Chatting to Mark of Strange Attractor the other day about the similarities between fairy encounter / abduction experiences in the past and UFO encounter / abduction experiences today (he’s just been in the States, interviewing UFO folk for his upcoming documentary).
Thinking about it, it’s also interesting to compare classic flying saucer shapes with tumuli and other related earthworks – low, rounded bowls and mounds, secret spaces entered into for strange and mysterious rituals. There’s a very consistent iconography there.
Anyway… it set me thinking about how we engage with the alien. Did the fairy ‘mazed run into the same thing that alien abductees did? Is the alien so alien that when we encounter it we can only process it through our own, pre-existing cultural paradigms? Are there limits to how much novelty we can process? When we look to the stars, are we really only reaching for a bigger mirror?
Though apparently the aliens really did drop in in ’47, hanging out with the US government. So maybe they are tangible after all…
Hi Allumination.
That is very interesting. I may comment later. For now I am trying to understand how these response thingys are supposed to work. Whenever I write one and press submit it vanishes into the ether.
Hi MJP! Sorry, didn’t see your comment there – it was in my ‘to be approved’ folder. Interested to see what you’ve got to say on this… Still getting used to the technology myself! You should be able to post instantly now that I’ve approved your first comment.