Cisparac

A Paranormal Oasis in Cyberspace

by

John W. Ratcliff

The ENCOUNTERS forum on Compuserve is a moderated forum for the
discussion of paranormal phenomena. This forum provides a place to
discuss the paranormal, free from the rancor and shrill personal attacks found elsewhere. We have no particular interest in 'proving' anything to anyone not expressing an interest in the paranormal. Rather, our primary goal is to provide a platform for the free and open exchange of experiences and ideals.

However, and this is important, we have found that discussing issues of things deemed 'paranormal' is very complex. For many it is enmeshed in issues of faith, and/or religious belief. Unsuprisingly not everyone in the world is a scientist, and many approach these subjects without the scientific rationalists point of view. Moreover, most of the
phenomena we discuss provides virtually no data other than human
experience, leaving little left for the physical sciences to digest.

We have found the single most important challenge for non-experiencers to come to grips with these phenomena is to take the time to do some serious study. Paranormal phenomena is multifaceted, embedded in issues of human consciousness, and completely challenges our notions of the deep structure of reality itself. For example, if you consider yourself a hard physical scientist who is looking for nuts & bolts proof of alien spacecraft, it's doubtful you will find much data to support that
hypothesis.

It's important to remember that no person knows what UFOs are. No
person
understands the limits of human experience or the true structure of an assumed out-there (Etic) deep reality. All that any person needs to start an intellectual quest is an admission that we do not have all of the answers.

Exploring the unknown is a fascinating hobby, however, unless you are prone to having paranormal experiences yourself, it is highly
questionable how much any of these classes of phenomena will be
important to you. Only a deep seated curiosity to search for mystery in the universe, and question our place within it, should be the primary driving force in the open exploration of ideals in the forum.

One important thing to be aware of is that what we have been calling
'paranormal' is not necessarily so. These phenomena do not fit into the Newtonian view of the world, a mechanistic point of view adopted by the western rationalist paradigm with great success over the last few
hundred years. Still these items deemed 'paranormal' might have a place in the view of a universe now being shaped by a deeper understanding of the implications of quantum mechanics. This new point of view has been called the 'New Physics' and it is an amazing intellectual exercise.
An attempt to grasp the implications of Bell's Theorum and what it
'means'
to belong in a non-local universe.

In addition to this we face the flaw of the western rationalist point of view which has no place for human experience. If someone say, perhaps, sees a 'ghost'. We cannot prove, nor disprove this. But it is an
EXPERIENCE which they have had. We are capable of stating with some certainty, after gathering a lot of data, that people are capable of having the EXPERIENCE of seeing a ghost. People are capable of having the EXPERIENCE of being 'abducted by aliens'. Trying to figure out what this experience might mean is a fascinating endeavor.

To come to grips with these classes of phenomena is going to require that you do a minimum amount of reading and research. You cannot take the position to not read UFO books "because they are UFO books."
There's no way you can make an informed assesment without looking at the data. There is excellent material available, written by very competent scientists who have studied these phenomena for decades.

There are also books which take the standpoint of 'proving' the UFO phenomena
"does not exist." The problem with these books is they claim to have
'found the answer' when no legitimate scientist has yet done so. These types of books generally commit huge errors of omission by concentrating on known hoaxes, false conclusions, and kooks and delusionaries in the field (of which there are plenty). The problem is this gets us no
closer
to an understanding of the legitimate phenomena.

In a moderated forum like Encounters, we set out certain guidelines that we have found conducive to the productive discussion of these issues.
Guidlines which allow for a disparity of opinions and beliefs while staying free from the divisive rhetoric which shuts down the flow of information in other areas of cyberspace.

These guidelines could be summarily stated as follows:

1. No personal attacks allowed. Argue ideals but do not attempt to
conduct character assasination. If you think someone is nuts, keep
that opinion to yourself, and stop talking to them.

2. People are allowed to discuss their stories without fear of attack.

3. If someone doesn't wish to engage you in a debate, they don't have to.

4. What someone else believes does not represent an attack on you.

5. People have a right to believe anything they wish, so long as those
beliefs are not expressed as a personal attack on others.

6. In a moderated forum section leaders attempt to keep threads on
track, and will move threads to other sections when appropriate
and change the titles of threads if necessary.

7. An attempt will be made to keep the emotional level down in the
forum while still allowing the absolute widest spectrum of opinion,
conjecture, and wild theory to be expressed. A challenge, no doubt,
but fun nontheless.

We encourage rational debate, but at the same time provide room for every type of belief system imaginable. Afterall, what are we really doing but telling UFO and ghost stories, a time honored tradition in human culture. A pastime that does no harm, and provides endless hours of entertainment.

While most of us try to take a rational and skeptical view on all of these subjects, we are not offended, nor particularily care, if someone harbors a particular belief system that is not supported by logic or a chain of evidence. They have that right afterall, and if they do not wish to back up their claims, they certainly don't have to.

Dogmatic belief or disbelief is totally unwarrented when exploring the
'unknown'. Model agnosticsm, professing neither a belief nor a
disbelief
in any particular model, but instead adopting tentative hypothesis
subject
to change as soon as more evidence is forthecoming works far better.

The Encounters forum is not really a place for those persons who have looked at all of the data, and CONCLUDED, that no legitimate phenomena exists to investigate. In some portion of the population there seems to be a deep felt need and desire to ridicule and attack those who have looked at the same exact data (UFO reports) and concluded some kind of phenomena legitimately exists. (And, more frightening, 'skeptics' who feel a desire to attack those who are in the unfortunate position of actually having seen a UFO, or had some other paranormal experience.)

There are actually organized groups which take offense that a portion of the population might believe in any aspect of the paranormal, even if these people have experienced it personally in their lives. Since, last checked, this is still the United State of America, people not only have a legal right to believe in the paranormal, they have a right to discuss their beliefs, experiences, and ideals with others, free from vicious rhetorical attacks and open character assasination. If, upon looking at all of the availabe data, you have decided there is no phenomena worthy of investigation this is considered a non-interest in the subject.

Still, there remain measurable effects that the interest in the
paranormal has on our society, which make it worthy of study. The study and discussion of the impact paranormal phenomena have on our culture are of direct interest to mythologists, folklorists, socialogists,
theoretical physicists, paranormal researches, ufologists, and
psychologists.

And, then there is a central problem. While it is completely rational for someone who knows little about the subject of UFOs, and moreoever has never had a paranormal experience, to reject these phenomena, that is not the case for the experiencer. About 50% of the members of the Encounters forum are direct experiencers of paranormal phenomena,
including many who have had close encounter experiences with UFOs.

More to the point, if you have, for example, witnessed a disk shaped UFO flying directly over your house, it would be kind of ridiculous for you to not believe they exist. You don't have to read books or study UFO reports, in fact, you already have your proof. You've long since moved past that and are trying to figure out exactly *what* it is that you saw.

That's the main reason the focus of the ENCOUNTERS forum is simply to provide a place where people can talk about experiences, theories, and ideals, free from the rancarous and often shrill personal attacks which have occurred elsewhere.

The ENCOUNTERS forum is affiliated to some degree with the TV show
Encounters, but not dependent on it. If, for example, Encounters would go off the air, the ENCOUNTERS forum continues to run as a resource for the discussion of these phenomena. Additionally, almost none of the members are affiliated with this TV show, and bring their own interest and expertise to the study/discussion of these subjects.

The ENCOUNTERS forum includes the following sections:

1. General Discussions
2. UFO/Alien Contact
3. UFO/Abductions
4. UFO/History/Science
5. Earth Changes/Prophecy
6. Government information/Conspiracy
7. Paranormal Phenomena
8. Near Death Experiences/Out of Body Experiences
9. Past Life Experiences
10. Psychic Energies
11. Ghost/Spirit Communications
12. Angel Encounters
13. Monsters/Myths
14. Hot Topic
15. Mutual UFO Network
16. Skeptics Corner
17. Show/Forum Feedback
23. Support Group

You will notice that the subject matter is widely varied. Now, let's say, for example, that you think the concept of 'Psychic Energies' is a bunch of hooey. The point is not to pop into that section and convince everybody they are 'nuts'. The point is to stay out of that section, and let them talk amongst themselves.

We are fortunate that the Mutual UFO Network runs a section on the
forum.
This is an excellent place to post first person encounter reports.

The Encounters forum has also provided a special section called "Support Group". Regardless of your feelings about the whole alien abduction phenomena, the bottom line is the people claiming these experiences are only slightly less ostracized than practicing witches during the
inquisition.

This is a private section for people who claim to be having the
abduction experience, and are trying to work through these powerful intrusions into their pysche. We feel this is an important service to make available to a group that appears to have been highly stigmatized and traumatized by their experiences and by society. In addition to fear of retribution by family and co-workers (who often assume their experiences indicate severe mental illness) there have been attacks from the Christian right, almost creating a modern inquisition.

If you personally think all of these alien abductees are 'nuts', this is still indication that a support group is an appropriate framework for working through their problems.

In our short time in operation, the Encounters forum has clearly become the
one spot in Cyberspace where direct experiencers of paranormal phenomena can discuss the subject with an amazing degree of openess, and
tolerance.

If you too have an interest in the paranormal, or you are a direct
experiencer trying to figure out what the heck is going on, please drop by any time. We look forward to hearing from you.