Page 58 - EM 1 Oct Nov 2019_june_july_2009_Neat

58 Alien Abduction

Alien Abduction, Facts About

Are people really being
Dreaming
abducted by aliens?

• We all dream every night - Our brains
Continued from Page 57 are active throughout the night. But after

we wake up, we often don't remember
Others would argue that no, there are much about our dreams.
unexplained phenomena in our world that are • We dream most vividly during Rapid
best understood by reference to the spirit world. Eye Movement (REM) sleep - Some of
Workers are not misinterpreting the wispy vapor our sleep has vivid, structured thoughts -
rising from the distillation process but are or dreams. These occur during a stage of
experiencing a kind of energy that represents sleep that is called REM sleep. REM sleep
the essence of a formerly living being that can occurs in short episodes across each night
continue to exist and exert some influence, each about 90 minutes apart. Our longer
however tenuous, in the physical realm after dreams are in the morning hours.
death. Like partly opening doors with no visible • We are specially wired not to act out
cause of motion. Some people find the our dreams - During REM sleep many of
explanation of ghosts and spirits to be more our muscles relax completely and this
compelling than psychological theories about prevents us acting out our dreams. If this
these kinds of experiences. system doesn’t work properly we may try
In science, there is a philosophical certain emotional, cognitive, and perceptual to act out our dreams, especially if the
principle called Occam's razor that is often used experiences result from brain state changes and dreams involve strong emotions.
in situations like this. There are many different psychological factors related to the drug or • Many dreams are bizarre because part
ways of stating it, usually along the lines of “all meditation technique used. It is also possible of our brain shuts down - When we are
other things being equal, the simplest that these techniques don’t just create a changed awake the front part of our brain controls
explanation tends to be the best”. This principle brain and psychological state but actually open how we make sense of the world. This
is used to cut away unnecessary and erroneous a portal to other dimensions of reality to which shuts down during dreaming. Because of
explanations by focusing on what is the simplest we do not typically have access. As he points this, the dreaming brain puts together
explanation available for a phenomenon. For out, one of the problems with nonscientific ideas that normally do not go together.
centuries, this razor that cuts away falsehood explanations, at least from a scientific • Most dreams relate to recent awake
has worked rather well. For example, perspective, is that they become unfalsifiable. experiences - Dreams are often linked to
Copernicus' heliocentric model, with the sun as While in principle we may be able to rule out real life events from the past. Usually
the center of the solar system, was simpler than some aspect of a neuroscientific or these are events or thoughts from one to
the Ptolemaic system, with the earth at the psychological explanation with the use of two days before the dream.
center of the solar system, as it did not need the proper instruments and experimental design, it • We dream in pictures - About two thirds
complex cycles and epicycles required in the is not currently possible to disprove a of dreams are mainly visual, with fewer
latter model to account for the observed supernatural one. Being unable to disprove a that involve sounds, movement, taste or
movement of the planets. supernatural explanation does not mean that it smell. Colour is only in about a third of all
When applied to psychological can’t be true, just that it is less likely that it is dreams. It has been said that when we are
phenomena such as a paranormal experience the best explanation possible and can’t meet the awake we think in ideas, but when asleep
that may be interpreted as an observation of a requirements of a scientific theory. we think in pictures.
ghostly spirit, Occam’s razor would have us Alien abduction experiences are some of • We can learn to control our dreams -
compare the various possible explanations and the most profound and potentially frightening Many people have bad dreams or
choose the simplest and therefore most likely. or, perhaps, spiritually enlightening, nightmares. These can happen over and
The psychological explanation has the benefit experiences that a person can have. In my over again. But people can change the
of using commonly observed cognitive and experience, these experiences are not something events in these dreams to be less
perceptual factors to explain a potentially that is often discussed in psychotherapy, frightening. First, write down memories
difficult-to-understand event. The ghost although there are people who have been of the scary dream. After this think about
explanation requires additional explanatory traumatized by these experiences and seek how it might end differently.
factors—spirits and a realm in which they can professional help. People in psychotherapy may • Scientists disagree about the meaning
exist and occasionally interact with us. On these be afraid to disclose these experiences to a of dreams - Some people say our dreams
grounds, we tend to reject the supernatural mental health professional for fear of being mean nothing. They say we have them
explanation and accept the psychological one. labeled “schizophrenic” or “psychotic”. only because parts of our brain are
Use of Occam’s razor assumes that in With these considerations in mind I stimulated when we sleep. Other people
the situation in question all things are equal, but want to explore one of the most challenging and say dreams have value. They say it is a
we know that often all things are not equal, and fascinating anomalous experiences reported in kind of therapy for when we're feeling
it certainly seems possible that there may be the psychological literature, the experience of down. Having and remembering vivid
times when the most complex explanation not only seeing or interacting with alien beings dreams about stressful things in our lives
actually turns out to be best. Occam’s razor is a not of this world, but of being abducted by them may help deal with stress. Many people
rule of thumb that has worked well but it is not and perhaps also being experimented on by think that dreams contain messages, but
a law of nature and could be wrong at certain them. Are these experiences similar to or wholly the evidence for this is weak.
times. When anomalous experiences are more different from other kinds of exceptional human
complex and challenging, we may find it more experiences? From a sleep medicine
difficult to accept simple psychological perspective, some of these experiences may be
explanations. Sam Harris, a noted atheist, has related to dream states or other aspects of
discussed the significant difficulties human experience at the boundaries of waking
encountered when approaching an exceptional and dreaming. In the next post I will discuss
human experience such as a mystical union with some aspects of these encounter experiences
the universe experienced during psychedelic and possible explanations for them.
drug trips or while in deep meditative states. Watch for Part 2 in the next Edition of
There are at least two compelling explanations. The ‘X’ Chronicles Newspaper. []
One is the standard scientific explanation that