My abduction experiences 1, page 9

Originally posted by Malevolent_Aliens
Let's separate some of those people from the (legitimate case) real abductees because the one's who DON'T KNOW what happened to them but feel like they MAY have been abducted from a sleep paralysis-dream induced state of mind were probably NOT abducted at all...Most of this group of people probably only did experience nothing more than SLEEP PARALYSIS---Some of this group may also be suffering from some of things you mentioned. Delusion, a great imagination, fantasy even mental illness. Someone who has had physical contact awake knows for sure that it took place and never even questions it.

Take Travis Walton, Betty Barney Hill, Jim Sparks and many other cases for instance. (Just a tiny example so we don't mix up sleep paralysis with real physical contact experiences where the people were never asleep to begin with in the first place.) Let's seperate those who are seeing ET's while asleep and those who are seeing ET's while awake into two seperate categories.

Why are you so certain that "real abductees" are those who are firm in their convictions? People who suffer from mental illnesses with delusional disorders are just as certain of their own perceptions even though they are derived from pathology. This is NOT to suggest that abductees are delusional. My point is that we know so little about this phenomenon that to claim we have a basis for segregating some prospective abductees from others is, at the very least, premature. In fact, I'd argue that those who question what they have experienced might be the most level-headed!

Most alleged abductees are very spiritual people and as such, may be less inclined to question their experiences (entities often fit into some pre-existing schema of the world/reality). Someone with an entirely different background (i.e., scientific) who is inclined to test and reproduce may have a very difficult time accepting what has happened since there would be no basis for comparison. Such a person might be inclined to search for evidence and, upon failing to find anything conclusive, attribute their memories to dreams (not because they are uncertain, but because this is the only way to COPE with what has happened to them!). Bruises, scratches, and other injuries of unknown etiology can be easily explained away ("I don't remember doing that! When did that happen?") and trace evidence (assuming it ever existed) is just as transient. As soon as we move, the scene has been disturbed.

Questioning one's sanity under these circumstances is perfectly normal. In fact, I would worry about anyone who did NOT question that they were able to recall about their experiences. Whether we like or not, society is indoctrinating everyone to accept one version of the "truth": Aliens are not visiting Earth and in fact, we don't even know if microbial life exists on other planets. Biopan experiments support the likelihood that microbial life could exist in some very harsh places (by terrestrial standards), but nothing conclusive has been published on the topic. People who willingly throw science and logic out the window could be very vulnerable to suggestion. If you lie to yourself long enough, you will believe that lie is true. If your perception of the world is tied to shared experiences and the reproducibility of experimental results, then is it really so difficult to see how a rational person might ascribe their memories of abduction to other things (sleep paralysis, dreams, etc.)?

It's simply too early to tell the difference between a bona fide abductee and anyone else.