Understanding, Inc.
FEATURING
"U.F.O.
LOGIC"
by
Dr. Daniel W. Fry, Ph.D.
LIFETIME PRESIDENT OF UNDERSTANDING, INC.,
OF MERLIN, OREGON
OFFERED ON A DONATION BASIS
P.O. BOX 206
MERLIN, OREGON 91532
UNDERSTANDING PRAYER
Almighty
Father, creator of the infinite universe,
creator of all that has ever been and all that
will ever be—
We, Thy
children, have gathered in Thy presence
to receive the truth, the knowledge, the
understanding and the blessings that our
angelic brothers are bringing to us in these
last days of this age.
We ask,
O Father, that Thou will open our
hearts and our minds that Thou will expand
our consciousness and our awareness and
teach us to truly love one another.
That
Thou will bless and protect us daily; that
Thou will open our eyes and our ears to
understanding; that we may speed preparation
for the return of Thy beloved Son and the
glorious fulfillment of the new age now
dawning on the horizon.
May our
understanding steadily increase as the
fulfillment of the promise of everlasting
peace and love descends upon our weary
planet. We ask this in the name of Thy
beloved Son Jesus, who became the Christ.
U. F.O. LOGIC
By DR. DANIEL W. FRY, Ph.D.
(A simple attempt to shed a little of the light of
impartial reason and unbiased logic upon a subject which is seldom approached
with either.)
Almost everything written on the subject of unidentified
flying objects is written by a member of one of two rather distinct groups of
individuals. One group consists of enthusiastic believers who, in their
enthusiasm, are inclined to accept virtually all reported data at its face
value. The opposing group is composed principally of authoritative and somewhat
superior skeptics who look down their noses at a world in which nothing is
actually as it seems.
Each writer writes his book or article from his own
viewpoint, and primarily for the purpose of justifying his own position and
belief. A considerable amount of obvious bias is therefore to be expected, and
is always found in such a work.
If it were possible to obtain a completely unbiased and
unemotional consideration of the subject, with the application of dispassionate
logic to the many questions which arise there from, the result might be of
consider able value in reducing the degree of public confusion brought about by
the continued and usually acrimonious debate between the exponents of the two
extremes.
The positions of the opposing groups are essentially as
follows! The first group believes and attempts to demonstrate that there is
ample evidence to warrant public acceptance of the postulate that the earth is
being observed and/or visited, from time to time by intelligent beings who are
not indigenous to this planet.
If this assumption be true, then obviously the scientific
progress and probably the general progress of such a race would be considerably
beyond the level we have achieved. Their culture could therefore make very
valuable contributions to ours and so we should make every effort to establish
continuing contact with such beings, for the sake of our own welfare and
development, if for no other reason.
Members of the second group usually insist that all of
this is nonsense; that there is no genuine evidence that any intelligent being
has ever visited the earth from any other place; that even if such beings
exist, which is very unlikely, they are certain to be much too far from the
earth
-1-
to have any interest in either observing or visiting this
planet. This group also contends that all reports of U.F.O. observation can, by
proper manipulation, editing, and judicious excision of the reported data, be
adequately explained in terms of earth phenomena.
In any controversy where diametrically opposed views
contend with each other, the truth will usually be found to be about midway
between the two extremes.
It is not the purpose of this article to argue either side
of the controversy, but to examine as impartially as possible some of the many
questions which arise therefrom.
Whenever an unfamiliar object is observed in our skies and
when the nature and performance of the object cannot readily be correlated to
the nature and performance of any known earthly object, the possibility will be
expressed by some that it might be a space ship bringing visitors from some
other planet. The very suggestion will arouse within the egos of many persons,
an almost desperate necessity to deny and refute any such possibility.
Most of us have been born and reared in the smug and
comforting belief that the earthman is the supreme product of the universe as
well as the principal reason for its creation. The mere existence of any
superior race would invalidate this belief and would place us at least one step
below them upon the ladder of evolution. This is a step which the egos of many
persons would never allow their reason to take, no matter how compelling the
evidence. There are others who are able to accept the possibility of the
existence of superior races but who console their egos with the assurance that
these races must necessarily be so far away that there could never be any
likelihood of a meeting between us.
A considerable percentage of modern scientists fall into
this category. Most of our present day astronomers accept the overwhelming
statistical probability of extra-terrestrial life and intelligence. They can accept
this probability with perfect equanimity so long as that life remains in its
own back yard and at least a few light-years away. If, however, any evidence
arises which seems to indicate that some of this intelligence may be observing
us, however briefly, from our own stratosphere, then the situation changes at
once and the evidence must be explained away at any cost to logic and reason.
There is a great deal of truth in the old saying that the
human ego is the greatest single barrier to human understanding!
-2-
Since our own astronauts have begun to penetrate the
fringes of space however, a change is gradually coming about in the thinking of
many people. It has become obvious that the coming generations will be going
out into space in a constantly expanding area of exploration and discovery. If
earthman can do this, it becomes possible to give some consideration to the
suggestion that other races may already have done so.
Consequently, there is now an ever growing group of people
who are able to accept the statistical probability that earthman is not unique
in the universe and that he may be far from being the supreme example of
intelligent life.
When reports are made of objects in the sky which are
difficult to explain in earthly terms, these people instead of ignoring the
report as being too ridiculous for serious consideration, or striving
desperately to create earthly explanations for the reports, simply begin to ask
questions of themselves and of others who may have interest in the subject. The
questions almost invariably follow the same pattern and are asked in much the
same way by all. Most of these questions are incapable of being answered in any
simple or direct way, because the question itself represents an
oversimplification of the problem which creates it. For example, the first
question is usually asked in the following manner:
"If some of these unidentified objects are actually
machines, created and guided by intelligent beings not of this earth; from
whence do they come?"
The manner in which the question is phrased makes it
obvious that the questioner is thinking in terms of a single possible source.
Whereas the general consensus of scientific opinion today is that there are
probably at least a few thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands of
planets in our galaxy alone, which may well support intelligent beings, and
that many of these races may have achieved a level of scientific development
beyond all possibility of our comprehension. There are many evidences of the
almost universal acceptance of this postulate by men of science. One of the
most explicit was a news item carried by the Associated Press on September 13th, 1964. It originated in Pasadena, California, and reads as follows:
"Creatures as intelligent as man may inhabit
thousands of planets in our Milky Way galaxy" a high ranking scientist
said Saturday. "Conditions favorable to life may be far more plentiful
than generally thought possible."
Harrison Brown, California Institute of Technology
Geochemist said, after a study financed by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration:
-3-
"Estimating that there may be hundreds of millions of
planets in the Milky Way, and that many of them are likely to be bathed in life
giving light from their suns," Brown said, "One might conclude that
man is not alone in this galaxy. Searching for evidence of such intelligent
life forms may indeed prove to be profitable and exciting."
Note that the foregoing report is not simply the opinion
of one scientist, it is the result of a rather extensive study of the question
and a survey of the opinion of the scientists of the world.
Thus we see that our reluctant and grudging acceptance of
a single possible source of extra terrestrial life must be expanded to embrace
a galaxy which may teem with life and intelligence in every direction. It is
obvious that the question, from whence do they come?, could be answered only
for specific cases and then only if specific information had been obtained from
the travelers themselves.
The second question is a multiple one, dealing with the
logistics of space travel.
"How can they cross the almost inconceivable
distances between the stars when such a journey would require a number of years
even at the velocity of light? What would they eat and how could they breathe
during this extended period in space? How can they survive the extreme
accelerations which their ships have been reported to undergo?"
These and dozens of other questions of the same sort, all
relate to the fact that the space travelers, if such indeed they be, must
certainly have acquired many abilities which we are unable to duplicate, and in
some cases, even to understand.
The answer to these questions is simply that the
possession of extraordinary abilities would be normal and predictable in any
race which had progressed beyond our state of development, just as our own
scientific abilities are enlarged and extended with each passing year.
It is a generally accepted astronomical fact that our sun
is a relatively young star even in our own galaxy and that its planets
including our little earth are 'Johnny-come latelys' among astronomical bodies.
It would seem therefore to be a statistical certainty that many if not most of
the inhabited planets in this galaxy contain races which have had much longer
periods of development than we and so should be expected to possess many powers
and abilities which we have not yet achieved or perhaps even imagined.
-4-
The third series of questions deal with the actions which
should be expected of newly arrived space visitors. The questions usually begin
as follows:
"If any of these observed objects are actually space
craft created and guided by extra-terrestrial beings, why do they not make
their presence known in some unquestionable manner? For example-why don't they
land on the White House lawn, step out of their space craft and say, `Here we
are, you lucky earth people, we have come to take over your backward planet and
straighten out the terrible mess you've made of things'."
Other people will ask, "Why don't they land at the
Pentagon and seek to establish trade agreements so that commerce might be
established between the two races"?
Still others will point out that if the visitors have
acquired scientific knowledge and abilities that are considerably beyond our
own, they would, in all probability also possess superior weapons which we
could not hope to resist. There would be no need for them to trade with us,
since they could easily take whatever they might need or want.
Instead of attempting to answer all of these questions separately,
we can create a simple analogy to illustrate the position in which the visitor
would find himself. The analogy is easy to understand and should enable every
reader to answer all of the above questions without further explanation.
We will begin by recalling the fact that there are, upon
this planet, at least two areas, one in South America and one in central Australia
where there are still races of human beings who-have not yet achieved the bow
and arrow. These tribes are actually still living in the stone age and, from
the standpoint of scientific development are from fifteen to twenty thousand
years behind us, even though they live in areas which are only a few hours by
air from our centers of civilization.
We know a little about these tribes because a few of our
explorers and missionaries have penetrated briefly into the periphery of their
domain and the reports which they have written have been made available to
anyone who is interested. The most primitive races, on the other hand, have no
written language, no means of rapid or mass communication and no means of
perpetuating information. Consequently, as a race, they know nothing whatever
about us, and would be unable to understand, even if they were told.
-5-
We do however, have jet aircraft which can and do fly over
the areas in which these people live and must occasionally be seen by them.
Let us picture a tribal village nestling in a jungle which
is bordered on one side by a large rolling plain or pampa.
We will imagine that one of the village hunters has
wounded an antelope and has then pursued his wounded quarry for several miles
on the rolling plain. While he is there alone, a multi-engine jet aircraft
roars overhead at a fairly low level. After a few minutes, when the hunter's
knees begin to work again, he will go racing back to the village with the
totally incredible story of his experience.
"Friends-when I was out there on the pampa today, a
tremendous bird flew overhead. A bird like nobody ever saw before. Why he must
have had a wingspread of nearly a hundred feet! His wings and all of his huge
body gleamed in the sunlight as though they were made of silver! His wings were
held rigidly outstretched at all times! As he flew, he made a thunderous roar
that seemed to shake the ground as he passed overhead, and a long stream of
black smoke was coming from his tail!!!"
At about this point in his story his friends would shake
their heads sadly and his best pal would say softly, "Look Joe, why don't
you go back to your hut and sleep it off? We knew that fermented juice would
get to you sooner or later, but you are insulting our intelligence. We know all
about the birds in this area. We have watched and hunted them for years. The
biggest bird is the condor and it has a wingspread of eight or nine feet, but
no bird ever had a wingspread of one hundred feet! Birds have many different
colors in their plumage but no bird was ever all silver in color. All birds,
even when they are soaring, move their wings occasionally, for directional
control. Different birds make different kinds of noises but no bird ever made a
continuous roar that shook the ground; even the lion can't do that! Everything
you have said is contrary to the things which we know to be true and yet you
have to make your story even more ridiculous by saying that smoke was coming
from the bird's tail! Go back to your but until you have regained some
semblance of sanity and then we'll talk about other things."
The result would be that no serious consideration whatever
would be given to the hunter's story. It would be dismissed as pure fantasy.
Suppose however, that a few days later, another hunter should come breathlessly
into the village saying, "Well boys it looks like I've joined the crackpot
crew because I think I just saw one of these big birds too!"
If these sightings occurred often enough, eventually it
would come to be accepted that perhaps there really was something strange
flying overhead and for the first time there would be public speculation as to
what it might be.
At this point one of the more thoughtful natives might
venture to suggest that instead of being a bird, it might be a machine. This
would be a difficult idea even to express. The tribe has no word for machine in
their language because they have no machines. They have not even achieved the
bow and arrow! Nevertheless, the thinker might be able to express the idea that
somewhere in the world there might be a race of human beings like ourselves who
have developed so far beyond us that they can actually build things in which they
can fly! It would be a tremendous idea and very hard to grasp. His friends
would scratch their heads and mutter, "I don't know Joe, it's a real far
out idea, you're talking about people making things to fly in and we can't even
make a bow and arrow. Even if what you say were true, it wouldn't be a logical
explanation for the things have been seen in the sky.
"It is obvious that if these things were machines and
there were people in them, the people would look down and they would see our
village. They would, of course, immediately land their machine in the middle of
the village and leap out shouting, take me to your witch doctor and to your
chief! We want to establish commercial relations so that we can enter into
trade with your people! We want to get some of those lovely bones which your
people wear in their noses, some of that copper you wear around your neck and
some of those luscious grub worms your people have for lunch!
"None of the big birds has ever landed in the village
so it is illogical to suggest that there might be intelligent beings within
them."
Here another of the thinkers among the villagers would
interrupt to point out that any race of human beings which could build machines
in which they could fly, would certainly possess weapons far more sophisticated
and deadly than the spears and stone knives of the village hunters.
"Why should they trade with us?" he would ask.
"They would simply land, conquer us, make us slaves, and take anything
they wanted. But they haven't done this either so you are right, it is
illogical to suppose that there might be intelligent beings within the big
birds."
The logic of the villagers is perfectly sound from their
own viewpoint. They are simply assuming that we would do the same things that
they would if they were in the plane. The only error in their logic lies in
their failure to realize that we no longer wear bones in our noses and if we
should
-7-
want any of those luscious grub worms for lunch, we have
only to visit the exotic food section of the local super market where they are
found in four ounce cans, both plain and chocolate covered.
As to the super weapons, we do of course, have them and we
could, if we chose, easily conquer the primitive tribe. There is however, no
earthly reason why we should do so since we do not need and could not use any
of their possessions or products. They could not contribute anything to us and
so they would become just one more nation to which we would have to ship
Foreign Aid every month.
The aboriginal village is not in the least danger of
invasion by us, nor is it likely to become a center of commerce.
If any members of our race should visit the village they
would probably go only as missionaries in the service of humanity, and to offer
such portions of our culture as might be useful to the villagers and which
might be accepted by them.
If the missionaries wished to avoid being cooked in the
village stewpots, or becoming burnt offerings to the village gods, they would
have to proceed very slowly and very carefully.
If an advanced race upon another planet decided to send
missionaries to the planet Earth, they would be well advised to proceed in the
same way. In fact the perusal of the front page of any metropolitan newspaper
should be enough to cause them to give up the whole project as a hopeless
undertaking, and to leave for home at once.
The attempt to apply generalities to U.F.O. reports,
results only in increased confusion since each report is a separate and
distinct event which must be judged strictly upon its own merits, if any.
No study of U.F.O. phenomena will have any value or
significance unless the student leaves his ego and his emotions in the
cloakroom before entering the study hall and even then the only firm conclusion
which the student can reach, is that no firm conclusion can possibly be valid
in an area where the possibilities are as infinite as the universe itself.
End
-8-
UNDERSTANDING PRAYER
Almighty
Father, creator of the infinite universe,
creator of all that has ever been and all that
will ever be—
We, Thy
children, have gathered in Thy presence
to receive the truth, the knowledge, the
understanding and the blessings that our
angelic brothers are bringing to us in these
last days of this age.
We ask,
O Father, that Thou will open our
hearts and our minds that Thou will expand
our consciousness and our awareness and
teach us to truly love one another.
That
Thou will bless and protect us daily; that
Thou will open our eyes and our ears to
understanding; that we may speed preparation
for the return of Thy beloved Son and the
glorious fulfillment of the new age now
dawning on the horizon.
May our
understanding steadily increase as the
fulfillment of the promise of everlasting
peace and love descends upon our weary
planet. We ask this in the name of Thy
beloved Son Jesus, who became the Christ.
