In 1945, Robert Oppenheimer and the planet’s best brains summoned hellfire from the lab and wrote intentional auto-extinction into the arsenal of human potential. In his painting “Why We Explore,” artist Robert Bausch summarizes Earth’s evolution on a single canvas. In the left-to-right storyline, the third stone out is a barren wasteland getting hammered by space debris, and upchucking the molten contents of its crust into the sea. Single-celled organisms shimmy from the steaming prehistoric broth before their more complex incarnations migrate rightward across the watery blue. Their descendants crawl ashore into a lush Eden, where more recognizable plant and animal communities pave the way for the ascension of humans.
In 1978, while working on an issue dedicated to the subject of UFOs, the staff of the long-defunct DUDA magazine summarized the thoughts of author Trevor James Constable on the subject of our inability to grasp the phenomenon. "New interpretations on the UFO phenomenon arise on daily basis," wrote editor Guillermo Mendizábal, "some of them feasible, other merely curious. In this issue we are presenting those which, due to their research methods, truly provide a new hope at unmasking the UFO enigma."
The article goes on to say:
Trevor James Constable, whose research provided the basis for this issue, has set forth the reasons for which humanity, from his perspective, has been unable to properly study the UFO phenomenon. They are as follows:
1. The rejection of the soul and matters spiritual by science;
2. The infusion of suspicion and contempt in humans against anything that implies a spiritual concern;
3. Humanity's adoration of the material;
4. Denial of the existence of invisible realms;
5. The worship of numbers, illustrated by the computer age, which has further dehumanized life, and
6. Official science's obsession with measuring everything and only accepting that which can be rendered in numerical form.
Thoughts which could be considered no less valid in 2021.
I have always laughed at the similarities between religious fundamentalists and pseudo-skeptic atheists, and have pointed them out to both on numerous occasions.
Maybe I focused on the wrong bit, but isn't dismissing the idea of historical ET influence, the same as dismissing the possibility of the ETH?
'UFO' accounts include close encounters and sometimes apparent telepathic communication. If some UAP represent ET technology or even vessels for beings, then doesn't ET intervention in human affairs become a matter of degree? Images relayed to a shaman, flybys over large population centres, the odd drop-in visit, perhaps a prolonged stay, advice on best practices, a little cosmology.
The fact that our cultures include UFOs and aliens shows how much influence they could (or perhaps do) wield.
Humanity would act like a curious sponge if it engaged in a cultural exchange with an alien civilisation or its representatives; perhaps one more reason why they generally keep us at arms length.
I wonder if whether or not we believe in God/higher power is more a refection of our ego or self centeredness. If such an entity exists it's quite irrelevant whether or not I believe it.
Harry Reid stated the same opinion regarding religious fundamentalists in a short televised interview a few years ago.His reference was not to Pentagon officials but rather to some of his peers in congress , which is/was a stumbling block to holding hearings regarding the UFO phenomena.
Very interesting post. Reminds me of a Pew Research survey from 2009 (https://www.pewforum.org/2009/11/05/scientists-and-belief/), where a huge majority (95%) of the general public believed in God or a higher power compared with 51% of scientists who believed likewise. The number 51% is identical to the number of Americans in the Pew survey quoted here who believe that military sightings of UFOs represent evidence of life on other planets.
An excellent and thought provoking piece. I wonder how the collective human mind-set will splinter if/when the high strangeness aspect linked to the Phenomena is exposed by a main-steam media outlet. How will the atheist/scientists and uber-religious react when the NYT or 60 Minutes goes to press/airs a piece that the government is investigating or confirms alien abductions? Both groups will lose it. Perhaps it'll be a story about official investigation into the possibility people are being snatched from their beds and probed by entities of unknown origin. Or maybe something about hitch-hikers spooking the bejesus out of Navy pilots who spot UAPs. We're only starting to scratch the surface here.
In 1978, while working on an issue dedicated to the subject of UFOs, the staff of the long-defunct DUDA magazine summarized the thoughts of author Trevor James Constable on the subject of our inability to grasp the phenomenon. "New interpretations on the UFO phenomenon arise on daily basis," wrote editor Guillermo Mendizábal, "some of them feasible, other merely curious. In this issue we are presenting those which, due to their research methods, truly provide a new hope at unmasking the UFO enigma."
The article goes on to say:
Trevor James Constable, whose research provided the basis for this issue, has set forth the reasons for which humanity, from his perspective, has been unable to properly study the UFO phenomenon. They are as follows:
1. The rejection of the soul and matters spiritual by science;
2. The infusion of suspicion and contempt in humans against anything that implies a spiritual concern;
3. Humanity's adoration of the material;
4. Denial of the existence of invisible realms;
5. The worship of numbers, illustrated by the computer age, which has further dehumanized life, and
6. Official science's obsession with measuring everything and only accepting that which can be rendered in numerical form.
Thoughts which could be considered no less valid in 2021.
Billy, on 30 July 2021, a major UFO incident occurred over Eastern Canada.
https://ufointel.wordpress.com/2021/08/22/ufo-news-article-22/
I have always laughed at the similarities between religious fundamentalists and pseudo-skeptic atheists, and have pointed them out to both on numerous occasions.
Atheism is also a religion.
Maybe I focused on the wrong bit, but isn't dismissing the idea of historical ET influence, the same as dismissing the possibility of the ETH?
'UFO' accounts include close encounters and sometimes apparent telepathic communication. If some UAP represent ET technology or even vessels for beings, then doesn't ET intervention in human affairs become a matter of degree? Images relayed to a shaman, flybys over large population centres, the odd drop-in visit, perhaps a prolonged stay, advice on best practices, a little cosmology.
The fact that our cultures include UFOs and aliens shows how much influence they could (or perhaps do) wield.
Humanity would act like a curious sponge if it engaged in a cultural exchange with an alien civilisation or its representatives; perhaps one more reason why they generally keep us at arms length.
I wonder if whether or not we believe in God/higher power is more a refection of our ego or self centeredness. If such an entity exists it's quite irrelevant whether or not I believe it.
Harry Reid stated the same opinion regarding religious fundamentalists in a short televised interview a few years ago.His reference was not to Pentagon officials but rather to some of his peers in congress , which is/was a stumbling block to holding hearings regarding the UFO phenomena.
Very interesting post. Reminds me of a Pew Research survey from 2009 (https://www.pewforum.org/2009/11/05/scientists-and-belief/), where a huge majority (95%) of the general public believed in God or a higher power compared with 51% of scientists who believed likewise. The number 51% is identical to the number of Americans in the Pew survey quoted here who believe that military sightings of UFOs represent evidence of life on other planets.
An excellent and thought provoking piece. I wonder how the collective human mind-set will splinter if/when the high strangeness aspect linked to the Phenomena is exposed by a main-steam media outlet. How will the atheist/scientists and uber-religious react when the NYT or 60 Minutes goes to press/airs a piece that the government is investigating or confirms alien abductions? Both groups will lose it. Perhaps it'll be a story about official investigation into the possibility people are being snatched from their beds and probed by entities of unknown origin. Or maybe something about hitch-hikers spooking the bejesus out of Navy pilots who spot UAPs. We're only starting to scratch the surface here.