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- The UFO phenomena has been with us for a long time. In the Bible
- you can read of Ezekiel's encounter with one that he calls a
- vision (Ezekiel 1:1). Perhaps it was a vision, perhaps not. If
- it was a vision, I find it interesting that Ezekiel could
- conceptualize such a flying craft as he described considering the
- state of technology available at that time. Nevertheless, we
- shall never know if it was in fact a real machine or a vision.
- We view stories such as this as myth or legend.
-
- If we were to find some writings from some other ancient and
- extinct culture that told of an encounter similar to Ezekiel's;
- we probably would not call it 'a fact that lends credibility to
- Ezekiel's encounter as something real and not imagined." We
- would probably say it was a 'perpetuation of a myth'.
-
- There are many writings and glyphics from ancient civilizations
- such as Sumerian, Babylonian, Akkadian, Hittite, Incan and Mayan
- that tell of or depict men whose home is in the heavens and the
- unusual "boats" or "chariots" they use to travel back and forth
- between the Earth and heavens. Is it just coincidence that man
- needs to creates these similar myths? Or have these stories
- simply been passed along from one civilization to another even
- somehow crossing the Atlantic to South America? Or did something
- real and physical happen to these civilizations?
-
- There is enough evidence available to support either the myth or
- the fact. It all depends on how you want to view the evidence. We
- can't provide any definite, indisputable evidence since the
- peoples who wrote these stories are no longer with us. So it's up
- to each of us, individually, to examine the evidence for
- ourselves and reach our own conclusions.
-
- In UFOlogy today, we hear reports that tell us that the UFOs are
- controlled by evil, four foot tall, gray skinned aliens who
- mutilate cattle and abduct humans. We also hear the UFOs are
- piloted by an intelligence that is benevolent and only wants us
- to mature and evolve into a higher state of consciousness.
-
- I don't think we could ask for nor create, two more diverse
- extremes. These extremes create an umbrella under which all UFO
- speculations reside.
-
- Many of us here share a common bond, or, put more precisely, a
- common question. That is: what is truth to these UFOs?
-
- One truth I can say with reasonable confidence is that the
- majority of people have never had, nor ever will have a true UFO
- experience. This is unfortunate because it's always nice to be
- able to have a large number of people at your side when you're
- trying to prove something. So how does one go about proving the
- existence of something as elusive as UFO's?
-
- If you've had a UFO experience, whether good or bad, I'd say
- that would probably be a pretty darned good convincer. But is
- your experience enough to convince some stranger as to the
- reality of UFO's? How would you feel if after having a UFO
- encounter you were laughed at by everyone you told? I think it
- would take your self esteem down a few notches and I don't think
- you would talk about it anymore.
- Why are people so prone to laugh at those who claim to have UFO
- encounters? I think it's because our society encourages critical
- thinking and discourages abstract thought except in the fine arts
- where abstract thought is appreciated. There are also people who
- will con, rob and cheat you so it's necessary for us to keep our
- guard up. Sad commentary, but true.
-
- Part of our society's foundation is built upon science. The
- creations of our science permeate almost every aspect of our
- lives every day. Our science has a proven track record and it's
- been very good to us but because of this, we become more
- dependent upon science, elevating it to almost a philosophy. Is
- this good or bad? It should be noted that for a couple thousand
- years that the Earth was flat and at the center of the solar
- system. This was undeniable fact until one day the science of the
- times proved it wrong and suddenly the Earth became spherical and
- took it's rightful place in the solar system. All this means is
- that science can make mistakes and science itself can evolve,
- change and mature, and with it, the ideals of mankind.
-
- When we bring all speculations covered by this UFO umbrella
- under the lamp of science, what do we have to see? Not much.
- The first thing science will do is to clean up these suppositions
- by throwing out the ones our science can't deal with. The first
- casualty will be the space brothers theory. Sorry, but there's no
- room for it within our science. But is this proper? From the
- viewpoint of our science, yes, no doubt about it. From the
- viewpoint of UFOlogy in general, no, it's not fair, but that's
- just the way it is.
-
- It's just possible that our present science may be flawed, but
- it's all we've got right now. Currently there are things going on
- in the world of quantum mechanics and the implications read like
- science fiction! But the science we have right now, today, is all
- we've got and it is through this science we must rely to help us
- solve the UFO mystery.
-
- So although there are many "theories" about UFOs, the only ones
- our science can deal with are the ones that are real, physical
- and tangible and this is where we must get our science to
- investigate. If we can get science to prove the existence of
- UFOs, then score one for us. And there's always the possibility
- that science will discover something that will help it change its
- way of thinking and open up new realms to things which today are
- laughed at.
-
- Science seems to be governed by the process of natural selection.
- What doesn't work dies, what does, prospers.
-
- No matter what ones personal beliefs are, we must all encourage
- science to continue to discover itself, to continue to evolve.
- Because the truth is, as science evolves, so do we. I feel that
- someday the things we call paranormal will all be explained by
- science; but not the science we're familiar with today. I hope
- that I'm around to see it.
-
- Paul Faeder