real terms by the
|
|
collective force of native metanormal abilities.
|
|
|
|
|
|
***
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Abduction Experience as Allegory
|
|
|
|
Many theories have been posited to explain the abduction experience.
|
|
Space is not available here to annotate each hypothesis. I therefore
|
|
refer the reader to Secret Life by Dr. Jacobs for a comprehensive list
|
|
and his rebuttal to each.51 The following inventory, then, is not
|
|
exhaustive, but included to give the reader an idea of the various
|
|
explanations for the abduction experience: fabrication, repression of
|
|
abuse, hysterical contagion, multiple personality disorder, fantasy-
|
|
prone personalities, the influence of hypnosis, prewaking and
|
|
presleeping states, the will to believe, channeling, hallucinations,
|
|
psychosis, psychogenic fugue state, temporal lobe dysfunction, desire
|
|
for a baby, folklore, archetypal memories, birth trauma, alternative
|
|
realities and finally, the influence of science fiction.
|
|
|
|
In Jacob's own words, "All of these explanations - psychological,
|
|
psychiatric, cultural, and exotic - fail to account for critically
|
|
important aspects of the abduction event. They ignore the richness and
|
|
abundance of similar, frequently exact detail and the extraordinary
|
|
convergence of the abductee narrative across all cultural boundaries.
|
|
For example, mindscan, visualization, and many other abduction
|
|
procedures (explained below) have never been publicized or written
|
|
about even in the most esoteric UFO literature, yet virtually all
|
|
abductees (in his studies) describe them. Abductees tell essentially
|
|
the same story regardless of their age, race, religion, upbringing,
|
|
occupation, economic status, educational level, intelligence, life-
|
|
style, or ethnic or cultural background."52
|
|
|
|
It is true that none of these explanations by themselves address even
|
|
most of the myriad aspects that make up UFO lore. Neither does a
|
|
literalist ET hypothesis. However, the three hypotheses described in
|
|
this article, working in concert, do address most UFO and related
|
|
phenomena.
|
|
|
|
As we have now seen, through panpsycism and the holographic paradigm of
|
|
the universe there may be no separation between mind, spirit and matter
|
|
- no separation between subjective and objective. In other words, the
|
|
abduction experience could well be internally generated, yet still
|
|
feature the complexity, and convergence of minute detail across
|
|
geographical and cultural boundaries, because the internal mechanisms
|
|
that would generate such narratives are informed by all humankind, at a
|
|
moment of trancendence.
|
|
|
|
Jacobs argues, "None of these theories explain the lack of strong
|
|
personal content in the abduction accounts. For instance, the narrative
|
|
contain little about the abductee's past life, personal life, or
|
|
fantasy life. Abduction accounts contain almost no material related to
|
|
the person's social, cultural, familial, or occupational activities."53
|
|
|
|
Yet, if collective humankind has manifested this experience, one would
|
|
expect a generic message - one having more to do with collective
|
|
anxieties.
|
|
|
|
Even the "alien's" color may be meaningful. As we approach the
|
|
millennium, we find a society awash in information, but with a paucity
|
|
of meaning. The ancient traditions and institutions they spawned have
|
|
failed us. We have awakened from our collective dream where choices are
|
|
black or white, to a time when it is becoming impossible to think in
|
|
such simple and comfortable terms. Our lives, our thinking, our choices
|
|
are now rendered in shades of grey - a perfect color for our proxies.
|
|
If we allow a free-flow of associations, we soon notice that the
|
|
"alien's" grey, or even pink-grey, color is also the color of the organ
|
|
from which these denizens may arise to inform us of our unconscious
|
|
desire to transcend what has gone before.
|
|
|
|
Above, I mentioned how the "aliens" have a sameness about them, how
|
|
they don't seem to change with the passing of time. In fact, they
|
|
compare well with mannequins, or generic homonid. Thereby, a light is
|
|
thrown upon collective humankind. We are center stage in this theatre
|
|
of the absurd.
|
|
|
|
The Beings overall fetus-like stature may be metaphorical for a primal,
|
|
basic, new or original message. On a deeper level, the stature of these
|
|
creatures may represent a hint towards deciphering the allegory in
|
|
which they operate. The hint could be that we should think about the
|
|
emergence of new life, or new consciousness. Considering the over-all
|
|
theme of creating an "alien"- human hybrid, perhaps the message is that
|
|
we are becoming something different than what we have been. We are
|
|
becoming what has been, and still is, alien to us - at least on a
|
|
cognitive level.
|
|
|
|
If collective humankind has caused this manifestation to herald the
|
|
emerging into consciousness an awareness of our native metanormal
|
|
abilities and the spirit of the mystics, the above symbolic
|
|
possibilities make sense.
|
|
|
|
With their giant, intimidating eyes, the "aliens" are reported to stare
|
|
right into our souls. They seem very interested in how abductees
|
|
assimilate their various experiences during the abduction - thereby
|
|
throwing the attention back upon ourselves once again. We know nothing
|
|
of them, but they seem to encourage us to discover much about
|
|
ourselves. If thousands of people in the United States alone have had
|
|
the abduction experience, shouldn't "they" have enough information
|
|
about the psycho-social functions of our minds by now? Perhaps that
|
|
isn't the point.
|
|
|
|
The physical examination each abductee is made to endure during the
|
|
first phase of the abduction can also be seen as a metaphor for our
|
|
times. The examination, much like a physical given before insurance is
|
|
granted, is highly efficient and routine. Though the abductee may be
|
|
frightened witless, the abductors show no emotional response
|
|
whatsoever. The abductee is made to feel like a powerless lab animal.
|
|
If anything, the abductors will say (telepathically) something inane
|
|
like, "You shouldn't be frightened of this," or, "This won't hurt," and
|
|
then it does. If I were going to try and express anxiety, through a
|
|
story, regarding the impersonal, compassionless, alienating direction
|
|
that our medical practices are moving towards, I couldn't think of a
|
|
better narrative than grey, impersonal beings doing strange things to
|
|
me in an alien environment - the perfect generic reduction.
|
|
|
|
By examining an abduction experience in detail, it is possible to
|
|
reveal further the metaphorical content of the stages which combine to
|
|
make up the allegorical narrative of this initiation experience.
|
|
|
|
After studying abductions for several years Dr. Jacobs realized that
|
|
the procedures examined below fit together into a standard structure.
|
|
There are Primary, Secondary and Ancillary experiences which are broken
|
|
down into Physical, Mental, and Reproductive procedures. Primary
|
|
experiences are: Physical - examinations, tissue samples and implants;
|
|
Mental - staring (various PSI54 induced physiological and psychological
|
|
activities); Reproductive - urological- gynecological examinations,
|
|
egg-sperm collection, embryo implanting, fetal extraction. Secondary
|
|
experiences are: Physical - the use of various machines during
|
|
examinations; Mental - visualization, imaging, envisioning, staging,
|
|
(all terms developed by Dr. Jacobs, each explained below), and testing;
|
|
Reproductive - child presentations in their various forms. Ancillary
|
|
experiences are: miscellaneous physical activities such as surgeries
|
|
and cures; Mental - media display (another Jacobsian term), information
|
|
transfer (another PSI activity); Reproductive -involuntary and/or
|
|
compulsive sexual activity with or without "humans" and/ or "hybrids".
|
|
|
|
Procedures such as examinations, tissue samples and implants can be
|
|
"read" metaphorically as anxiety about run-away medical practice at the
|
|
hands of dehumanizing and alienating doctors and technicians.
|
|
|
|
Reproductive procedures are a constant feature of the abduction
|
|
experience and seem ultimately directed to the production of hybrid
|
|
beings. Women are forced to endure the extraction and implantation of
|
|
eggs, the extraction of fetuses and unwanted pregnancies. Men are
|
|
forced to endure the extraction of sperm.55 These procedures may
|
|
illustrate a complex of human anxieties about the future of the once
|
|
private joy of creating a family. Test tube babies, artificial
|
|
insemination, sperm donors, women paid to carry another woman's child,
|
|
the specter of cloning - while many of these modern medical
|
|
possibilities bring with them the possibility of families where once
|
|
there were none, science has raced forward at a shocking rate, a rate
|
|
which leaves cultures and individuals scarce time to adapt. We are left
|
|
in wonderment, disillusionment and confusion. Where does artificial
|
|
insemination fit into the divine plan? What happens when humankind take
|
|
over a realm once owned by the Almighty?
|
|
|
|
Dr. Jacobs found the primary mental experience to be a process he named
|
|
"staring". "Through the abduction, both as a way of communicating with
|
|
the abductee and, presumably, of examining and altering her mental and
|
|
emotional state, the Beings stare deeply into the abductee's eyes."56
|
|
Under the realm of staring are several special uses of this telepathic
|
|
device. One of them is Mindscan.
|
|
|
|
Mindscan is administered by the taller being (the Master in the
|
|
initiation ritual). Again, the abductee is made to feel powerless. The
|
|
abductee's objections or attempts to find out more information are not
|
|
dealt with seriously. "Mindscan entails deep, penetrating staring into
|
|
the abductee's eyes. Abductees commonly feel that data of some sort is
|
|
being extracted from their minds. We do not know what the information
|
|
is, how it is extracted, or what the Beings do with it. Once abductee
|
|
thinks that they transfer it to other Beings" minds."57
|
|
|
|
Both general staring techniques and Mindscan can be read metaphorically
|
|
as a fear of loss of individuality, a fear of the loss of private
|
|
thoughts, and the fear of the loss of personal liberty by totalitarian
|
|
authorities. Generally, this is the fear of powerlessness in the face
|
|
of a passionless, all-powerful force (the advance of technology, the
|
|
de-humanization of the corporate world). Abductees often feel as if
|
|
they are "falling into the eyes" of the taller being. What better
|
|
expression of the fear of becoming lost in the mass, as Jung suggested?
|
|
|
|
"During Mindscan, the Taller Being can elicit specific emotions in the
|
|
abductee, such as fear and terror. Often he will create an instant rush
|
|
of pleasurable emotions in the abductee that "bonds" her to him. As he
|
|
stares deeply into her eyes, she may feel that the Taller Being is
|
|
really a "good" individual. She wants to help him."58 She may even be
|
|
induced to "love" him. After the experience the abductee will often
|
|
know s/he has been duped and experience the resultant shame and
|
|
confusion. What better way to address the emotional manipulations of
|
|
campaign propaganda, hollow religious traditions, and of individuals
|
|
crippled by a lack of guidance and meaning? Generally, this procedure
|
|
may underscore disillusionment and the loss of faith in ones ability to
|
|
judge the motivations of others, in a time when old structures no
|
|
longer guarantee social restraint.
|
|
|
|
One of the secondary experiences are Machine Examinations. Various
|
|
kinds of machines come out of walls, down from the ceiling, or are
|
|
"wheeled" over from a side area to the abductee. Most experiencers
|
|
think they are devices for recording, like an x-ray, or scanning
|
|
device. Various other kinds of machines are used during other
|
|
procedures, such as gynecological and urological manipulations. In the
|
|
main, these machines buz, tingle, features flashing lights, and don't
|
|
seem to harm or alter the abductee. They perhaps represent the
|
|
mysterious equipment used by modern medicine, and underscore
|
|
powerlessness, alienation and fear of modern technology.
|
|
|
|
"Secondary mental procedures consist of having an abductee visualize
|
|
scenes and objects that evoke an emotional or intellectual response.
|
|
This allows the aliens to examine human emotions, abilities, thought
|
|
processes, memory and perhaps even intelligence. During these
|
|
procedures, as in Mindscan, an alien stares deeply into the abductee's
|
|
eyes."59
|
|
|
|
Imaging is a secondary visualization technique. A Taller Being comes
|
|
over and stands next to the abductee. S/he is shown a screen-like
|
|
apparatus and images begin to appear on it. The scene is often
|
|
abhorrent and disturbing. Scenes of death and destruction, war, atomic
|
|
explosions and the end of the world are typical. Also typical are
|
|
sexually charged scenes. Sometimes the images are mundane and evoke a
|
|
neutral response. Though it is conceivable these images caused the
|
|
formation of entire religious movements in the past, the scenes do not
|
|
appear to have any prophetic value. During Imaging one fundamental
|
|
factor stands out: A Taller Being stands by the abductee and stares
|
|
deeply into his/er eyes during the procedure. "He" seems to want to
|
|
analyze the emotional effects of viewing the images.
|
|
|
|
If my hypotheses are right, if collective humankind has manifested an
|
|
initiation in semi-real terms, it would make sense that part of the
|
|
initiatory experience would be a facing of the anxieties we deny in
|
|
consciousness. It would make sense that the authority figure would want
|
|
to see how we react. The symbolic message might be: "Are we getting
|
|
through? Look at your fear of the future. Will you let the world end in
|
|
a nuclear debacle? Do you want life to become more and more mundane
|
|
until it is unbearable? Will sex remain the realm of obsessive
|
|
behavior, or will you integrate this activity into a balanced
|
|
experience of life?
|
|
|
|
Media displays are an ancillary mental procedure. Within something like
|
|
a multi-media room, abductees are show moving pictures of beautiful and
|
|
idyllic landscapes. One sees majestic mountains, rivers, beautiful
|
|
birds, fields of grain, etc. The scenes always feature perfect weather.
|
|
No evidence of civilization can be seen. No humans or aliens are seen.
|
|
Abductee's have felt that these scenes might be depictions of a world
|
|
the aliens are creating, one that may be important for humans at some
|
|
point. One abductee studied by Dr. Jacobs thought that she was seeing
|
|
planet Earth after alien intervention and that the display was a kind
|
|
of propaganda. She got the feeling of being manipulated by "Big
|
|
Brother".
|
|
|
|
If collective humankind were to create a simi-real world, one would
|
|
expect it to be a generic world. If one wished to express in a symbolic
|
|
way, on the level of emotions, the fear of the loss of individuality
|
|
and free choice, one would expect the feeling of Big Brother running
|
|
the operation.
|
|
|
|
"Secondary reproductive procedures do not involve reproduction itself,
|
|
but rather the interaction between abductees and what appears to be the
|
|
product of the alien breeding program. In these strange encounters, the
|
|
aliens carefully watch as women, men, and children are required either
|
|
to observe or physically interact with bizarre looking "offspring"."60
|
|
|
|
The "incubatorium" is a room where the abductee sees scores of what
|
|
appear to be fetuses in the process of incubation. There are seen
|
|
floating in containers filled with a liquid solution, or lying down in
|
|
either liquid or dry environments. The containers are often attached to
|
|
apparatus which appear to be life-support systems. The environment is
|
|
cold and lab-like. Aliens who work here are simply doing routine jobs.
|
|
They are emotionless. The fetuses do not seem alive as we would
|
|
understand it, yet they seem to be placed in order of stages of growth.
|
|
|
|
This stage of the abduction experience is obvious on a metaphorical
|
|
level. Here is a clear expression of angst generated from runaway
|
|
technology without parallel cultural development. Where do test tube
|
|
babies fit into our mythologies, our religions? What do these advances
|
|
in science say about our future? What does the future hold for our
|
|
prodigy?
|
|
|
|
"In another child-presentation procedure, the aliens take the abductee
|
|
into a room either singly or with a group of other abductees and show
|
|
her a nursery-like area containing as many as a hundred babies.... More
|
|
often than not, they are lying in hard, transparent boxes. Obviously
|
|
not fetuses, these babies are old enough to live on their own. However,
|
|
the babies appear phlegmatic and sickly."61 Abductees feel like the
|
|
babies should be crying, but they are not. The "aliens" attending the
|
|
babies often just stand there, almost as if guarding the room. The
|
|
overall impression is that in a place where there should be much life,
|
|
there is little if any. The abductees, regardless of their
|
|
predisposition to babies, are forced to view this disturbing scene. One
|
|
abductee argued, "Sorry, but you picked the wrong person. I don't care
|
|
about babies. I don't even like babies." The "alien" replied: "That's
|
|
all right, you're still involved. You're still involved."62
|
|
|
|
If on some metanormal level we are sending ourselves a generic message,
|
|
one would expect the message to apply regardless of the individual
|
|
abductee's personal preferences. The Nursery motif could well represent
|
|
the extreme logical outcome if we continue in the direction we are
|
|
going with our own children. Children are shipped off to nurseries
|
|
where they are cared for en mass. While some facilities undoubtedly
|
|
provide quality care, more often we have found this is sadly not the
|
|
case. Instead, our children simply find alien childcare. In a more
|
|
general sense, this scene adds to an overall theme of dehumanization-
|
|
which in a sense implies that we are becoming alien to ourselves. At
|
|
another level, as we continue to concern ourselves with ourselves, our
|
|
children become alien to us.
|
|
|
|
"Child presentations involve more than viewing. Abductees are also
|
|
required to touch, hold, or hug these offspring. Although abductees
|
|
will see more babies than any other age group of Being, they are also
|
|
often presented with young children and even adolescents. Apparently it
|
|
is absolutely essential for the child to have human contact. Although
|
|
the aliens prefer that the humans give nurturing, loving contact, any
|
|
physical contact seems to suffice."63
|
|
|
|
If we are sending cosmic proxies to manipulate our beliefs, one would
|
|
expect both positive and negative reinforcement. First we are shown the
|
|
possible outcome of our move towards institutionalizing our children in
|
|
lieu of parenting, then we are forced to nurture these children,
|
|
whether we like it or not; at the same time it is pointed out that
|
|
touching and holding are absolutely essential. The main theme of child
|
|
presentation is that these children need human contact regardless if
|
|
they are pretty, regardless if they are sickly in appearance,
|
|
regardless if they are alien to us. This is tough talk. "Rough love",
|
|
it's called in some forms of therapy. It's time for us to grow up and
|
|
move along in our development. We are no longer allowed to deny that
|
|
clearly, we must not continue to abandon our children.
|
|
|
|
Jacobs argues, that if abduction experiences are internally generated,
|
|
"We would expect abductees to claim that communication that takes place
|
|
with aliens is widespread and deeply searching. As with the contactees
|
|
reports or channeled information, we would know about where the aliens
|
|
came from, what their planets were like, why they were here... and so
|
|
forth. In fact, abduction accounts contain no such information. We know
|
|
nothing about the aliens" home environment. We do not even know if they
|
|
have a home environment. We have no knowledge about the aliens" lives
|
|
outside the UFO."64
|
|
|
|
If my hypotheses are correct, the enigmatic and generic surface
|
|
narrative may be a sort of cosmic allegory woven of several metaphors
|
|
which become the classic elements of UFO lore. As the lore crystalizes,
|
|
the manifestations become more tangible, yet always just as enigmatic,
|
|
and in this way, guaranteeing our continued attention. Abductions
|
|
represent the most advanced narrative featuring highly evolved symbols.
|
|
If the "aliens" are merely actors upon our co-created stage, their
|
|
specific purpose may not need the support of a background narrative to
|
|
be effective messengers of a story we have written, but which beckons
|
|
from a realm of symbols, metaphor, and even puns.
|
|
|
|
Look again at how various aspects of the abduction experience could be
|
|
metaphorical reflections of the anxieties humankind is now experiencing
|
|
as we approach the year 2000:
|
|
|
|
Abductees are floated through a closed window - fear of losing the
|
|
security of the Newtonian-Cartesian reality.
|
|
|
|
People are abducted by technologically advance but emotionless aliens -
|
|
fear of runaway technology that is alien to us and controlled by
|
|
dehumanized technocrats.
|
|
|
|
Abductees are involved in a narrative about a breeding program run by
|
|
generic looking, emotionless aliens - fear for the future of our
|
|
prodigy and a warning about the dehumanizing effect of modern culture.
|
|
|
|
Abductees are forced to endure frightening examinations and experiments
|
|
by nearly faceless aliens - fear of runaway medical practices advanced
|
|
by "faceless" practitioners.
|
|
|
|
Mindscan - fear of the loss of individuality and fear of the loss of
|
|
free thought.
|
|
|
|
Visualization, Media display - fear of ecological and other worldwide
|
|
disasters.
|
|
|
|
Mindscan, Imaging, Envisioning, Staging, Media Display - fear of
|
|
fascist regimes, Big Brother.
|
|
|
|
If my hypotheses are correct, collective humankind has created proxies
|
|
to act as the facilitators of our repressed anxiety and fear of
|
|
transcendence - facilitators needed to counter the effect of the
|
|
hypnotic effect of enculturation. An alien was asked by an abductee,
|
|
"Do you sleep?" It said, "We are always sleeping." Clearly, our
|
|
manifestations tell us they ultimately spring forth from our collective
|
|
unconscious. It is we who must wake up from our collective sleep.
|
|
|
|
Dr. Jacobs argues, "We would expect that the totality of the events
|
|
would remain permanently random (if the experiences were purely
|
|
subjective), without the congruence and richness of detail that
|
|
characterize abduction accounts. In fact, we find many accounts to be
|
|
so precisely similar that, in order to match other random, internally
|
|
generated accounts, the abductees would have to be not only extremely
|
|
well versed in published abduction literature, they would also have to
|
|
know the minutiae of events that have never been published in the
|
|
literature and, indeed, that even most abduction researchers are
|
|
unaware of."65
|
|
|
|
Perhaps Dr. Jacobs puts the horse before the cart. If humankind has
|
|
collectively manifested a grand metanormal allegory, all humankind who
|
|
individually experience them would experience the same metaphors which
|
|
make up the abduction narrative.
|
|
|
|
Until now, no alternative hypothesis has emerged that takes into
|
|
account the totality of the data in UFO and related experience. I
|
|
believe that together, my hypotheses address most aspects of this grand
|
|
enigma and also address the overall convergence of data.
|
|
|
|
On the surface, an allegory must work as a real story, but contain
|
|
enough absurdity to hint that the important message lies below the
|
|
narrative structure. If we examine each mental procedure, such as
|
|
Staging (the alien theatre), or Testing (where abductees are given a
|
|
test s/he is not prepared for), it seems obvious that we are being
|
|
examined by real aliens. But think. How many people do these "aliens"
|
|
need to test before they understand our psycho-sociological makeup?
|
|
Thousands? Millions? Many million?
|
|
|
|
En masse, these procedures make more sense as an initiatory experience.
|
|
A story-line apparently real, but in fact allegorical. We are being
|
|
faced with ourselves. In the new world-culture paradigm, after gaining
|
|
"the spirit of the mystics", after becoming aware of our connection to
|
|
all that is, there can no longer be any denial. Rationalizations will
|
|
no longer sustain us. We must see ourselves as we are - missing our
|
|
ideals - straying from compassion - becoming alien to ourselves.
|
|
Abductees follow in the path of mystics, saints, and those who have
|
|
suddenly transcended into a new consciousness before. These people are
|
|
the forerunners of a new kind of human being.
|
|
|
|
In summation:
|
|
|
|
1. All things are connected on some level. The concept of panpsychic
|
|
interactionism "...integrates data from various scientific fields to
|
|
suggest that our human capacity for development arises from a
|
|
creativity present throughout the universe [and it] highlights evidence
|
|
that entities operating at different levels, from subatomic events to
|
|
human activity, prehend or contact one another in a mutually formative
|
|
manner."66 The holographic paradigm supports panpsychic interactionism
|
|
with modern scientific research.
|
|
|
|
2. Through panpsychic interactionism all humankind (at least)
|
|
communicate, if on a pre-cognitive level. Therefore, common symbols are
|
|
shared. For the first time in history, common symbols are also shared
|
|
en masse through mundane means such as mass communications.
|
|
|
|
3. Through mundane means and panpsychism collective humankind has
|
|
become intimately aware of (if on a pre-cognitive level) the severe
|
|
threats to its survival. This comes at a time when old institutions and
|
|
mythologies have failed to provide meaning for our lives.
|
|
|
|
4. A threshold is surpassed. Through panpsychism, there is a collective
|
|
calling forth of metanormal abilities normally latent in the
|
|
individual. A simi-real realm populated by simi-real denizens is
|
|
manifested to express our collective anxieties. The structure of the
|
|
most advanced form of the manifestation is an elaborate allegorical
|
|
narrative called the abduction experience. This allegory is constructed
|
|
of a string of metaphorical events, each representing a specific
|
|
grouping of fears and anxieties. The allegory works on many levels,
|
|
from the appearance of the "aliens" to the specific motifs presented.
|
|
|
|
5. The abduction experience works as an initiation which facilitates
|
|
bringing a new world-culture consciousness to the individual. The core
|
|
of the emerging world-culture has been called "the spirit of the
|
|
mystics". This new awareness re- awakens love of life and all creation,
|
|
a feeling of connection to all that is and an urge to take action for
|
|
the good of all. Therefore, the "aliens", by way of the abduction
|
|
experience, are heralding a moment of human transcendence. This
|
|
transcendence in awareness can be compared with the move from
|
|
adolescence to adulthood. The experience also blatantly points out
|
|
humankind"s potential for the transcendence of what has been normal
|
|
functioning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
If the abduction experience is indeed escalating in incidence at this
|
|
time, as data seems to show, it is because if a greater life is
|
|
possible for the human race, its permanent establishment is far from
|
|
guaranteed. Nuclear war (note the proliferation of nuclear weapons
|
|
among Third World countries and Russia's continued instability),
|
|
ecological disaster, social upheaval and other possible catastrophes
|
|
could so diminish life on earth that the chance of further social and
|
|
spiritual progress would be slim at best. Human evolution is not
|
|
automatically progressive.
|
|
|
|
For every species that exists today, perhaps thousands have passed
|
|
away. There is no guarantee that modern societies -or even the human
|
|
species itself - will last long enough to collectively come to the
|
|
consciousness heralded by the "aliens". Indeed, our chronic depravity
|
|
has led some thinkers to suppose that humans have already evolved in a
|
|
fatal direction.
|
|
|
|
Michael Murphy quotes Arthur Koestler:
|
|
|
|
The evidence from man's past record and from
|
|
contemporary brain research strongly suggests that at
|
|
some point during the last explosive stages of the
|
|
biological evolution of homo sapiens something went
|
|
wrong; that there is a flaw, some potentially fatal
|
|
engineering error built into our native equipment -
|
|
more specifically, into the circuits of our nervous
|
|
system - which would account for the streak of paranoia
|
|
running through our history. This is the hideous but
|
|
plausible hypothesis which any serious inquiry into
|
|
man's condition has to face.67
|
|
|
|
Murphy goes on to write: "...most psychologists and medical researchers
|
|
- like most philosophers and religious seers - agree that with our
|
|
capacities for love, knowledge, and further development, we have
|
|
profound disabilities, whether these are caused by our genes or
|
|
cultural conditioning. Indeed, most programs for human betterment
|
|
address our shortcomings, either directly or indirectly, by therapeutic
|
|
intervention, psychosomatic education, ethical training, religious
|
|
discipline, or the reconstruction of social institution."68
|
|
|
|
I submit that Murphy's enumeration of the therapeutic measures taken to
|
|
counteract "profound disabilities" is exactly what is going on in the
|
|
abduction experience. The "logical absurdity" of the surface narrative
|
|
cross-circuits the rational mind so that the sub-strata, symbolic
|
|
therapy can do its work directly on one's soul. First influence the
|
|
soul; the mind will follow.
|
|
|
|
This moment of transcendence may be nothing less than humankind moving
|
|
out of a collective adolescence. Fighting, selfishness, refusal of
|
|
responsibility and denial will lead us to our doom in these times of
|
|
vast technological power. If one reads the material presented in
|
|
Jacob's book, the complexity of these experiences adds to, rather than
|
|
detracts from, the hypothesis that these are symbolic motifs.
|
|
|
|
Unless we awaken to the consequences of the path we have either chosen
|
|
or allowed, and unless we decide to take personal responsibility for
|
|
changing the status quo, we may face a continued depreciation of life
|
|
by depredation, or even inhalation. Ironically, even if we do come to
|
|
the realization heralded by our "alien" alter egos, reality as we know
|
|
it will still end, for we will remake our world in the image of our new
|
|
understanding.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yet I am the necessary angel of
|
|
earth,
|
|
Since, in my sight, you see the
|
|
earth again ...
|
|
|
|
-Wallace Stevens69
|
|
|
|
NOTES
|
|
|
|
1. David M. Jacobs, Ph.D., Secret Life: Firsthand Accounts of UFO
|
|
Abductions (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992), P. 309.
|
|
2. Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs, Ph.D., Ron Westrum, Ph.D., Unusual
|
|
Personal Experiences: An Analysis of the Data From Three National
|
|
Surveys Conducted by the Roper Organization (Las Vegas: Bigelow
|
|
Holding Corporation. 1992), P. 15.
|
|
3. "Fund Report: 1992: The UFO Year in Review," MUFON UFO Journal, No.
|
|
298, February 1993, P. 11, Col. 2.
|
|
4. The word "metanormal" is a term suggested by George Leonard (The
|
|
Silent Pulse) and is used by Michael Murphy (The Future of the
|
|
Body) to mean human functioning that in some respect radically
|
|
surpasses the functioning typical of most people living today.
|
|
5. See note 2.
|
|
6. Jacques Vallee, Ph.D., Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for
|
|
Alien Contact (New York: Ballantine Books, 1990), PP. 99-100.
|
|
7. Carl Gustav Jung, Ph.D., Memories, Dreams, Reflections (New York:
|
|
Pantheon Books, 5th printing, 1963), P. 212.
|
|
8. For an exhaustive survey, see: Michael Murphy, The Future of the
|
|
Body: Explorations Into the Further Evolution of Human Nature (Los
|
|
Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1992).
|
|
9. Ibid., P. 214.
|
|
10. Ibid., P. 182.
|
|
11. Jacobs, P. 45.
|
|
12. Ibid., P. 306.
|
|
13. Ibid., P. 329.
|
|
14. Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception (New York:
|
|
Ballantine Books, 1991), PP. 56-57.
|
|
15. Confrontations, PP. 176-177.
|
|
16. "Are They Coming For Us?" Parade, March 7, 1993, PP. 4-7.
|
|
17. Vallee, The Invisible College: What a Group of Scientists Has
|
|
Discovered About UFO Influences on the Human Race (New York: E.P.
|
|
dutton, 1975), PP. 116-117.
|
|
18. Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact (Chicago: Contemporary
|
|
Books, 1988), P. 276.
|
|
19. The Invisible College, P. 2.
|
|
20. Dimensions, P. 274. "The controversial work of psychologist B.F.
|
|
Skinner has shown under what conditions an organism reacting to an
|
|
external phenomenon learns a new behavior. We also know under what
|
|
conditions this learning is irreversible. These are similar to the
|
|
pattern that the UFO phenomenon seems to be followng. ...the best
|
|
schedule of reinforcement is one that combines periodicity with
|
|
unpredictability. Learning is then slow but continuous. It leads to
|
|
the highest level of adaptation. And it is irreversible. It is
|
|
interesting to ask whether the pattern of UFO waves does not have
|
|
the same effect as a schedule of reinforcement." -The Invisible
|
|
College, P. 197.
|
|
21. Murphy, P. 15.
|
|
22. Ibid., P. 173.
|
|
23. Op.cit., PP. 52-61.
|
|
24. Ibid., P. 72.
|
|
25. Ibid., PP. 77-82, 216, 222.
|
|
26. Ibid., P. 123.
|
|
27. C.G. Jung termed mythic themes common to all "archetypes of the
|
|
collective unconscious".
|
|
28. Murphy, PP. 379-380.
|
|
29. Ibid., P. 116.
|
|
30. Ibid., PP. 183-186.
|
|
31. Ibid.
|
|
32. Ibid.
|
|
33. For a romp through the mysterious world of quantum physics, see
|
|
Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe (New York: Harper Collins
|
|
Publishers, 1991).
|
|
34. Murphy, P. 183.
|
|
35. Dimensions, PP. 284-289.
|
|
36. Joseph Campbell, The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Metaphor as Myth
|
|
and as Religion (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc., 1986),
|
|
PP. 11-23.
|
|
37. Murphy, N., P. 308.
|
|
38. Campbell, P. 16.
|
|
39. Ibid., P. 58.
|
|
40. Campbell, P. 55.
|
|
41. Dimensions, P. 114.
|
|
42. Confrontations, PP. 176-177.
|
|
43. Dimensions, P. 158.
|
|
44. Campbell, P. 12.
|
|
45. Campbell, P. 190.
|
|
46. Jung, P. 212.
|
|
47. Kieth Thompson, Angels and Aliens: UFOs and the Mythic Imagination
|
|
(New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1991), P. 65.
|
|
48. Ibid., PP. 42-43.
|
|
49. "Are the Aliens Here To Warn of Armageddon?" UFO Universe, May
|
|
1990, PP. 49-51 and 63-65.
|
|
50. Campbell, PP. 11-17.
|
|
51. Op.cit., PP. 283-304.
|
|
52. Ibid., P. 302.
|
|
53. Ibid.
|
|
54. Murphy, PP. 588-589. PSI: a term proposed by B.P. Wiesner and R.H.
|
|
thouless, which can be used as either a noun or adjective, to
|
|
signify paranormal process and causation.
|
|
55. Jacobs, PP. 107-131.
|
|
56. Ibid., P. 96.
|
|
57. Ibid., PP. 96-97.
|
|
58. Ibid., P. 99.
|
|
59. Ibid., P. 136.
|
|
60. Ibid., P. 153.
|
|
61. Ibid., P. 162.
|
|
62. Ibid.
|
|
63. Ibid., P. 168.
|
|
64. Ibid., P. 302
|
|
65. Ibid.
|
|
66. Murphy, P. 195.
|
|
67. Murphy, P. 62.
|
|
68. Ibid., and P. 63.
|
|
69. "Angel Surrounded by Paysans," An Angel A Week (New York: Random
|
|
House, Inc., 1992).
|
|
|
|
End
|
|
###
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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