CuriousObserver
Paranormal Novice
The claims of Ray were incredible. Within a subject that stirs up some seemingly outrageous claims it is not unusual. Unfortunately we may never get to the bottom of the many questions that arise. I don't think authorities mean us to. Ray's investigative methodologies are good for qualitative studies. Like other social sciences, this kind of methodology can be useful in finding out some answers - perhaps more about the experiencer, their environment, the biases, filters, thoughts and feelings that they bring to an event, and also to the interpretation of that event.
The questions surrounding the terminology employed didn't do much to advance the conversation in any direction. As Chris put it: we know that media and the mainstream scientific establishment will use any terminology as an excuse and a label. Perhaps Ray's suggestion that their investigation was more than just about the E.T question, was valid; but in using restrictive terminology he did not demonstrate that. He was, however, a person who came across as genuine, eager and not 'out there', even if his claims were wild.
Some of the experiences that have been at the core of the E.T question are remarkably similar to religious experiences. In this sense, both are supernatural and equally valid. One' s experience of standing in the presence of God, and of trusting in a supernatural being that exists outside time and space, cannot be invalidated. In another sense, the E.T phenomenon has a tangibility about it that is qualitatively different.
In Timothy Good's book, Earth: An Alien Enterprise, the author himself discusses how he may have beckoned alien beings to interact with him by telepathically asking them to appear before him. He writes of experiences where people have interacted with beings. Some have claimed to have been coming here since before mankind's time. Incredibly, Good tells us some have their home within our solar system.
Good or bad, I don't think we will have solid, 'approved' answers because our leaders don't want us to. There are valid reasons for this: anyone looking at what more sophisticated societies have done to primitive cultures, such as Europeans and their relationship to the Australian Aborigines, can understand where this might go. And it is not good for us, as David Jacobs elucidates!
The questions surrounding the terminology employed didn't do much to advance the conversation in any direction. As Chris put it: we know that media and the mainstream scientific establishment will use any terminology as an excuse and a label. Perhaps Ray's suggestion that their investigation was more than just about the E.T question, was valid; but in using restrictive terminology he did not demonstrate that. He was, however, a person who came across as genuine, eager and not 'out there', even if his claims were wild.
Some of the experiences that have been at the core of the E.T question are remarkably similar to religious experiences. In this sense, both are supernatural and equally valid. One' s experience of standing in the presence of God, and of trusting in a supernatural being that exists outside time and space, cannot be invalidated. In another sense, the E.T phenomenon has a tangibility about it that is qualitatively different.
In Timothy Good's book, Earth: An Alien Enterprise, the author himself discusses how he may have beckoned alien beings to interact with him by telepathically asking them to appear before him. He writes of experiences where people have interacted with beings. Some have claimed to have been coming here since before mankind's time. Incredibly, Good tells us some have their home within our solar system.
Good or bad, I don't think we will have solid, 'approved' answers because our leaders don't want us to. There are valid reasons for this: anyone looking at what more sophisticated societies have done to primitive cultures, such as Europeans and their relationship to the Australian Aborigines, can understand where this might go. And it is not good for us, as David Jacobs elucidates!
