A Holographic Explanation for the UFO Phenomenon
In 1972, Dr. Carl Sagan and Thornton Page collaborated
on an article entitled "UFO's: The Extraterrestrial and Other Hypotheses."
In it, Sagan posed the pertinent question: why are people so attached to
the extraterrestrial hypothesis for UFOs? Why not, he suggested, propose
that UFOs are projections from the collective consciousness, time travelers,
visitors from another dimension, or the halos of angels?(1)
The reason, of course, is that human beings
are confined to the three-dimensional world in which time travel and angels
are not known to exist. The things we are familiar with-metallic spaceships
and material bodies-must in our world operate within the context of a specific
atmosphere subject to a strict set of physical rules. Our view of what
is possible in the world is thereby severely limited by our own experience.
But is it reasonable to rely solely on our experience to tell us what is
and is not possible?
In fact, though Sagan himself implied 25 years
ago that it may be illogical to insist upon an extraterrestrial explanation
for UFOs, he and others in the scientific community have repeatedly denied
the existence of UFOs and alien abduction based on the inability of observable
facts to confirm the very same extraterrestrial hypothesis. In other words,
the extraterrestrial hypothesis has long been a "straw man" for
mainstream science.
Jacques Vallee believes that, indeed, the wealth
of UFO data accumulated over 50 years suggests that UFOs (and their occupants)
cannot be satisfactorily explained by the extraterrestrial hypothesis.
But to reject the reality of UFOs on this basis alone is wrong. In his
important work "Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin
of Unidentified Flying Objects," Vallee discussed the paradox inherent
in mainstream science's view of the UFO phenomenon:
Scientific opinion has generally followed public
opinion in the belief that unidentified flying objects either do not exist
(the "natural phenomena hypothesis") or, if they do, must represent
evidence of a visitation by some advanced race of space travelers (the
extraterrestrial hypothesis or "ETH"). It is the view of the
author that research on UFOs need not be restricted to these two alternatives.
On the contrary, the accumulated data base exhibits several patterns tending
to indicate that UFOs are real, represent a previously unrecognized phenomenon,
and that the facts do not support the common concept of "space visitors."
Five specific arguments articulated here contradict the ETH: [1] unexplained
close encounters are far more numerous than required for any physical survey
of the Earth; [2] the humanoid body structure of the alleged "aliens"
is not likely to have originated on another planet and is not biologically
adapted to space travel; [3] the reported behavior in thousands of abduction
reports contradicts the hypothesis of genetic or scientific experimentation
on humans by an advanced race; [4] the extension of the phenomenon throughout
recorded human history demonstrates that UFOs are not a contemporary phenomenon;
and [5] the apparent ability of UFOs to manipulate space and time suggests
radically different and richer alternatives.(2)
Physical considerations: UFOs
As the empirical data mounts, the E.T. hypothesis becomes increasingly
inadequate as an explanation for observations made by UFO witnesses and
abductees. Indeed, the evidence practically begs for "radically different
and richer alternatives." The UFO literature gathered by private researchers
(as well as government sources, and specifically Project Blue Book) is
full of references to craft that execute "impossible" maneuvers:
they make right-angle turns at incredible, gravity-defying speeds; instantly
change size and color; vanish and reappear "out of nowhere";
jump about, shape-shift, partially dematerialize, stretch, contract, and
accelerate at speeds of tens of thousands of miles per hour and faster.
In the University of Colorado's Condon Report,
William Blumen also noted that there is a total absence of sonic booms
reported in relation to UFOs undergoing rapid acceleration near the Earth's
surface. Only under rare meteorological conditions might sonic boom intensities
be reduced or prevented from reaching the ground, he says, and were UFOs
subject to physical laws, powerful sonic booms should accompany many sightings.
Their absence "cannot be explained on the basis of current knowledge."(3)
Even more mysteriously, abductees report, the
experience of being inside a UFO reveals a world where our physical laws
frequently fail. Time becomes distorted and seconds inside a ship become
minutes or hours outside the craft. Spatial anomalies are reported: UFOs
often seem far larger on the inside than their outward appearance dictates.
Invisibility and materialization and de-materialization of doors and other
seemingly solid structures within the craft are commonly reported.
The humanoid figures often reported in association
with UFOs exhibit traits that cannot be reconciled with any notion of truly
extraterrestrial beings: they breathe and function in our atmosphere and
biology, unaffected by and unafraid of our viruses and bacteria; they operate
with ease in our gravity and radiation; they speak our language perfectly
and display recognizable emotions. In essence, the aliens appear to be
more human-like than we can reasonably expect if they were from a distant
planet.
Behavioral Considerations: Aliens
Another problem with the E.T. hypothesis is that aliens simply do not behave
as we would expect scouts from another planet to behave. They do not land
their craft on the White House lawn; rather, they play cat and dog with
military jets, running circles around them, flaunting their superiority,
and then vanish without a trace. UFOs dart around in plain view of hundreds
or thousands of people but do not make formal contact. They are capable
of disabling our nuclear facilities and our power grids, rendering us helpless,
yet they are almost never outwardly hostile.
The humanoids are frequently seen rooting around
in the Earth near their landing craft, picking things up and examining
them. Ostensibly, the UFO occupants are conducting a physical survey of
the planet. But close encounter incidents are reported far too often for
this to be the case. How many ground and atmosphere samples could a technologically
superior race of extraterrestrials possibly analyze before acquiring the
needed data? A sufficiently advanced race-one capable of engineering craft
that routinely transcend the barriers of space and time-should be able
to obtain the pertinent data remotely.
And what of the "medical examinations"
aliens conduct on abducted humans? Abductees often report being subject
to crude procedures accomplished with bizarre, frightening instruments
that appear to have little practical use but to evoke emotional reactions
from abductees. Why would a race of emissaries from another planet require
relatively primitive tools like needles and probes? Certainly, beings possessing
the mastery over electromagnetic and gravitational fields we see in UFOs
must be capable of accomplishing such "examinations" through
less intrusive means.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of alien
behavior-and the most damaging to the ETH-is the tendency for close encounters
to include elements of curiously surreal, absurd or illogical character.
Reports of humanoids transforming into symbolic creatures, singing songs,
or even throwing potatoes, are surprisingly common in the UFO literature.
According to Michael Talbot, there is
growing evidence that UFO encounters are less
of an objective experience and more of a subjective, or psychological,
one. For instance, the well known 'interrupted journey' of Betty and Barney
Hill, one of the most thoroughly documented UFO abduction cases on record,
seems as if it were an actual alien contact in all ways except one: the
commander of the UFO was dressed in a Nazi uniform, a fact that does not
make sense if the Hills' abductors were truly visitors from an alien civilization,
but it does if the event was psychological in nature and more akin to a
dream or hallucination, experiences that often contain obvious symbols
and disconcerting flaws in logic.(4)
Holographic Behavior
It is the combination of these instances of absurdity, the odd behavior
of the humanoids, and the blatant disregard for physical laws exhibited
by their craft that has led many contemporary UFO researchers to abandon
the E.T. hypothesis altogether. Today, ufologists tend to concur with Jacques
Vallee, who said of the aliens' behavior: "it is the behavior of an
image, or a holographic projection."(5)
So was Carl Sagan right after all? (After all,
if it looks like a hallucination…and it sounds like a hallucination…)
Not exactly. For, unless we are willing to completely ignore ground and
radar traces, photographs, videotapes, "implants," alleged crash
debris, and the testimony of thousands who swear they have come in physical
contact with UFOs, we are forced to conclude that such craft are at least
sometimes 3D phenomena. The "hallucination" of UFOs and their
occupants, in fact, may reside in and arise from a psychological state,
the characteristics of which remain unknown and unexamined by mainstream
science.
Using the phenomenon of alien abduction as
an example, Dr. Scott Rogo explains that "the abduction is a real
physical event, but it reflects concerns or traumas buried within the subject's
unconscious. It might be called an 'objectified' dream-i.e., a system of
symbolic imagery which suddenly erupts into the three-dimensional world."(6)
Richard Thompson agrees that abduction experiences may occur in a realm
in which the normal mind/matter boundary is somehow temporarily suspended:
there is certainly a great deal of evidence
indicating that UFOs can become manifest as physically real vehicles, and
there is also much evidence suggesting that people are sometimes physically
taken on board these vehicles. However, since some UFO abductions do seem
to involve out-of-body experiences, the idea that trauma on a subtle, mental
level can bring about gross physical effects should be carefully considered.(7)
Michael Talbot coined the term "omnijective"
to describe this realm, where focused attention and imagination give rise
to physical phenomena. Henry Corbin, a professor of Islamic Religion at
the Sorbonne in Paris, used the word "imaginal."(8) Is this where the UFO
"visitors" dwell-somewhere between the familiar subjective and
objective worlds?
Before dismissing this idea as a work of science
fiction, let us again consider the real-world phenomenon of "lucid
dreaming." In a lucid dream, the dreamer becomes conscious, either
unexpectedly or intentionally, in his sleep. It is in this unique state
of awareness that the dreamer finds himself in a world not subject unconstrained
by three-dimensional reality. But unlike normal dreams, lucid dreams are
typically as vivid and realistic as waking reality. More importantly, while
lucid, the dreamer maintains clarity of consciousness.
Thus, lucid dreams present a paradox: how can
the lucid dreamer feel "awake" in a dreamscape that is virtually
indistinguishable from waking reality, yet simultaneously remember that
he is asleep? How does one maintain full consciousness during sleep?
For most of us, if and when lucidity is attained
in a dream, it is quickly lost and we are rapidly reabsorbed into a normal,
fuzzy, unconscious dream. Accomplished lucid dreamers, however, are capable
of manipulating the physical properties and circumstances of the dreamscape,
effectively creating alternate realities while sustaining conscious control.
Such master dreamers can sustain lucidity for long periods of time.
The relevance to our discussion is this: suppose
that lucid dreams are not simply some quirk of the mind but an alternate
reality that is visited or created by dreamers when they are lucid. (Science
has not proven otherwise, and this explanation is probably as good as any.)
Further suppose that the 3D world we normally inhabit is itself a "dream,"
the difference being that we are no longer lucid in our dream. In essence,
it might be said, the vast majority of us have forgotten that we are asleep,
and we have slipped out of lucidity-lost our consciousness-and become reabsorbed
into a normal dream. That "normal dream" is our familiar three-dimensional
world as constrained by the known physical laws.
This analogy, though a bit abstract, provides
a framework for understanding how (or if) our familiar three-dimensional
reality might be transformed into or merged with an omnijective or imaginal
realm. Is it possible that certain situations or circumstances, originating
either inside or outside the mind, might produce "conduits" through
which thoughts or ideas are allowed to coalesce into physical forms?
Alternatively, is it not possible that the
human mind might be capable of attaining a higher consciousness-a certain
"lucidity," to use the dreaming analogy-that enables it to connect
with other intelligences that are not confined, as we are, to the 3D realm?
Could it be that UFOs and the intelligence behind them originate outside
of our dimension and that, like a mass dream, they waver in and out of
our consciousness?
Such questions are no longer rhetorical. The
concept of other intelligences residing in an imaginal realm created solely
by the thoughts and visions of human beings is consistent with Gregg Braden's
work on the electromagnetic matrices of reality. Richard Hoagland's research
into hyperdimensional physics and its specific predictions concerning vorticular
dimensional connections might soon shed light on the problem of exactly
how, when and why UFOs and aliens are made manifest in 3D. Further study
of "conscious dreaming," too, may eventually help answer some
of these questions.
Little Green Men and Little Green Men Only?
It is perhaps a bit distressing to the UFO "buffs" to think about
"extraterrestrials" as the result of a mass dream or as part
of an imaginary realm. Yet, everything about the UFO phenomenon-from eyewitness
accounts to analysis of videotape to the musings of theoretical physicists
who claimed to have worked on alien craft-suggests that UFOs and aliens
do not play by the same rules we do. This suggestion will no doubt disappoint
science fiction aficionados who demand that aliens always be flesh and
blood and their ships be made of metal. At the same time, the "non-believers"
would be wise to refrain from opening the champagne bottle just yet. For,
as is the case with all things paranormal, the case of the little green
men is far from being solved. And for this, ironically, we have modern
science to thank.
(continued in Chapter 9 of The Monkey and
the Tetrahedron...)
====== References=======
(1) Carl Sagan, "UFOs:
The Extraterrestrial and Other Hypotheses," in Carl Sagan and Thornton
Page, eds., UFO's-A Scientific Debate (Ithaca and London: Cornell
University Press, 1972), 271.
(2) Jacques Vallee, "Five
Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects,"
Journal of Scientific Exploration 4, no. 1 (1990): 105.
(3) Edward U. Condon, Scientific
Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, D.S. Gillmore, ed. (New York:
E.P. Dutton & Co., 1969), 722.
(4) Michael Talbot, The
Holographic Universe (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991), 278.
(5) Jacques Vallee, Dimensions:
A Casebook of Alien Contact (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1988), 259.
(6) Jenny Randles, Alien
Abductions: The Mystery Solved (New Brunswick, NJ: Inner Light Publications,
1988), 220.
(7) Richard L. Thompson, Alien
Identities: Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Phenomena (Alachua, FL:
Govardhan Hill Publishing, 1995), 349.
(8) Henry Corbin, Mundus
Imaginalis (Ipswich, England: Golgonooza Press, 1976), 4, quoted in
Talbot, The Holographic Universe, 260.
