UFOs and Extraterrestrials

A Spiritual Perspective

UFOs - unidentified flying objects - describe any kind of object seen in the sky that seems to fall outside any kind of natural explanation.

UFO Sightings

Although there have always been reports of mysterious sightings in the skies, the number of such reports has increased massively since Kenneth Arnold described seeing flying "saucer" shaped objects (giving rise to the term "flying saucer") while flying his plane in the USA in 1947. It seems beyond coincidence that the growth of UFO sightings has paralleled the growth in air travel.

Roswell Aliens

One of the most notable cases is the alleged UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947. It is said that an alien craft crashed and that the bodies of its occupants were recovered by the US government. It has also been claimed that first-hand observers received threats to maintain their silence. The incident, whatever it may have been, has certainly sparked numerous hoaxes - eg footage of alien autopsies - and conspiracy theories. Perhaps one day we shall all be privy to the truth, but Roswell has certainly fuelled the UFO legend.

Alien Abduction

Recent years have also seen numerous accounts of alien abduction with one of the first and most famous cases being that of Betty and Barney Hill. In 1961 they were driving along an isolated road in New Hampshire when they saw a bright point of light in the sky. The point of light seemed to follow their vehicle, approaching it, and then receding. At one point it rapidly descended and Barney stopped the car and got out to take a closer look with binoculars. He observed some kind of craft with a number of humanoid figures looking through the portholes. Scared he ran back to the car and continued driving with the craft following overhead. The car began to vibrate.

Following the encounter Betty began to experience dreams in which they were both taken aboard the craft and subjected to examination. Feeling troubled by the dreams Betty and Barney were later hypnotized. Under hypnosis both recalled being taken inside the craft and undergoing various tests.

The Spiritual Perspective

The usual 'paranormal' interpretation of such phenomena is that they are extraterrestrial forms of life paying us a visit from other parts of the universe.

Given the vastness (infiniteness??) of the physical universe it is surely inconceivable that the special conditions needed to evolve life have not occurred anywhere else, or even that some of those other evolutions are not far in advance of our own. But even if they exist, and even if they have the technology, would they really make the effort to come all this way to observe us? Well, possibly one or two might - but - considering the sheer volume of UFO reports mightn't there be another solution (other than all observers being mistaken or deranged)?

The vast majority of UFO sightings are most likely natural phenomena or man-made objects, but given the sheer volume of reports and the reliability of many of the witnesses it's likely that some cases do defy natural explanation. Of course these may indeed be extraterrestrial visitors, but mightn't they also be visitors from beyond the physical universe? If they are physical, it does seem bizarre that they started appearing in such volume only after man developed the ability to fly.

Even within flesh we remain Spirit, and though our true nature is largely hidden we are occasionally granted tantalizing glimpses in whatever form we might best understand, ie the universal and subconscious language of archetypes. Prior to the technological era such glimpses may have taken the form of gray ladies and headless horsemen, but these days we can better relate to flying saucers and little green men.

The more we hear of such encounters they more archetypal the imagery becomes, hence the more likely Spirit is to use these forms to announce itself to our material selves.

Multidimensionality

There is another hypothesis in which UFOs may be physical, but not as we know it. This involves the concept of multidimensionality.

Science states that we exist within a 4-dimensional space-time continuum. That is, there are four dimensions - three of space and one of time - accessible to our senses. But why should physical reality stop at the arbitrary number of 4? Isn't it possible that there are in fact numerous (possibly infinite) dimensions, the vast majority of which are hidden to us under normal circumstances? Science and mathematics already manipulate multidimensional realities in their theoretical equations.

The inhabitants of a 2-dimensional universe, eg a sheet of paper, would be unaware of anything that existed outside of their plane, unless those entities occasionally intersected that flat domain. It is at least possible that UFOs occupy other dimensions that occasionally intersect our own.