The CE4 Corner
The Cosmic Bridge, Close Encounters and Human Destiny
by Craig R. Lang, Certified Hypnotherapist
Hypnotic Growth, Exploration and Healing for Mind, Body, Spirit and Beyond
Brooklyn Center, MN 763-257-7334 e-mail: craig@craigrlang.com
March/April, 2005 – Managing the Fear
©2005 by Craig R. Lang MS, CHt
“It’s only a light in the sky.” How many times has any given abductee heard these words? And yet, to some close encounter experiencers even mundane lights in the sky can be frightening. I have met more than one experiencer who became frightened at the mere sight of Venus, low in the western sky. What drives this fear? How can one learn to manage it?
When I first began working as a
field investigator for MUFON, I tended to perceive strong emotional reactions –
sometimes far out of proportion to the nature of the event – as invalidating. They just have a
vivid imagination - or so I thought. As a result, I initially tended to
give less weight to their sighting accounts. But then, as part of my study for
hypnotherapy certification, I began to learn more about long-delayed emotional
reactions to trauma events.
Suddenly I remembered a friend of mine who was a
A recent paper authored by Richard McNally of Harvard University and others, in the July issue of Psychological Science, claims to describe how "Alien Abduction Tales Offer Clues on Memory" [Note: this summarized on www.WebMD.com]. In this paper, the authors claim that they have proven that “fantasies” such as that of alien abduction can have the same emotional impact as “real” traumatic events such as being in battle or being assaulted. Thus, they reason that this proves that memory can not be trusted. Many skeptics now cite this as proof that repressed memories of close encounters can not be considered reliable as indicators of actual events.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon how you look at it) there is one fatal flaw in their argument - their assumption that alien abduction is, by-definition, nothing but fantasy. Many people reading this article can probably describe their own close encounter events – and realize that these have every hallmark of reality. These include physical evidence, perception by multiple witnesses and medical effects. To me this argues that the “pure fantasy” argument is invalid.
On the other hand, if we now reject the “fantasy” assumption, then the study reveals an entirely new conclusion. The statement - that the emotional trauma of the close encounter has as much impact as that of any other traumatic event - now becomes powerful, indeed. It tells us much about the deep effects of encounters in the emotional life of the experiencer. And it is this that I have seen again and again, as experiencers relate the events that occur within the realm of the close encounter.
One of my first impressions when I began working with close encounter experiencers, eight years ago, was the power of the emotional impact. The experiencer I will refer to as “Evelyn”, immediately and effectively dramatized this. Evelyn has had many close encounters – both physical and metaphysical in nature. When as a field investigator, I first interviewed her, an extensive chronology of events emerged. These were accompanied by a deep sense of fear. As she described her many experiences, the fear seemed to grow until it became an almost-physical presence in the room. Its effects on her life were causing her difficulty. She found herself becoming anxious at times when she was alone in the house, and at other times which reminded her of the UFO topic.
Our initial field investigation had occurred before I had begun my study of hypnosis. Some time later when I had become certified as a hypnotherapist, we arranged a session. As we began the first hypnotic work, the fear again showed itself with its full brutal force. I could only admire her courage as she, despite a look of terror on her face, told me she still wanted to continue with her regression. Evelyn wanted to get to the bottom of her experiences, to put them to rest once and for all. We decided that in the next session, we would try to manage the fear she felt, and then continue on with regression work.
The human mind can be thought of as being made up of a large number of parts (also referred to as ego states).[i] [ii] Each is built around thought complexes, feelings, memories, ideas, etc. - and together, they interweave to form the fabric of consciousness. At times, however, individual parts can behave independently, and sometimes can even come into conflict with one another.
During deep hypnosis, parts can be addressed individually, and issues between them can be resolved. In this case, once Evelyn was in a deep hypnotic trance, an inner child aspect of her mind-scape came forward which had learned from childhood religious schooling that the unknown was evil – a thing to be feared. This part had done its job well. Whenever Evelyn would have significant thoughts or memories related to the UFO phenomenon, this part would inject fear into her awareness.
Conversely, with Evelyn still in deep trance, another part of her mind emerged which was inquisitive and deeply spiritual, and which very much wanted to explore her experiences. Having built a rapport with both parts, it was now possible to address the concerns of the “Fear” part, fostering an agreement between it and the “Spiritual Explorer”. Once a deal was struck, as long as both parts kept their end of it, the fear should no longer be an issue. Both parts agreed, and Evelyn felt them merge back into the overall tapestry of her mind - and I eagerly waited to see the results.
It worked – even better than I had hoped. The fear that had plagued Evelyn for so long quickly abated and in subsequent sessions, she was able to explore her experiences extensively. What had seemed like a dark scenario could now be looked at much more objectively. As with any aspect of life, there were both positive and negative elements to her encounters. But from now on the phenomenon would be objective and manageable to her, yet would still be a deeply meaningful part of her life.
The Roper polls of unusual personal experiences[iii] in 1991 and 1998 indicate that about one percent of the population meets the criteria of having had four of the five key indicators which would qualify them as being experiencers. If we tighten the criteria to require five out of five hallmarks, then the percentage drops to about 0.2 percent. This still leaves us with two people per thousand of population, or about four thousand experiencers among the (approximately) two million residents of the greater Twin Cities metro area. Of these, it is not clear how many currently experience the fear effects that linger following encounter events. But if the people who come into my hypnotherapy studio are any indication, then there is a very real group of people out there who experience this post-encounter fear factor.
I have to wonder how many among the unseen population of close encounter experiencers still live with such fear. How many people among us look up in the sky on a clear, starry night and, instead of seeing the beauty of the heavens, feel the terror that accompanies the sight of another light in the sky?
