Welcome To Planet Earth

Fancy a laugh at a UFO wacko ?
So did I, but that’s not what happened.
Watch this and see how it makes you feel.

Welcome To Planet Earth from Mikey Livingston on Vimeo.

You can find out how it made me feel below the fold…

I originally came across this on a forum I frequent. It was posted by one of the forum members who is known for their ‘alternative’ viewpoints. Conspiracy theories, UFOs etc… the full spectrum.
That member and some others were having a bit of a laugh at the expense of the guy in the video and I thought I’d join in. What’s one more bonkers UFO nut having the piss taken out of them ?
I usually don’t watch videos posted by this person because they are almost universally one or another form of frothing conspiracy fruit-loopery from 9/11 to antivax and cancer alt-med scams. The whole gambit. The only thing I’ve not encountered from this person is homeopathy. But I’m waiting for it.
Anyway, this time I watched the vid. And I’m glad I did because it made me think a bit more deeply about what’s going on here. Some UFO believers are the frothing loon type and we’ve all seen their work but this chap seemed so gentle and quiet. I watched the vid and this is what I replied on the thread :

That was a very moving video.
Jody has clearly had a profound experience that has shaped his entire world-view and created for him an entire life and universe of being, hopes, dreams and wonder.
One could watch the film and see only a guy who looks like an ageing hippy building cargo-cult-esque wooden space ships filled with rubbish in his garden. One could quickly dismiss him as a fantasist and probably a crank with a big side order of delusion.
But that would be to completely miss the central point of his experiences and the things they have driven him to do.

This man, Jody, has built a temple of wood and light to his gods; The Aliens.
Other men have built temples of stone and gold to their gods.
Is there any real difference ?
No, there is no difference.
Except perhaps in the financing.

Jody is dedicated to an idea, an ideal, a world where the aliens are his friends and he feels he is an important figure in that world. And many other people share his world.
The same goes for those who dress in cassocks and gaiters and present themselves as important figures in their own fantasy worlds. And many other people share their world.
Is any of this real ?
It’s real that it happens and that they do it and that it affects other people. But is the world they inhabit inside their heads actually real ?
It’s certainly real to them and perhaps that’s all that matters.

Why has he done this ?
Jody’s experiences are utterly real to him. As real to him as the experience you are having reading your monitor screen is to you right now.
He trusts his senses and he knows exactly what he saw and exactly how it fits into his world.
His experience has had a profound effect upon him. As profound as the experiences that other people have where they feel they are in the presence of a higher power or that they are talking to god or are roaming the universe free from the shackles of their material body.
These sorts of experiences are absolutely and utterly real to you. There is no possible way you can tell the difference between them and reality.
Unfortunately many people mistake these deep-seated and overwhelming experiences for something that is outside of their own heads.
They speak of them in intense and very powerful terms and they in turn influence the thinking of other people.

How can one not be moved by such people who have so obviously undergone such a profound and life-changing experience ?
Surely the intensity and personal reality of them make them true ?
I am moved.
I believe they have had amazing experiences.
I believe that they believe in their experiences wholeheartedly.

But where we differ is that I’m pretty sure that their experiences took place inside their heads and not on the flight deck of an interstellar alien craft or at the feet of a deity.
Why am I so sure ? It’s all down to our old friend : Evidence.

Does that diminish their experiences ?
Should we deride them for expressing their deepest feelings in this manner ?

It certainly does not diminish their experiences. They are wonderful, beautiful and life-changing experiences to have. They have been the drivers for a great deal of human thought. It is possible that such experiences in one form or another are at the root of human expression in art.
I have had such experiences and I am better for them.

We should not deride people just because they have had such profound experiences.
But that does not mean that we have to take them as seriously as they do. They are profoundly moved and their relating of their experiences may be insightful and in turn, profoundly moving to the listener.
But that does not mean we have to take them as seriously as they do.
If we believe as fully in their internal world as they do then we have taken a train that has no driver and knows not where it is heading, nor at what speed. Anything could be incorporated into the fantasy. Anything at all. New rules for living your life because the aliens or gods say it should be this way or that way.
How do we know it should be this way ? Because the aliens say so. How do we know the gods say so ? Because this person’s fantasy says so or because these people who share that fantasy say so.
Should we change our life and the lives of our families and others based upon this say-so ?
I think not.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t listen in wonder and understanding. They are often fabulous stories filled with profundity and wisdom for the lives of humans. They can provide insight and much food for thought. They are often beautiful, emotionally fulfilling and thrilling. They can be striking or arousing and uplifting. They can provide much comfort and understanding.
But they are not to be taken literally.
In that sense they can be dangerous.
Dangerous because they are so profound. So profound that people will not and often can not believe their experiences have taken place only upon the inside of their own skulls.
And some people are willing to fight, to die and to kill for their experiences.

It is a remarkable thing your brain.
Be glad you have one.

But it’s worth keeping an eye on it also.

And that’s what it’s all about. That’s what we’re about : Keeping an eye on your brain so it doen’t lead you astray.
That’s skepticism in a nutshell.