Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Facebook Mini Rant

I responded to something on Facebook, just thought I'd share. Sums it up, maybe I'll put it on my business card!

UFOlogy is not "dead," no one should be the Great UFO Decider, it ain't all that serious, and it is all VERY serious, science will never embrace us saucer heads, but that's okay because like Groucho said: (paraphrasing) "I don't want to be a member of any club that'd have me", one person's embarassing fruitcake is another person's tasty brownie, some of us are stuck with weird experiences and we're trying to figure it out, no, we won't shut up, far too many smug stuffed shirts pontificating their way through UFO Land, judgements, classism, self-importance, and not listening to the witnesses. I'd hate to go off on a rant though!

9 comments:

Red Pill Junkie said...

What is UFOlogy?

What's its final goal?

Regan Lee said...

No one knows the answer to either one of those questions!

What answers there are, varies according to the individuals who care about those questions.

My final goal and your final goal might be two different things. In fact, I don't have a "final goal."

I think each one of us has to ask ourselves what we're in it for, and follow that as honestly as we can.

Red Pill Junkie said...

So, it doesn't matter if UFOlogy is not an structured endeavor, with a coherent program and methodology, as long as people keep a interest in those weird lights in the sky?

Maybe UFOlogy should stop striving to be considered a scientific endeavor. Instead it might be viewed as an artistic expression of sorts? It's either that or —gulp!— devolution into a religion :-/

I don' know. I agree with you that I've arrived to a point in my life when my personal journey matters more than official recognition of the UFO phenomenon —but I keep my fingers crossed as always ;)

Regan Lee said...

Oh this is weird! I spent a good half hour posting a whole rant, lol, and it's gone! I mean, gone! sigh.

no idea what happened...

Regan Lee said...

I'll try again but it won't come close to the genius of before, lol.

I'll start with what I ended with on the Great Lost Post. That was, many UFO researchers need to get over themselves and stop being embarrassed by UFOlogy. They need to stop grasping for that elusive Science Loves Me, It Really Loves Me! prize.

We all need each other. It's not an either or debate. It's not a race or a contest. It's not "you must hate science (or whatever institution one wants to have as Overseer) if you don't love me with no questions asked" or a "only science gets to play.' We all get to play.

Science, or the Great UFO Overseer, whoever it might be, as an institution, as a kind of abstract entity, becomes the Big Decider of All That Are (is) UFOs. Right away the self-appointed ones reject half if not 3/4 of things related to UFOs. At best, they might throw some of this stuff to other disciplines: psychology, religious studies, culture studies, sociology, etc. But then, they turn around and say "Well, it's not really science, or, it doesn't fit into our standards, so we're not going to look at it."

Meanwhile, people, witnesses, are running around with crazy stories of having sex with reptilian overlords, which embarresses the hell out of the UFO Police. But those lizard lover stories are part of the UFO experience! Like it or not. So easy and glib to say "Well, too weird for me," or "that person's a lunatic," but you're not being honest.

It's also hysterical to me that some want to insist we have a sort of para-science and scientific UFO Police state, dismissing half the stuff that comes our way, because it's too weird to deal with, and setting up all kinds of "-isms" about what UFOs are, and aren't, and shouldn't be, etc. when we don't know what UFOs are in the first place.

There's also the issue of human nature. We reject things because we don't like someone's looks, or class, or the way they talk, or because they use drugs, or are conservative, or hippies, or . . .

Human nature ensures that, any institution that becomes the controller, any UFO Police entity, will have in-fighting. Mavericks escaping. Groupies and wanna-be's used by the UFO gatekeepers as promotional pawns and shills.

Religion? Nothing wrong with that;just one more interpretation framework among many. Gods are aliens, aliens are god, what's the difference?

UFOs. We start with the witness, the experiencer, whatever term you want to use. In that sense, it's a grass roots thing. It's of the people. And then along comes a group of individuals who demand stuff: proof, physical evidence, more stuff, and more.. as long as it fits in with some personal paradigm on the part of the UFO Officials. If it doesn't, out it goes or worse, the witness goes, if things get too uncomfortable.

Red Pill Junkie said...

"Religion? Nothing wrong with that;just one more interpretation framework among many. Gods are aliens, aliens are god, what's the difference?"

I've just finished reading Vallee's Messengers of Deception, so I'm still influenced by it —maybe next I'll read a book by Strieber and swing to the other side ;)

The 'problem' with religions is that which fuels the normal religious experience: faith.

The moment you stop questioning the source or nature of the data/info you're getting from the UFO event, you are kind of giving up on the attempt of ever explaining it. Like the Pope cautioning cosmologists not to look into what happened to the Universe before the Big Bang, because "that's God's turf".

Then again, there are other things that can fuel or trigger the religious experience. That which Paul experienced when he was blinded by a white light who called on to him and said "why do you pursue me?". The UFO, whether we like it or not, triggers the same mystical response; and that needs to be addressed.

Like always, I'm on the fence here. On the same time I agree with Vallee that we should be mindful of the people or forces who could try to manipulate the UFO myth (seeing it as a myth does not mean it does not have a physical real nature; just that by now the social impact of ET is beyond the actual reality of its alleged existence). But on the other hand, I can see how a scientist would reject the idea of superior beings taking an interest on us and maybe even deliberately modifying our consciousness and our society; it's the same uneasiness one feels at the prospect of losing your ego during a mystical experience when your consciousness dissolves and melds with the Universe.

The death of the ego would seem like the death of the self; but if you're reluctant to do that, you might miss the chance to experience something wonderful —there's a reason why some people call a particular physiological response "the little death" ;)

Gee, i don't know where I'm going with all this. Let's just say that I don't know whether 'faith' is an advantage or a disability.

Maybe the UFO heralds the dawn of an era when science and religion will lose their illusionary differences.

Regan Lee said...

rpj,

I agree yet disagree about faith. It's not a always a bad thing, as long as you question, doubt, and keep checking in. Hmmm, maybe that's not faith, then, if I keep questioning, lol.

what I mean about religion in relation to UFOs is the god=alien, alien=god thing, I just don't get involved in that. I'm not religious and I'm not a Christian so it isn't my thing.

I absolutely agree with you on this one!--
the moment you stop questioning the source or nature of the data/info you're getting from the UFO event, you are kind of giving up on the attempt of ever explaining it. Like the Pope cautioning cosmologists not to look into what happened to the Universe before the Big Bang, because "that's God's turf".

Oh yes! But that's why we can't have UFO Police because there isn't questioning... or, only questioning of some things while rejecting others.

Sometimes witnesses, as well as researchers, hell, we all do it, interpret UFO-alien stuff according to their own belief systems. If you're a Christian, for example, and "believe in" aliens-UFOs, maybe had experiences yourself, you have a whole different take on it than someone else. And you can't have an honest discussion about UFOs with someone like that (I've tried!) because it's a loop... they have faith, the Bible says so and so on.

I see a lot of the Disclosure movement who have such self assurance, a kind of faith I guess, about aliens, UFOs, New Age probably type stuff... that's faith. I've been to UFO groups where the "leader' or consensus of the group rejects any discussion of negative, dark UFO experiences. Bad vibes, they don't want that around. I was told by one person he didn't want to be in the same room with me because he couldn't be around someone who was so distrustful of both the government and the aliens! I was bringing "bad energy" into things.

The UFO, whether we like it or not, triggers the same mystical response; and that needs to be addressed.

Agreed again. Some say the UFO is an angel, or God, some say it's aliens, skeptics who reject the idea of either say it's the brain. We don't know. I have my personal ideas -- it ain't the brain-- or "just" that anyway -- but I don't know. Though I doubt it.

I also agree with you on your thoughts about what Vallee and science says . . . though I also think in some of all this, it's pretty simple: there are literal aliens from literal space messing with us.

If faith blinds you and turns you into a non-questioning fanatic, stubbornly refusing to question, it's a disability. But faith can also be a comfort and help change things through intent and thought (New Agey I know but that's me) so, like you, I believe it can be both a "an advantage" as well as a "disability."

Red Pill Junkie said...

"I believe it can be both a "an advantage" as well as a "disability.""

Faith as a quantum entity, eh? I like it ;)

This discussion reminds me of this article. The author discusses concepts like "known unknowns" (things that you know you don't know, but you may have the means to find out); and "unknown unknowns" (things that you don't know you don't know, and probably can't even formulate in a question format).

UFOs are the unknown unknown unknowns! And it's discouraging to find out people who buy into easy narratives to try to explain it.

So it's obvious that, no matter how unbiased an impartial you strive to be as a human; when you deal with an unknown unknown, you are condemned to interpret it as best you can —we humans are natural story-tellers. But the thing that bugs me is this: are the aliens aware of this when they interact with us? do they use that to their advantage or ours? do they even care? are concepts like "awareness" and "caring" applicable to them to begin with??

...And now my brain is starting to sweat >_<

Regan Lee said...

UFOs are the unknown unknown unknowns!

I like it!

But the thing that bugs me is this: are the aliens aware of this when they interact with us? do they use that to their advantage or ours? do they even care?

OOOOooooooo, I love this! I mean, I know! Are they the trickster, or aware of that and mimic it, or do we interpret their theater as trickster, confusing the two, or . .. or ... or...