The consciousness aspect of the UFO phenomenon. I.

 

Background

Beginning with this blog post, I will focus more on the consciousness aspect of the UFO phenomenon. Why? There are several important reasons, but I think to suffice to mention in this initial post are these two reasons:

1. Throughout UFO history, people claiming contact with the UFO phenomenon (sightings, encounters, communication) have more often than not testified profound changes in their worldview and values of what matters in life.
2.  Individuals, or experiencers, also talk about telepathic communication and manipulation of the experiencers´ perception/experience of space and time during an encounter with the UFO phenomenon.

So the first (1.) point should indicate that these experiencers genuinely believe that something extraordinary happened to them. Something that had a profound and lifelong effect on them as human beings. It would be dishonest of me to claim that I know for a fact what happened to these experiencers or who or what caused the profound changes. I do not know that. 

But I know that profound changes in one´s worldview and values, as seen and documented in some of the experiencers, are not typical and do not usually occur quickly. These kinds of profound changes are generally related to traumatic events (war, violence, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse), or some sort of sudden insight, or expanded awareness, often in connection to mystical and spiritual experiences, meditation, euphoric states, etc. 

Therefore, I think there are cases of contact between humans and something unknown, which are difficult to explain in any conventional way (i.e., the profound psychological and emotional changes). More importantly, I think there are some cases of contact where the human genuinely believes his or her experience and candidly tells his or her story. For me, that is reason enough to take their stories seriously and respect the people telling them. 

The second (2.) point should indicate that our current view of reality is not capturing reality in its entirety (of course, point 1. suggests that too). There seems to be aspects and levels of Moder Nature that we cannot yet perceive, comprehend and conceptualise. Here is where the question of what consciousness is comes in. For indeed, consciousness is a crucial aspect of being a human in this world? At least, we all experience ourselves as conscious agents. 

Still, we do not have the language to describe and explain this phenomenon we take for granted: conscious experience or inner subjectivity. The lack of comprehension and vocabulary to define consciousness is similar to the situation with the UFO phenomenon in general. 

 How, then, is the UFO phenomenon connected to consciousness (or is it the other way around?)? Can a deeper understanding of consciousness help us to better understand the UFO phenomenon and vice versa? 

Another question can be: Why do the cases of contact between humans and something unknown seem to often involve manipulation (I use "manipulation" in a neutral sense) of the conscious perception/experience of the human? What is the purpose or agenda (if any)? Obviously, we would also like to know: How is manipulating the conscious experience of space and time even possible? 

A crucial question is: What are the implications for mankind acquiring abilities of the "Others" or the Phenomenon? At our current mental and emotional level, would it be desirable? Would we be able to handle such knowledge and abilities/capabilities constructively?

Finally, the central purpose of this post and coming posts about the consciousness aspect of the UFO phenomenon is to, hopefully, elicit new thoughts and discussions on the altered perception/experience of reality and the profound psychological effects of experiencers in connection with UFO encounters.  

The point of this blog post

In this post, I will not give my view on any of the questions mentioned above. Because I think we have to start with asking a fundamental question: What is consciousness?

What do science (in the West) currently know about human consciousness? That is the question this blog post is focusing on. I can give you the somewhat depressing - or exciting - answer to what science currently knows about consciousness: nothing or near to nothing. However, there is no lack of hypotheses among neuroscientists and philosophers (of mind) on the nature and origin of human consciousness. Obviously, quantum physics is central in explaining consciousness and the UFO phenomenon. However, I think neuroscience has been somewhat neglected over quantum physics in the ufo community.

This post is going to give you a general overview of some of those different hypotheses. I believe it is helpful to have basic knowledge of the different directions in current consciousness research because it can make it easier to make up one´s own mind about what seems plausible, probable, or not, regarding the consciousness aspect of the UFO phenomenon. 

Can modern neuroscience help find answers to what happens to experiencers´perception of reality in their encounters with something unknown? Or do we have to look elsewhere for answers, for example, religious and spiritual traditions? The best way to clarify those two questions is to study both neuroscience and religious/spiritual traditions. I will start with a couple of posts on the former and end this "series" on the consciousness aspect of the UFO phenomenon with some posts on the latter. 

I will make it easy for myself and save me time by letting some neuroscientists and philosophers give you a general overview of some common opinions and hypotheses about what consciousness is and where it originates. The video below, an episode of Closer To Truth with host Robert Lawrence Kuhn, explores the question "what is consciousness?". I think the episode gives you a fair idea of why the question has been, and is, complex for science and philosophy to answer. 

The scientists and philosophers in the episode are expressing traditional and western perspectives on what consciousness is. I would say science and philosophy should look at the question from a non-western perspective, and they might make some progress. But more about that in a future post.

Below the episode of Closer To Truth, you will find my comments on some of the content. Before watching and listening to the scientists and philosophers in the episode, you can think of the question: What could neuroscientists learn about the nature and origin of consciousness if they took experiencers (and the UFO phenomenon) seriously?

"What is Consciousness? | Episode 1302 | Closer To Truth." Uploaded on the YouTube channel, Closer To Truth on May 19, 2020. Duration: 26:46 minutes.

What is consciousness? Consciousness is what we know best and explain least. It is the inner subjective experience of what it feels like to see red or smell garlic or hear Beethoven. Consciousness is baffling. Featuring interviews with Simon Blackburn, Susan Greenfield, Christof Koch, Bruce Hood, and Roy Baumeister. 

Season 13, Episode 2 - #CloserToTruth

My comments on some of the content in "What is Consciousness?" 

• The segment with British neuroscientist Susan Greenfield (7:56 min - 11:40 min) brings up the problem with defining consciousness. How do you define "inner subjectivity" or "inner experience" (i.e., the so-called "hard problem" of consciousness)? Susan Greenfield says that we have "to distinguish consciousness from unconsciousness." That is a wrong approach because consciousness might come as a spectrum rather than some clearly divided category or phase. What Greenfield is correct about is that inner subjectivity "really is the nub of the problem," and that is where "science flounders." Because science is all about measuring things and about quantification. That is perfectly fine in many domains of science, but when it comes to consciousness, science needs to find other ways to explore and do research as with the UFO phenomenon in general.
• The segment with neuroscientist Christof Koch (11:50 min - 15:02 min). Koch and Francis Crick (one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA) asked a question 16 years ago concerning the causation/correlation between visual cortex and visual perception (i.e., the conscious experience of seeing something or someone). They asked: To what extent are the neurons in the brain's visual cortex actually responsible for generating visual consciousness? Later experiments have confirmed Koch´s and Crick´s prediction that the neurons in the visual cortex are not directly responsible for visual consciousness. So, where does the conscious experience of "seeing" come from? Is brain activity of itself sufficient to cause or generate consciousness?
• The segment with social psychologist, Roy Baumeister (20:55 min - 24:40 min). I disagree with Roy Baumeister that humans are unique regarding communication. So, neither do I agree with him about consciousness being rooted in social interaction. However, I do think the social aspect of consciousness is overlooked and underestimated. Baumeister asks an important question: What do we need consciousness for (many of our everyday behaviours and actions are automatic, that is, they do not require conscious thought or deliberation)?

The segments with scientists and philosophers I have not commented on are also interesting and raises some hard questions to ponder. So, watch and concentrate during all of the 26 minutes. 

Enjoy and take care!

/Janne