If you haven't read 'The Super Natural: Why the Unexplained is Real' by Whitley Strieber and Jeff Kripal, you should if you have any interest in unidentified aerial phenomena, mythology, or the paranormal.
In chapter seven, Jeff references a line from one of Whitley's books, 'Breakthrough,' that I think encapsulates the true essence of anomalous phenomena like UFOs:
There are theories of physics that suggest that perception may affect reality, and that we live inside a kind of envelope of meaning that confers structure on an indeterminate universe. It is as if everything is a sort of field before we perceive it, and that perception itself resolves into the world we see and understand.
—Whitley Strieber
The observer effect, as described by physics, is the disturbance of an observed system by the act of observation.
For nearly three decades now, I have made a study of the UFO Phenomenon and other parapsychological phenomena. After listening to and reading about eyewitness accounts of anomalous phenomena, it is clear to me that the percipient, the observer, shares some responsibility in how those phenomena appear in three-dimensional reality. I not only base my conclusion on those eyewitness accounts but also the work done by Dr. Michael Persinger. He performed experiments using a device known as the "God Helmet." The device was designed to send weak, but complex, electromagnetic fields into the temporal lobes of a subject. Some people reported feeling a 'sensed presence,' aliens, and even God; hence the device's name.
There is evidence, based on the research of others like James McCampbell, that UFOs produce effects on the body as well as the mind. And those effects are related to, most likely, electromagnetic and microwave energies. The UFO, whatever it is, has a type of feedback system. That system seems to have the ability to engage the unconscious (and maybe the collective unconscious) of human beings. From the reservoir of archetypal images and images from popular culture, the intelligence behind the UFO manifestation, with help from the human observer, constructs a materialized form.
There could be other factors that determine the content of the experience, such as a person’s beliefs. One person might see the Virgin Mary while another person sees an alien being. Our perceptual lens helps to construct the social identity of the projection.
In The Supernatural, Jeff mentions an incident involving a man named, Bruce Lee, who encountered two strange people in a bookstore that looked like 'aliens.' They were reading, believe it not, 'Communion.' Were those two people actually "aliens" or two human beings 'seen in another guise, dimension, or mode,' as Jeff speculates? Jeff considers something that Whitley wrote concerning the experience: "At that time, I was debating in my own mind whether or not the experience was 'real' or 'imaginal'—"That is to say, a tangible presence somehow generated by the imagination."
"Instead of shunning the darkness, we can face straight into it with an open mind. When we do that, the unknown changes. Fearful things become understandable and a truth is suggested: the enigmatic presence of the human mind winks back from the dark." WHITLEY STRIEBER, COMMUNION
I interpret Whitley's mention of the 'darkness' as being the Shadow part of the psyche. And I feel that the UFO Phenomenon does reflect back to us the contents of psyches. But, as I think Whitley is eluding to, we must be brave enough to look inside ourselves, into that dark abyss, and face the truth. Perhaps the UFO is offering us some form of feedback, beckoning us to shine the light into that abyss.
The Super Natural, by Jeff Kripal and Whitley Strieber, is a step in the right direction for studying and understanding parapsychological phenomena.
Available on Amazon.
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