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, 2007: Skeptics and Experiencers: Notes from MarsCon 2007
©2007 by Craig R Lang, MS CHt
The first weekend of March, I conducted my annual series of lectures at the MarsCon SF convention. There, I also introduced my book, The Cosmic Bridge, to somewhat less than spectacular results. It seems that, when faced with the nonfiction of contact, most of the people I met quickly became skeptics. For many in the SF community, alien contact is OK, as long as it is only in science fiction. The prospect that it might be real is not acceptable.
The prevalence of skeptics within the SF community was surprising. I had envisioned science fiction fans as being more open to over-the-horizon ideas. Yet, I noted that many SF fans avoided the prospect of their fiction being real. Often, they seek out science fiction as an escape, rather than as a new avenue for exploration. Thus, alien contact is OK if it's fiction, but non-fictional contact is unacceptable. Klingons and Romulans are fine, Grays are not...
I discussed the idea of UFO encounters being real with several people at my table, as I was trying to sell copies of The Cosmic Bridge. To my relief, many were simply skeptical, in the truest sense of the word. They were open to new ideas, but UFOs being reality was beyond their ability to accept.
For most, there was no compelling reason to suspend disbelief. Overall, I consider this good - a healthy discernment is vital in today's world. When people tell me they are skeptical, I usually say "good, you should be." I would not expect anyone to believe in alien abduction, contact or even the reality of UFOs, unless they have reason to do so. I have said this often - usually adding an invitation to read material such as The Sturrock Report. This is usually enough to convince the open minded that there really is a legitimate mystery (though this says nothing about the nature or origin of UFOs). This is all we can ask, as we truly don't know much more than that, ourselves. While this argument didn't sell many books, it did open several rather skeptical visitors to my table to the possibility of UFO reality.
While most people were skeptical, I found that this year as in previous years, a core group of attendees was very interested in the topic of UFO encounters. These folks were largely (but not entirely) experiencers. Indeed, I had done regressions with several of them in the past. I even arranged regression work with at least one person as a result of our conversations at the con.
I largely attend SF conventions to meet experiencers. I have noted that many UFO experiencers seek out science fiction as a way to cope with the reality-shattering influence of contact. In the Roper polls of unexplained experiences, the percentage of the population who may have had experiences is something less than one percent. Among the science fiction community, I have noted that a far greater percentage of attendees seem to be experiencers. Thus, again this year, my strategy of attending SF conventions was, at least in part, a success.
After my Friday evening lecture on UFO sightings in Minnesota and Wisconsin, a law enforcement officer came up to me to tell me of a sighting he had had several years before. Later that same evening, an experiencer, whom I had met on several earlier occasions, told me that she had had more experiences since I had last talked with her. Throughout the weekend, several more people took me aside to tell me of their encounters. For many, I was the first person they had talked to that accepted their accounts with a sympathetic ear.
Later that weekend, I had a chance to talk with another experiencer whom I had previously interviewed. This person told me that he had had several interesting experiences since we had last talked. However, he described them as positive - contacts rather than abductions. This person's events appeared to be similar to those of many other experiencers later on in their close encounter "careers."
Years earlier, when I conducted hypnotherapy with this man, I noted that the phenomenon had had a reality-shattering impact on him. Now that he had entered midlife, he did not seem to have the issues he had originally described. He seemed to have built his own unique and positive relationship with his experiences. I have noted that for many experiencers, these later-life events appear to be more positive, taking on a deeply spiritual, often metaphysical tone.
So was it worth it? Did I make any meaningful contributions to UFO research on that weekend? I probably did - and I provided a lifeline to at least one experiencer in the process. Unfortunately, I didn't sell many books.
