078 - The Quintessential Other

While the modern UFO era may have begun with the emergence of saucer sightings in the early to mid 20th century, that picture eventually grew to include not only those initial sightings, but also reported interactions with the supposed beings piloting these sophisticated, non-conventional craft. Yes, indeed “aliens” - or as they’re often called in modern ufology circles - non-human intelligences, often to clarify that we don’t actually know where they’re from, just that they’re not human - at least we’re pretty sure of that fact - if by “human” we mean beings akin to contemporary homo sapien sapiens. Of course, as we’ll see in today’s episode, that clear cut distinction between us and them might not be so easy to delineate after all, but we’ll get to that. From sightings of supposed alien beings - or, apparently non-human but very often “humanoid” beings - the picture filled out even more, to include the now infamous abduction phenomenon, where modern earth humans are taken aboard craft - often from the comfort and quiet of their bedrooms in the middle of the night - where they are then subjected to a wide variety of experiences, including - in some cases of a perhaps less apparently positive nature - invasive medical procedures and supposed hybridization programs, and - in more apparently positive reports - opportunities to see the cosmos and even, on occasion, to learn to maneuver the craft, often via mental intention alone, no less. In terms of the beings often seen, while there really is a broad spectrum of others, one particular form has come to represent the quintessential “alien” in our cultural zeitgeist. Here I speak of the proverbial “grey alien”. The emergence of this particular form had much to do, one could argue, with the front cover of Whitley Streiber’s ground-breaking and nerve-rattling book, Communion, published in 1987. Of course, that image wouldn't have made the waves it did if it were not for the fact that many thousands of people reportedly recognized that prototypical face - sometimes, much to their chagrin. After all, if they recognized the image, if it was somehow familiar to them, even if murkily so, did this mean they too were perhaps alien abductees? These were chilling questions for a plethora of human beings to contemplate. Of course, the fact that these beings were - if not exactly human-looking - then certainly humanoid, raised many questions. Why would an alien being look so much like us? Wouldn’t the evolutionary trajectory of their own home planet taken them in very different directions? The conventional thinking on these matters assumed this would be the case, and it’s partly this that led to so much ridicule and scoff. Many took these humanoid forms as a good reason to ignore the entire affair altogether. It’s as if these people decided that since aliens wouldn’t look like this, the entire affair must be reducible to make believe or delusion. And yet, the enigma of this particular form of “otherness” has endured, to the point where it’s now a mainstay in our cultural heritage, both for those who believe and don’t believe aliens are here, and are actually interacting with human beings on an ongoing basis. Of course another possibility that’s emerged more recently, and this would explain why these others look so much like us is they may actually be us - but us from the future; our descendants, who have been taken in some strange evolutionary directions based on future events. So what is it? Are greys from an extraplanetary source - i.e. are they extraterrestrials? Or are they future humans, what Michael Masters has aptly deemed “extratempestrials”? Or is it possible that both options exist? And, furthermore, could the prevalence of this form, and its evident ongoing connection to us, point towards an even deeper and and more primary construct - that might not only speak to common origins, but perhaps also to a common terminus - maybe in the form of the singularity that rushes to