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JOURNAL OF POSSIBLE PARADIGMS
Issue 3, Summer '95
reviewed by S. Miles Lewis
With this book Little has completed a sort of trilogy detailing the mechanisms of manifestation behind UFOs, angels, demons, and other apparitions. Far from debunking these encounters as simply hallucinations of the mind’s eye, Little proposes that the witnesses often interact with physically real entities whose origin lies in Carl Jung’s conception of the archetypes within humanity's collective unconscious. This is the kind of hypothesis which typically infuriates American UFOlogists because it undermines their hope and expectation for an extraterrestrial origin. But Little goes a long way to show he is not a psychological debunker by detailing his thorough investigations of specific Fortean cases. From apparent falls of worms from the sky to the “mysterious” disappearance of the Mississippi’s Iron Mountain tugboat. He points out the shortcomings of purported government documents like the Majestic-12 papers and their researchers.
In Little’s first book, The Archetype Experience, he brilliantly and succinctly illustrated how Jung (in Dr. Little's paradigm at least) conceived of archetypes as physical entities of psychic energy which have interacted with humanity for centuries. He also showed how the bulk of UFO reports, the 95% haystack, are intimately linked to Jung’s concept of synchronicity which arose from his ideas about archetypes.
In People of the Web, Dr. Little extended his hypothesis into the realms of Native American studies. He examined stone circles, Indian mounds, and the ancient rituals that are linked to these sites. He presented a rich tapestry of Amerindian experience exemplified by the annual Massaum ceremony. It was during this 56 day ceremony that the Indians called down and communed with their gods.
With Grand Illusions, his third and most recent UFO book, Dr. Little has rounded out his theory, which could be called the “GeoPhysical Manifestation of Jungian Archetypes.” In his first book he briefly mentioned the geophysical theories put forth by Dr. Michael Persinger and he has continued to reference Persinger's ongoing psychotronics research. Yet Dr. Little has strangely avoided any mention of British research into the Earth Lights Hypothesis.
Little presents a sober hypothesis integrating earth energies, brain chemistry, fairy lore, Jungian psychology, and journalist John Keel's ideas of UFOs as ultraterrestrial shape shifting entities of energy.
He details several American flap areas including the notorious Gulf Breeze hot zone. He astutely suggest that it is the perfect stage for a sociological experiment in civilian reaction to UFOs. A telling proposition considering that areas history of psychotronics/navy communications research. Particularly in light of Vallee's revelation of similarly proposed experiments suggested by the now infamous Battelle University memo he cites in his last book Forbidden Science.
Again Little provides much food for thought in his analysis of the near death experience as it relates to UFOs and the NDE Osiris cults of Egypt. He links the use of the pyramid to out-of-body-experiences induced by the cults' priests as a rite of passage to the Great Pyramid's alignments with Orion.
My only "gripes" about this book are these:
-Firstly, Little holds to John Keel’s humorous explanation of the Roswell debris as the remains of a Japanese Fugo balloon. While I admit to having no clue as to the “true” nature of the wreckage I feel safe in keeping the fugo explanation far down on the list of probabilities.
-Little is a big fan of Keel’s and references much of Keel's works. Yet when it comes to explaining possible links between unmarked helicopters and the modern UFO myth he writes it off as pure coincidence. It was Keel who proposed that certain phantom aircraft were direct manifestations of the UFO phenomena within his book UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse. And Dennis Stillings has utilized a Jungian perspective in his fantastic articles detailing the powerful symbolism of the helicopter in connection to UFO events.
-Lastly, Greg Little dismisses cattle mutilations as simple misidentification of predator attacks and satanic rituals. While I am convinced by some of his arguments (specifically the documentary/experiment where a surveillance camera caught natural predators "creating" a carcass identical to the typical cattle mute within a 24 hour period) I must wonder why an immanent scientist like Jacques Vallee would spend his valuable time on such misidentifications. And what about pre-modern era accounts of mutilations in connection with paranormal manifestations? Are we dealing with living folklore here as well? Thomas Bearden and Dennis Stillings both wrote fantastic articles about the inherent symbolism of these mutilations and the fear generated within our collective consciousness by these terrors. [see The Anomalist #2 ] I still think the possibility remains that some agency could be perpetrating at least some of these horrific mutilations in order to scare ranchers off their land and out of business, perhaps as part of an AgricCorporate Conspiracy or as an attempt by the government to "discredit the ufo phenomena, instilling doubt as to the beneficence of the aliens."
Despite these remarks I highly recommend Dr. Little’s latest book. He is a fine researcher who will open many people’s minds to the incredible possibilities that are evident within these strange phenomena.
The book is replete with fancifully shocking artwork by John Michael McCarthy as well as photographs and diagrams that help capture the subject matter detailed within Dr. Little's well written text.
Greg Little can be contacted through the fabulous magazine:
