Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
New Visions
The Connection Between Ghosts, UFOs and God

The Connection Between Ghosts, UFOs and God

Last updated on: August 17, 2017 at 2:41 pm by Tom Rapsas

The Connection Between Ghosts, UFOs and God 2017-08-17T14:41:44-06:00 Tom Rapsas

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Steinar Engeland via unsplash.com

Here’s an interesting fact: People who are not religious are twice as likely to believe in ghosts and UFOs as those who are religious. It seems that the less religious people are, the more likely they are to endorse ideas about hauntings, UFOs, intelligent aliens monitoring our lives and assorted government conspiracies.

These facts come from a new research study by Pew Research and Clay Routledge, a professor of psychology at North Dakota State University. But perhaps most interesting are the conclusions the professor and his colleagues make about how this relates to our search for meaning. Routledge writes:

The less religious the participants were, the less they perceived their lives as meaningful. This lack of meaning (resulted in) a desire to find meaning, which in turn was associated with belief in UFOs and alien visitors.

There’s just one problem with this. Routledge says that belief in ghosts and UFOS are poor substitutes for religion. While we all need something to believe in, a way to organize and understand the world around us, the researcher points out belief in the paranormal is “not part of a well-established social and institutional support system.” It also “lacks a deeper and historically rich philosophy of meaning.”

There was a time human beings used mythology to make sense of the world.

In The Super Natural, a book about UFOs and alien encounters, Jeffrey J. Kripal writes that “the human species is a mythmaking species. Just as birds instinctively build nests and bees build hives, we “make worlds”, mythical universes to live in. We have no choice. Human beings need meaning, which is to say story, in order to live, much as they need food and air. No human community can live without meaning.”

This need for meaning goes back to the advent of man, when myth was used to explain the world. Just like we never lost the “fight or flight” response, which dates back to prehistoric man fleeing from threats in the wild, we may still possess the need for archetypes, primitive mental images that inhabit our psyche. The renowned psychologist Carl Jung believed we inherited theses archetypes from our earliest human ancestors and that they’re present in the collective unconscious.

To that end, Jung believed that UFOs were in fact “archetypal images” and “involuntary automatic projections.” He wrote that: “UFOs could easily be conceived as “gods.” They are impressive manifestations of totality whose simple, round form portrays the archetype of the self.” When we lose touch with our innermost being, these archetypes make themselves known.

Think UFOs are a thing of the past? There are sightings all the time, but most are not reported—and if they are, don’t get much more than a cursory write-up in local newspapers. Check out this compilation of sightings from a single-day this past month, as reported across North America, (courtesy the Syracuse New Times):

July 14, 2017: At 1:30 a.m. a motorist in Pinon Hills, Calif., observed in the southwest sky a bright blue object moving west.
July 14, 2017: At 4:30 a.m. a resident of Chandler, Ariz., three bright objects “swooping” over a rural field.
July 14, 2017: At 12:14 p.m. a resident of Kingston, Ontario, reported a large S-shaped object spinning over a field before it took to the sky at great speed.
July 14, 2017: At 8:39 p.m. a resident of Midland, Mich., was taking pictures of storm clouds. Upon reviewing the photos he discovered a large rectangular UFO in one of his photos.
July 14, 2017: At 9:40 p.m. several residents of Alexandria, Va., observed seven bright, blinking lights, silently crossing sky above them in a single-file formation.
July 14, 2017: At 10 p.m. a resident of Erie, Pa., witnessed a hovering neon green circular light. He reports that it seemed to be motionless and low to the ground.

The primary function of myth is to move beyond the surface and penetrate our inmost core, laying bare our human nature. Mankind cannot part ways with myth. He can distance himself from organized religion, but not spirituality and myth.

The passage above is from Benjamin Riggs and his book Finding God in the Body. If we go along with the idea that we truly need spirituality and myth in our lives, could it be that UFO sightings occur when we have lost the connection to our spiritual nature, when we put our faith in technology and the modern world over our faith in God?

Riggs believes that simply studying myths is a form of spiritual practice. Perhaps it is a way to engage our innermost selves, a way to help us explore the mysteries of the universe and our place in it. The great American mythologist Joseph Campbell believed that myth served several functions within society. This included “awakening a sense of awe before the mystery of being.” In Campbell’s words:

Mythology is not a lie, mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. It has been well said that mythology is the penultimate truth–penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words. It is beyond words. Beyond images, beyond that bounding rim of the Buddhist Wheel of Becoming. Mythology pitches the mind beyond that rim, to what can be known but not told.

Previous Post

July 27, 2017

Sage Advice From the 14th Dalai Lama: Don’t Be a Jerk

Next Post

August 10, 2017 The Lazy Person’s Guide to Mindfulness.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 50+ Spirituality 60 Second Inspiration Activism Adversity Afterlife agape aging Aliens Angels Angels and aliens anger animism Astrology Atheists Attention Attitude Authenticity Awareness Awe Ayahuasca Balance Beginnings Being Present Belief Bhagavad Gita Bible birth of Jesus Blessings Bliss Bono Breathing Buddha Buddhism Calling cats Centered Centering Prayer Chakras Change Character Character and Aging Christ consciousness Christianity Christmas Church Civility commencement speeches commitments compassion Connecting with God Consciousness Contemplation Contemplative Prayer Contentment Conversations with God Coping Coping mechanisms Corinthians Coronavirus Covid creativity Daily practice Dalai Lama David Brooks David Frenette Death Deathbed visions Decisions determinism Discernment disconnecting Donald Shimoda Dreaming of the Dead dreams Drinking Easter Eastern religion Eckhart Tolle ego Elders Emerson Engagement Enlightenment everyday magic Evil Spirits Expectations experience Faith fate Fatima Fear Feel Finding God Fitness Fulfillment Gandhi Gary Zukav Generosity Giving Gnostic gospels Gnostics God God's will Golden Rule Good & Evil Gospel of Thomas Gospels Grace Gratitude Grief Growing Older Guardian Angels gumption Gurus Halloween Happiness health health and happiness Heaven Helping others High Strangeness Hinduism Holiday Season honesty Honor Hope Humility impostor syndrome inner music Inner Work Insights insomnia Inspiration Inspirational intuition Investing Jeff Bridges Jesus Jesus Christ John Templeton joy joy of life Justin Bieber Kaballah Kabbalah Karma Kindness koans Law of Attraction Life Life after Death Life and death Life Balance Life Hacks Life Lessons Life Path Life Philosophy Life Plan life purpose Life Rules Life Tips Life's Big Questions Lindsay Lohan Listening Living Intentionally Loneliness Love Magic Mark Twain Marriage Meaning of Life Meditation mentor Mentors Mid-Life Crisis Mindful Mindfulness Money Monks Multiverse Mysterious World mystical experience Mysticism Mystics Mythology Napoleon Hill Near Death Experience (NDE) New Thought New Year New Year's resolutions Noise Oprah out-of-body experience Parables Peace of mind philosophy Plant Intelligence Pope Francis Positive Thinking Prayer prayers for the spiritual Preachers Premonitions presence Prophecies Prophecy Prophets Psalms Purpose Purpose of Life quietude Quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Trine Reconnect Recovery reincarnation Relaxation Religion resolutions Resurrection Ritual Rituals Rules to Live By sadness Sam Harris Sandy Second Act Seeking self Self Mastery self-help self-improvement Seneca sermon sex shamans Sickness Silence Silence of God sleep small voice Smiling Social Activism solitude Soul Soul and Spirit Soul Awakening Spiritual Awakening spiritual beliefs spiritual guidance spiritual journey spiritual living spiritual path Spiritual philosophy Spiritual Practice Spirituality Spirituality and work Spooky Spirituality Stillness stoicism stoics Storytelling Stress Relief Success Suffering Suicide Surrender tao Thanks Thanksgiving the afterlife the bardo the Bible the Blues The Election the Kingdom the secret the self The Soul Thomas Keating Thomas Merton Thomas Moore Time Tony Robbins tradition UFOs Uncategorized Universe Values visualization Voice of God Wake Up Call Wake Up Call book Walls Walt Whitman Well-being Winter Blues Wisdom words to live by Work work/life balance worry Yogananda Zen

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 July 2012 April 2012 March 2012 January 2012 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 December 2009 November 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who asked Jesus, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

Select your answer to see how you score.

John Philip Peter Thomas

Books by This Author Books by Wake Up Call

See All Titles »