RR Patreon Tier 3 Excerpts Dr. Aaron French - New Research Updates RE: Ufology, Esotericism, Technology & Religiosity

Note: This audio upload is a selection of clips taken from the full-length Patreon interview with Dr. Aaron French. To hear the full interview, please visit my Patreon page; you could consider joining to have access to more content like this, or have the option for a one-time purchase of the full episode (visit the 'shop' link for more information about pricing).

PROGRAM NOTES (FULL EPISODE): 

My guest this month is Dr. Aaron French. Aaron received his doctorate in the study of religion, including an emphasis in science and technology studies, from the University of California, Davis. His monograph Max Weber, Rudolf Steiner, and Modern Western Esotericism: A Transcultural Approach will be published by Routledge in late 2024 in the “Asia, Europe, and Global Connections: Culture, History, and Trans-Area Studies“ book series. Aaron has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in academic journals and regularly gives lectures and presentations at international conferences. He currently teaches in the international Religious Studies Masters program at the University of Erfurt in Germany and works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Freie Universität Berlin.

In our conversation, Aaron talks about new areas of research that he’s been exploring regarding the field of ufology, and its connections with esotericism, technology and religion. He’s currently editing a forthcoming interdisciplinary academic collaborative work about this, called Religion and the UFO Phenomenon: Methodological Challenges, that asks the questions, “how best should scholars of the humanities and social sciences approach the UFO phenomenon as an object of study? Why are otherworldly experiences intertwined with new forms of religiosity?”

Aaron also gives a re-cap of the recent developments in the U.S. with regard to the UAP, or Unidentified Arial Phenomena, in Senate hearings and discusses the issues surrounding disclosure, with the largely failed attempt to establish a committee that would force the US government to declassify and release all information on UFOs. He then moves on to discuss his own developing research into the connections between ufology and esotericism, and how religion is being transformed, with some in academia speaking now of a new religiosity forming around these experiences. Aaron’s work is looking at this modern esotericism that keeps popping up in this new ‘hybrid technoscientific religiosity’ as he terms it. Ideas of evolution and training for humans who are interested in future realities in space are also discussed in terms of ritual initiation or Hero’s Journey that is likened to the Jedi training of the Star Wars story.

In closing, we also explore occulture and the cultural impact on all of this a bit, specifically how these ideas are played out in shows like X-Files and of course, my favorite, Twin Peaks.

NOTE: Around the 1 hour 13 minute mark, I mistakenly say "accelerators" instead of "accumulators" when talking about Wilhelm Reich's orgone accumulators. My apologies.

Alongside this work, Aaron has recently co-edited the volume Modernity and the Construction of Sacred Space, which is available in open access on the De Gruyter website. You can find his latest article on Rudolf Steiner "Esotericism against Capitalism? Rudolf Steiner’s Reform Pedagogy as a Site of Resistance" in volume 14 (no. 2) of the journal Approaching Religion, which is also published open access.

Rejected Religion | Illuminating the Obscure | Patreon

To access my previous discussion with Aaron about UFOs, Steiner and Hynek PLUS more relevant links to the topic, please follow these links:
https://rejected-religion-introductory-episode-1-what-do-i-mean-by.simplecast.com/episodes/rr-podcast-e24-p1-dr-aaron-french-us-from-the-future-magic-technology-rosicrucians-steiner-new-age-ufos

https://rejected-religion-introductory-episode-1-what-do-i-mean-by.simplecast.com/episodes/rr-pod-e24-p2-dr-aaron-french-us-from-the-future-magic-technology-rosicrucians-steiner-new-age-ufos

Dr. Aaron French
(99+) Aaron French | Universität Erfurt - Academia.edu
Aaron J. French (uni-erfurt.de)
(99+) Modernity and the Construction of Sacred Space | Aaron French - Academia.edu
(99+) Esotericism against Capitalism? Rudolf Steiner’s Reform Pedagogy as a Site of Resistance | Aaron French - Academia.edu

David Grusch Congressional Testimony videos: Bing Videos
UAP Task Force AARO: AARO Home

Dr. Diana Pasulka
Amazon.com: Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences: 9781250879561: Pasulka, D. W.: Books
American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology: Pasulka, D.W.: 9780190692889: Amazon.com: Books

Dr. Jeffrey Kripal
Amazon.com: How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else: 9780226833682: Kripal, Jeffrey J.: Books

Spacekind Foundation: SPACEKIND.ORG
"Overview Effect": The Overview Effect: It will transform how you think forever (youtube.com)

Theme Music: Daniel P. Shea