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UFOs, Aliens and Consciousness
Posted by Mac Tonnies, Tuesday, May 06, 2008 at 10:40 AM by Mac Tonnies
While I'm agnostic as to the ultimate nature of UFOs, I'm comfortable asserting that the phenomenon is both physically real and under intelligent control. Too brash a deductive leap? Given the available evidence, I don't think so. Indeed, my position isn't nearly as hard-set as that of most speculators among the loosely knit UFO "community." So what are we dealing with? Does intelligence imply an extraterrestrial origin? And is my agnosticism simply a mask with which to deter meandering conspiracy theories and hoary notions of human-ET treaties? I think the answer is "no" on both counts. The data suggests an enigma of enduring complexity and bewildering scope. While possibly ET, there's no clear link; more often than not, credible reports of "ufonauts" indicate beings with all-too-human mannerisms and motives. If the UFO phenomenon has a purpose, perhaps it's to challenge entrenched ideas about our role as sentient observers. The ever-colorful "space visitors" encountered since 1947 could be the vanguards of an unknown manifestation of consciousness. (Far from invalidating the UFO inquiry, such a discovery would likely propel a new era of scientific understanding. If so, would our collective unconscious adopt some new disguise and cease to provide us with novel visitors and resplendent "craft"?)
Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Mack once described alien abductions as an example of "reified metaphor." While he believed his patients' accounts of sexually charged encounters with apparent aliens were sincere, he was reluctant to accept them literally. In "Passport to the Cosmos," he mused that activities endured during "abductions" might herald a sort of cosmic wake-up call--real enough, but only as real as scenes in a stage play. Like self-professed abductee Whitley Strieber, Mack seemed intrigued by the idea that the mind, subjected to a sufficiently foreign stimulus, could produce imagery culled from myth or even pop culture. (Extraterrestrials, big-headed and bug-eyed, seem like suitable candidates for a population weaned on science fiction.)
Of course, that begs the question of where the archetypal "Gray" originated in the first place. British researcher Albert Budden, a strident critic of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), suggests that the minimal physique ascribed to the Grays of abduction infamy might have a basis in neuro-anatomy. If he's right, that still leaves us to sort out cases with physical effects (J. Allen Hynek's "close encounters of the second kind").
Some will doubtlessly argue that I'm over-thinking the controversy. Maybe the ETH will triumph by virtue of its simplicity; after all, aliens from space--strange as they might be--are consistent with known physics. Speculating about the role of consciousness and the very nature of "real," on the other hand, might seem abstruse or even like an effort to apologize on behalf of the phenomenon itself.
But our understanding of the Cosmos is still in its infancy; indeed, there's no consensus on what consciousness itself is, let alone its implications in a universe governed by quantum physics. Mathematician Roger Penrose, for example, has argued that a genuine "Theory of Everything" will necessarily incorporate the role of awareness and that current approaches are doomed to failure.
Likewise, I'm hesitant to invoke ETs as a solution to the UFO puzzle until we come to a more mature grasp of the physical basis for human intelligence. If "reality" is more malleable than we think (or admit), we might be delighted to find that our universe is inundated with intelligence. UFOs could be emissaries from a parallel world acting in tandem with our minds. By taunting us, they could be subtly directing us toward new models of reality in which the very concept of "alien spaceships" is almost embarrassingly quaint.
Mac Tonnies
13 Comments:
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Posted by Zach Taylor
May 14, 2008 at 11:00 PM
There are multiple races, dimensions, and facets. Sorting it all out even if a more public contact occurs will still be very messy. Don't hold your breath waiting for resolution or clarity. It will probably be a train wreck initially but only because impending human motivated catastrophe has forced the beings' hand and rushed what was supposed to have been a long drawn out introduction and conditioning process.
There is a higher morality at work here that I haven't fully understood. Essentially, it is based on the idea that the most searing and unforgettable lessons are learned through the mistakes of free will, so there is a reluctance to intervene in our affairs no matter how reckless. I was shown that these particluar beings have the "capability" of thwarting total nuclear war, but I was given no guarantee that they would necessarily act on that capability. There may be a sort of protocol for dealing with intelligence such as ours that has gotten out of hand, but I could never fully grok the "plan" behind it. It may be that they'll just let us go to hell in a handbasket, but they give off such a compassionate vibe that I have to believe they wouldn't allow us to destroy the planet and all its creatures.
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Posted by Ronnie
May 14, 2008 at 01:40 AM
I share a view akin to John Mack and Jacque Vallee that this "alien abduction" phenomena is "real", but in a subjective sense; possibly mystical in nature, and that there's probably something more interdimensional than extraterrestrial going on here. I used to enjoy discussions of the ETH, but it is riddled with so many goddamn insane conspiracies, contradictions and deliberate disinformation that I cannot ever trust anyone's claims regarding ETs anymore. Don't even get me started on those reptilian conspiracies. God, my head hurts just from remembering taking a brief glimpse of the Reptilian Resistance Forum.
Not to mention I've read several accounts of some people who've taken dimethyltryptamine reporting encounters with beings similar to the "greys" and "reptilians" and etc., which reinforces my opinion that this is interdimensional.
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Posted by Zach Taylor
May 13, 2008 at 07:05 AM
Take it from someone who has encountered these things in the physical - they are not confabulations, hallucinations, wishful thinking, fantasies, or sleep paralysis. These beings do have the power to usurp human thought processes from a distance or without any of the direct interventions we know about, so the subject is often murky because of the sometimes indistict mature of the encounter. The beings I encountered are acutely aware of the shock of encounter and take pains to buffer the experience at first. They are most concerned about the demoralizing effect their presence might have on our scientists whose proudest achievements look like childs play compared to the their technology. However, because of recent geopolitical difficulties and inherent threats to the planet we may be on the cusp of a more widespread and incontrovertible manifestation of their presence and an intervention on their part. There is a fine line between allowing us free will and allowing us to wreck the planet. At the very least, a more widespread "contact" might distract us from current obessessions with empire extension and force through violence. The challenge will be to recognize and prevent governments from spinning the "contact" for their own ends. The beings I encountered are willing to let humans make large, disastrous mistakes but will intervene in total nuclear war scenarios and have the capability of nullifying nuclear missile exchanges.
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Posted by Michael Garrett
May 08, 2008 at 07:42 PM
I heartily agree with Mac's statement that, "The data suggests an enigma of enduring complexity and bewildering scope". You have to love the fact that the mystery of it all has not faded into an easy explanation that is universally accepted by all; I know I do. The conjecture is wild and fun and the enigma offers a challenge we as humans just can't and should not resist. We want to know and we enjoy the pursuit of puzzles. One day perhaps we will have our answers, but until then I trust you to continue to stir the pot and excite the conversation. Thanks for a great post.
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Posted by Bruce Duensing
May 08, 2008 at 07:31 AM
These anomalous events are are due to an evolutionary shift in consciousness of our species who are entangled in them that in it's effects, deconstructs our previous models of what constitutes reality. Science has known for a long time that they need to go back on their word that they provided us with in regard to both subjectivity and the pliability of material physics. This lead-lag causes all sorts of hybrid and existential comedies of errors, which then are found after peeling back the layers of the UFO onion, theres nothing there but the shell...that should tell us something about its organic quantum nature
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Posted by Mahone Dunbar
May 08, 2008 at 05:54 AM
The ETH hypothesis is simply not sustainable in the face of the evidence. It is only sustainable if one becomes a “Keyhole” theorist, that is, they filter out all the evidence that doesn’t neatly fit into their particular hypothesis. Most intelligent long term researchers of the UFO phenomena – John Keel and Jacque Vallee come readily to mind – reach this conclusion early on. That said, I must agree with the author of the article, and Jacque Vallee, that there is an extraneous energy source present when the phenomena occurs.
Putting it as succinctly as possible, I believe that at least part of the experience is pure confabulation, and this is due to the nature of the human mind. This energy source obeys the inverse square law, meaning its effect weakens in a mathematical progression from the source. The farther away you are from the source, the less effect it has on you. The closer you are to the radiation, the more potent its effect on you.
Does the UFO experience represent an expression by an exterior autonomous consciousness? Or is it merely an experience that is reflective of human consciousness? I favor the latter. The human mind is a dream generator. As with hypnosis, a state that mixes fantasy and reality is possible where one can flow seamlessly into the other, waking dreams occur where conscious can not easily distinguish between the two states. When the brain is in the dreaming state/hypnotic state there is a parallel electrical state present in the brain. Conversely, if you synchronize the brain to exterior power sources which create this electrical state, you induce the dream/hypnotic state into a person’s consciousness, a subjective state of perception. The consequence of this is that The closer you are to the UFO energy source, the less objective knowledge you can have of it. And as with hypnosis, the percipient obeys suggestions and expresses his particular confabulation in terms that are dredged up from subconscious archetypes and media-fed input. So-called regressive hypnosis, when used to find the “objective truth,” is the equivalent of throwing gasoline on a fire.
The only aspect of the UFO phenomena that is inexplicable would seem to be the physical trace evidence that sometimes occurs; however, if you study the history of mysticism, mythology, and psychology, you will parallels with this phenomena that are related to remarkable states of consciousness and are not linked with the UFO experience.
Therefore, until I come across demonstrable evidence to the contrary, I believe that the key to the UFO phenomena lies in the still mysterious capabilities of human consciousness.
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Posted by Mahone Dunbar
May 08, 2008 at 05:53 AM
The ETH hypothesis is simply not sustainable in the face of the evidence. It is only sustainable if one becomes a “Keyhole” theorist, that is, they filter out all the evidence that doesn’t neatly fit into their particular hypothesis. Most intelligent long term researchers of the UFO phenomena – John Keel and Jacque Vallee come readily to mind – reach this conclusion early on. That said, I must agree with the author of the article, and Jacque Vallee, that there is an extraneous energy source present when the phenomena occurs.
Putting it as succinctly as possible, I believe that at least part of the experience is pure confabulation, and this is due to the nature of the human mind. This energy source obeys the inverse square law, meaning its effect weakens in a mathematical progression from the source. The farther away you are from the source, the less effect it has on you. The closer you are to the radiation, the more potent its effect on you.
Does the UFO experience represent an expression by an exterior autonomous consciousness? Or is it merely an experience that is reflective of human consciousness? I favor the latter. The human mind is a dream generator. As with hypnosis, a state that mixes fantasy and reality is possible where one can flow seamlessly into the other, waking dreams occur where conscious can not easily distinguish between the two states. When the brain is in the dreaming state/hypnotic state there is a parallel electrical state present in the brain. Conversely, if you synchronize the brain to exterior power sources which create this electrical state, you induce the dream/hypnotic state into a person’s consciousness, a subjective state of perception. The consequence of this is that The closer you are to the UFO energy source, the less objective knowledge you can have of it. And as with hypnosis, the percipient obeys suggestions and expresses his particular confabulation in terms that are dredged up from subconscious archetypes and media-fed input. So-called regressive hypnosis, when used to find the “objective truth,” is the equivalent of throwing gasoline on a fire.
The only aspect of the UFO phenomena that is inexplicable would seem to be the physical trace evidence that sometimes occurs; however, if you study the history of mysticism, mythology, and psychology, you will parallels with this phenomena that are related to remarkable states of consciousness and are not linked with the UFO experience.
Therefore, until I come across demonstrable evidence to the contrary, I believe that the key to the UFO phenomena lies in the still mysterious capabilities of human consciousness.
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Posted by Chuck
May 07, 2008 at 10:01 PM
I agree with the general sense of the article and most of the comments. I sincerely think that the UFO phenomenon and all the weirdness associated with it is a viable area for study, not so much for the weirdness itself, but rather how we react to it and interact with it on a social level.
Although Fox Mulder 'wanted' to believe, it is obvious that there are those, perhaps like Mr. Capp, and I mean no offense, who apparently have a great need to believe. To me it is endlessly fascinating that we have a modern mythology that mimics our own culture in an odd, abstract, and pseudo-scientific way.
There is something there, whether it is a physical machine built by little men with big heads, an evolutionary leap, or a glitch in how our consciousness assembles our view of the universe... I think it is an area of research worth further investigation.
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Posted by Bryan White
May 07, 2008 at 08:35 PM
Joseph Capp's rant is a good example of why I quit taking anyone in the field of "ufology" seriously a long time ago. His belief in the ETH is literally a religious belief and the orgin of his rage is the anger of a fundamentalist confronted with an unbeliever.There is not a scrap of real evidence that UFOs are from other planets,or even that they're "intelligently controlled.But there's plenty of reason to doubt it. Let's ask the most obvious question-what the hell are they trying to accomplish here? Giving messages to shoe salesmen and housewives doesn't make any kind of sense.And the whole 'abduction" industry is based on the absurd premise that aliens are too stupid to go to sperm banks or research labs to obtain genetic material. .I'm of the opinion that they are some type of unknown electrical phenomenon and that many of the effects experienced by close encounters are the witness's reaction to powerful electrical fields, which can cause hallucinations and altered conciousness. But I'm open minded. Give me your proof, Mr. Capp. Not speculation, but real evidence.I am sick to death of the conspiracy theories and all the other rubbish that's accumulated around UFOs. Just being angry doesn't make you right-because of people like Mr. Capp UFOs have become beyond the pale to real scientists and as a result any "solution" that's arrived at will be completely accidental.
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Posted by Joseph Capp
May 07, 2008 at 08:12 PM
ET's are real it is the scientists I have a hard time believing are real. They sold their souls for the research money along time ago. The idea of anyone on this planet figuring out a superior intellect, by our standards. It is without doubt among the dimmest statement scientists make on this subject. Including how they should look. No humility, The idea that Ets would not they act like us, have emotions and pleasures, hands feet and everything else that helps our intelligence to manage our technology is rubbish A whale living in the water could not possible create technology no matter how long they evolved. Why do aliens have to be gods...maybe because, humans scientist see themselves as Gods in the distant future. They certainly act as guardians of the only truth now. It is very possible they look like us and very possible the have elaborate measures not to be detected unless they wont to . Who knows how an ET extended somewhat hidden presence would mean to the inhabitants of earth? You really don't do you?
Joseph Capp
UFO Media Matters
Non-Commercial Blog
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Posted by sasdave
May 07, 2008 at 04:01 PM
Mac; It appears that reality is that of the beholder of experiance. JMack believed his patients were sincere; yet, due to his untrusting and unexperiance he labelled them as reified metephors? Maybe a little off the subject; but, heres a theory. Some suggest that the greys have a hive mentality so when dealing with their abductees they treats us the same. They make a deal to experiment on us for trade of space technology and protected shelter and secrecy by our so called false leader(s). Being a creature that looks like a over sized under developed fetus they maybe more human then alien. Yet, due to the damage done by space travel they have returned to repair their altered dna codes. What it comes down to there is enough proof out there to show something is going on. The government and military,etc have worked hard to hide facts of what many believe to be a reality. So if these stories are of the imagination then the real experiances are being done by them. With all the underground bases they all can't be much in them if there are no aliens, just a bunch of sadistic power hungry liars doing experiments on those in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I am wrong I appolagize to all those down under the ground, doing what ever you do in secret.
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Posted by Pavel Chichikov
May 07, 2008 at 02:31 PM
'Reified metaphor' might very well be a description of everything, which does not mean that everything is an illusion. The world is a poem. Who can stand back far enough to resolve its details?
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Posted by Rich Reynolds
May 07, 2008 at 08:08 AM
Mac...
You might find an article about Testing Reality, in the current issue of SEED magazine (the science journal, not the garden mag).
Your views parallel ours at the UFO Iconoclast(s) and my own at the RRRGroup blog.
Would that such views could be amalgamated somewhere...
RR
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