OE sounds like an ecstatic experience, and hallucinogens do the same thing and are much more accessible. There are some details, sure, cost for facilitation, medical, education, etc., but should we be quibbling at a time like this?
Mind blowing surely. Thanks you for informing and great first paragraph summary. Relatedly to what you say I once went to talk by Prof. David Luke of Greenwich University on how DMT "open doors" in the mind. It's been his field for years. The question is the reality of all the beings met and places people go (I get the impression real). I think all come back changed as we're talking about parallel realities being seen and "life" therein. I think it was John Mack who coined the term "ontological shock" for those having abduction events, so kind of similar - people realizing there's something bigger, controlling a bit and watching out there.
Mar 23, 2022·edited Mar 23, 2022Liked by Billy Cox
Perhaps the best example of an Overview Effect, or life changing transcendent experience in space I can think of is the late Edgar Mitchell. He called it samadhi. It sent him on a completely different kind of life journey.
Maybe this isn't the time to raise the subject, but I happened to listen to a podcast on the abduction phenomena and the question was raised as to how a researcher determines a false memory from a true one.
A quick search located an article from 1998: False Memories and Confabulation by Marcia Johnson and Carol Raye. While quite technical, it indicated that we have no measuring stick against which to check reality (as true or false), while growing up our brains develop their own 'fact checking' gatekeepers when filing and recalling memories. Everyone can be tripped up.
The article naturally focused on individuals with diagnosed issues, where patients had confabulated a range of false memories (including a space pirate); but what it didn't explore was the effect of filtering out true information in error.
One could argue that 'open mindedness' is the most reasonable position for any topic where 'unknown' data continues to accumulate and a history of 'unknowns' remain, especially when (a subset of the) data are provided by good sources. Those who are close-minded, under such circumstances, may be cognitively impaired (in a mirror image to those who confabulate.)
It's interesting that people are searching for ways to mimic and evoke the Overview Effect - as it highlights the fallibility of the human brain to accurately differentiate between reality and illusion (assuming there is a difference, when science eventually works everything out).
For Ufology, it's a big problem because not only is it very difficult to obtain empirical evidence, but individuals who believe they have experienced something profound will have the same emotional response whether it was real or not.
While many UFO/UAP sightings go unreported, it may turn out that truly alien experiences are relatively rare. But it's definitely encouraging that so many people are open to the possibility. There's hope for us yet.
I sympathized with Shatner's valiant attempt to express the inexpressible. A period of reflection would have been better before shoving mics in his face. Transcendent experiences are often diminished when we try to put them into words, which can be not...really...accurate.
"Redacted classified UFO report reveals new info on 'shapes,' investigation into 'unexplained' phenomena
FOIA activist site The Black Vault published redacted report"
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/redacted-classified-us-ufo-report
I did not know about this aspect:
"In a small number of cases, military aircraft systems processed radio frequency (RF) energy associated with UAP sightings."
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OE sounds like an ecstatic experience, and hallucinogens do the same thing and are much more accessible. There are some details, sure, cost for facilitation, medical, education, etc., but should we be quibbling at a time like this?
Mind blowing surely. Thanks you for informing and great first paragraph summary. Relatedly to what you say I once went to talk by Prof. David Luke of Greenwich University on how DMT "open doors" in the mind. It's been his field for years. The question is the reality of all the beings met and places people go (I get the impression real). I think all come back changed as we're talking about parallel realities being seen and "life" therein. I think it was John Mack who coined the term "ontological shock" for those having abduction events, so kind of similar - people realizing there's something bigger, controlling a bit and watching out there.
Perhaps the best example of an Overview Effect, or life changing transcendent experience in space I can think of is the late Edgar Mitchell. He called it samadhi. It sent him on a completely different kind of life journey.
😃😃😃😃
Eben Alexander's account of his own NDE gave me a new appreciation for Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper."
Maybe this isn't the time to raise the subject, but I happened to listen to a podcast on the abduction phenomena and the question was raised as to how a researcher determines a false memory from a true one.
A quick search located an article from 1998: False Memories and Confabulation by Marcia Johnson and Carol Raye. While quite technical, it indicated that we have no measuring stick against which to check reality (as true or false), while growing up our brains develop their own 'fact checking' gatekeepers when filing and recalling memories. Everyone can be tripped up.
The article naturally focused on individuals with diagnosed issues, where patients had confabulated a range of false memories (including a space pirate); but what it didn't explore was the effect of filtering out true information in error.
One could argue that 'open mindedness' is the most reasonable position for any topic where 'unknown' data continues to accumulate and a history of 'unknowns' remain, especially when (a subset of the) data are provided by good sources. Those who are close-minded, under such circumstances, may be cognitively impaired (in a mirror image to those who confabulate.)
It's interesting that people are searching for ways to mimic and evoke the Overview Effect - as it highlights the fallibility of the human brain to accurately differentiate between reality and illusion (assuming there is a difference, when science eventually works everything out).
For Ufology, it's a big problem because not only is it very difficult to obtain empirical evidence, but individuals who believe they have experienced something profound will have the same emotional response whether it was real or not.
While many UFO/UAP sightings go unreported, it may turn out that truly alien experiences are relatively rare. But it's definitely encouraging that so many people are open to the possibility. There's hope for us yet.
I sympathized with Shatner's valiant attempt to express the inexpressible. A period of reflection would have been better before shoving mics in his face. Transcendent experiences are often diminished when we try to put them into words, which can be not...really...accurate.
Just ask those who've had an NDE.
All I can say, Captain Kirk: I feel you.
Watching multiple UFO's perform mind boggling feats for 25 minutes has the same effect.
But I would venture to say that it is even more profound.
Jeff Bezos has offered you a seat. Would you go?