Has anyone heard of this book, From Angels to Aliens? I find the basic premise to be quite interesting. Perhaps the increase in belief of the supernatural and extraterrestrial is being caused by the culture the young people are growing up in? I'm going to try and get a copy of this book.

There are quite a few young people around here, what do you think? I'd be interested in knowing if this seems valid to you guys.

I'm not probably what you are looking for when you said "young people", but I still believe that the teenagers, and adolescents of today are starting to become aware of what is going on... I'm not saying anything in particular, I'm just saying that the younger you learn how the world works, the better... I matured at an earlier age than most. Shortly after I started to pick up an unbelievable fascination in the Unexplained. I've always found it interesting, but it was almost like something, just clicked... But about our culture fueling the belief in aliens...maybe, but I don't think so... I don't have a specific reason, but I don't feel that that's right...









Mind Freak has spoken!

Yea i personally dont think the beliefs have grown stronger at all, i think it is more along the lines that now that we have all this technology and we have spaceflight, it gives alot of people more imagination.

If anything though i think the ufo phenomenom is dying down, i really haven't seen any good cases in years.

I agree with you, Films and TV programmes fuel the imagination.

thats good point mindfreak....

I do believe that it is our culture that is resulting in the beliefs in aliens, and the new and/or improved supernatural beliefs. A lot of it has to do with the fact that, as part of Western Civilization, we inherited the legacy of rationalism and science as explaining the world. However, at the same time, and like most cultures around the world, we also have a legacy, from the days of agrarianism, of magic, mysticism, and superstition. What this means in today's society is that these two kind of blend. Since science has heavily worked in invalidating traditional religion and making many of the original forms of magic and superstition untenable, we get forms that instead skirt the edge of science - pseudoscience, in a word. Things such as 'demons' and 'spirits' get re-interpreted as alien visitations, and healing magic gets re-interpreted as New Age pseudoscientific 'psychic healing.'

i only write like this to annoy my enemies......aliens exist/don't exist......who cares, something does, so my twisted passion expresses my deliverance to my enemies.....as they treat me so..................................................................................every word said is a weapon used against the enemy by helping to awaken those who suspect....and may just become activists before the fall is evident around us....


Most who believe, need to identify the hoax from the facts. then the facts from the imaginings, then the imaginings from the hoax......

if aliens influenced the world massively, or as widely reported, tall white blonde pasty skinned missionaries were the very first to get the indigenous of africa, australia, new zealand, south america and australia, before the europeans invaded those countries, one would do so much better to visit these indigenous peoples who have no means of telling the disbelieving and detered world. An example. A witch doctor showed me a very empty gourd container, the size of a basket ball....put it on the floor, and the thing began talking to me.....afterwards it was filled with liquid......suddenly and without being touched.

the same guy cut the head off a pidgeon....cut it right off in front of me, said his magic spells and put the head back on, bird recovered with a scar around it's head.......ok, so thats the little people/familiars or faries that every district in africa knows about because the witch doctor business would die out if it was all fake....so do as the aristocrats of england do,....visit them....and learn.....how about psi baba.....faries....

ok, aliens then

how about people and cars that dissapear or appear on the street......i guess you have never seen that.....or space ship beams from the sky..........Hampstead villiage, london, one saturday between march and april the year of halebop.......should be in their records, a sudden powercut in the villiage, nowhere else in london.....I heard the sound of swords clashing in the sky, then a star wars laser type white beam came from out of the sky and hit the villiage....nocked the whole of hampstead hill out for half an hour......sure, if you check it out you will see the evidence in their records....but of course you can't belief such things can you.....?

another one.....seeing people appear, cars dissapear, people being taken over by foot high etheric beings, (just saw the interview with the john lennon killer).....hardly believable, aliens or little people.....even for me personally, I question everything...

where do 300,000 children go every year from the USA? perhaps the Pied piper of Hamlyn? Same story, faries underground, reptilians in the hollow earth, etc etc
http://www.theuniversalseduction.com/artic...t_from=&ucat=2&

how about the personal facts about implants found in bodies...... ?

not me, i found a laser scar on my arm one morning, even when fresh, nobody WANTED to believe.....though nobody could explain what they saw....


none of this is any proof except to the individual. Only then will a person believe, but in the case of the white pastey faced blonde creatures......the kings of africa called them gods or angels, as they were tricked to believe which weakend their countries to fall, remember the stories of the mexican and african kings, who allowed things to fall....?.... so seeing is still not enough...especially when we are dazzled with science...


how about the silly trainspotters, those who go out looking for UFO's and those who get to take pictures of them in the dark...haha, so funny....
especially with those alien ships usually aim to go unseen, but we usually see them with lights all over, just like normal human aircraft.....you know, If I had cloaking technology, I would have highly sensitive sensors and know where the trees and ground are, hence why tell the world that we are aliens and we are here for photo's if they never bother to get to TV or land in Times Square? perhaps they are hinting at individuals who later get disbelieved just to take the piss.......nahhh, there is a lot more to the UFo story, we just fell into the 1950's US con that is probably hiding many real secrets......

a little on the mentally controlled or conspiring debunkers that help the US secrets to stick...
http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardt...n_the_march.htm

the only way people are going to believe without seeing aliens, is through the concept of critical mass.....which expresss that say, if 51 percent of the earth believe in levitation or walking through walls, you can bet your bottom dollar that the rest of the population are that much more inclined to believe as well as the art of levitation actually becomes easier to learn for the rest. collective consciousness leads a lot to be desired....


Proof or evidence is always going to be suspect untill CNN have no choice but to say something......until then, we are being held back.....if any organisation says, a thing does not exist, when millions say it does, can the authorities be lying? is that not proof without evidence?or can millions be duped so well......? I think so...we all believe human space travel....don't we? when the science of today explains that it is still impossible.......how big was the computer in the days of armstrong?....
hmmm spaceship sized and enough memory for a pocket calculator as nasa says they used.. hmmmm, perhaps not....



look around also for pictures of a blue mars that kills all nasa credability instantly.....


About the creatures of farie tales and other weird legends that began all the magical stuff on earth with this batch of humanity..it is massively huge..........one story indicates that the grey and reptilians make you see what they want you to see.....fairies have been known to take babies into their underground hideaways through a magical dissapeaing entrance......worldwide this is history....just do the homework......then do the sifting.....the suggestion was that the greys may be a form chosen to fit our modern thinking as faries and elves hold no real fear in humanities imagination.....anything is possible, and we can almost guarentee that the facts are usually missing from places like these, until you see a hoard of debunkers one after another, gassing against facts without reasoning themselves.......
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...topic=48001&hl=


about aliens......when we have a scrap of irrefutable evidence or knowledge of what aliens actually do for culture (not even Brandon mentions this) then i will begin to believe.....until then, I will only speculate.....the picture is so flat on aliens.

should they exist, we can kiss forte knox and the crown jewels goodbye. In fact, appart from the harvesting of humanity, minerals and gems are the only other serious reason aliens have to be here except to move humanity to the next level. hence the abductions of the so called hybrids.....etc....

i really do not have a clue.....just rambling.....but at least this is a near intelligent topic, something for the kids to debate?


Also, looking on the long lined history of ET topics in this particular forum, notice where there are injections of the odd repetatively phrased questions, every now and then, usually by so called newbies first posts, i must have noticed at least 5-7 of them in my time here, perhaps to stimulate away from intelligent disscussing we have the `do aliens really exist?` types of questions. yours however, lend to some interesting thinking, thanks Lilly. And good luck

I can relate to you quite well my friend....



There are very credible reports all the time. The problem is, most main stream media refuse to carry it. Unless they had irrrefutable footage of an alien ship on the front lawn of the whitehouse and the president giving a state of the union address about it, you won't hear about on CBS. Period.

I know, you have to wonder how much legitimate evidence has been overlooked, simply because of the source...






Mind Freak has spoken!

Sci-fi Channel occasionally does investigations, that I feel for the most part to be legit, but most people don't take them as seriously as if 20/20 had done the exact same show, etc...

Nope never heard of

Aliens have replaced god for many people.

Do you mean, as far as who created us, or just in general?



Mind Freak has spoken!

yeah, i watch those whenever they are on... I'm pretty sure they are all legit, some of the things they show have been debunked (some), but everything seems good.








Mind Freak has spoken!

In general, replacing a supernatural god with a technological alien god.

One of the first things I noticed when I attended is the signed over the library entranced "The Truth Shall Set You Free". The Rutgers is one of the few colleges that insited that we all take basic computer classes regardless of our major.

Today we live in the "information" age. We are contantly bombarded with huge amount of information from the internet, TV, books, magazine, radio and may other forms. Current event and information become available to all of us almost instantly. Thus kids today are more educated. The kids today have tendancy to ask question and question every thing unlike the past. Never accept anything just because it is in text book or taught in the school or college. This create independant thinker who has thirst for more and more knowledge. They are never satisfied.

This is the reason ourt culture is fueled with alien belief. We are conatantly presented with theories, backed by reason and logic. This isn't any indication of the lawless or adulterous society. The kids today want to plausible explantion and alien explantion is far more plausible than the modern conservative christian theories of the world around. Note the use of the word modern.

Rohn

Science fiction is motivating a lot of interest.Not that there is anything wrong with that, as long as people can think critically and scientifically.

I agree, and I believe I know the reason. People are starting to realize the possibilities of the universe, they are realizing that a lot of the sci-fi movies today, could actually happen... Now before you get all bug eyed and think I'm crazy (i'm sure it wouldn't be the first lol), I'm just saying that a lot of scenarios in sci-fi movies could be just like it is in the far depths of space. In my opinion, it's hard to believe, but still true. I think that is where people mix the stuff that could happen up, with the stuff they want to happen.
If you want something bad enough, you will do anything in your power to sway people to believe your right, even if it is without proper scientific investigation. You will see only the things that "up" your views on the matter, and not the things that are the total contrary to your beliefs.
Lilly this is for you, after careful consideration of your first question, I have finally reached a conclusion. I think, that the stuff I said above, directly applies to the answer to your question, in that, people wanting to believe, has led them to grasp onto the most obsurd ideas (in the opinions of many). The same can be said about people not wanting to believe. If people just don't want to believe, they won't, that simple. They will always say "there is no proof", though this is true, this is usually the only argument they can produce. So to sum up in one sentence, I believe we (the people) have a massive influence on todays beliefs in aliens, by way of, (i know this isn't where you would usually hear these words, but here it goes...) PEER PRESSURE (or a similar form). The more people that believe, the more the people that want to believe the people that blelieve. They don't believe it for themselves, they just think it is the "in" thing to do. There are other factors that I could go into, but I think it would be useless, cause I made most of my points...




Mind Freak has spoken!

Well said and right most of the time.

But what about those "end/major change of the world" thumpers. 2012....2036 or Planet X .They truly believe in their hearts that this is real without any scientific back up what so ever.

Faith.



Mind Freak has spoken!

Sounds more like a nightmare to me.

Nightmare? I don't want to die anytime soon, but I am still curious as to what does happen when we go. It has never been answered (to my knowledge), and it would be interesting....
Do you know who it was that made the 2012 "end of days" claim? I know a lot of people think it was the mayans, but I also know that that is a common misconception, because that is just when their calendars ended...(You didn't expect them to keep going forever did you?) If that is what orginally started all the hype, then why are we still expecting it to happen?







Mind Freak has spoken!

But, do we really want *to believe* or do we actually want to *know*? For me, this is the crux of the issue. Many are searching for something to believe in, which in some respects can be just fine...as long as it doesn't take the place of looking for knowledge.

Carl Sagan commented upon this problem: "Intelligence is in plentiful supply, the scarce commodity is systematic training in critical thinking." So what do I mean by being able to reason in a critical manner? For the most part it has to do with being able to know, not just believe. Here's a good synopsis:



So, in a culture where the line between possible and probable, known and speculated, truth and fiction is dramatically obscure and blurred, isn't it possible that people are beginning to show signs of lacking in the critical reasoning department? Frankly, I think that this is right on the money...and it doesn't bode well for the next generation.

Well, I am positive there are a lot of both... I actually want to know, others want to believe in this, so that there lives don't feel like such a big deal (if that makes sense to you). Let me put that in another way, just in case: If you are having a hard time with your life, or just feel like you have all of these decisions, and all the pressure...If something like, Intelligent life on another, was proven, they would feel like their mistakes weren't as significant anymore, because something so grand has surfaced, and would change the face of the world as we "think" we know it. A lot of young adults my age or younger have to deal with college and high school, and those pressures. And parents have to admit that school is put right on top of your children's priorities, whether they like it or not. And something so big as finding intelligent life on another planet, school seems like a blade of grass in a jungle.

Every line describes me, exactly... that is cool, where did you hear/read that?





Mind Freak has spoken!

To state (restate) the obvious, cultures are the heart of all beliefs. It has always been the construct of cultures.

But what do you think prompted those beliefs? People don't just get together, and say "well, since almost everything else is taken, we will believe in...", if people believe in something (and i mean truly believe in something), they do it for a reason. Whether it be from misconceptions, misinterpretations, or real experiences. It doesn't just start from cultures. Cultures, start from beliefs whether you believe it or not. I'm not talking about tribes or anything, TRUE cultures. In one way or another we all can live together because of beliefs.



Mind Freak has spoken!

Quote origin is at the bottom.

It's from Peak Performance, by Sharon Ferrett.

Mind Freak,

I won't disagree with you because the word "culture" has broad definitions (we'll bypass the biological one). 1) Cultures start as communities, geographically speaking. 2) Cultures are social groups of individuals who share common beliefs. 3) Culture refers to the development, refinement, and enlightenment of mind, morals, and tastes. 4) Culture, anthropologically, means the sum totals of the attainments and learned behavior patterns of any specific period, race, or people, regarded as expressing a traditional way of life subject to gradual but continuous modification by succeeding generations. (Sorry to get academic here but I have a Ph.D. in and teach Literary and Cultural Studies.)

Cultures can be formed by shared beliefs, other in-commonisms, and by geographics. Individuals who share these things in common identify with each other and collectively perpetuate and reify these beliefs and commonalities. In certain circumstances, we can interchange the words culture and society.

Specific to our topic here (the alien phenomenon): What prompts these beliefs is pure human will and desire.

How do you know? We want to be abducted, and then put in mental institutions because of the trauma? I'm not saying that I have, but there are PLENTY of stories, a lot of them are probably due to Sleep paralysis, or just plain lying. But who's to say that these people haven't been through the experiences they decribe? Saying that the basis of these alien beliefs is pure human will and desire, is very near-sighted. Unless we go through every single case out there, and debunk ALL of them, nothing is certain, as far as we can tell.
And all of the UFOs people see... some - most are probably millitary, but that's not for sure. Millitary personell report seeing UFOs on radar often...exceeding speeds of 2500 mph.
Unless you can explain every single case, and UFO related occurance, don't be so sure of yourself.



Mind Freak has spoken!

No, Mind Freak, you're missing my point or I'm explaining it poorly. And, if you knew me personally even a little bit, you'd never think of me as narrow-minded. I am not an authority on the alien/abductee phenomenon, but I do consider myself well-educated in cultural studies.

It is pure human will and/or desire to define and form identity with others who are like-minded or similarly oriented. This then becomes a culture. The difference is that desire is a choice, will is inherent. Not one alleged abductee that I know of has claimed a desire to be an abductee. But on the other hand, many choose--have the desire--to pursue the alien phenomenon, and that is pure human desire. You choose to pursue it, it is not inherent.

One of my colleagues at Temple U. (Dr. David Jacobs) has researched and written several books on the subject. Most alleged abductees only possess the will to uncover an validating explanation as to what is causing it. Most don't want to be a part of the UFO/alien culture. There are dozens of abductee groups who gather to discuss and counsel each other as a type of therapy. We can label them as a micro-culture because it is their will and desire to do so.

In no way am I debunking or attempting to belittle or explain away what someone thinks that they have witnessed. I believe Betty and Barney Hill. I've read hundreds of abductee case studies and believe that most are genuinely sincere. I believe the Phoenix Sightings of March 1997 were truly UFOs, along with many other sightings.

In a nutshell, what I'm arguing is that our culture ("Question everything") today fosters and accepts the UFO phenomenon; that it's okay to voice your belief in the alien phenomenon, as opposed to belief in UFOs and the alien phenomenon ostracizing those who hold such beliefs.

I hope this clarifies any misunderstandings.

I do not believe it is youth culture that is fueling the alien/UFO phenomena. I believe that this steady increase in belief is due to the ever increasing population of the world encroaching on fewer and fewer remote and unexplored areas, so therefore you have more and more people catching sightings and having encounters with UFOs. Not to mention the ever increasing air traffic over the years which adds to the increase in aerial reports of sightings and encounters.

More people= More reports= More exposure= More belief.

Yeah it does, I thought you were heading in a whole other direction...glad to see you weren't


Mind Freak has spoken!