Spiritualist Ufologists~
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Ufology just doesn't feel like it used to. It seems like it has been far too long since we've had a quality event like the Phoenix Lights to unite the splintered UFO community. Heck, even a massive hoax that everyone could get together to bash would be nice. But it appears to me that Ufology has moved on to a new stage. From where I'm sitting, it looks that the field is being broken up into three pretty distinct and ever specialized groups: the skeptics, the scientists, and what I like to call the spiritualists.
The first two groups--the skeptics and the scientists--have pretty much been with Ufology since inception. They are the Seth Shostaks and Stanton Friedmans of the world. The former, although not necessarily denouncing the existence of aliens somewhere in the universe, are usually the first to poke holes in eyewitness reports and shoddy photographic evidence. Whereas the latter firmly believe that we are being visited by extraterrestrials on a regular basis and focus much of their work on proving their existence scientifically.
Then there is the third group, the spiritualists. Still firm believers in the existence of alien visitors, they take an altogether different approach than the scientists. Focusing instead on the metaphysical aspects of extraterrestrial contact, they are the product of a melding between mainstream Ufology and the new-age lifestyle.
Although the new-age movement has had a link to the UFO community for some time now, serious researches in this area of the field have, until recently, been classified along with the tinfoil-hat nutcases so often used to discredit Ufology. The crazies of the crazy, as it were. But because of the recent lack of major UFO events to be studied, classified, or debunked, the scientists and skeptics have little else to do but argue their talking points in an attempt to receive more funding. Spiritualist Ufologists, on the other hand, seem to always have something out there to keep themselves occupied.
For a good example of this kind of spiritualist Ufologist, look no further than Art Bell's Saturday, February 17th interview with James Gilliland on Coast to Coast AM. James, who heads up the website ECETI.org (which stands for Enlightened Contact with ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence), is one of many that combine UFOs and some kind message about spiritual enlightenment or awakening. Instead of being hung up on the nuts and bolts science of interstellar space travel and how these beings are making it to Earth--like say Dr. Michio Kaku--Gilliland and those like him focus instead on the why of alien visitation.
As usual, Art Bell was able to articulate my thoughts on this aspect of Ufology pretty clearly. After hearing James Gilliland lay out his case for a connection between UFO sightings and the intent of the witnesses, Art flat-out said that it sounded like a lot like "new-age blabber." But yet, as Art would later go on to admit, there does seems to be something to this.
To test this spiritualist theory, Mr. Bell performed another one his famous mass-consciousness experiments in the last hour of his Coast to Coast AM broadcast. Inviting his listeners to think happy thoughts and send out some good vibes into the galaxy, the goal was to get a mass UFO sighting to occur. The next night, Art announced that he was in fact hit with a wave of emails from listeners claiming to have seen a UFO after the experiment. I can only assume that a portion of those weren't legit, and coming from people either seeking some attention or mistaking any number of natural or man-made phenomena in the excitement of the moment, but I'm still very interested to see how this experiment pans out.
Although I may not buy into everything these spiritualists are selling, I'm not opposed to the idea that extraterrestrials are as advanced spiritually as they are technologically and may be trying to make contact using some sort of metaphysical means. Though I did check out my window several times that night and saw a whole lotta nothing.
Maybe I just wasn't trying hard enough...
But in any case, I'm glad to see that the spiritual aspect of Ufology is gaining in popularity and acceptance. If nothing else, maybe it will provide the shot in the arm that Ufology needs to really get going again.
~Khyron, 2007
*** And be sure to check in next week for a very special surprise when Khyron goes to the movies. Thanks for reading.
