Beliefs in "UFOs" no different from "religious beliefs"

Beliefs in "UFOs" as physical extraterrestrial spacecraft are no different from "religious beliefs".
Religious beliefs are an intrinsic nature of human beings.
So there is nothing wrong or unusual about religious beliefs per se.

I am fascinated with a segment of the population's "beliefs in UFOs as physical extraterrestrial spacecraft" and "beliefs in physical extraterrestrial aliens that pilot or manipulate those UFOs".

People ask me, "so, what do you actually believe in?"
My answer to them is: "I believe that some people believe that we are being visited by physical extraterrestrial aliens in physical UFOs".

Then they aske me: "don't you believe that we are being visited by physical extraterrestrial aliens in physical UFOs?"

In that case, my favorite answers are:

1) The truth is out there!!

and

2) I want to believe!! (not "I believe")

(These are two great slogans from the X-files!!) (LOL!!)

Stephen Hawking, theoretical scientist and one of the most brilliant minds of our time, states that in this wide universe there ought to be civilizations somewhere else besides our earth.

However, at the same time Stephen Hawking also states that no aliens have ever come or will ever come to earth in UFOs.

(What Stephen Hawking was referring to was UFOs as physical alien spacecraft piloted or maneuvered by physical alien beings).

The late Carl Sagan, who was also one of the most brilliant minds of our time, basically said the same thing.

If I were given a chance to choose between Stephen Hawking and "ufologists" (such as myself), I would definitely go with Stephen Hawking.

Two of the greatest "ufologists" of all time (in my opinion), Dr. Jacques Vallee and the late John A. Keel, had long given up on the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ET hypothesis) of the origins of UFOs, which continues to dominate this entire UFO field.

Vallee and Keel basically came with a conclusion that this whole phenomenon goes beyond the physical and that it may be impossible to study it through the so-called "scientific" or "empirical" method.

In other words, we may be confronting a phenomenon no different than some form of religious manifestations.

So, back to square one: beliefs in "UFOs" are no different from "religious beliefs".

Norio Hayakawa
www.myspace.com...

Stephen Hawking, sometimes I wonder if he really is that intelligent or if he's just running a very advanced computer program that thinks up his answers for him after quick careful calculation.

Surely I jest, all things aside, you'll have people that put "faith" into belief in aliens or believe it more than god because they feel its more probable considering the vastness of our universe and the planets around us.

I tend to agree with Keel, whom I think is brilliant for thinking outside of the box, in that there is a more psychic connection with all this phenomena going on. I believe that if and when disclosure comes, it will be interpreted by people of the world in many ways, because of this psychic connection.

when i hear about people being able to channel these aliens through ouija boards it really starts to make me wonder. . .

[edit on 7/10/2010 by The Endtime Warrior]

I have faith in nothing.

I do however trust facts and evidence as most intelligent people do.

To see something fly at a rate faster than the speeds recorded by man is evidence that something else is out there. There have been many credible sources that have said they have seen something unexplainable.

Religion relies on blind faith and believe in invisible deities. They try and control and manipulate the way we live and put 'their' practices into society.

'aliens/ufo's' have done no such thing.

Completely different in my book.

Pred...

"The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear"

- Jiddu Krishnamurti

reply to post by Norio Hayakawa


Agreed, beliefs about UFOs range about as widely as religious beliefs. We've got people who believe they are time travelers or are from this planet or that planet, are reptilian, insectoid, Nordic, Grays, etc.

Most of these beliefs are based on anecdotal evidence, second hand reports of people being abducted or having alien visitations that people latch onto.

For a long time in my teens I believed in just about everything but at about the same time I lost my religious faith my faith in other things began to slowly go out the door as well. UFOs stopped being alien craft and became just unidentified flying objects, the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot became myths waiting to be proven true as opposed to truths mistaken as myth. The skeptic mindset has taken a while to take its hold on me but I know I am better off for it.

UFO cults are a perfect example of just how much alike UFO belief is to religious belief. It requires faith to believe in the numerous new age and pseudoscientific theories about UFOs but none to just call them unidentified and look for answers as I do.

I think part of the problem is people think skeptic is a dirty word when in actuality believer should be the dirty word because more often than not a believer will, well, believe, based on Faith and not on subtsantial evidence. Skepticism keeps us honest about what we do and don't know and what we should and shouldn't accept as evidence.

Star and Flag.


[edit on 10-7-2010 by Titen-Sxull]

It's exactly the same.
There is absolutly NO proof of either.
UFO enthusiasts, please! don't tell me about all the proof there is, how i need to do research, etc. i know what the alleged proof is and I reject it. There is not even compelling circumstantial evidence for either.
There is faith, UFO fans even refer to themselves as 'believers'!
And for all of you that will post that you "know", that you have been abducted, that you played gin rummy with aliens last night, SAVE IT PLEASE!
People make all sorts of crazy claims, I don't have to believe any of them unless there is some proof. I don't HAVE to treat them seriously. There is a difference between being open minded and just dumb!
UFO's are just one version of modern mythology, religion.

[edit on 10-7-2010 by OldDragger]

So, back to square one: beliefs in "UFOs" are no different from "religious beliefs".

With the minor exception that believers of Lizard people haven't killed thousands/millions of believers in Grays.

Well i have seen 3 UFO's and 0 God......

so i dismiss your post as indfidel blasphermy

reply to post by wookiee


They would if they had the chance!

I would say that a personal experience is just about as real as it can get.
Everyones testimony can and will be used in a court of law. When it comes to aliens a man's word isn't good enough anymore ?

People that know are labeled as believer for a lack of evidence and a testimony can get an innocent man in jail...

I fail to see the difference.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence don't they?

Murder is a pretty straight forward claim, aliens from another world - that's a different story.

Eye witness testimony is the least common denominator and is essentially worthless in any scientific inquiry especially when dealing with extreme claims.

In court the strongest evidence is DNA evidence, find DNA evidence of an alien and its an open and shut case. If we take eye-witnesses as truth we would end up believing in fairies, unicorns, reptilians, cat-people and the bogeyman.


[edit on 10-7-2010 by Titen-Sxull]

What if the UFOs are Von neumann probes, would that still be considered as alien visitation? That's the only explanation I can think of for UFO's besides aliens, hoaxes, or government spacecraft.
I also think it's alot more likely than physical aliens.

[edit on 10-7-2010 by hippomchippo]

Religions are made up very old fashioned mores and control mechanisms. People are not only seeing crafts but experiencing contact and abductions in a huge vast universe where there is so obviously level 3 civilizations billions of years ago (there are stars billions of years older than ours and that is by our crude science's standards) in the Drake formula. Even if you reduced that Formula to a sliver of what it is, billions of years ago races that are so advanced they can bend space and time started terraforming/genisis projects and cloning/hybrids, everything since has been one project or another with few exceptions. Nothing else can be reality. Its simply logic progression and when you add the experiencers in, you dont get mythical manmade religons, you get the reality of life in this universe.

Originally posted by Unity_99
Religions are made up very old fashioned mores and control mechanisms. People are not only seeing crafts but experiencing contact and abductions in a huge vast universe where there is so obviously level 3 civilizations billions of years ago (there are stars billions of years older than ours and that is by our crude science's standards) in the Drake formula. Even if you reduced that Formula to a sliver of what it is, billions of years ago races that are so advanced they can bend space and time started terraforming/genisis projects and cloning/hybrids, everything since has been one project or another with few exceptions. Nothing else can be reality. Its simply logic progression and when you add the experiencers in, you dont get mythical manmade religons, you get the reality of life in this universe.

Experiencing contact with no physical evidence?
Abductions can easily be explained by wishful thinking, sleep paralysis, and many others, and once again, no physical evidence.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
reply to post by Sinter Klaas

 

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence don't they?

Murder is a pretty straight forward claim, aliens from another world - that's a different story.

Eye witness testimony is the least common denominator and is essentially worthless in any scientific inquiry especially when dealing with extreme claims.

In court the strongest evidence is DNA evidence, find DNA evidence of an alien and its an open and shut case. If we take eye-witnesses as truth we would end up believing in fairies, unicorns, reptilians, cat-people and the bogeyman.


[edit on 10-7-2010 by Titen-Sxull]

While I do agree with what you are saying I think that if you just look up into the night sky at the vast amount of stars that have vast amount of planets, I would not put an intelligent species in extraordinary claim.

If you think that another species could not have figured out how to interstellar travel then that would be the definition of ignorant in my books.

Seeing that it could be a possibility in our lifetimes with scientific breakthroughs, to think that another more developed species couldn't blows my mind.

We are a young species and it is in our thoughts that this could be possible, if 'they' were older interstellar travel could be commonplace.

Sounds fairly common sense in my books anyways. Maybe I am all alone in my thoughts, but I doubt it.

Pred...

reply to post by predator0187


There's a vast difference in believing something is possible and believing its happening.

Of course I think there are intelligent lifeforms. Whether any are advanced enough to cross the vastness of space is open to debate as is whether there are any interstellar civilizations close enough to us to drop in and say hello. Just because something is possible doesn't mean we just jump right into it and believe it though.

I personally think its improbable that aliens have visited Earth, that doesn't mean they haven't it just means I haven't seen enough evidence to be convinced and I say that as someone who has seen a UFO.

I think that the difference between UFO believers and religious people, is that if UFO believers later found out there wasn't any aliens, or other beings on other planets, they wouldn't go crazy (maybe a few).

But if religious people were to find out that their religion/G-d didn't exist, their world as they know it would collapse, and there would be chaos on a catastrophic scale.

And though both groups would need proof of this, if and when it does show either party was wrong, large scale riots wouldn't ensue for UFO believers, as it would for religious folks.

Either way someone is right... and someone is wrong, unless people start to think that because G-d lives in the sky, and that would make him and extraterrestrial, then we could never see right down the middle of this one.

Peace to you...

reply to post by Titen-Sxull


Well... I do not walk around with a DNA extract tool set in my pocket. When I run into an alien and I get the privilege to take a ride in its UFO. There will be no evidence except for my word.

You are saying that the lack of evidence must mean it didn't happen. That means you could miss out on all the goodies. Only because of an ignorant attitude. Somehow this does not seem the best way to handle every claim.

Not that I don't understand. I mean to see is to believe, right ? But why should the eyes of another get labeled as unreliable just because you didn't see it and the witness forgot to bring his forensic evidence gear.

Considering we do get visited by ETs. That must mean they are centuries ahead of us, at least. The perfect crime could be child's play for them.

I do agree with the statement. But it only counts for those who belief without a personal experience.

Claiming the the experience is a lie, for whatever reason...
If I told you I just ate a pancake, you can choose not to believe me but that does not mean it didn't happen.

reply to post by predator0187


Two very very different questions, that UFO fans don't seem to get!
Question one, are there other intelligent beings? Probably.
Totally seperate question 2: Are they visiting us? Probably not.
The laws of pysics and the tremendous distances of space would seem to pretty much rule it out.
Any WHY assume so much? Because you were raised on science fiction, keyword FICTION.
Why assume "we are a young species"? Whats your evidence?
Why assume anybody else would invent, or even WANT TO invent space travel? Because of science fiction.
things like 'warp drive' don't exist, they are plot devices for science fiction space opera stories. we are no closer to zipping anywhere in space very quickly than we were a million years ago!!!
The whole idea of aliens and UFO's was popularized in the 1950's through books, TV and movies! THATS WHY YOU BELIEVE IN IT!

[edit on 10-7-2010 by OldDragger]

lets be clear, I am talking about people that believe everything is aliens, not the ones who have their mind open ... side note: yes, there is life out there, are they here? probably not ... hope not?

agreed

the problem with UFO is that there are a lot of pictures, hoaxes and misinformation, so its easy to people start believing in "aliens here!" thing

the truth is that there will never be a picture to prove the existence of aliens in ships, and abductions cases are tough one to call, you dont know the mental state of the person

but in general yes, the people that believe UFO are aliens, have the same problem people that believe in religion have:

they dont want to think or share, they believe everything they see need to be something out of this world or explained just the way its written on a book, they cant use their brain, neither get information from others and process it

the reality is that we need to consider all the options and have an open mind, just because I dont have a proof I cant say it isnt an alien: people should be able to share information and share perspectives > that would make a better world

[edit on 10/7/10 by Faiol]