UFOS/ETs, symbolically, act as a two-edged blade. One way lays open dread and warning as alarming as a gory saber-wound. The other way cuts-away the bonds constraining freedom and hope-- we can move out of our terrible plight into a better future. The image of a daimonic herald bearing this sword comes to mind. But we don't believe in daimons of whatever sort anymore, and we get our mythic imagery through mass culture, which has been presenting us with post-Enlightenment science-fiction spaceships and extraterrestrial beings since Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. In fact, all the characteristic features in the UFO/ET mythos seem to have appeared first in mass culture, from pulp fiction to cinema to radio-plays and then television. We live in the age of reason, science, and technology, and the age of irrationality, supernatural belief, and magic, while stubbornly persisting in the mass mind, survives openly mainly in the world of entertainment. And in that, science-fiction seems more real-world than 'fantasy'. So, ETs have it over Faeries. If UFOs/ETs have been designed to influence the mass mind, as some claim, they have been cast in the science-fiction mold, rather than the fantasy mode, for a very good reason. Fantasy, which draws on the myth of the previous age, has a nostalgic appeal for those who are rather horrified by the science-fictiony real-world we live in. Many yearn to go back to a simpler, more human, more natural world-- without of course sacrificing all the technological advantages-- but it is likely that that world is gone forever, barring catastrophic nuclear holocaust, ecological disintegration, or some geologic/cosmic onslaught-- which is precisely what ETs warn of, and they should know whereof they speak. But faeries, who were exterminated by the modern world, have no credibility in it. Faery warnings would be laughed out of court!
But instead of earthly (chthonic) daimons such as faeries urging us to retreat from our relentless course toward inevitable planetary catastrophe through scientific/technological/economic progress and growth, we have aliens-- masters of 'advanced technology'-- at best, perhaps, showing us what we are becoming (but unfortunately not giving us specific, practical advice on how to go about saving our world). But all the 'species' of aliens seem like some sort of future-human archetype that has developed in the mass unconscious-- representing mostly what we fear, deep down, we are becoming-- as we are drawn fatally, helplessly, into our hi-tech science-fiction dystopian future. But even if ETs tell contactees/abductees that we've got to transform to a 'higher' stage to prevent ecological disintegration, that stage, as exemplified by themselves, is a product of the very civilizational drive that is destroying the Ecosphere! Which is a profoundly contradictory message! Did they manage to preserve their own ecospheres? How? Tell us!
While it is tempting to believe that we can save a functioning Ecosphere while continuing our drive toward ever higher technology and all the goodies it provides us, only a little clear-headed assessment shows the nonsensical, wish-fulfilment nature of this cherished belief. So, are ETs just a confused, spontaneous creation of the dream-like deep human psyche, then? If, as Jung thought, they are archetypal messengers from the collective unconscious responding to terrific but suppressed modern trauma, they just aren't doing a proper job of it-- the message is WRONG, and they're the wrong messengers. Maybe we should fight back, sort out the collective unconscious, bring on the Eco-faeries! This is their planet, and they've seen human hubris, baseness, and folly bring us to the brink. With a competent mass-media campaign, we can display these nature-folk's forest-cred! Send the ETs back where they came from!
Next instalment-- "Sky Bums".
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