Den

The author claims copyright ownership of the written material on this page.

Me, Himself, and the Other Guy

"I am an abductee because I do not give conscious approval to being taken."

This is Iowa MUFON Assistant State Director and BRIDGES International Abductee Support Group Co-Founder Daryl Stangl’s answer to the question of whether he is an abductee or an experiencer. I agree with this assessment. I, therefore, also agree with what this implies about being an experiencer and put forth these two definitions for this brief essay:

The question now arises, how does one categorize an individual taken by a non-human intelligence with only unconscious or subconscious approval?

First and simplest to explain, an individual taken with unconscious approval is still an abductee. Some examples to possibly illustrate unconscious approval would include mind-controlling technology, hypnosis, and/or drugs facilitating desired behaviors. There is no such thing as unconscious approval. The individual isn’t consenting, the drugs are.

An individual taken with subconscious approval is where things get a little bit tricky. A conscious resistance to going off somewhere with the non-human intelligent beings (forgive me if I simply call them "aliens") is commonly reported by those who are taken. Many times, though, when transported to the otherworldly environs of these beings, the human individual has full and comfortable recall of a long history of willing cooperation with them. Sadly, when returned to their natural environment, the individual forgets most or all of the experience and the dread of aliens remains intact. Is this person an abductee or an experiencer?

The answer, I believe, is not both.

I believe that it is, in fact, closer to the truth that these are two separate personalities that overlap momentarily at the point of abduction.

As an abductee, I shall use myself as an example. There is a me that is part of an ongoing relationship with aliens. They speak with "me," they teach "me," and they keep "me" company. That is not the me who is writing this paper (unfortunately, for me). I am the one who pays his bills, feeds him, and makes sure he has a comfortable bed to be taken from in the middle of the night. All I get is a horrible fear and unpleasant tingling sensation when they show-up. When my body is taken, I am abducted. It is He who gets to experience the wonder of communion with another species. He is the experiencer.

Many times, the abductee in this scenario (stepping out of first person) is only made aware of the experiencer’s otherworldly exploits with the aid of hypnosis. Hypnosis facilitates a convergence of the two personalities’ memories for the benefit of the abductee (and the abductee only). I would imagine, in many cases, the experiencer would prefer the abductee remain oblivious to the abduction altogether, so that the abductee won’t attempt steps to prevent abduction (staying up all night, sleeping in the company of others, setting up a home security system, keeping a bedside weapon, etc.). Admittedly, these security steps seem hardly effective for ultimate prevention, yet, they can likely limit visiting hours (which can dampen the experiencer’s fun).

In a way, I feel jealous. It is as if I am somehow not worthy to experience these things. I live with a freeloader, or worse yet, a parasite personality that uses my body to sustain it for its occasional night out.

Certainly, It isn’t always this complicated. It is possible, I believe, to be a pure abductee, with little or no honest interaction with the aliens. Those who feel that they themselves are experiencers sometimes report that an entire encounter plays out with conscious consent and lasting memory. There is no dichotomy in these two scenarios, but one can and does occur with many individuals.

The best model I can imagine to demonstrate my situation is that of a Russian nesting doll (one of those toys that is a figurine within a figurine within a figurine, etc.) I am the figurine at the core (I have only my day-to-day memories intact), my experiencer personality is on the outside (containing all of the core memories, plus the memories of the other world), and I wonder if there is yet an outside figurine containing us both. This third and outer figurine would be the personality of my eternal soul, the one that lives again and again. It knows the core me, and the experiencer me, and it is possible that not even the experiencer me knows what lurks outside of life as the outer soul figurine does (and I certainly do not).

My theory for the soul figurine (postulating a universal model and stepping again out of first person) lies in the lies that an experiencer often hears during contact. If the experiencer knew what the soul knows, then the aliens wouldn’t dare attempt to lie to such an ancient and wise being, yet they seem to purposefully and successfully misrepresent themselves with regularity to the experiencer.

I don’t know, though. I can go on and on with theories, but maybe you should call me after I go to bed tonight, and if the experiencer me answers the phone (thinking it’s probably his alien buddies), you can ask him.

Goodnight.

top