From UFOs and the Limits of Science by Ronald D. Storey c.1981

Reproduced for educational purposes.

The Psychic Projection Theory

The Psychic Projection Theory represents a modern school of thought in
UFO circles, which like the Ultraterrestial Theory, developed as a
reaction to the Extraterrestial Hypothesis. The theory was first
outlined by Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman in the mid-1970s, based on
Carl Jung's concept of the collective unconscious.

The authors, however, have gone beyond Jungian psychology and postulate
that the collective inconscious can psychically project material forms,
represented in modern times by the UFO, and that "...the UFO phenomanon
has absorbed many of the ancient archetypal forms in which human beings
have traditionally needed to believe and which they have sought to
complete their world.

Clark and Coleman saa a danger in the modern world of science's
disrupting man's close bond nature, to mysticism, and to the elements,
bringing him to "the brink of catastrophe." The message they see in the
UFO myth is that the collective unconscious "...too long repressed,
will burst free, overwhelm the world, and usher in an era of madness,
superstition, and terror - with all the sociopolitical accounterments;
war, anarchy fascism," and that "...when the unconscious can no longer
be contained, its liberated contents will destroy all that the
conscious mind has produced; the fruits of science and technology,
civilized order, and the very process of reason itself. Under the new
imbalance a spiritual dark age will blanket the earth."

UFOs, then, are merely "planetary poltergeists," which are generated by
the "psychic energy" of the collective unconscious (and sometimes by an
individual unconscious), as were fairies, flying saucer "spacemen," and
apparitions of the Virign Mary. In some respects, The Psychic
Projection Theory relies on the same kinds of evidence as the
Ultraterrestial Theory, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish
between the writings of authorities in the two schools.

The Psychic projection Theory would have to depend, at the very least,
on both the reality of Jung's collective unconscious and the reality of
extrasensory perception (ESP). Jung's writings have had wide popular
appeal, but experimental work has failed to demonstrate empiracally
that man possesses a collective unconscious. Future research may shed
more light on the validity of Jung's theory.

ESP research is a continuing and active area of research by numerous
psychologists, biologists, and physicists. A very bitter and emotional
debate has ensued over the years concerning the validity of ESP. Some
believe that the whole subject is nonsense and should not be given any
serious consideration. Others claim that ESP effects have been
conclusively demonstrated in repeated laboratory experiments and that
efforts should be directed more toward understanding the effects than
toward attempting to convince the skeptics.

Until the matter is resolved, the Psychic Projection Theory must remain
as simply a fascinating idea. Even if ESP effects (precognition,
telepathy, telekinesis, etc.) were ultimately demonstrated to be
authentic phenomena, bringing parapsychology into the mainstream of
"normal" science, there has been no indication that such "psychic
energy" could actually materialize (i.e., project) objects, whether
they be fairies or flying saucers.
---
þ Synchronet þ Rick's BBS telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23