The Conscious Cosmos: Skinwalker Ranch and the Skeptics

I am inserting a large portion of text from Frank Salisbury’s book the “Utah UFO Display.” It will be presented later on after a more detailed explanation. I think it points to the fact that what we currently see going on with the UAP/UFO phenomenon is not straight forward but purposefully has a highly nuanced narrative. It is suggested in my view by the recent theories and proofs in physics and cognitive science. They are so recent that they are not naturally considered in any discussions about the phenomenon or for that matter material science in general. Three things are important in this idea. First is the recent Nobel Prize in Physics given to three men who proved that the universe is not locally real. Second and equally important is the work of Dr. Donald Hoffman and his students from the University of California that shows that it is quite likely that space-time and the material universe arise out of consciousness. Third and not least, are many philosophers that have put forth very thoughtful explanations of panpsychism.

I have long had an interest in a panpsychist, panentheistic view of reality. The works of Aldous Huxley such as the “Doors of Perception,” Abraham Maslow’s “Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences,” and Fritjof Capra’s “The Tao of Physics” have influenced my thinking along with what would be best characterized as mystical experiences. It is only recently that what was once considered woo-woo has become more respected by some scientists. So while that is my bias up until recently I was skeptical of the UFO phenomenon. The thing that changed that for me was the first three seasons of the History Channel’s docuseries “The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.” Now as the fourth season emerges, the skeptics are growing stronger. I think that may in part be because they do not seem to have a scientific voice that influences their editing.

I am confident in the veracity of the team and the owner of the Ranch Brandon Fugal. I am somewhat skeptical of how the History Channel has presented them so far. I believe that they are on the frontier of scientific investigation. However, it is important to emphasize that they are dealing with something that can be material and can be mental or conscious based. That fact should be emphasized in the docuseries. If then the critics continue to be skeptical so be it. I believe they will shortly be shown wrong as current science unfolds in the areas mentioned above. However, to emphasize the science as strictly physicalist is a mistake. Let me repeat, given the new advancement mentioned in the first paragraph, I would like to share a portion of Salisbury’s book that demonstrates a world-wide ubiquitous examination of the phenomenon. Not just on Skinwalker Ranch, but across the globe and not just recently but for the last seventy years. The inserted quote speaks for itself.

“In 1977, at the First International UFO Congress in Chicago, J. Allan Hynek presented his thoughts in a speech “What I really believe about UFOs.” (See Hynek, 1980.) “I do believe,” he said, “that the UFO phenomenon as a whole is real, but I do not mean necessarily that it’s just one thing. We must ask whether the diversity of observed UFOs… all spring from the same basic source, as do weather phenomena, which all originate in the atmosphere” or whether they differ “as a rain shower differs from a meteor, which in turn differs from a cosmic-ray shower.” We must not ask, Hynek said, what hypothesis can explain the most facts, but we must ask, which hypothesis can explain the most puzzling facts. “There is sufficient evidence to defend both the ETI and the EDI hypothesis,” Hynek continued. As evidence for the ETI (extraterrestrial intelligence) hypothesis he mentioned, as examples, the radar cases as good evidence of something solid, and the physical-trace cases. Then he turned to defending the EDI (extradimensional intelligence) hypothesis. Besides the aspect of materialization and dematerialization, he cited the “poltergeist” phenomena experienced by some people after a close encounter; the photographs of UFOs, sometimes on only one frame, not seen by the witnesses; the ability of some UFOs to change form right before the witnesses’ eyes; the puzzling question of telepathic communication; the fact that in close encounters of the third kind, the creatures seem to be at home in earth’s gravity and atmosphere; the sudden stillness in the presence of the craft; levitation of cars or persons; the fact that some witnesses develop psychic abilities after an encounter.

“Do we have two aspects of one phenomenon or two different sets of phenomena?” Hynek asked. Finally he introduced a third hypothesis. I hold it entirely possible that a technology exists that encompasses both the physical and the psychic, the material and the mental. There are stars that are millions of years older than the sun. There may be a civilization that is millions of years more advanced than man’s. We have gone from Kitty Hawk to the moon in some seventy years, but it’s possible that a million-year-old civilization may know something that we don’t…. I hypothesize an “M&M” technology encompassing the mental and material realms. The psychic realms, so mysterious to us today, may be an ordinary part of an advanced technology.”

Salisbury, Frank B.. The Utah UFO Display: A Scientist Brings Reason and Logic to over 400 Sightings in Utah's Uintah Basin . Cedar Fort, Inc.. Kindle Edition.