Grand Unified Theory of the Paranormal

I am not the first to put forth this theory of paranormal phenomena.  Nor will I be the last.

What I hope to be, however, is strategically placed within the discourse so that I may contribute ideas.  For many years, an undercurrent of thought has been percolating among those who research, both as professionals and as "armchairs," the various phenomena encompassed by the vague term "paranormal."  Jacques Vallee, John Keel, and Mac Tonnies are just three of the thinkers and hegemony who have attempted to shift thinking away from pat answers to what the truth really is...whatever it may be.  First, let me clear up what I mean.

I hate to make pop culture analogies, but something struck me this weekend as I watched Doctor Who.  As The Doctor, Peter Capaldi opened the episode with a monologue that took hold of me and wouldn't let go.  I crudely paraphrase:  "Nature has perfect predators.  It has also produced organisms with almost perfect defenses.  Why then could it not produce living things who have perfected hiding?  There is an evolutionary reason for nearly every attribute and behavior.  Ever wonder why we talk to ourselves when we're alone?

"Is it because we know that we're not?"

Hmmm.  They hide among us?

As I continue to read multiple texts on the subject, it becomes increasingly suspect to me that matters such as UFO incidents, alien abductions, ghosts, cryptids, strange beings, and the like are all interrelated.  They all stem from the same source.  In essence, they might even be termed the same thing.  Exactly which one of those experiences a witness has may be dependent upon the nature of the witness themselves as well as their knowledge base.

Jacques Vallee surveyed "object in the sky" phenomena over the centuries.  UFO sightings are not a new thing.  They've been happening for thousands of years and likely have nothing to do with "ancient aliens" (then again, it may depend upon your definition of "alien.")  Vallee paid special attention to cases where a witness claimed to have met the occupants of a craft or had a "visitation" from an unknown being.  In years Before Common Era, witnesses wrote that they met creatures who were half human, half animal.  Once Christianity forced its way into collective consciousness, people saw angels.  After that, the unearthly visitors were uncannily humanlike in appearance (e.g. George Adamski's purported experiences), especially those of the 1950s and early 1960s where the "space brothers" came to us in peace.  From there on out it, Close Encounters of the Third Kind were dominated by diminutive, black-eyed Grays.  Only now are encounter cases involving "reptoids" coming to the fore.  Rarer cases of fairies, gnomes, and "little people" from history should not be excluded, either.

Trace the cultural zeitgeist in that arc.  Mythology, religion, social movements, and finally science fiction as broadcast by mass media.  For decades now, we have attributed a science fiction explanation to UFOs, complete with spaceships.  But as Vallee points out (I quote here through Mac Tonnies), the intelligence behind UFOs, while quite real, manifests itself in order to ensure we conform to an explicable ideal--but the "spacecraft,"regardless of physical evidence, are ultimately illusions.

Is there an intelligence...or population of intelligent beings...that remain otherwise hidden but adapt themselves based upon what we expect to see?  And only when they want to be seen?

Vallee called them "ultraterrestrials."  John Keel had his theory of beings that reside on the "superspectrum."  Our position on that continuum represents only a small fraction of what constitutes "reality." What we are able to perceive is but a sliver of what is.  This might be tied in with the concept of other dimensions, other universes, or human consciousness itself.  Such a theory might help explain the scarcity of tangible evidence for Fortean phenomena.  It may be that you cannot reproduce the phenomena in a laboratory.  I'm aware that sounds like a cop-out but what if that's exactly how it is?

If this is a reality, what are the motivations of these cryptoterrestrials (as Mac Tonnies theoretically called them)?  Are they content to watch us and listen?  If so, why appear to us at all, then?  Perhaps they choose to be observed by those among us that society would find least believable, namely the very young, the aged, or those with mental illness or disturbed backgrounds.  Why do they want to be seen in the first place?  That is in fact what it looks like as any advanced race should be able to fully mask their presence from us but somehow we keep having encounters.  Are they trying to establish a relationship?  Are they attempting to manipulate us towards their own ends?

As with so many theories in this realm of study, the idea just brings up more questions.  It makes me long for simplistic, mass media solutions that state "ghosts are spirits of the dead, UFOs are craft for aliens from other planets." The reality (whatever the hell that word means) is likely much messier, uncertain, and weird.  So consider that the next time you're talking to yourself in your home and your car, why speak out loud when you're alone?

Maybe deep down, you know you're not.




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