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The following is a summary of the concepts from the book FLYING
SAUCERS, A MODERN MYTH OF THINGS SEEN IN THE SKY by C.G. JUNG.
(1978, Princeton University press ISBN 0-691-01822-7, written in
1958), and is part of the Collected works of C.G. Jung.
All I could hope to do here is pick out major points of the book
and relate them as best I can. All quotes from the book will
start with /and end with \ and include the paragraph number.
Please forgive a word or two left out here and there. I would
strongly recommend a study of the works of Jung but for those
unfamiliar I will try a brief description to avoid some confusion.
Jung says the individual unconcious is as real and as important
as the concious and that the collective unconcious is one shared
by everyone, built up and passed on somewhat like instincts in the
animal kingdom. He names the major influences of the unconcious
archetypes. One he calls the shadow, which is the 'bad' in us,
another the anima or animus which describes the traits of the
opposite sex which we can all sometimes display. His philosophy
is that the more we are aware of these traits the easier we can
achieve individuation, or becoming a whole person. Mandalas,
circular objects (often found as art, the Aztec calendar might be
an example), are important because they often reveal much about
ourselves. That is a very rough summary of some of his major
ideas.( I am not an authority, hence the following has turned out
to be more of a "best of" quotes from the book. Hopefully his
overall opinion of the subject can be deciphered.)
In the introduction. Jung relates that there are manifstations
of psychic changes which occur at the beginning and end of
Platonic months,/589 .changes in the constellation of psychic
dominants, of the archetypes, or "gods" as they used to be
called, which bring about, or accompany, long lasting transfor-
mations of the collective psyche... This transformation started
in the historical era and left its traces first in the passing of
the aeon of Taurus into Aries, and then Aires into Pisces, whose
beginning coincides with the rise of Christianity. We are now
nearing that great change which may be expected when the spring-
point enters Aquarius.\
Jung tackles the UFOs, 594/ only with their undoubted psychic
aspect, and in what follow shall deal almost exclusively with
their psychic comcomitants.\
In part 1 Jung cites several cases of spiritual seances in
which several attendees witnessed a visual phenomenon but others
present (including himself) saw nothing. 608/But if it (UFOs) is
a case of psychological 'projection', there must be a psychic
cause for it. One can hardly suppose that anything of such world-
wide incidence as the UFO legend is purely fortuitous and of no
importance whatever...in this case a psychological situation
common to all mankind. The basis for this kind of rumour is an
emotional tension having its cause in a situation of collective
distress or danger...This condition undoubtedly exists today, in
so far as the whole world is suffering under the strain of
Russian policies and their still unpredictable consequences. In
the individual, too, such phenomena ..only occur when he is
suffering from a psychic dissociation, when there is a split
between the conscious attitude and the unconcious contents
opposed to it. Precisely because the conscious mind does not know
about them and is therefore confronted with a situtation from
which there seems to be no way out, these strange contents cannot
be integrated directly but seek to express themselves indirectly,
thus giving rise to unexpected and apparently inexplicable
opinions, beliefs, illusions, visions, and so forth.\
He says that oftens this happens just to those who are least
inclined to believe in them, which then gives them an air of
particular credibility.
/614 UFOs..have become a 'living myth'. We have here a golden
opportunity of seeing how a legend is formed, and how in a
difficult and dark time for humanity a miraculous tale grows up of
an attempted intervention by extra terrestrial "heavenly" powers,
and this at the very time when human fantasy is seriously
considering the possibility of space travel... We at least are
concious of our space conquering aspirations, but that a
corresponding extra terrestrial tendency exists is a purely
mythological conjecture, i.e., a projection.\
/622. If the round shining objects that appear in the sky be
regarded as visions, we can hardly avoid interpreting them as
archetypal images. They would then be involuntary, automatic
projections based on istinct, and as little as any other psychic
manifestations or symptoms can they be dismissed as meaningless.
Anyone with the requisite historical and psychological knowledge
knows that circular symbols have played an improtant role in
every age.. There is an old saying that "God is a circle whose
centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere."\
/623. The present world situation is calculated as never before to
arouse expectations of a redeeming, supernatural event. If these
expectations have not dared to show themselves in the open, this
is simply because no one is deeply rooted enough in the tradition
of earlier centuries to consider an intervention from heaven as a
matter of course. We have indeed strayed far from the metaphysical
certainties of the Middle Ages, but not so far that our historical
and psychological background is empty of all metaphysical hope.\
/625. Nuclear physics has begotten in the laymans head an
uncertainty of judgment that far esxceeds that of the physicists
and makes things appear possible which but a short while ago would
have been declared nonsensical. Consequently the UFOs can easily
be regarded and believed in as a physicists miracle.\
In part 2, a major portion of the book, Jungs examines dreams
that involve UFOs and then comments on their particular 'meaning',
too lengthy to repeat here. Some points he makes are;
/636. It must be emphasized however that there is also the
possibility of a natural or absolute knowledge, when the
unconcious psyche coincides with objective facts. This is a
problem that has been raised by the discoveries of parapsychology.
Absolute knowledge occurs not only in telepathy and precognition,
but also in biology, for instance in the attunement of the virus
of hydrophobia to the anatomy of dog and man as described by
Portmann, the wasps apparent knowledge of where the motor ganglia
are located in the caterpillar that is to nourish the wasps
progeny, the emission of light by certain fishes and insects with
almost 100% efficiency, the directional sense of carrier pigeons,
the warning of earthquakes given by chickens and cats, and the
amazing cooperation given in symbiotic relationships.\
(I could not help to think of the the recent Lear.txt when I
read the following paragraph)
/648. Today, as never before, men pay an extraordinary amount of
attention to the skies, for technological reasons. This is
especially true of the airman, whose field of vision is occupied
on the one hand by the complicated control apparatus before him,
and on the other by the empty vastness of cosmic space. His
consciousness is concentrated one sidedly on details requiring the
most careful observation, while at his back, so to speak, his
unconcious strives to fill the illimitable emptiness of space. His
training and his common sense both preclude him from observing all
the things that might rise up from within and become visible in
order to compensate for the emptiness and solitude of flight high
above the earth. Such a situation provides the ideal conditions
for spontaneous psychic phenomena, as everyone knows who has lived
sufficiently long in the solitude, silence and emptiness of
deserts, seas, mountains or in primeval forests. Rationalism and
boredom are essentially products of the over induged craving for
stimulation so characteristic of urban populations. The city
dweller seeks artificial sensations to escape his boredom; the
hermit does not seek them, but is plagued by them against his
will.\ He continues by discussing how isolation, hunger, etc. can
cause visions, hallucinations, in all men.
/655. .. Either these are hard and fast facts, or else it is
nothing but illusion begotten by repressed sexuality or an over
compensated inferiourity complex. As against this I haved urged
that the psyche be recognized as having its own peculiar
reality... Whatever the reality of the psyche may be, it seems to
coincide with the reality of life and at the same time to have a
connection with the formal laws governing the inorganic world. For
the psyche has yet another property which most of us would rather
not admit, namely, that pecuiar factor which relativizes space and
time, and is now the object of intensive parapsychological
research.\
/667. Everything in our experience is subject to the law of
gravity with one great exception:the psyche, which, as we
experience it, is weightlessness itself.\
/678. Modern man still does not realize that he is entirely
dependent on the cooperation of the unconscious, which can
actually cut short the very next sentence he proposes to speak. He
is unaware that he is continuously sustained by something, while
all the time he regards himself exclusively as the doer.\ He then
discusses the unconcious eloquently.
/681. The only certain thing is our profound ignorance, which
cannot even know whether we have come nearer to the solution of
the great riddle or not. Nothing can carry us beyond an "It seems
as if" except the perilous leap of faith, which we must leave to
those who are gifted or graced for it.\
In one dream a male is confronted by a female EBE and Jung
discusses the neccesity of realizing the anima in order to achieve
full realization of the self. A tally of those reporting contact
with EBE's to see how many have encountered those of the opposite
sex would be of interest as Jung relates the anima-animus
realization is a difficult one, as compared to other aspects to
it. (Although there could be other reasons for the sex
encountered.) After again discussing the stressfull, destructive
age in which we live, he says /719. Anxiously we look round for
collective measures, thereby reinforcing the very mass mindedness
we want to fight against. There is only one remedy for the
levelling effect of all collective measures, and that is to
emphasize and increase the value of the individual. A fundamental
change of attitude is required, a real recognition of the whole
man. This can only be the business of the individual and it must
begin with the individual in order to be real.. Large political
and social organizations must not be ends in themselves, but
merely temporary expedients. Just as it was felt neccessary in
America to break up the great trusts, so the destruction of huge
organizations will eventually prove to be a necessity because,
like a cancerous growth, they eat away mans nature as soon as
they become ends in themselves and attain autonomy.\
He talks about attaining individuation and the experiences which
make it difficult. /721. There is another reason why such
experiences \(those found while attempting individuation)/are
shunned, indeed feared as pathological, and why the very idea of
the unconscious and any preoccupation with it is unwelcome. It was
not so long ago that we were living in a primitive state of mind
with its "perils of the soul"-loss of soul, states of possession,
etc., which threatened the unity of the personality, that is the
ego these dangers are still a long way from having been overcome
in our civilized society. Though they no longer afflict the
individual to the same degree, this is certainly not true of
social or national groups on a large scale, as contemporary
history shows only too clearly. They are psychic epidemics that
destroy the individual.\ Perhaps this is the reason why talking
about UFO's to the average person is looked upon as "whacko".
/722. To the constantly reiterated question "What can I do ?" I
know no other answer except "Become what you have always been,",
namely, the wholeness which we have lost in the midst of our
civilized, conscious existence, a wholeness which we always were
without knowing it... "What on earth can I do in the present
threatening world situation, with my feeble powers?"... To
worship collective ideals and work with the big organizations is
spectacularly meritorious, but they nevertheless dig the grave for
the individual. A group is always of less value than the average
run of its members, and when the group consists in the main of
shirkers and good for nothings, what then? Then the ideals it
preaches count for nothing too. Also, the right means in the hands
of the wrong man work the wrong way, as a Chinese proverb informs
us.\
In part 3 titled UFOs and Modern painting Jung discusses the
image of the UFO as a product of the unconcious brought to light
with several (unknown) paintings, again stressing the similarity
of the UFO and the mandala. Referring to the hypothesis that UFOs
are psychic projections of the unconcious, in order to compensate
for a lacking in the concious mind, he answers the question
" What is the use of them if we dont understand them? "
/732. The language of the unconcious does not have the
intentional clarity of concious language; it is a condensation of
numerous data, many of them subliminal, whose connection with
conscious contents is not known. These data do not take the form
of a directed judgement, but follow an instinctinve, archaic,
"pattern" which, because of its mythological character, is not
recognized by the reasoning mind. The reaction of the uncouncious
is a natural phenomenon that is not concerned to benefit or guide
the personal human being, but is regulated exclusively by the
demands of psychic equilibrium.\
In summary Jung relates his findings are based on /771...not the
product of unbridled fantasy, as is often supposed, but ..
on thorough researchs into the history of symbols.\ and says he
spared us with the details (symbols are a major part of his work,
found in other text). He explains with an example of the concept
of numbers and how they can be considered "discovered" and there-
fore Godlike, or invented by man, as an instrument for counting.
Part 4 is a summary of the history of UFO phenomenon which
discusses the Basel Broadsheet, 1566, the Nuremburg Broadsheet,
1561, and a couple of other old prints depicting UFO type objects,
though his thoughts continue in the same vain, that they are
concious representations of the individual or collective
unconcious
Part 5, UFOs considered in a non-psychological light, sums
what he has said up to this point, although I dont see where he
treats them as other than psychological. I interpret it as UFOs
are psychic projections, and just because they are a product
of our collective unconcious does not mean they can't show up on
a radar screen.
In the epilogue he relates the particulars of an EBE contact as
published by Orfeo M. Angelucci, "The Secret of the Saucers"
(1955), and Orfeo's story to shreds of a first year psychology
analysis paper, picking out almost everything he reports and
showing what psychological hypothesis it represents. He then
prints the letter he wrote to the APRO bulletin in July 1958, and
discusses the controversy that followed (they reported that he
believed in UFOs, to which he objected. It is not as simple as
believing or not.) He also answers a couple of questions from
the publisher of the APRO magazine and discusses ball lightning.
The book ends with a copy of a letter to Donald Keyhoe on his
views.
I consider this book an excellent addition to my library and
might consider it to be more on the right track than anything else
I have read on the subject, although it was written 30 years ago.
Even if all of what he conjectures about the stuff UFOs are made
of is wrong, there is still a wealth of material for individuation
on every page. Quantum physics says you cant measure it unless
your a part of it. Abductions, implants, deals with the
government, maybe these are all real to the people who see and
experience them, and maybe if they are real to them, they are real
to all of us. I think we would be remiss if the answer to the UFO
phenomenon was written 30 years ago and we have not taken the
time to delve deeper into considering this aspect of the
explaination. It seems to be a real answer to a real phenomenon,
and as one who thinks he saw a flying disc, I would be most
interested in knowing not quite what it was, but why a few friends
and I saw it, I'm not about to dismiss the possibility that
"it was all in our minds".
Thomas Rhone
May, 1988