Ideas

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.—Aristotle

I lifted this quote from Lisa Shiel's Bigfoot Quest blog. I like this quote, and think it's important in any area,includng the UFO and esoteric realm. How else are we to get anywhere if we don't allow ourselves to consider other ideas, perspectives?

Along these lines (well, to me, after all I'm a Pisces so I think a bit off kilter) is what Tim Binnall said in his interview on the Blue Rose Report podcast recently. He said, of UFO studies and theories and choosing a "side" to be on, that:
"There aren't any sides, it's a circle." I probably have that wrong, but that's the gist.

I can delve into Reptilians and Nazi gnomes living inside the earth without literally "believing" in such things. Or explore the Contactee movement without believing that Adamski, Fry, etc. really rode in a spaceship to Venus, or over the United States. That's not to say they were lying - and here's where this idea of entertaining ideas comes in. It's not always such an easy dichotomy when it comes to this arena: either or, black white, literal or not, etc.

So many are still stuck on nuts and bolts vs. the mystical, the ETH vs. anything else. Roswell as the great answer to the puzzle.

Speaking of Roswell (I know,I'm sorry) there are those who expect the answer as a salvation to the UFO enigma, and those who believe that, since Roswell is "dead" all of UFOlogy are dead. More of that either or stuff.

Binnall, in his interview, also stressed the importance of getting the views of international UFO researchers. Lesley (Debris Field, Beyond the Dial, Grey Matters) has done a lot towards gathering international research resources for our benefit. U.S. research and studies in this context needs the perspective of not only international researchers but multi cultural and minority researchers from within the states as well.

At the risk of sounding annoyingly multicultural p.c., I'll say it anyway: the views about UFOs and the paranormal our society has as a whole are held and supported (controlled) by the white dominant paradigm. (As is everything.) When it comes to the paranormal, to UFOs, to the weird in general, our infrastructure does its job: denies, and decompartmentalizes.

Most of this is a given in any culture, and due to the Trickster at work. Divide, invert, juxtapose, hide. And expecting it all to change suddenly because we've now included other views is like the naive expectations of the exopolitics people.

But it can't hurt. Anyway, what's the goal here? To change "them," or to change us?

Vivacious exchange of information and ideas doesn't mean, or guarantee, agreement. That's not the point. It might turn out I think a particular culture's mindset regarding UFOs is ridiculous, or pig headed, or weird. So what?

As the man said, we can entertain these ideas without accepting them. At least we've been exposed to new views.