In a universe that is suddenly deprived of illusions and of light, man feels a stranger. His is an irremediable exile. . . . This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, truly constitutes the feeling of Absurdity.
– Albert Camus,
The Myth of Sisyphus
Greg Bishop is interested in shifting the dialogue – it’s what he does. He speaks for the excluded middle, offers a different perspective on the other side of truth. In fact there is a whole wave of invention that is a part of Ufology’s most recent paths. There’s a lot of historical revisionism going on as well.
New ways of seeing old cases is finding odd linkages and skeptical inquiry is poking about the twisted wreckage of what it is we actually know about UFO’s. It’s not that much really. We had the ETH and considered well that aliens from another planet are visiting us. But, given the relative prolific nature of these visits vs. Carl Sagan’s estimate of what's likely, a new way of looking at the phenomenon came in the shape of the IDH. Vallee was called a heretic and ufologists rebelled. But if you look around now you can see how that manner of thinking really has entrenched itself in the next wave of thinking about UFO's. It has also given birth to some interesting, new thinking about the subject.
Sociological connections to strange beings abducting us from long ago present the possibility that this other intelligence has been with us for quite some time and appears to be much closer to us than off world. Enter the CTH and Mac Tonnies. Possibilities for the crypto terrestrial hypothesis are wide-ranging and underdeveloped. Still, there’s something so deliciously sneaky about the potential of it all that it’s easy to see how this non-human intelligence has a wicked sense of humour. Maybe, if you live in the shadows, or are hiding there, maybe if you are an alien colony stuck on earth, you might take great pleasure in messing with the evolved intelligence of earthlings. It also feels like a healthy bit of Schadenfreude might also be part of their approach in “appearing” to us.
Bishop gave the suggestion that perhaps the phenomenon is something common to the planet, like the wind (reminded me of Hynek's elementals), and that our experience of this potential natural intelligence is one that is similar to some, but not all, DMT users who experience classic grey alien abductions. If this phenomenon is something that we are a co-creator of then the alien meme is one that is firmly planted in our minds and perhaps, with the right set of perceived sensory experiences, or the right sequence of neurochemistry, that’s just what you get - alien communion.
There’s a surreal quality to the UFO study. There are so many strange stories, odd inconsistencies, an incredible array of craft and potential occupants. On the face of it, such variety makes Earth one of the must see places in the Galaxy given the variety of visitors that we have. We need to set up some kind of upper atmosphere tollbooth to take advantage of all the traffic. The global economy could certainly use it.
But if this phenomenon is originating from around here, then making contact and interrupting this one way performance is still an imperative for those who think they can catch eels barehanded. I also wonder just how close to us they really are? During "After the Paracast" Chris O’Brien described his experience of some very surreal two-dimensional beings in response to which alien event he would time travel to, and something clicked for me. If I could time travel back to any UFO sighting I would want to go back to the only one that propels me in any important way –
my own. The UFO experience is a deeply personal one and I’m starting to think its also a very internal experience.
Perhaps the great degree of variation and confirmation of our expectations of the UFO directly involves our own role in writing and remembering these ultra-unique sensory events. They certainly have a hallucinogenic clarity about them, and they definitely inspire a glossolalia in witnesses, hence the long post.
When asked what fields of study we should be looking at to help aid in the pursuit, to shift the discussion, Greg Bishop, a true Discordian, said, "the Absurd." And the more you investigate those up close and personal witness based events you know just how bizarre they can get. There's something there worth figuring out about these sky koans i think. In a favourite case, out of Wendy Connors’ Faded Discs, a giant tank like UFO descends from the sky into midday traffic. A human like occupant crawls out of a top hatch and yells down to the witness, calling him by name, “Hey Bob, what do you think of this?!” and then climbs back in the wild flying structure and it shoots back up into the sky.
For anyone, like Bob, who might be investing years and decades into finding an answer, be prepared for a good long dose of exile to existential lands; because, in a world that makes no good sense you must be prepared to write your own story, you co-creator of cryptic visions. Share
your story if you dare.
