UFO Belief And Cognitive Dissonance
What happens when you have to change your view of “how things are?” A friend recently told me that he is having problems with the sort of revelations that seem almost commonplace in the UFO/ intelligence game: the phenomenon of government agents who announce that there is in fact a non-human presence on this planet. Like many others who have gone through this experience, he thinks that the opinion of a seemingly sane person with government credentials holds more weight than other sources. Maybe it does. For those who disbelive in the concept of extraterrestrial aliens visiting this planet, this is sometimes a tough one. There are only so many people you can label as crazy.
For an intelligent person who weighs evidence before coming to conclusions, there is no simple answer. What many of the “insiders” who leak information to the public are counting on are researchers and their audience who already have an unshakeable belief in the idea that there are extraterrestrial beings visiting us and that there is a dark secret about this fact being held by those in power–everything from some sort of agreement with an alien race to the idea that our best technological and spiritual advances came from these beings.
There is of course no firm proof of this. Certainly there are very compelling reasons to consider that something that is not human interacts with us occasionally. There is also quite a bit of evidence that the military and intelligence communities are aware of this presence. Past these simple and uncomplicated ideas, there seems to be no reason that any reasonable person would waste their reputations, time, or sanity making any definitive statements about the UFO subject based on leaks from those who supposedly have access to classified information. The insider who seemingly has no agenda presents a thorny problem. “Yes, there are aliens here” he says, “and I know this to be true.” He has no other information to impart–no stories of underground bases or abductions-for-technology deals. Should we believe him?
A useful way to keep one’s sanity in this case is to create a few mental “boxes.” Label one “True” the next one “False,” and the last one “Maybe.” For those with a need for certainty, this is difficult. The “True” box with regard to the UFO subject should be very small. The “False” box small as well, and as you have probably guessed, “Maybe” would dwarf the others. This allows anyone to consider the vast, insane spectrum of the paranormal without going over the edge into fevered pamplet writing or blogging. No matter where the information comes from, it must be considered in light of confirming evidence. If there isn’t any yet, patience is a virtue.
“Maybe” is our friend, leading us through the dark forest of beliefs and allowing us to sample everything without the need to stop in one spot and take root. When “insiders” want to lace their message with disinfo for some purpose, they tend to steer clear of those with a capacity for suspended belief.
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May 13 2007 
May 13th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
I agree, we can’t say we KNOW for sure about anything. Its all speculation until the facts come out.
May 13th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Hi Greg, good comments. I agree; we can’t have any one, firm opinion, unless it’s that the only one, firm opinion we can have is one of “maybe.”
I’m always of two minds (at least) when an ex-military/government etc. person comes forward with the revealation that ET is real, here, and are frolicking in the isolated deserts of the southwest.
I like your idea about the boxes; this is frusrating for many, who want one answer. But there isn’t just one answer, or possibility. There are many.
May 13th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
I believe in strange things flying around the sky because I have seen them several times, but I don’t claim to have any set belief of what they are. I think it is fun to speculate on what they are, what the government knows, underground bases and all that, but it is mostly for fun since we really can’t know for sure. I would guess that there is more than one answer.
I don’t fully believe anything the so called insiders say. First, they all seem to think that they are above being fed disinformation, which isn’t really true. There are also the liars that are looking for attention or even purposely spreading disinfo. These people are always given more credibility than anyone else, but I don’t think they always deserve it.
I think it was RAW who said we should abolish the word is. Maybe it should be all words that promote certainty, where logically there can be none. That will never happen, even those of us who think we are above such things always have our own prejudices whether we admit it or not. I normally admit to it, but I do try to make clear that it comes from my own bias viewpoint.
May 13th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Lesley wrote: “First, they all seem to think that they are above being fed disinformation, which isn’t really true. “
Yes, I agree. How do we know that what they’ve experienced, or saw, — or thought they saw — or were led to believe they saw — is “the truth?”
BTW, Greg’s book Project Beta brought up a lot of questions about Majestic, Moore, Doty, etc. — that I don’t see raised very often in UFOlogy. Well yes and no, I guess.
I sometimes think what many in this field do; what’s the point? Just give this up and find another passion, maybe knitting or something. But then, I’ve seen so many damn weird things, and experienced so many weird things, that I can’t help myself.
And even though I’ve experienced some weird stuff, I don’t have any answers. (Even though there have been some who’ve tried to tell me what happened; the fact they weren’t anywhere near me at the time doesn’t seem to stop them.) Okay, sorry, rambling.
May 13th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Lesley,
I try to guard against using the definitive “is” every time I talk or write about the paranormal, reserving definitive statments about moral issues, such as “Killing others is wrong.” This also applies to statements regarding my own actions, such as “I didn’t do that.” What I think Wilson was referring to was something called “e-prime.”
When listening to the revelations of government insiders, I try to turn off my filter until they are finished, then tuck the statements away for later cross-referencing, which may take years to happen.
In the last few years, I have come to believe that there MAY be a core of reality behind official “secret” revelations that we are not alone. For now, it’s in the “maybe” file, but if it’s true, so what? The people who have come forward with this don’t seem to be bothered by it, at least not very much.
May 13th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Regan,
I haven’t experienced any significant paranormal events (apart from a glass that exploded in my hand) or seen a UFO (except for lights that were so far away that I couldn’t tell what they were) but I don’t discount thousands of other reports.
Here’s a definitive statement: “There are things that exist which we don’t have an explanation for yet.”
May 13th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Greg, good topic. Maybe is indeed a friend.
I have a question about ‘The Disclosure Project’ - how can these people suddenly sidestep the security oaths that they are supposed to have taken? Wouldn’t the secret service be throwing them in the clink at the first whiff of breaking these agreements? There’s something odd about how easily they are all talking… your thoughts?
May 13th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Smylex,
Even then, we don’t know for sure! The world exists inside our heads–it’s just when it exists in a critical mass of heads that it becomes “fact,” which can and does change.
May 13th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Paolo,
Thanks for the compliment. I haven’t seen you comment here (at least to my posts.) Welcome aboard.
As for the disclosure people, they either aren’t breaking oaths, the revelations aren’t that important to national security, or they checked with someone before talking. My guess is that it’s most likely the last reason.
There is of course the idea (which you suggest) that what they’re saying isn’t all true. What would be the purpose of that? It would almost certainly be to get people thinking about the “reality” of an alien presence. The simple answer to this scenario is to further some sort of agenda that would work better if more people believed in extraterrestrial life visiting us.
How could so many former military people be involved in such a plot? I don’t think it’s likely. There are so many others who say the same thing and don’t want to talk on the record. Like I have suggested before, the power structure may not know what to do with an alien presence, but they know how to use the idea to compliment their agendas, whether for good or bad. I do think that a lot of military personnel have seen things which we would classify as UFOs, but having them also admit that the commend structure was concerned is no revelation. If this was publicly announced and believed, there would be another coverup about why nothing was done, then the problem of admitting that nothing COULD be done. In that case, there would be more obfuscations to continue the belief that the government was still in control of the situation somehow. What a mess. Most of us are not equipped to live with something for which we have no explanation or control.
May 13th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Greg,
Very good posting and from a “rational” point of view you are correct. I however tend to think along empirical lines of thought and that leads me to wonder if maybe the whole mystery is really more simplistic than we think.
It may be that many civil servants / military types who come forward have no more credibility or knowledge than your average citizen. While in my time in the military I have met many outstanding individuals I have met just as many who are marginal and prone to attention seeking. (Some would say I’m marginal!)
It could be that an officer who never did much of anything for the system may (a.) be inventing information for publicity reasons or (b.) may be under the influence of occultic / paranormal phenomenae and is just as “squirrel bait” as your contactee cultist. You really can’t know. Since it is a fact that UFOs still hold a higher classification status than our most advanced missile and anti-missile technology, you can really never know if this person leaking data to you is on the level or not.
Like you said, what a mess.
Jess
May 14th, 2007 at 12:08 am
Having now experienced “the inside view” at first hand on a few occasions, I know how impressive and convincing these people can be.
It can be very troubling when someone who is almost certainly in a better position than yourself to know what’s really going on in the UFO biz looks you straight in the eye and tells you “this is how it is…”.
A while ago I took the line that until I personally see or am shown something that couldn’t possibly be human, then all this material goes into the handy, and very large, maybe box.
One other thing that has struck me recently, is that I wonder if people in the intelligence world aren’t somehow *more* prone to believing in the ET cover up and other conspiracies. In their line of work they undoubtedly peek behind the curtain on a regular basis and gain access to information that would send our heads spinning and has nothing to do with UFOs. If somebody they trust within their own agency or department takes them aside, looks them in the eye and says “this is how it is…” about UFOs, then they are quite likely going to believe them.
And yes, more generally, there’s no reason why a military or intel insider should be any less susceptible to irrational beliefs than the rest of us.
“Maybe is our friend” - another great T shirt from Ufo Mystic.com!
May 14th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Greg: I was going to recommend this book previously and now it seems opportune. Professor Simon Conway Morris’ “Life’s Solutions: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe” (Cambridge University Press, late 1990s).
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521827041
This book is damned by stalwart Richard Dawkins’ groupie, professor PZ Myers, winner of the “top science blog” award (I think there were only two contestants). Also I was banned from his blog website, host of the “science blogs” for my witty Fortean slams on the establishment. BTW when Professor Myers attacked this book by Professor Morris he hadn’t even read it yet!!
The concept of “convergence” is central to this Cambridge biologist’s analysis. Convergence is basically a NeoPlatonic take on reality. Evolution is not an accident, the universe is “finely tuned,” and ecological niches produce similar animals based on principles of efficiency. It’s a fascinating read.
Yet at the same time there’s nothing special about humans, except that according to all the hard evidence we are part of Earth’s cycle in creating mammalian reptilians as the dominant species.
I posted a link on here to a new study arguing that the Sun’s wobble in the galactic disk is behind the 65 million year cycle of catastrophic extinction of life on Earth. A similar study, using quantum chaos supercomputer analysis, argues that the resonance of Saturn and Jupiter, with the asteroid belt 2:5 harmonics, causes comets and meteorites to wipe out life on Earth.
It used to be that the gods were the planets but we also considered harmonic ratios. Again the 2:5 and 4:5 resonance of Saturn and Jupiter are NeoPlatonic concepts, actually based on Pythagorean harmonics.
I like the “cryptoterrestial hypothesis” but coincidentally Stan Gooch’s “Creatures From Inner Space” book was just reissued as “Origins of Psychic Phenomena.” It’s a very similar analysis I think.
Professor David F. Noble’s book “The Religion of Technology” (1996) written while he was a M.I.T. details how the top engineering institutions were created and directed by the top Freemasons. Noble argues that science is religion to create an Adamic cleansing of Earth so that a techno-spiritual Utopia can be achieved.
My take on “aliens” is strongly influenced by Stan Gooch’s analysis — the cerebellum cortex is 75% the size of the cerebral cortex, yet our reptilian brain is only starting to get appreciated by science. The right-brain shamanic practioners can consciously activate their brainstems. I can feel mine right now — blissful pressure of the pineal gland. I’m of course sitting in full-lotus, the tetrahedron, free energy posture for Pythagorean paranormal reality.
I remember talking to Graham Hancock right after he was raving about the threat of comets hitting the planet. He wanted to use nukes to destroy the comet. Only the effect of such a venture will be the same destruction as a comet — as per all the meltdowns of the fuel rods in the power plants, the depleted uranium, etc.
So psychologically science fears the Great Galactic Ghoul because it’s a “return of the repressed” — both the reptilian brain as aliens (E.T. is literally the cerebellum) and also as the formless awareness beyond spacetime connecting humans with the cycles of the universe.
May 14th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Mark Wrote:
“One other thing that has struck me recently, is that I wonder if people in the intelligence world aren’t somehow *more* prone to believing in the ET cover up and other conspiracies. In their line of work they undoubtedly peek behind the curtain on a regular basis and gain access to information that would send our heads spinning and has nothing to do with UFOs. If somebody they trust within their own agency or department takes them aside, looks them in the eye and says “this is how it is…” about UFOs, then they are quite likely going to believe them.”
I couldn’t agree more. This is very much along the lines of what we at Reality Uncovered have been discovering recently and appears to be what has happened to a number of the personalities involved in this game over the years.
At least one of the so-called “insiders” we have contacted has recognized that is precisely what may be going on, but is struggling to come to terms with the “why”.
Aren’t we all!
Cheers,
Steve
May 15th, 2007 at 7:48 am
Problems occur when people blindly believe what others tell them, without investigating or even thinking. But the minefield of blind belief should not deter us from forming beliefs–opinions based on examination of the evidence. After all, the purpose of research is to uncover facts or evidence, develop and revise theories, and reach conclusions based on the available evidence. If we fear belief, we must ask ourselves why we conduct research at all.
My theories about UFOs and Bigfoots may one day prove wrong. I don’t mind that. Uncertainty is a given when researching the unknown. If we accept the uncertainty, and enjoy researching the mysteries, then we’d all be much happier.
Belief is not the enemy. Belief is the kindred spirit of free thinking.
Lisa A. Shiel
author of Backyard Bigfoot
http://www.BigfootQuest.com
May 16th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Steve,
This reminds me of the “turtles” story about infinite regression:
A well-known scientist (some say it was the philosopher Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the Earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy.
At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.”
The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on?”
“You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But it’s turtles all the way down!”
So if the UFO story is the “first turtle,” what are the rest?
I have heard of the idea of UFO info hiding other, deeper stories too, but I don’t have enough information that I can trust to say for certain what the rest of the secrets are. It is likely that they involve very sensitive defense technologies at the very least, and in the wider picture the UFO subject is a major piece in the chess game of power struggles.
May 16th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Lisa,
We seem to have different ideas of the definition of the word “belief.” It seems to be loaded word which has gotten a bad reputation. When someone says “I believe,” what they are saying to me is that their minds are made up on the subject. In this context, learning usually stops and intransigent thinking prevails.
You write “I accept the uncertainty.” I agree. I just used different words to express the same thought.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Greg,
The word “believe” simply means to have an opinion. On my Bigfoot Quest blog, I’ve written several times about the way Bigfoot researchers misuse words or just don’t understand what the words really mean. UFO researchers often fall into the same trap. I’m glad to hear you’re not one of them!
I get extremely frustrated with people who say we shouldn’t have opinions or beliefs. Theories are opinions–in other words, beliefs. Theories form the backbone of any field of research.
Lisa A. Shiel
author of Backyard Bigfoot
http://www.BigfootQuest.com