Mindshift 2001
"Explaining Away" Your Own Experience(s)In the last column of Mindshift 2001, an experiencer given the
pseudonym of Matthew explored the implications of a recent
extraterrestrial dream he had. Because of the dream, he was
considering being more open about his experiences. In a further
conversation, Matthew elaborated on a little-discussed
phenomenon-denying or "explaining away" one's own
anomalous experience(s).
Ideological or characterological debunkers are frightened by
both the unknown and the possibility that their vision of reality
may be severely limited. As a result, they are motivated by their
anxiety to "debunk" or "explain away"
phenomena that threaten their worldview. However, these debunkers
are not the only ones so troubled. Some of the people who have
anomalous experiences that expand their consciousness--and
necessitate the development of a new definition of reality--can
find themselves at times as frightened as the most ardent
debunker.
A number of years ago, Matthew and a friend had a sighting of
an elliptical light late at night and an encounter with non-human
intelligences. Both he and his partner, given the pseudonym of
Amber, have explored their sighting and encounters with a
well-known expert in the field. (Amber's story can be found in
the Mindshift Archives in a two-part article.) Matthew and I have
discussed his story in great detail, but in this conversation, he
spoke about his emotions in the first few days after his
anomalous experience.
"I always thought that if I had an experience like
this," he said, "if I actually saw what we call a UFO,
that I would want to tell everyone I knew about it. Instead, I
didn't tell anyone. I didn't even talk to Amber about it. And she
did not discuss it with me. We were together on our own for three
days, away from home in a small town where we didn't know anyone.
Yet, over that three-day period, we did not talk about the
amazing light that had woken us up from a deep sleep at 2:30 in
the morning."
I asked Matthew if he knew what might account for his unusual
behavior. "It still puzzles me," he replied. "I
can understand my not telling some closed-minded people I know.
And I know why I wouldn't bring it up at work. Too many in the
field would not understand and would just write me off."
It is ironic that Matthew is uncomfortable speaking with many
people he knows through his work since he is involved with
organizations devoted to "expanded consciousness." But
too often, just like debunkers, many who explore new realms of
knowledge are not open to what is now called the extraterrestrial
phenomenon. They too seek to "explain away" this
anomaly. Frequently, their worldview does not include Matthew's
type of experience. It must be explained away as a
misinterpretation of some other experience that fits in with
their worldview. Some of the prominent people in these
organizations, run by the self-proclaimed "cultural
creatives" of our day, believe, along with the highly-touted
writer Ken Wilber, that those who say they have had encounters
with extraterrestrials are like people who say they have seen
Elvis alive. Closed minds are not limited to the debunkers of the
old paradigm.
"But what really troubled me," Matthew continued,
"was not the reaction of other people. Or my fears of how
others might respond to my telling them about my experiences.
What was most disturbing in the days following the sighting and
encounter was how powerfully my own organism tried to repress the
memory of the experience. I could feel a tremendous force in my
body pushing down, pushing down in my solar plexus to the core of
my being. I heard myself thinking, "You didn't see
that"- You didn't see anything- "It's all in your
imagination." And then I heard a deeper part of myself
answer, 'But I did see the light on the lake- "I did have
that experience.'" Matthew smiled. "It was quite a
battle for the next few days."Matthew was deeply impressed
by the involvement of his whole being in the denial of his own
experience. "The encounter caused a bioenergetic expansion
in my body, a movement of energy from the core of my organism to
the periphery. It was a reaching out toward the world, an
expansion. But my organism could not tolerate it. Then an
opposite movement of energy took over, a bioenergetic contraction
set in, or a movement away from the world.
This movement of energy, away from the periphery of my body
and toward the center of my body, is the physical process that we
call anxiety. And this deep biophysical anxiety reaction is what
I think is at the root of my denial of my own experience. The
power of my own bioenergetic reaction to my own experience taught
me something about myself that has helped me to better
understand, and be more tolerant of, the debunkers and those who
fear the enigma we now call the extraterrestrial phenomenon.
"
I asked Matthew what he had learned that has helped him
understand those who fear or reject the possibility of encounters
with non-human intelligences..
"I came to understand that I am like them in many ways,
more than I'd like to admit," Matthew said simply. "I
found out that I too, at times, want to deny my own interactions
with this new reality. My own intense struggle to deny my own
experience has helped me be more empathetic with others who
reject the reality of anomalous phenomena.
"A friend, someone who is not at all open to the
possibility that my experiences are real, explained that he could
not accept them because, as he said, 'then I would have to change
my whole view of reality.' That remark sums it all up quite
succinctly. He and many others cannot accept the reality of these
experiences, but I am not really concerned. I have learned to
accept the inability of many people to be open in this area
because I have felt those same feelings myself."
Matthew ended our talk by sharing a conclusion he has reached
based on his reflections about his encounters with non-human
intelligences.
"It is pretty clear to me," he said, "that
there is no 'them' and 'us' involved in this matter. There are
not only two sides-debunkers and believers, skeptics and
experiencers. Instead, I see a spectrum of understanding. Where
any individual is on that spectrum is determined in great part by
his or her capacity to be a true skeptic-that is, an open-minded
seeker of the truth-when it comes to anomalous phenomena such as
encounters with non-human intelligences."
As Matthew and Amber continue to explore their encounters with non-human intelligences, and share what they are learning, they provide insights into this enigmatic anomaly that are not found, to my knowledge, in the reports of others who have had similar experiences. Their stories will continue to be presented in the coming months because they are an integral part of the mindshift now underway.
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