One does not wade far into the tricky currents of ufology before theological questions begin to arise. Who are the strange intelligences that ply our skies in gravity defying craft? To our enfeebled minds, they seem like gods. Or demons come to snatch our bodies, our souls, in the dead of night.
Some have observed that the study of UFOs bears elements of a spiritual quest. Close encounters with craft of apparent non-human origin evoke the mysterium tremendum et fascinans. Are those of us who study UFOs not like Parsifal searching for the Holy Grail of alien implants and unearthly technology? Or Phaeton who longed ride his father’s golden chariot across the sky? Or perhaps like Faust who traded his soul for a chance to fathom the world’s deepest mysteries? For it is the mystery that drive us — an almost primal longing to answer questions that some have said will be illuminated only when we die.
History tells us that mixing ufology and religion can end badly. Think of Heaven’s Gate where thirty-eight follower of self-proclaimed prophet, Marshall Applewhite, ingested phenobarbital washed down with applesauce and vodka in order to launch their souls to the mother ship hiding behind Comet Hale-Bopp. This mass suicide serves as a warning to those who would hitch their salvation to a theology cobbled together from contactee stories and white-robed space brothers mixed in a new age blender.
The darker aspects of ufology have led some religious thinkers to label to the entire phenomenon as demonic. Indeed, the classic alien abduction scenario — essentially a kidnapping with medical experimentation, extraction of sperm and ova and occasional interspecies sexual liaisons — does seem to traffic in the diabolical. Deception too — one of the hallmarks of the devil — is rife in the contact literature. However, it is important to keep in mind that Satan does not have a monopoly on deception, which seems to be alive and well in human affairs, frequently employed in business and war. And what sort of demon would hover over a major airport in broad daylight, shadow a commercial cargo jet carrying French wine across Alaska, or turn off the guidance and control systems of nuclear missiles?
One can see echoes of the spiritual quest too in the contemporary fascination with the paranormal. The past decade has witnessed a high tech renaissance of spiritualism where adepts of the invisible gather in abandoned hospitals or morgues armed not with crystal balls and séance tables but EMF meters and digital camcorders. Many ufologists who start out as ‘nuts and bolts’ scientists eventually become impressed with the paranormal elements. One can see this trajectory in the careers of J. Allen Hynek and more recently, Ted Phillips. From a recognition of the paranormal, it is a short step to spirituality. Dancing orbs and singing lights aside, this is not necessarily an uplifting spirituality, but one that both terrifies and amazes, confuses and delights, and places one in a relationship with something that seems wholly other.
The god of UFOs is a trickster, who moves like quicksilver before our grasp. We look up in awe at the mercurial lights as our ancestors must have watched lightning and pictured a powerful deity pummeling the earth with fiery bolts.
As we gaze into the dark portal of the night sky, our faculty of reason may be challenged but must not be thrown aside. As we confront the limits of understanding let’s not abandon the attempt to comprehend. For reason and discernment grounds us as we approach the unknown with trembling and wonder.
Some have observed that the study of UFOs bears elements of a spiritual quest. Close encounters with craft of apparent non-human origin evoke the mysterium tremendum et fascinans. Are those of us who study UFOs not like Parsifal searching for the Holy Grail of alien implants and unearthly technology? Or Phaeton who longed ride his father’s golden chariot across the sky? Or perhaps like Faust who traded his soul for a chance to fathom the world’s deepest mysteries? For it is the mystery that drive us — an almost primal longing to answer questions that some have said will be illuminated only when we die.
History tells us that mixing ufology and religion can end badly. Think of Heaven’s Gate where thirty-eight follower of self-proclaimed prophet, Marshall Applewhite, ingested phenobarbital washed down with applesauce and vodka in order to launch their souls to the mother ship hiding behind Comet Hale-Bopp. This mass suicide serves as a warning to those who would hitch their salvation to a theology cobbled together from contactee stories and white-robed space brothers mixed in a new age blender.
The darker aspects of ufology have led some religious thinkers to label to the entire phenomenon as demonic. Indeed, the classic alien abduction scenario — essentially a kidnapping with medical experimentation, extraction of sperm and ova and occasional interspecies sexual liaisons — does seem to traffic in the diabolical. Deception too — one of the hallmarks of the devil — is rife in the contact literature. However, it is important to keep in mind that Satan does not have a monopoly on deception, which seems to be alive and well in human affairs, frequently employed in business and war. And what sort of demon would hover over a major airport in broad daylight, shadow a commercial cargo jet carrying French wine across Alaska, or turn off the guidance and control systems of nuclear missiles?
Artwork by Bradford Evans: I dreamed I was a Bird in Flight
One can see echoes of the spiritual quest too in the contemporary fascination with the paranormal. The past decade has witnessed a high tech renaissance of spiritualism where adepts of the invisible gather in abandoned hospitals or morgues armed not with crystal balls and séance tables but EMF meters and digital camcorders. Many ufologists who start out as ‘nuts and bolts’ scientists eventually become impressed with the paranormal elements. One can see this trajectory in the careers of J. Allen Hynek and more recently, Ted Phillips. From a recognition of the paranormal, it is a short step to spirituality. Dancing orbs and singing lights aside, this is not necessarily an uplifting spirituality, but one that both terrifies and amazes, confuses and delights, and places one in a relationship with something that seems wholly other.
The god of UFOs is a trickster, who moves like quicksilver before our grasp. We look up in awe at the mercurial lights as our ancestors must have watched lightning and pictured a powerful deity pummeling the earth with fiery bolts.
As we gaze into the dark portal of the night sky, our faculty of reason may be challenged but must not be thrown aside. As we confront the limits of understanding let’s not abandon the attempt to comprehend. For reason and discernment grounds us as we approach the unknown with trembling and wonder.
Exactly. You living in Portland has conformed thy wee, wee mind into thinking the denizens of UFOs are somehow 'gods'. If you wanna rise-up literally to Seventh-Heaven, I'd suggest that you put down your whorizontal joystick and arise to meet thy Maker, son...
ReplyDeleteOr dont expect tooo much reward...
or reward at all, descending into the Abyss o'Misery which you may not believe in living in sordid, sacrificial Portland, the home of lemmings.
God bless your indelible soul.
cya soon Upstairs...
or I wont.
And you'll definitely know why.
Follow us on the journey home.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLet this be your catalyst to Seventh-Heaven:
ReplyDelete'The more you shall honor Me,
the more I shall bless you'
-the Infant Jesus of Prague
(<- Czech Republic, next to Russia)
Love him or leave him...
better lissen to the Don:
if you deny o'er-the-Hillary's evil,
which most whorizontalites do,
you cannot deny Hellfire
which YOU send YOURSELF to.
Yes, earthling, I was an NDE:
the sights were beyond extreme.
Choose Jesus.
You'll be most happy you did.
God bless your indelible soul.
'We cannot be neutral in our lifelong demise precisely because Jesus WILL NOT be neutral at our General Judgement' -blessed holy socks
DeleteYa better live withat fact; ya better conform your indelible soul to that axiom, earthling: once this finite existence is finished, Jesus shall kick-you-out of Seventh-Heaven if you're lukewarm; what we do in our finite lifetimes has eternal consequences.
Howd'ya literally N figuratively WISEABOVE?? Pray the Stations. Go to Mass at least Sunday. Lissen, lissen, lissen. Pray the Rosary to kick-Satan's-ass. Carry your cross - literally and/or figuratively. Goto the Adoration Chapel located inside every Catholic choirch. Pray, pray, pray. Offer your whole day N night to the Trinity. Read your Bible. Love God alone. Love everyone else. Put their lives ahead of your own. DO IT! We dont have long before our LastPage.
Withe filthy, whorizontal piss-ants which swiftly crawl like lemmings to their scorecard destruction seeing who can git a lower place in Hellfire, dont you think your lifetime is EXTREMELY vital to the planet? Thus, to love the lives of others is to love your own: spread the gospel of Jeee-sis! Puh-ray-zuh Gawwd!!
Dont I do the exact same thing
on this finite playing field
before we're upNdead?
So do the same.
If you dont,
you're definitely a wuss.
WTF do they matter, bro?
Aren't they mortals
just like yourself?
Wont they also bite-the-dust
in 77ish years?
What are you so afraid of?
Jesus sez..
FEW SHALL ENTER SEVENTH-HEAVEN.
Let's hope you're one of em, pal.
I'll definitely pray for you.
And the UFOs?
ReplyDeleteBullshit.
Demons N devils
from below the earth
trying to take our
eyes OFFA the True
salvation which JC won -
not unlike Jimmy Hoffa [RIP].
DO NOT follow em, bro.
Follow only Jesus along His path.
If you follow the UFOs still
and I dont see you
where Im at at croakin time...
Make Your Choice -SAW
PS Mama mia.
DeleteReading your profile,
my Pop was a neuropsychologist
at the world reKNOWNed Menningers.
But, yet, he saw that institution
going downhill fast: their only
concern was moolah and power.
Cya!
Wouldn't wanna be ya
at the General Judgement!!
DO NOT follow moolah N power.
Only Jesus has the true POW!er.
The strongest man on earth
with physical N mental strength,
is sooo #@!☆ nthn to the Trinity
who could easily cast them into
the deepest, darkest Abyss.
After almost 21 years of SMP work,
he became a priest in Nigeria.
Society of our Mother of Peace.
My point is,
DO NOT get so caught-up
in your faulty, Freudian zeitgeist
you lose your indelible soul.
Meet me Upstairs.
Let's getta Big-Ol beer.
gotta lotta tok about, earthling.
Cya soon...
And the UFOs?
ReplyDeleteBullshit.
Demons N devils
from below the earth
trying to take our
eyes OFFA the True
salvation which JC won -
not unlike Jimmy Hoffa [RIP].
DO NOT follow em, bro.
Follow only Jesus along His path.
If you follow the UFOs still
and I dont see you
where Im at at croakin time...
Make Your Choice -SAW