SUBJECT: THE PSYCHIC PROJECTION THEORY                       FILE: UFO2757






   From UFOs and the Limits of Science by Ronald D. Storey c.1981

   Reproduced for educational purposes.

   The Psychic Projection Theory

   The  Psychic Projection Theory represents a modern school of thought in
   UFO  circles,  which like the Ultraterrestial Theory,  developed  as  a
   reaction  to  the  Extraterrestial Hypothesis.  The  theory  was  first
   outlined  by Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman in the mid-1970s,  based on
   Carl Jung's concept of the collective unconscious.

   The authors, however, have gone beyond Jungian psychology and postulate
   that the collective inconscious can psychically project material forms,
   represented in modern times by the UFO, and that "...the UFO phenomanon
   has absorbed many of the ancient archetypal forms in which human beings
   have  traditionally  needed to believe and which they  have  sought  to
   complete their world.

   Clark  and  Coleman  saa  a danger in the  modern  world  of  science's
   disrupting man's close bond nature,  to mysticism, and to the elements,
   bringing him to "the brink of catastrophe." The message they see in the
   UFO  myth  is that the collective unconscious "...too  long  repressed,
   will burst free,  overwhelm the world,  and usher in an era of madness,
   superstition,  and terror - with all the sociopolitical accounterments;
   war, anarchy fascism,"  and that "...when the unconscious can no longer
   be  contained,   its  liberated  contents will  destroy  all  that  the
   conscious  mind  has produced;  the fruits of science  and  technology,
   civilized order,  and the very process of reason itself.  Under the new
   imbalance a spiritual dark age will blanket the earth."

   UFOs, then, are merely "planetary poltergeists," which are generated by
   the "psychic energy" of the collective unconscious (and sometimes by an
   individual unconscious), as were fairies, flying saucer "spacemen," and
   apparitions  of  the  Virign  Mary.  In  some  respects,   The  Psychic
   Projection  Theory  relies  on  the  same  kinds  of  evidence  as  the
   Ultraterrestial  Theory,  and it is sometimes difficult to  distinguish
   between the writings of authorities in the two schools.

   The Psychic projection Theory would have to depend,  at the very least,
   on both the reality of Jung's collective unconscious and the reality of
   extrasensory  perception (ESP).  Jung's writings have had wide  popular
   appeal,   but  experimental work has failed to demonstrate  empiracally
   that  man possesses a collective unconscious.  Future research may shed
   more light on the validity of Jung's theory.

   ESP  research is a continuing and active area of research  by  numerous
   psychologists,  biologists, and physicists. A very bitter and emotional
   debate  has ensued over the years concerning the validity of ESP.  Some
   believe that the whole subject is nonsense and should not be given  any
   serious  consideration.   Others  claim  that  ESP  effects  have  been
   conclusively  demonstrated in repeated laboratory experiments and  that
   efforts  should be directed more toward understanding the effects  than
   toward attempting to convince the skeptics.

   Until the matter is resolved, the Psychic Projection Theory must remain
   as  simply  a  fascinating idea.  Even if  ESP  effects  (precognition,
   telepathy,   telekinesis,   etc.)  were ultimately demonstrated  to  be
   authentic  phenomena,  bringing parapsychology into the  mainstream  of
   "normal"   science,   there has been no indication that  such  "psychic
   energy"  could actually materialize (i.e.,  project)  objects,  whether
   they be fairies or flying saucers.




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