Exopsychology: the psychology of human readiness for contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Welcome to the first incarnation of the Exopsychology Blog. This is a forum to explore, clarify and extend the notion of exopsychology, differentiate it from xenopsychology, parapsychology and transpersonal psychology and make some tentative links to the emerging field of exopolitics. I hope this will become a collective task, because significant outcomes are the result of combined effort. I hope you will contribute and help define this new field. The plan is to elaborate upon many of the points below in a series of essays, and to invite comment, elaboration, refutation and collaboration.

1. Let us assume, for purposes of this exploration, that Extraterrestrials have been visiting earth since at least the 1940s, and probably since the origins of humanity. The evidence for UFOs in our sky in the past sixty years is overwhelming, and the alternative, that we are alone in the universe, is absurdly improbable. Considering that the Universe is at least 13 billion years old, that our Earth is not even four billion years old, and that we live in a Galaxy consisting of at least 100 billion star systems, it is more probable that there are millions of civilizations that are technologically and evolutionarily more advanced than we are. Timothy Good did an excellent job of documenting the military sightings and testimony, some of the most compelling evidence that UFOs are physical craft, as opposed to (or in addition to), inter-dimensional intrusions, or projections from the Collective Unconscious.

5. There is an extra-dimensional component to some ET phenomena that should be considered when contemplating the issues. Dr. Jacques Vallee, standing on the shoulders of Carl Jung, explored this in great depth. His important contribution to the field resulted in a split between believers who emphasize the materiality and those who emphasize the immateriality of the ET and UFO phenomenon. From an evolutionary perspective, the immaterial aspect relates to the evolution of consciousness, unfolding for millennia. Dr. Vallee suggests that ETs not only prod evolution, but design it; that we are being controlled via popular culture, on a time scale that spans generations, and to which we are inescapably bound. We are reacting to stimuli designed to provoke certain reactions. If this is the case, we are faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem, unless the “human initiated” contact of the fifth kind leads to a breakthrough (see the CE5 initiative at CSETI).

Following is a brief summary of some of the high points, pointing out some of the major landmarks in the terrain where we locate the field of exopsychology. It was the notorious Dr. Timothy Leary who coined the term exopsychology in the publication of a book by that title in 1977. The book was reprinted as “Info-psychology” in 1987, when he discarded the Extraterrestrial aspects of the original book, to emphasize instead the cybernetic meme. The baggage associated with Dr. Leary is unfortunate, but credit is given where it is due. He was a man who was, perhaps, slightly ahead of his time. He described exopsychology in terms of its relevance to understanding human consciousness in an evolutionary context, one that extended in the past to the genesis of life on Earth originating in outer space (the panspermia hypothesis), to the return of humanity to the stars in an extraterrestrial migration, to complete the cycle. He wrote about the levels of consciousness that may be required for extraterrestrial migration, and for comprehension of extraterrestrial psychology. His work therefore is relevant to the study of how people in this day and age may react to imminent, unequivocal disclosure of ET activity on Earth. He was also wrote about shared reality, constructed by language and conditioning – a reality that is the lot of those who have not activated the higher brain circuits, and who are thus stuck at a larval (Pre-migration) stage of human development. The idea of a shared constructed reality is central to the hypothesized two parallel disclosure processes that are taking place right now (The ET agenda first hypothesized by the venerable Dr, Jacques Vallee, and the gradual disclosure/coverup by the Satellite Government in the USA, aka MIC) . His writing is wide-ranging, and emphasizes the role of consciousness, whereas I hope to also explore the more specific issues surrounding human reaction to and preparation for Disclosure, Contact, and Interaction. These are the ways I suggest that we more closely define the useful scope of a practical exopsychology:

Other roots and influences lay in the work of Carl Jung, who was one of the first to extend the study of the mind beyond the pathological, to consider human culture, symbolism, and the development of consciousness. He wrote about the UFO phenomenon as well, one of the first psychiatrists to do so. Another colleague of Freud, Wilhelm Reich, was, like Leary, perhaps too much ahead of the times for the authorities to stomach. He wrote about healthy human development, and more significantly to exopsychology, he postulated the existence of “orgone”, a force related to living things, synonymous with prana and other ancient descriptions of the life force. He claimed that this force pervades the universe, and could be accumulated in devices, and employed. One of his devices was purportedly aimed at a UFO, causing it to react. The link between UFO phenomena and psychic phenomena is established, and Reich's work may shed some light upon the link between the connection.

The field of Parapsychology never really grew legs. Dr. J.B. Rhine of Duke University attempted heroically to instil a scientific method and rigour to the study of clairvoyance, telepathy, psychokinesis and similar psychic phenomena, but the results were at best suggestive, despite strong indications that the phenomena studied were very real. The scientific method seemed to be inadequate to capture the essence of the phenomenon. More recently, at Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR), Professor Emeritus Dr. Robert G. Jahn, Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, spent nearly 30 years researching the interactions between human consciousness and mechanical devices. His group also conducted over 650 trials of remote perception. They accumulated vast amounts of data, difficult to dismiss, that breathe new life into the field. His research ought to be considered very carefully by anyone interested in ET contact. Parapsychology, like Transpersonal psychology, and many components of mainstream psychology can contribute to the field of exopsychology.

Xenopsychology, the study of the psychology of Extraterrestrrial Species, is admittedly speculative, but Robert J. Frietas Jr., who first coined the term in 1979 (Xenology: An Introduction to the Scientific Study of Extraterrestrial Life, Intelligence, and Civilization) claimed that ordinary psychology is surprisingly informative, and indeed, his latest writings on the subject provide much useful material for an exopsychologist to study. For example, reason based on evolutionary biology provides insights into the possible range of alien emotion and social practices.

From developmental perspective of the human species, we may make an analogy with a well known human developmental process. The prolific Sufi author Idries Shah remarked once that humanity shows signs of growing out of its protracted adolescence.

Imagine a family where there are three teenage siblings living in the basement. They are growing up, and begining to exert their desire to individuate, to become independent, and to seek their destiny. The parents have a responsibility: to continue setting clear expectations, and limits. No, they are not allowed to have the keys to the car, just because they want. No, violence is not condoned. No, they cannot invite friends downstairs and procreate unrestrained. No, the basement must not be allowed to accumulate garbage and filth.

The teenagers also have a responsibility: to become a little more serious, to practice safe sex, to clean up after themselves, to not play with weapons and vehicles unless properly trained and prepared, and with supervision. They need to learn forethought. Their prefrontal cortex must be sufficiently developed to enable judgement, long term thinking, and emotional regulation.

Similarly, humanity is like the teenagers. We want the keys to the flying discs, but we are reproducing without restraint (except in the People's Republic of China), we use weapons irresponsibly, fight amongst each other and accumulate filth that is harmful to our planet.

Many have suggested that extraterrestrials may have been involved in the cultivation of human culture and society, for thousands of years. If that is the case, then they may have more than a passing interest in our evolution. If there are cosmic adults out there, then, projecting human values upon them, they must have some concern for an emerging species, and some responsibility as well. But what, then, is our responsibility? We would be like a nursery school, or at best, a high school, where society at large still has controls and safeguards against exploitation of the young and foolish. It could very well be that there are ET factions that have no compunctions about exploiting the young and foolish.

The field of exopsychology has much to borrow from other branches of psychology and anthropology. The study of cultural encounters, racism, developmental psychology, the psychology of manipulation and persuasion, explorations in altered states of consciousness and paranormal capacities, and sociological experiments in community building and ecology based policy development all have contributions to make. Perhaps the Bioneers say it best, when they exhort us to “live on Earth as though we mean to stay.” When we become full, heart-felt Earthlings, feeling at home on our home planet, cherishing it, and getting along with everyone, then, perhaps, we may be good and ready to receive guests, with Cosmic good manners.

Otras ExoCiencias aquí.

Subir