Part 2 Skeptiko Interview with David Jacobs: Spiritual Side of UFOs

Part 2 of the Skeptiko interview with David Jacobs:

Alex Tsakiris: I’m not a religious person and I’m certainly not pushing any kind of religion or any kind of specific spiritual tradition. I just come at it from the data and I think there’s a reality to these unity-consciousness experiences.
Dr. David Jacobs:  Well, you’ve asked me a personal question that has nothing to do with the abduction phenomenon.
Alex Tsakiris:  Why do you think that?
Dr. David Jacobs:  Because all I know is when I started doing abduction research I really didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t know what I was going to hear. If this turned out to be a spiritually enlightening phenomenon, that would have been fine. That’s okay with me. That’s great. I’d like to be spiritual enlightened. That would be terrific. But I just never hear this. It’s just not part of this phenomenon.

Abduction Research and the "Spiritual"

I find it incredible Jacobs rejects any type of metaphysical aspect to UFOs and abductions, and, while I don't know he's outright lying, I do wonder at his statement that "It's just not part of this phenomenon." He says he hasn't heard anything from witnesses concerning more paranormal/spiritual/esoteric experiences. Maybe that is true, but again, I find that very strange that not one witness has ever shared this aspect of the phenomena with Jacobs, according to Jacobs. 

That aside, Jacobs "works around" certain details of an abductees memory because, according to Jacobs, such things simply aren't true. They don't exist, aliens really don't look like that, whatever. The witness is "confabulating" Jacobs says, which gives Jacobs the right to mess with their heads by planting suggestions to the witness. This is one of the things he did with Emma Woods --  giving her the suggestion she had multiple personality disorder. This is dangerous and not research that can be taken seriously.

Good for Tsakiris for pushing on this issue; that for lack of a better term "spiritual" experiences are a part of the UFO and abduction phenomena. 

The entire UFO phenomena is still being consistently dissected into either/or paradigms.

Hypnosis and Rejection of Data

Several times Jacobs makes statements, presented as facts, that are his opinions on the UFO/alien/abduction theater the world has been witnessing for thousands of years. What hasn't occurred to Jacobs (or maybe it has, and he's rejected the idea due to extreme hubris) is that this whole UFO performance is incredibly interconnected within itself and includes an array of contradictions, correspondences, synchronicitiess and experience. Removing one aspect to study is worthwhile. Stating that the data gleaned from the study of that one aspect is the answer and the facts is irresponsible.

We cannot be sure that hypnosis is a valid tool for UFO research. I don't know. I have gone back and forth with my own experience and hypnosis; do I undergo hypnosis? I've arrived at the point now where, if I do, it would simply be for the data. But, I would not want any hypnotist to plant suggestions into my head or ask me leading questions or outright tell me I am "confabulating" when I relate what I believe to be true. 

And that's the thing. I don't know what happened to me. But something did. So if I don't know, how the hell can anyone else know? 

With my own experiences, I've had "spiritual experiences" as well as non-spiritual experiences. Everything from nuts and bolts: straight forward sighting of a craft, to out of body astral realm entities appearing before me and down the rabbit hole experiences. 

I think part of the problem is the use of the phrases "spiritually enlgithed" and "transformative spiritual experiences." those statement s assume that once you had an experience you're somehow evoled, better, smarter in a metaphysical sense, than the rest of us. Nope. Some of us have just seen that blazing light and are trying to figure it out is all. And of course, there's always the possibility that those experiences are manipulated by "them."

It is a puzzle. There are those "new age" types who are so blissed out they make want to spit nails, and I have found them both terribly patronizing as well as naive.

 Tsakiris on Worldview
Excellent points by Alex Tsakiris on Jacob's worldview and how that personal view affects his research. Also an interesting rebuttal shared by Tsakiris to Jacobs statement as fact that John Mack simply gave up on the metaphysical aspects of UFOs because there was nothing there.