From: Pavel Chichikov <fishhook.nul>
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 17:50:33 -0500
Fwd Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 06:44:10 -0500
Subject: Re: CNN Item On 'Alien Abduction?' - Chichikov


>From: Peter Rogerson <progerson.nul>
>To: <ufoupdates.nul>
>Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 19:01:01 +0000
>Subject: Re: CNN Item On 'Alien Abduction?'

>Brad What makes you think that people only fall asleep when
>lying in bed. People can fall asleep in almost any circumstances
>if they are tired enough, including when driving a car.

>Hypnogogic, hypnopompic and sleep paralysis imagery is
>probably responsible for many a ghost story, including our old
>friend the phantom hitchhiker. In past times people _saw_ all
>sorts of monsters and bogies, not to say their neighbours who
>they then accused of being witches.

>Sleep paralysis episodes have certainly generated sexual abuse
>memories on occasion, and very probably reports of burglars etc.
>John Mack actually mentions such a case in his book on the
>nightmare.

>Of course only that subset of these experiences which fit the
>ufo/alien abduction profile get reported in a ufo context, and
>only the smallest fraction will get reported at all.

Peter,

I believe that one can lean too far toward the skeptical side of
the spectrum.

The Church's experience of visions, locutions etc. goes back two
thousand years, and is perhaps instructive here. In modern
times, at least, say, for the past four or five hundred years,
extremely few of these experiences are accepted as genuine. Of
course, proofs are ultimately placed within the context of a
special value system, but experiences themselves are rigorously
tested to exclude subjective and self-interested factors. This
includes research and evidence from outside observers who may
not be Catholics, or even believers.


Pavel