Many have noticed that there is a generic similarity between reports of sightings and contact with faeries and with Extra-terrestrials (ETs) - and this has been variously explained in Jungian terms, either with or without some objectively real +/- perceptual basis.
In other words; at some deep level (whether psychological or physical), faeries and ETs are "the same phenomenon" that manifests superficially in very different forms.
But the kinds of people who are interested by (and report) faeries versus those interested in ETs, seem quite different in terms of their general stance and motivations.
Faeries are a focus for people with a range of New Age and esoteric interests; those who I would characterize as seeking a reversion towards the ancient and early-childhood consciousness of "Original Participation".
In other words such people seek an escape from the cut-offness and alienation of modern consciousness; and desire immersively to integrate with a living (animated) world; that includes faeries along with animals, plants and landscape.
Thus, faeries seem to serve as an intermediary between Man and Nature - or Man and The Earth more generally.
By contrast; ETs are of interest to people with an alternative ("conspiracy theory") political stance. The idea that alien species from outer space have an interest in the earth, a presence among Men, a desire for contact with Men - and they desire to exert an influence of some kind on this world...
ET enthusiasts therefore usually "place" ETs into a world view that is "mundane", and indeed primarily socio-political. ETs are variously regarded as either/or/both benign and malign in their intentions for the organization and goals of the Earth.
Sometimes ETs are interpreted as intending to protect the earth (eg against catastrophic pollution, or against the possibility of nuclear war) - and also sometimes other kinds of ET are understood to be among or influencing the Global Establishment in their sinister plans to enslave and exterminate Men and the planet.
So, maybe their is some kind of common basis for experience of faeries and ETs; but if so, differences in personality and ideology/ spirituality lead to a different ascribed function, motivation, and human-role for these beings.
7 comments:
I prefer faeries to ETs, which may explain why I like George MacDonald's Lilith. As ETs go my favourite is probably Overlord Karellen, the "Supervisor for Earth" in Arthur C Clarke's Childhood's End.
My least favourite is probably *the* ET, from Steven Speilberg's film. Though he was left behind wasn't he so not an ET in your sense. Give me Yoda over that ET any time. Not only did Yoda not visit, he went out of the way to isolate himself in a swamp on Dagobah.
What that ET and the Supervisor for Earth have in common is that they feel foisted upon us, trying to get us to accept the alien, the other. This contrasts with faeries which as you mention do indeed seem more like intermediaries. Plus when you consider that Clarke made Karellen a *horned beast with devil's wings* the whole thing becomes downright sinister.
However, at least they weren't condescending. There's an annoying class of ETs which I think of as 'The Condescending Alien'. Examples are Ellie's 'father' in Contact, Prot in K-Pax. Basically any alien who says, 'You humans are limited in your thinking' or words to that effect. There ought to be a meme...
Would you out Bigfoot into the faerie camp? I think I would, based on the persons I know, but Bigfoot lore seems to be more about a lost near human connection, like giants and such, not quite a lost connection with nature. Though I am not particularly interested in bigfoot myself so I could be wrong.
Ah, of course. The 'Condescending Alien' is an ET designed to appeal to viewers who wish to feel superior to everyone else. Whereas faeries are spontaneous intermediaries with no ulterior purpose.
@Lucas - I would regard bigfoot as ET-like - on the basis of the people I have encountered online talking about it, who are most "alternative/ conspiracy' minded. The faery-focused people are quite different.
One way ET's and Fairies differ is the kind of world that they inhabit and what they imply about our world (at least according to the common ideas about them). Fairies are in some other realm pursuing their own purposes; they occasionally interact with humans but for the most part live parallel to us. And they certainly aren't interested in conquering or manipulating human societies.
ET's on the other hand are often viewed as interested in manipulating human society. Also, there's the idea that they are "ahead" of us technologically or societally. Which goes back to this assumption that technology is like a road, new inventions are already out there and we just come to where they are. So, we can't even get off the road, our options are either to stay less technologically powerful and be widgets for them to manipulate or to catch up and become like them.
Fairies imply a world that is bigger and more expansive than what we know. Fairies don't fit into any easy classification scheme, they are just out there, doing what they do. ET's (at least in the standard beliefs) imply a world that is smaller and more closed than normally believed. The possible changes for our society are inevitably baked into the universe. Even on other planets, it's all just techno-totalitarian dystopias.
I would actually put Bigfoot as closer to the fairies because it implies a more expansive world, though not to the same extent. A new species of ape man isn't all that radical, but it would imply that there's more out there.
@NLR - All good points.
I have always thought it was interesting that fairies live under the ground while aliens come down from the sky. I wonder if extra-terrestrials are ultra-technological because they are enlivened by the spirit of outer space, which only recently started being classed as a domain that could be literally (as opposed to poetically or theoretically) investigated. I think they began to be born when it was decided that the optimal method of investigation was not to observe the characteristics of a thing from the individual perspective, but to get physically closer to it, and measure it, and (in the case of a planet) even walk around on it. Which explains not just their implied home life on a distant star but their obsession with surgery and clinical observation. I think fairies are interested in medicine as well, but they perform their operations with a gaiety that characterises everything else they do, and are in general much more prone to gleeful abandon.
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