Monday, March 4, 2013

ignoring

I spent the last five days at a UFO conference just outside of Phoenix Arizona. During the event there were daily “experiencer” support group meetings. Picture an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with a ring of chairs and people sharing their experiences. The problem was that these hour-long sessions were crowded with upwards of 40 people in attendance. The room was a little bit too small so some people were sitting behind the main circle and others were standing. It did not feel in any way intimate.

All that said, it was helpful to see the faces and hear the stories from the very real people who’ve had these challenging experiences.

At one session a curly-haired woman raised her hand and asked the group, “Has anyone here had any negative experiences?”

I raised my hand and so did the guy next to me (I have talked with him, and he’s shared enough with me that I realize he’s had a lifetime of terrifying involvement with gray aliens). I was sitting just a few chairs away from the curly-haired woman and I watched her look right at us as she scanned the room. Then she commented, “Isn’t that interesting that nobody has had any negative experiences.”

I was kind of shocked that she didn’t acknowledge me and the guy next to me. She had to try hard NOT to see us. I didn’t see anyone else in the room with a raised hand but I suspect we weren’t the only two.

The next morning I attended the follow-up crowded meeting. At one point this same curly-haired woman raised her hand and stated, “Yesterday I asked if anyone had any negative experiences and I thought it was so interesting that nobody raised their hand.”

At that moment I blurted out,
I was in the room and I raised my hand!

I was angry and it must have been easy to hear in my voice. She said she was sorry that she hadn’t seen me. She said it in a way that was a little bit sugary, she might have said something like she hadn’t honored my presence.

As she spoke I was being poked in the back by a complete stranger who was whispering, “Talk - talk...

After the woman finished her statement I raised my hand to reply and the people to my right and left pointed at me in an effort to make sure that the moderator (Barbara Lamb) was aware that I wanted to say something.

It may have been a few minutes later that Barbara called on me. It gave me time to compose my thoughts and come to grips with my anger.

I said something like this, “Look, I have experienced something that was so profoundly terrifying that I am amazed I survived with my sanity intact.” I hinted briefly at my 2010 incident in a tent, I made it very clear that I was with another person who described the exact same crippling terror.

As I spoke to the group I looked at this woman and her eyes were wandering up at the ceiling. She wasn’t looking at me and I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t talk for very long, I wanted to be succinct, but I made it very clear that I wasn't alone in having extremely negative experiences. Let me add that almost all of my memories have been weirdly neutral and void of any emotion, but that thing in the tent was horrifying.

A few people came up after the meeting and thanked me for speaking up.

I came away with a few insights after this curious interaction with the curly-haired woman. First, I feel there are people within the UFO abduction “community” (if you can call it that) that are willfully ignoring things that doesn’t fit their fixed agenda. We probably all do it in subtle ways, but this woman simply must have seen me and the other guy with our hands up. For some reason, whether conscious or unconscious, she ignored us.

The other thing I was forced to look at was my own behavior. I can certainly imagine that I could dismiss someone who’s outlook or comments were too new-agey for my taste. I feel like I have been pretty good at listening and trying to understand the experiences of others, but it really stuck me just how important it is to pay attention to the entirety of the people’s personal stories. Even more so if their experiences challenge something you hold as some sort of belief.

While at this conference I was very aware that I have a funny quirk where I get totally drawn into the experiences that folks will share with me. Empathy is probably the best word to describe me when I listen. All that said, it’s pretty common for me to get dragged way out of my comfort zone with some of the weird stories I'll hearing. Still, I feel strongly that I should really and truly listen, because when you get right down to it, my experiences are feakin’ crazy too.
___________________________________________________

22 comments:

Red Pill Junkie said...

I'm sure many people in that room thanked you for having the courage they lacked, Mike.

For what you describe it seems that the conference's organizers are becoming victims of their own success. If the air of intimacy is lost then I fear many of those folks won't feel comfortable enough to reach out and share their experiences. And that's unfortunate.

PS: You might find this interesting.

http://doubtfulnews.com/2013/03/thoughts-from-the-international-ufo-congress/

Anonymous said...

Mike I don 't mean to hijack your post and thread. I 'm just trying to get important info out and your blog is the one where i first was referred to Dan Mitchell's blog - all of his blogs which are deleted now as he has begun again under a new name with new followers.

This is serious psychic and spiritual stuff. Please people here who followed Mitchell you must read his admissions to what he has done to us. It sounds satanic. His post is on page 8 which linked to, but try to read the whole thread when you have the time.

Beware of this man!

http://www.theoutpostforum.com/tof/showthread.php?892-A-Guy-Sees-Dead-Humans-Transformed-Into-Greys-In-The-First-Postmortem-World/page8

Trish said...

I think David Jacobs classified abductees and "experiencers" into two distinct groups, didn't he? The Positives - like the woman who didn't see your raised hand - and, fo wnat of a better term, the negatives, although I don't know if that was the word Jacobs used. Jacobs and Hopkins both fell on the side called THESE GUYS ARE NOT NICE. Mack fell on the side of the Positives.

Brizdaz (Darren) said...

Re:
" I feel there are people within the “community” (if you can call it that) that are willfully ignoring things that doesn’t fit their fixed agenda."

You can definitely say that again.

Charles Edward Frith said...

You'll enjoy the latest Joe Rogan inrterview of Steven Greer. He claims to have briefed Obama's people on UFOs. Great interview. http://www.mixcloud.com/TheJoeRoganExperience/331-dr-steven-greer-brian-redban/

tinyjunco said...

"The other thing I was forced to look at was my own behavior. I can certainly imagine that I could dismiss someone who’s outlook or comments were too new-agey for my taste."

aw, Mike, it's always the most scrupulous who look deeply into their own hearts, when really they're the last people who need to :) I have heard you 'ignoring' things a couple of times (and i listen to ALL of your podcasts), but honestly you are one of the most dedicated people to really listening to other people's' stories as well as talking to a truly wide range of people with a very wide range of experiences. In fact this quest of yours is one of the things i find most valuable about your blog and podcasts and just inspirational, frankly. Hope i'm not being too gushy, but it's the truth!

as to people not seeing what they can't or won't - it's bad. And it happens among all types of people and groups. I wouldn't be surprised that it's worse among the UFO field for 2 reasons. 1) people hold VERY strong beliefs about this subject. 2) the UFO experience encompasses stridently incongrous phenomena all at once, which makes it all very difficult to hold in ones head at the same time (traces indicating an object of half a ton was present along with ghostly figures and 'nonsense' synchronicities).

I have no idea how to deal with it. But good for you for speaking up and pressing the point! And for all the good stuff i was gushing about above too, steph

Mike Clelland! said...

(thanks all)

The curly-haired-woman is somewhat famous - and a total drag!

peace,
Mike C!

ChristopherDT said...

Hi Mike,

You're a saint in the gentleness with which you try to make your point.

UFO, conspiracy and alternative culture makes itself into a ghetto just as fast as the evening news does. Those cultures aren't unique in that fact. The bar of acceptability is just so much higher and the potential for delusion, deception and untruth are through the roof. It's hard enough for human beings to learn objectively about things that every person can see and touch. When we are talking about something that finds you alone in the night, things that most people have never seen or thought of as real, then there is so much unknown and so much blank canvas that you know that some people are going to bring their own personal projectors to satisfy their own personal and emotional needs. It happens in science, it happens in politics, it happens in religion, it definitely happens with experiences of the anomalous.

To make a real community, based on truth and shared experience, calling out omission and deception is the only way.

PS regarding Mr. Anonymous' link: It's less than useless speculation by people who have demonstrably misinterpreted Dan Mitchell's writing, either out of ignorance or malice. I disagree with Dan on a number of issues, but your attack on his character is deplorable. Assuming that was Dan who posted to that thread he wasn't admitting to unleashing demons on his readers, he was admitting to making them confront their own demons. I am tired of this kind of fear mongering foolishness.

Brizdaz (Darren) said...

That was a great interview Charles.
After I saw your comment here my Belgian friend had the video uploaded at his Dedriodify blog,so I watched it there.
I can't wait to see Steven's movie
"Sirius".

Brizdaz (Darren) said...

Check this story out Mike -

ACTOR Russell Crowe says he's caught a UFO on camera.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/russell-crowe-captures-ufo-on-camera-at-sydneys-botanical-gardens/story-fncaji39-1226591727973

"A friend and I set camera to capture fruit bats rising from Botanic Gardens. This was a big surprise,'' Crowe tweeted today.

Crowe provided a link to the footage, which was posted online late on Tuesday from a brand-new account by the name of ParallelUniverse1234.

Anonymous said...

Regarding the link provided by the first "Anonymous" above (and I am not the same person), I think it would be useful to see some discussion of "Dan Mitchell" and his blog, especially given his repeated disappearances and some of disturbing aspects of his blog(s).

I never read "Luminosity", but did read "Transmissions", and while I didn't understand all he wrote, and never had similar experiences, I did think he was likely correct that the "benevolent space brothers" idea is likely deceptive, or at a minimum only a partial view. Some of his ideas (such as seeing Ungern-Sternberg as some sort of spiritual hero) were beyond bizarre, but then he was writing on things that themselves were beyond bizarre.

At a minimum, he was "inconstant", in that he promised to write about certain things and never did. He also promised that he was going to keep "Transmissions" on line, but then almost immediately took it down, at essentially the same time his soulmate James BraveHeart's blog came down. So while I always suspected he was likely right in his perceptions that the UFO/paranormal phenomenon involves a fair amount of deception and manipulation, I've since begun to wonder if indeed there wasn't some manipulation in his own writings.

Christopher Knowles recently suggested (in commenting on one of his blog entries linked here on "Hidden Experience") that Mitchell was talking like a neo-fascist, as I recall. (Mitchell's blog entry was removed pretty quickly thereafter, as was the link here on "Hidden Experience", and thus Knowles's comment as well.)

So there seems to be a fair amount of cross-readership among Mitchell's blog, this blog, and "The Secret Sun", and I think some of those readers might be interested in sharing views on the ideas that Anonymous linked to above. (By the way, what is Mitchell's new name and who are his "followers"?)

Since Mike has had contact with Mitchell, I would be very interested in his take on the whole issue; I think it deserves attention, and suspect that a number of readers of the blog might have comments.

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike,

So sorry to hear about your experience with this 'curly haired woman.' Why is it difficult for so many people to realize that there is both 'good' AND 'bad' with this phenomenon and just LISTEN to one another as they speak re: their experiences? This shouldn't be about one-upping someone else's experiences, or proving that someone's experience is more credible than someone else's.

But kudos to you, Mike, for speaking up and out! I've a feeling I know who this curly haired woman is; it's a shame she didn't show more empathy toward you. I would have expected more from her.

Anonymous said...

Mike, I'm going to apologize in advance for further hijacking your thread (and I'm sorry you had such a negative experience with the lady who obviously had an agenda. I've had my fair share of run-ins with similar folk.)

"This is serious psychic and spiritual stuff. Please people here who followed Mitchell you must read his admissions to what he has done to us. It sounds satanic. His post is on page 8 which linked to, but try to read the whole thread when you have the time."

I'm going to pipe up in defence here because Dan is a friend of mine. I read that thread. A couple of times & I'm not going to waste my time & peek in again, because it is pretty obvious that his words were misinterpreted entirely. Sometimes when a person, who gets wrapped up in distractions & does not truly see their own appearance, has a mirror held up to them, they do not like what gazes back. He didn't "do anything" to anybody. He basically held up a mirror.

Again apologies for the topic derail, Mike. I hope you are well.

Anonymous said...

http://www.theoutpostforum.com/tof/showthread.php?892-A-Guy-Sees-Dead-Humans-Transformed-Into-Greys-In-The-First-Postmortem-World/page8

Post #76 by "Dan Mitchell" -> " It opened up a door that I had intended to open the moment I began writing three years ago..."I'm glad I opened the door for you...and judging from these awful posts and the hostility behind them, I opened them up quite well. It will only present stronger as the months and years go on."..."I have already begun writing elsewhere for a new audience using different terms with the same purpose in mind, initiation. I have been at this for many years now and under many different names,aliases, and personalities."


So pro-"Mitchell" Anonymous, if that is all cool with you, ethically and morally, he's gotcha but don't even know it. Maybe you are James BaveWolf, who deleted his own blog right after "Mitchell" deleted his; as if the two of you made a pact.

And let's see you defend the murderers and fascists "Mitchell" would admiringly put up on Transmissions. Oh wait, if you are BraveWolf, the blogging lover of "Germania" and inbred European royals, the two of you are no doubt in agreement, above and below.

Anonymous said...

Mike,

I've posted an article on this issue at my blog to keep these ridiculous accusations from going any further. So if people want to address this do it by me and stop hijacking Mike's blog.

Thank you,

Dan Mitchell

Lucretia Heart said...

"To make a real community, based on truth and shared experience, calling out omission and deception is the only way."

HERE HERE!!

I've been in the abduction community and found that support groups can often be less-than-supportive of anyone who doesn't fit the organizer's agenda. And I have lost patience for willful foolishness. I'm tolerant of people on a genuine search, but not for those who revel in ego-fulfilling self-delusions. Because of this, I know I will NEVER be particularly popular with some people, but I'm learning to embrace that about myself.

Someone has to call it out when pursuing lies becomes more of an agenda than truth. No, everyone's beliefs are NOT equally valid! If I ever get the chance to go to a conference you attend, you may just witness me making a few enemies rather quickly! ROFL!!! =^D

Anonymous said...

Mike, I'm so glad you spoke up and that there were some people beside you who were encouraging!

There seems to be alot of judgement coming from the positive experiencers against those of us who've had horrific encounters. I've been told, online, by positive experiencers, after I've shared something, that it's me projecting the negativity, fear, hate and pain onto these ufo occupants who've been in my life since I was a little girl. So, I'm bad and it's all my fault and have completely misunderstood and misinterpreted the 'aliens' actions.

Such judgement from positive experiencers who willfully ignore and/or attacknegative experiences and experiencers can be quite withering on ones spirit.

~ Susan

Lucretia Heart said...

Brownie, you might enjoy my rants from Spiral's End about that whole "positive experiencers" bias:

http://spirals-end.livejournal.com/32207.html

http://spirals-end.livejournal.com/33008.html

http://spirals-end.livejournal.com/35273.html

The heck with being silent and take being abused again by insensitive and self-righteous people!

Anonymous said...

More of Dan Mitchell's increasingly unpleasant rants -

http://wellofhighstrangeness.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/circus-of-grotesque-destruction-of.html

"Unfortunately there are also quite a few masochists (usually homos, lefties, wannabe occultists, gamers, geeks, 30+ year old comic book readers, and other mind numbing mundanes) that are instinctively attracted to this blog for entertainment purposes only. They like getting upset at me when I use words that are not acceptable in their politically correct fantasy world."

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous above -

Everthing that was revealed and suspected about Dan Mitchell in the Mind's Eye section of theoutpostforum.com was on the mark. Dan quickly broke off with James BraveWolf and went on to trash him a couple of times in his earlier posts on his resurrected Luminosity.

I noticed Dan's embracing and reveling in his own racism with his words and these links he has up in his sidebar on Luminosity:
The Decay Of Civilization -
http://thugreport.com/
The Unspoken Genocide -
http://www.thetruthaboutsouthafrica.com/

Dan recently referred to the president as "Obongo", continues to think the Sandy Hook School Massacre was faked and he still believes dead humans are piloting flying saucers. Oh and he's a spirit-filled Born-Again Christian.
Okay then!

Christopher Robin said...

Dan, are you still around online? Hope you're doing well old friend. Please feel free to contact me, it would be good to catch up.

Anonymous said...

James BraveWolf is a fake person probably with a narcissistic personality disorder.