Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky (Amazon.com)
Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of the Things Seen in the Sky (Amazon.co.uk)
This is by no means a book that will entertain everyone, especially those
who are partial to a sweet slice of the extraterrestrial hypothesis,
i.e. that UFOs are most definitely craft from other worlds. Jung
attacks the phenomenon from (obviously enough) a sceptical and
psychological angle, with an emphasis on the *psychic* aspect,
and correctly predicts how ‘ufology’ was to spawn a plethora of
quasi-religious cults.
Rather that immediately treating UFOs as external phenomena,
‘visionary rumours’, presented to the conscious mind, he spends much
of the book comparing them to phenomena known to come from the
unconscious – dreams. He spends much of the *rest* of the essay
interpreting the artwork of various artists, and their use of disc
like objects, and unconscious ‘fourth dimension’ references within
their artworks. It is at this point that I began feeling a smidgen
irritated, and wondered whether or not Jung was tried to milk too
much from too little evidence.
The author appears quite sure of his findings, but from a cautious
fortean perspective Jungian theories would appear to be no more than
important *models* for examining the UFO phenomenon. However, this
can be said about the proponent of any theory, and shouldn’t really
be regarded as a criticism, but rather something worth bearing in
mind.
So, whilst not a comprehensive bible of psycho-social ufology,
‘Flying Saucers’ is indeed an inexpensive and indispensable jigsaw
puzzle piece, and it’s addition to the library of anyone with a
serious interest in the field is certainly recommended.
– daev
