Jenny Randles - UFO Study: A Handbook for Enthusiasts

You are interested in UFOs. Presumably this simple fact must be true, otherwiseyou would not be reading this. Of course, you are by no means alone in thisinterest. The subject has captured the imagination of millions from almost everypart of the world.

UFOLOGY is the name that we give to the study of UFOs, in one form or another.There are numerous UFOLOGISTS active in Britain today, with many thousandsscattered throughout the globe. Some are scientists; physicists, mathematicians,psychologists and others - each looking at the particular aspect of the subjectthat especially fascinates them. The majority, however, are ordinary people - menandwomenwithanamazingrangeofoccupations.Therearepostmenandpolicemen; there are plumbers and airline pilots; there have even been severallords! Anyone is qualified to study UFOs. These are the people who are helping topush forward the frontiers of our knowledge. They are the pioneers for ufology isstill in its infancy. In the study of UFOs the man in the street stands level with thePh.D. Everyone remains an amateur in an unknown field and, although there arethose whose understanding inevitably surpasses that of others, there are really noexperts.

Nobody knows for sure, as yet, what UFOs are. So this is the subject into whichyou are feeling your way. You may have been interested for many years and need aguideline to develop your studies. Whoever you are, and whatever your viewpoints,you could - in time - provide a real breakthrough. You could be the one who, likeArchimedes, will jump up and run around shouting eureka (although not, I hope,like him, in the nude!). This is the great excitement of UFO study, becausealthough we make slow and steady progress nobody knows where the next insightwill come from. Before we start to look at some reasons why you might wish tostudy UFOs it would be wise to set down just what it is we are talking about. Nodoubt you have a fair idea of what you would call a UFO, based upon what you haveread about in various media, or seen on television. Yet we are endeavoring to makeufology a scientific pursuit, and to do this we need definitions.

So let us think in terms of a UFO as:

A stimulus, visual or otherwise, that provides the percipient with informationabout an unidentified phenomenon that appears to him to be in, or originatefrom, the atmosphere or beyond.

You might think that this is a long-winded way of stating the obvious, but in fact thisdefinition is fairly specific and precise and concerns what I feel you should regardas a UFO.
A visual stimulus is, literally, something seen - but this term does not imply that areal, physical object was there. All that it does mean is that the brain cells responsibleregistered the presence of a stimulus on the optical circuits. This, then, can coverdreams and hallucinations, and whilst I am not claiming that all - or at this stage evenany - UFO sightings are so related, our definition needs to cover such a possibility.The percipient is simply the person who perceives the phenomenon.

Terminology is, as you will see, important in the UFO world. You will find a moredetailed consideration of some of these problems later in this work.

This proposed definition of a UFO gives us a clearer idea of the range of the problem.One witness may not be able to identify an event that to another is perfectlyexplicable. Again, the percipient might interpret the object he sees (on the ground orin the sky) as originating from beyond the atmosphere without fully objective reasonsfor such a conclusion. Also, of course, we have seen that our definition includesdream-like events. It is apparent therefore, that there is no clear-cut division betweenwhat ufologists are called upon to deal with and what they are not. There are avariety of combinations - all of which could be regarded, for our present purposes, asa UFO.

I think it should already be clear that ufology is not an easy subject with which tocome to terms. However, it is a challenge that is open to anyone. Some common senseand perseverance are required in order to understand the many related problems thatintertwine to create ufology. Whilst you can gain some understanding by readingbooks and magazines - and we provide a list of significant UFO books on page 137 the only way really to get to grips with the mystery is to confront it head on. One mustbecome involved and gain experience, learning from successes and mistakes.

The main aim of this book is to act as your guide on this voyage of discovery. It willintroduce you to the basic problems, and set you thinking along the correct lines. It willalso provide suggestions as to how you can teach yourself ufology. However, it is notonly for the beginner. There is a lot here that will be of relevance even to the seasonedufologist.

Your interest in UFOs may well have been fired simply by reading about them. On theother hand, it may have been stimulated by a personal experience, for to be confrontedwith something that logic tells you does not exist is certainly a challenge to the humanspirit. Of course it may be that you have a wide-ranging interest in strange phenomena ofone kind or another. Books about historical mysteries, anomalous animal sightings,ghosts and other such bizarre mysteries may be consumed avidly. This is by no means abad thing, because there does seem to be an undeniable, but still unraveled, thread thatjoins some of these unexplained enigmas together.

Whatever the reasons why you become involved, there are really four basic motivationsfor taking up UFO study seriously. These can be summarized as follows:

1) PURE INTEREST
Mysteries may tantalize your curiosity. You might itch inside to puzzle over and solvethem. In this case ufology offers considerable scope because it is indeed a bafflingmystery. These strange things have been reported for a long time and there seems to beevery possibility that they are of some importance - although the answer (or answers)might lie in several different directions. Whatever the case, a deeper understanding of themechanics of UFO study will, I believe, serve to make you even more curious.

This book will help you gain a deeper understanding by looking at the various aspects ofthe subject and some of the controversies involved. It will also offer you pathways tofollow to take you higher up the mountain. Even if you are not particularly interested indoing anything other than learn more about the subject, you should find the chaptersregarding direct involvement of value. They will add further links in the complex chainof understanding, and indeed you cannot possibly learn all there is to know without abasic appreciation of the methods and problems of the investigator or researcher.

2) UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE
It is the opinion of many people that an understanding of the nature of the UFOphenomenon will teach them a great deal about life. They think this for several reasons. Itcould be that they place a religious interpretation on the events described by thewitnesses. There may be some justification for this viewpoint. There is also more than asmall possibility that part of the answer to the questions posed lies in certain hiddenfacets of human potential. It is believed that these facets, when understood, will make adeep impression upon an individual's conception of the universe and its workings, or onthe very essence of human life itself.

Whilst I would stress that it may prove to be that UFOs do not really tell us very much, ifanything, about such fundamental issues it does seem likely - on the basis of presentevidence - that some insight into at least one of them will be gained. Even so, there is akind of `spin-off ' benefit. An understanding of the UFO phenomenon, particularly thoseaspects involved on the investigation side, teaches a considerable amount about humanpsychology, perception and motivation. Indeed, there are some people who feel that thesefactors alone justify an interest in the subject.