SUBJECT: MESSENGERS OF TRANSCENDENCE FILE: UFO2732
Filename: Panpsych.Edi
Type : Editorial
Author : Randall O. Littlejohn
Date : 06/19/93
Desc. : Messengers of Transcendence
(Panpsychic Interactionism Integration)
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Response to this editorial is both welcomed encouraged by the author.
Please direct all responses via this echo to "Randall Littlejohn"
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Copyright 1993 Randall O. Littlejohn
MESSENGERS OF TRANSCENDENCE
By
Randall O. Littlejohn
The part always has a tendency to unite with its whole
in order to escape from its imperfections.
- Leonardo Da Vinci
We must assume our existence as broadly as we in any
way can; everything, even the unheard-of, must be
possible in it. This is at bottom the only courage that
is demanded of us: to have courage for the most
strange, the most inexplicable.
- Rainer Maria Rilke
Research suggests that abductions (in the current ufological sense) may
have begun as early as the late nineteenth century.1
A controversial analysis of the data from three national surveys
conducted by the Roper Organization in 1991 suggest that one out of
every 50 adult Americans may have had an abduction experience.2
In the same report, 5% of the sample population reported that they
remember UFO imagery in their dreams.
According to the Fund for UFO Research, there are more than 1,000
abduction cases now reported, with more coming in all the time.3
The Mutual UFO Network is sponsoring an on-going program of data-basing
new abduction reports for future statistical analysis.
Regardless of the exact numbers, all indicators point to an internally
consistent experience that is occurring world-wide, with ever
increasing frequency of incidence.
Abductees are often deeply traumatized by their experiences. Lives are
changed forever. Political and social beliefs are reversed, or at least
altered. Abductions and all UFO phenomena challenge our notions of
reality and truth.
In this article I will take an interdisciplinary approach to the
subject of UFO and related phenomena and argue that only by stretching
the boundaries of traditional scientific inquiry will we be able to
make headway in our understanding of these experiences.
I will build three hypotheses. Together, they support the thesis that
at least part of UFO and related phenomena may be a creation of
humankind, and at the same time very real (tangible) events.
The first hypothesis contends that UFO phenomena, culminating in the
abduction experience, may be a product of latent metanormal4 abilities
inherent to homo sapiens. While latent in most individuals, the stress
of the combined anxieties of our time may be activating these abilities
on a collective, if unconscious, level with strength enough to manifest
simi- real events.
The second hypothesis argues that the abduction experience can be
analyzed as an allegorical narrative where each stage of the experience
(as developed by David M. Jacobs, Ph.D. in Secret Life5) is a metaphor
for a specific collective anxiety.
The third hypothesis suggests that hypothesis one and hypothesis two
are informed by an emerging world-culture which represents an
evolutional leap in consciousness.
***
Among ufologists and abduction researchers, explanations have generally
fallen into psychosocial (or cultural) and literalist extraterrestrial
categories. UFO and related phenomena play havoc with this traditional
dualality.
Psychosocial hypotheses, at least in the Western materialist sense, are
seriously flawed. Unless we are willing to extend our notions of the
powers of the psyche to include 1.) physical traces appearing on
abductees, such as cuts and bruises, 2.)hundreds of highly elaborate
and traumatic experiences similar to one another in minute detail among
individuals who have not communicated with one another, and 3.) all of
the physical phenomena associated with the UFOs themselves, such
explanations are clearly inadequate. There are often explanations for
one or to facets of a UFO related occurrence. Usually, no explanations
take into account all aspects of a single complex event such as an
abduction experience.
At the same time a literalist extraterrestrial hypothesis must account
for 1.) the relative paucity of solid physical information, 2.) the
high level of apparent absurdity that is characteristic of these
experiences and 3.) the seemingly insurmountable problems related to
accounting for the origins, culture and motive the aliens themselves
within the framework of scientific inquiry.
The Western mind is not well suited to dealing with phenomena that
straddle traditional boundaries. The orientation of Western culture and
consciousness has been dominated by materialism, rationalism and the
scientific method, that is, toward reductionism and analysis rather
than synthesis. Thus, our age is one of ever-increasing specialization.
One finds evidence of this in modern scholarship and in science. Such
experts tend generally to regard fields other than their own with
indifference or suspicion. Therefore, experts in a given field
typically have little acquaintance with knowledge produced outside
their own scholarly or scientific domain. Eclectic or interdisciplinary
research is often discouraged as being too speculative.
History, knowledge and reality itself cannot be segmented and
compartmentalized according to more or less arbitrary pigeonholes. Any
responsible researcher must, like a detective, pursue whatever clues
come to hand, however seemingly improbable. One should not dismiss
material simply because it threatens to lead into alien territory. One
must be flexible, able to move freely between disparate disciplines.
One must be able to link data and make connections between people,
events, and phenomena widely divorced from each other. In short, one
must synthesize. Finally, it is not sufficient to confine oneself
exclusively to facts. One must discern the repercussions and
ramifications of facts. We must proceed with both prudence and
imagination and thus, adopt a posture supportive of intuitive leaps.
Regarding UFO phenomena, noted UFO researcher Dr. Jacques Vallee
believes that "...we are dealing with a yet unrecognized level of
consciousness...(and)...that an understanding of the UFO phenomenon
would come only when we expanded our view of the physical universe
beyond the classic four-dimensional model of spacetime."6 Jung
speculated that UFOs are archetypal responses to "vital psychic need".7
As we regard UFO phenomena culminating in the abduction experience, we
need to embrace a wide range of inquiry: from modern abduction research
to the sacred traditions East and West; from scientific studies of
mystical cognition and other metanormal abilities, to modern religious
studies; from anthropological studies of shamanism to mythology and
evolution.
The following array of information is necessarily complex. I offer the
following outline as a guide through material that may otherwise seem
convoluted.
First we will take a brief tour of abduction history. I will argue that
this experience need not necessarily be taken at face value. We will
look at the complexities that confound traditional approaches to
solving this enigma.
Next, we must gain a basic understanding of the field of metaphysics.
We will take a look at evidence for metanormal abilities in humankind,
and list the abilities relevant to hypothesis number one, above. There
is ample evidence to show that nothing is happening in the abduction
experience that humans are not able to manifest themselves.8
Hypotheses number two and three must have sociological frames of
reference. Therefore we will turn to the works of Carl Gustov Jung and
Joseph Campbell.
Finally, I will demonstrate a allegorical analysis of the abduction
narrative, and suggest the relevance of this experience to our unique
place in history.
In his Religio Medici, English essayist Thomas Browne characterized man
as "that great and true amphibian whose nature is disposed to live, not
only like other creatures in diverse elements, but in divided and
distinguished worlds."9
I believe it is possible that UFO and related phenomena calls our
attention to a new era - one in which, like amphibians, we are
maintaining access to our present reality as we venture into a world
that will subsume the old one.
There is precedent for such a cultural process. Hegel suggested a
process which suggests both annihilation and preservation to describe
the frequent subsumption of cultural forms by their successors. In the
dialectic of history, he claimed, earlier kinds of human behavior and
consciousness have been "lifted up" to higher levels.10 Evidence for
such a process is all around us. The UFO enigma may provide a large
body of such evidence. A brief overview of applicable UFO research is
in order.
***
The Abduction Experience
As far back as the 1960s, John A. Keel revealed his discovery that the
majority of all UFO witnesses had latent or active psychic abilities.
Other investigators around the world confirmed his research. Now it is
known that abduction experiencers also often subsequently experience
other paranormal phenomena.
In 1966 John Fuller changed the UFO scene forever with his Interrupted
Journey, the now-familiar story of Barney and Betty Hill, who claimed
that aliens removed them from their automobile, gave them physical
examinations, and then released them. The psychiatrist who had used
hypnosis with the Hills to bring out the mainly forgotten story thought
the case was an example of shared dream.
Researchers had collected a few more abduction cases in the 1970s, but
they were so seemingly different from one another that it was almost
impossible to decipher the facts. Virtually all abductees suffered from
a form of amnesia that prevented them from remembering exactly what had
happened during the abduction. The preferred technique for retrieving
these lost memories was hypnosis, but it was common knowledge that
memories collected in this manner were not reliable.
At first, abductions appeared to be an isolated phenomenon that had
occurred to just a few people around the country. Now we know this is
not the case.
Since the late 1970s Bud Hopkins had specialized in examining abduction
cases, and his first book, Missing Time, was published in 1981. In this
pioneering work, he investigated a small group of people who he thought
might have had abduction experiences. Using a psychologist to
administer hypnosis, Hopkins collected data much more systematically
than had been done before. New data came to light: lapses in time,
mysterious scars, bizarre physical examinations, and screen memories.
Hopkins theorized a possible generational link between parents who were
abductees and their children. During this time David M. Jacobs, Ph.D.,
a history professor, began to do research into the abduction
phenomenon. As a historian, Jacobs was interested in trying to
establish an abduction narrative with a beginning, middle and end. So
far, the bits and pieces of information gleaned from the few cases
researched remained frustratingly disconnected.
In 1987 Dr. Thomas E. Bullard published a massive study of 270
published abduction cases. With careful analysis Jacobs was able to
show numerous structural similarities between the cases, but in his
words, "Most researchers still did not understand the implications of
the new data."11
Jacob's found that even though most of the abductees did not know each
other, they all told the same stories: they were abducted by strange-
looking beings, subjected to a variety of physical and mental
"procedures," and then returned to the site of abduction. Abductees
were powerless to control the event, and, when it was over, they nearly
always forgot most of it. These people were left with the feeling that
something had happened to them, but they were not sure exactly what it
was.
The events that the abductees related seemed completely implausible.
Time after time they would describe apparently absurd situations, such
as being floated through a closed window at the hands of small
creatures.
Nevertheless, Dr. Jacobs was intrigued by the convergence of minute
detail, the multiple abductions, and other witnesses. He began his own
hypnotic sessions, taking care (says he) to avoid the typical problems
with data retrieved by hypnotic regression. In 1992 he publish a book
containing the results of his work called Secret Life. Jacob's work
provides us with the most complete abduction narrative to date. Many
others continue with other large scale comparisons of data.
Dr. Jacobs found patterns in his subjects" descriptions of their
experiences. These patterns consist of what he calls "primary,"
"secondary," and "ancillary" experiences.12 Later, we will come back to
these designations.
Whether or not UFO and related phenomena are real in the usual sense,
the people who have these experiences suffer real pain. They seemed to
suffer from a combination of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the
after-effects of rape. Interestingly, however, these "experiencers", as
they have come to be called, are also sometimes profoundly moved, as
outlined above. This may be the key point.
Abductions are not confined to the United States. British UFO
researcher Jenny Randles has catalogued many abductions in the United
Kingdom. The same material seems to be coming out of those accounts.
Evidence points towards world-wide phenomena.13
With certain exceptions, abductions can occur anywhere. They happen in
rural settings and in cities. Being with other people is no deterrent.
According to Jacobs and others, and if we are to take abductions at
face value, the "aliens" want to use the ability humans have to
recreate themselves. They seem to want to achieve some kind of hybrid
species of being. They want knowledge of our mental and nonreporductive
physiological processes. They are curious about how humans function in
society. They don't seem interested in disclosing much information
about the technicalities of what they are doing. When they do offer is
often absurd by traditional measures. The "aliens" seem confident that
we are unable to stop them.
By far the most common types of entities reported are the short
statured, and so-called "Greys." Also reported frequently are similar,
but somewhat taller Greys. The small beings are thin, slight, and
hominoid in appearance. Taller beings stand from two to six inches
above the small beings and also share the same gross physical
characteristics with humans. The taller beings seem to be in charge.
Descriptions of the aliens" skin color varies but is usually reported
to be grey, hence the moniker. The skin color is uniform, without
darker and lighter spots or areas. According to Jacobs, it is reported
that alien skin is extremely smooth, without the pores, hair, freckles,
warts and other common elements found on human skin.
Abductees are often vague about what these grey aliens wear, or even if
they are wearing anything at all. Sometimes the color of their skin and
the color of their clothes are reported to be exactly the same. Though
different descriptions exist, the overall impression is of nondescript,
tight-fitting, seamless outfits.
Usually, their faces do not betray a readily detectable uniqueness that
might distinguish one from another. Nor do they seem to have any overt
sort of emotional characteristics that can be seen on their faces.
According to Jacobs, when abductees have had experiences for thirty or
forty years with presumably the same group of aliens, they report that
the aliens look the same during the last experience as they did during
the first.
The heads of the creatures are, in human terms, disproportionately
large for their bodies.
While hominoid, the alien face has many divergent characteristics. The
huge eyes are the single most striking feature. They are largest in the
center and taper off to a tip on the side of the head. They contain no
pupils, irises, or corneas. Abductees see black, usually opaque organs.
The majority of the reports indicate these beings have no more than a
slight raised bump where a human nose would be, but no nostrils or
openings. According to Jacobs, the aliens" slit-like mouth does not
seem to have teeth, tongue, or saliva. The entities do not use their
mouths for communication. These creatures do not appear to have a jaw
or jaw hinge below where the ears would be. Aliens sometimes may have a
small raised feature where human ears would be, but without an opening.
The head is attached to an extremely narrow, short, tubelike neck that
seems too thin to support the head's weight. The head does not fit onto
the neck as human heads would. The arrangement reminded one of Jacob's
abductees of "a pumpkin on a stick."
The entities feature long, thin arms with no apparent musculature or
boniness. The arms are apparently the same diameter from the shoulder
to where the hands join, without visible wrists.
The alien's short, thin legs go straight down with no sense of a thigh,
calf, or ankles. They blend smoothly with the feet. Little is known
about the feet, but toes are not usually noticed.
In short, except for the fetal-like overall stature and the huge, black
eyes, these beings give an impression of something like a mannequin. My
point is, they can otherwise be seen as the perfect "generic hominid,"
right down to the gray color. One would almost expect to find a bar-
code somewhere on each model.
These three general characteristics - large, opaque-black eyes, overall
fetal-like stature, and generic appearance, may each have a symbolic
meaning. These meanings will be dealt with below.
***
Not everyone agrees that the abduction experience should be taken at
face value. In the words of Jacques Vallee, stories of alien
crossbreeding are so "scientifically ludicrous that (they do) not even
deserve to be refuted...It reveals a dramatic lack of information about
the current state of the art in genetic engineering."14
Even with our apparently "primitive" knowledge of medicine by
comparison, humans could use simpler procedures that would yield more
accurate results without leaving scars. As Vallee notes, "Any doctor
today can draw one cubic centimeter of blood without leaving a scar or
mark. From the analysis we could determine if the patient used to have
a Siamese cat as a pet when he was six years old! Molecular biology, a
science in its infancy, is already capable of providing incredible
amounts of information from minute amounts of human cells. In vitro
fertilization has reached a level such that the so-called genetic
experiments allegedly performed in UFOs seem ludicrous and grotesque.
The ufonauts should go back to medical school."15
In addition one might ask, why hasn't their data-gathering become more
sophisticated over the decades? As far as we can tell it hasn't changed
since Betty and Barney Hill were abducted in 1961.
And finally, even humans can erase a subject's memory beyond any chance
that a hypnotist could retrieve any information at all about the event.
Yet, even an amateur hypnotist can re- cover previously locked-away
memories of abductions.
Nevertheless, these "aliens" demonstrate that they actually have a
highly detailed knowledge of human psychology, physiology and anatomy.
Abductee reports show that the aliens can completely control the human
nervous system. For instance, abductees are routinely paralyzed and
placed in suspended animation. The mere touch of an alien hand can
block a person's perception of pain. There are reports of instant
healings, altered memory, and distortion of an abductee's sense of
time.
Some conclude that very real beings are staging simulated operations,
very much in the manner of gorilla theatre. Others decide that
abductions are complete fantasies drawn from the collective
unconscious, perhaps instigated by some metaphysical trigger. In a
recent article16 Carl Sagan would have us believe that all abductees
are hallucinating. None of these theories alone are completely
satisfactory.
Some researchers, including Vallee, have noted the resemblance between
UFO encounters and the initiation rituals of secret societies. It is
true that a typical initiation ritual matches perfectly with the stages
of an abduction experience as described by Jacobs and others. We will
return to this theme below.
The apparent absurdity of UFO and related experience is another factor
to be dealt with. The phenomenon often contradicts itself. Some of the
principles demonstrated, some of the information conveyed seem true;
some are apparently false. In attempting to determine which material is
true one is frustrated by a kind of "absurd logic."
There is a persuasive argument that absurdity is designed into UFO
experiences in order to permit thought transference while the mind is
confused.17 Remembering that the abduction experience seems to have
arrived at a grand, world-wide scope, one might wonder, could this
confusion technique deliberately be used to change the consciousness of
humankind on a major scale?
If one were to strive to convey a truth that lies just beyond the
understanding of ones audience, one must construct apparent
contradictions in terms of ordinary meaning. In striving to make sense
of the contradictions, one's understanding is challenged. If one
embellishes the process by constructing a complicated narrative that,
for instance, enigmatically mingles both elements of Newtonian-
Cartesianism realism with apparent absurdity, and in this way draws the
audience into a search for a deeper meaning, this is allegory.
Allegory has long been used as a tool through which authors have side-
stepped the Church, State, even the intelligentsia, to plant deep
within societies far-reaching doubts concerning basic philosophical
tenets. Information issued forth this way has a profound effect on the
collective consciousness. Like allegory, UFO experiences are
compelling, yet also sufficiently absurd to be formally "unbelievable".
Events structured in this way cannot avoid striking deep within the
psyche, while keeping rationalists at a distance.
Vallee suggests that human belief is being controlled and conditioned
by these alien conspirators.18 If the hypothesis is true, these
manifestations could be "not unlike a thermostat in a house."19 UFOs
may serve to stabilize the relationship between humankind's
consciousness and the evolving complexities of the world we try to
understand.
Vallee pointed out that it is interesting to observe that the pattern
of UFO flaps (periods of intense UFO activity) has the same general
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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