UFO Experience versus Evidence

The skeptical arguments against intelligently controlled UFO's, wherever they may be from, are quite valid. Nothing in all the evidence available is sure to verify the existence of aliens. It is possible that such undeniable material exists I suppose, but the skeptical argument is sound enough. There are any number of reasons why scuff marks (landing marks) may be left on the ground. Or why and how radiation has affected people. And how the desert ground and surrounding scrub brush was burnt. Again, evidence is available.

But as we get further down the rabbit hole to the so-called experiencers or contactees there is even less evidence, much less. In fact there is nothing except the accounts of the people with these claims. So it is an unusually easy task to dismiss them as sad delusions or hoaxes of the claimants. But, in all fairness, a few distinctions need to be made.

As far as evidential cases go, there is evidence. There is some physicality to some of these cases. Soccoro did have burnt marks. Delphos did leave a strange and long lasting ring for decades. Cash Landrum did appear to include physical human harm . And so on. While skeptics like to announce the lack of evidence, this is contrary to what we actually see after some sightings. Were the "landing marks" in Rendlesham just that, or were they the result of a scratching hare? The skeptics say that the evidence is not all that compelling regarding the potential non-human intelligent visitation. Fair enough, but this is far cry from saying there is NO evidence. Evidence exists as Ted Phillips would convincingly tell you. What that evidence means may be another story altogether.

So what about the high strangeness?? Of course there is no evidence in these types of cases. So it may be even simpler to debunk if that is the objective. But I am puzzled by a few things in regards to these types of claims. And while I can certainly write off many of these due to glaring lies or perhaps even delusions, some of them are puzzling. Whether everything that happens in human experience is a result of physical activity is debateable. Human experience encompasses more than a reductionist can account for. Can it actually be known in a reductionist way what a dream entails?? At this point in the course of history I would say absolutely not. Yet dreams can and do have a significant impact on individuals. Religion does have an impact on the experience of being a conscious human whether it is "real" or not. The question might be what is real to human beings?

So, now to the experiencers. I cannot dismiss all claims based on the lack of evidence, which sounds rather unwilling to investigate the truth of the matter. But what I have noticed is that experience is a reality, if even only in the brain. The fact remains that people have these experiences whether we choose to believe them or not. Normal, non-deluded, rational people have had these strange experiences. And while the experience is drastically different then anything with evidential leftovers, they still remain real to the person.

And the fact that these experiences are real in some sense leads me to believe that discovering the truth to these experiences is worthwhile. But to dismiss these rational people because of their experience is doing a great disservice to the spectrum of human possibility and the pursuit of understanding them. Is something actually happening whereby contact with other intelligences is being made?? Or is there some middle ground between experience and dreamland that accounts for these?? Or, as skeptics might add, is the whole thing a complete neurological misfire mixed with cultural viruses that conjures up alien figures?? I would submit that it doesn't matter. Any of them is of scientific and/or psychological importance.

We like to adorn, or at least scientists and skeptics like to, ourselves with the veil of knowledge and self pride. But that veil is thin and represents, in my opinion, a very shell of true understanding. Human vanity may be an integral deterrant into discovering what is going on here. If we can let go of our prejudices and biases and admit our ignorance then perhaps we can begin to unravel this mystery. At least this would be a start as I don't know what kind of methodology would be sufficient at this point to get at any part of the truth. And if we can be justly confident that these people are not lying then we should be able to at least attempt to comprehend what the limits of human experience are and more importantly, why they are.