Since the release of my book UFO Sightings Desk Reference, numerous media interviewers have asked me about the wide diversity of UFOs appearances or shapes. I keep hearing the questions about why there are so many different shapes. I’ve had to keep my answers simple at the risk of overwhelming the interviewers with the topic of UFOs and the edge of reality.
It boils down to this: Most people tend to think of UFOs as simply advanced spacecrafts; just nuts and bolts technology. If I mention an automobile, you’ll probably get a mental image of some classic car with wheels, headlights, windows and seats in the interior. If we reference an aircraft, most of us would visualize a long tube with wings and some sort of nacelles, jet or piston for propulsion.
But if we bring up the subject of off-world spacecrafts, most people would struggle to grasp an image. Their mental conception usually defaults to a saucer-shaped craft or something we’ve seen in a science fiction movie.
At issue is the fact that off-world civilizations might be thousands or millions of years ahead of us. To quote Peter Mandeville, an admin for the Facebook group UFO Reality: “Their technology would be incomprehensible.”
The late Sir Arthur C. Clarke, a British science fiction writer, science writer and futurist, stated the problem clearly: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
In a previous article about CE-5 protocols, I suggested that contact with off-worlders seems to be in the realm of consciousness. Several readers objected and said it was imperative that communication be measurable with some sort of apparatus.
So we are confronted with the classic two-horned dilemma of analysis. There are two points of view and interpretation:
- Academic study — rational science.
- Philosophical mysticism — non-rational consideration.
If the true nature of UFOs teases us from beyond our conventional and rational comprehension, perhaps it’s time to start really accepting that the truth is undefinable and must be examined by non-rational means.
So if you are expecting an easily-identifiable off-world craft with instruments and propulsion that you can relate to, then perhaps the academic study is the right approach.
On the other hand, what if this craft is sentient? What if it is able to think for itself and can communicate with you with some sort of telepathy phenomena? The science fiction television show Farscape featured such an organic sentient ship.
What if the off-world occupants invite you take a ride in their craft and they let you sit in the left seat, “the command chair.”? Then by simply placing your hand on a shiny, melon-sized ball sitting on a pedestal, you find that you can become one with the ship and it goes where you “will it” to go.
How can we rationally discuss this kind of technology?
In a pre-paradigmatic world, rational science has been unable to define exactly what consciousness is or how it integrates with a living being. Yet, philosophical mysticism can get you to a place where consciousness can be discussed without the dogmatic overtones that frequently bog down discussion of spirit and consciousness.
When I lived in a Buddhist monastery, we called these non-rational discussions monastic debates. A monastic debate about quantum physics is a most interesting experience, I assure you.
Since the late 1960s, modern science has, for the most part, washed its hands of the UFO phenomena. Why? Because, as a friend of mine in Australia likes to point out, academic scientists really need to have an off-world craft to take apart and examine, yet they don’t have one — at least to the best of our public knowledge.
With out an off-world craft to study, academic scientists don’t want to risk the prestige, credibility and funding that goes into big science. Add to that trying to understand UFOs invariably leads down a rabbit hole and the dreaded path of non-rational philosophical mysticism.
Perhaps it’s time for the well-trained mystics to take a crack at the UFO problem.
Let’s look at some recent UFO sightings from around the country:
- July 14, 2017: At 1:30 a.m. a motorist in Pinon Hills, Calif., observed in the southwest sky a bright blue object moving west.
- July 14, 2017: At 4:30 a.m. a resident of Chandler, Ariz., three bright objects “swooping” over a rural field.
- July 14, 2017: At 12:14 p.m. a resident of Kingston, Ontario, reported a large S-shaped object spinning over a field before it took to the sky at great speed.
- July 14, 2017: At 8:39 p.m. a resident of Midland, Mich., was taking pictures of storm clouds. Upon reviewing the photos he discovered a large rectangular UFO in one of his photos.
- July 14, 2017: At 9:40 p.m. several residents of Alexandria, Va., observed seven bright, blinking lights, silently crossing sky above them in a single-file formation.
- July 14, 2017: At 10 p.m. a resident of Erie, Pa., witnessed a hovering neon green circular light. He reports that it seemed to be motionless and low to the ground.
If you are interested in joining a monthly UFO discussion group in the Onondaga County area, drop Cheryl an email at [email protected]. If you have a UFO sighting to report, you can use either one of the two national database services: nuforc.org or mufon.com. Both services respect confidentiality. Follow me on Twitter @American_Skies.