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July 5, 2015 — Ray Hernandez

Free episodes:

The claims of Ray were incredible. Within a subject that stirs up some seemingly outrageous claims it is not unusual. Unfortunately we may never get to the bottom of the many questions that arise. I don't think authorities mean us to. Ray's investigative methodologies are good for qualitative studies. Like other social sciences, this kind of methodology can be useful in finding out some answers - perhaps more about the experiencer, their environment, the biases, filters, thoughts and feelings that they bring to an event, and also to the interpretation of that event.

The questions surrounding the terminology employed didn't do much to advance the conversation in any direction. As Chris put it: we know that media and the mainstream scientific establishment will use any terminology as an excuse and a label. Perhaps Ray's suggestion that their investigation was more than just about the E.T question, was valid; but in using restrictive terminology he did not demonstrate that. He was, however, a person who came across as genuine, eager and not 'out there', even if his claims were wild.

Some of the experiences that have been at the core of the E.T question are remarkably similar to religious experiences. In this sense, both are supernatural and equally valid. One' s experience of standing in the presence of God, and of trusting in a supernatural being that exists outside time and space, cannot be invalidated. In another sense, the E.T phenomenon has a tangibility about it that is qualitatively different.

In Timothy Good's book, Earth: An Alien Enterprise, the author himself discusses how he may have beckoned alien beings to interact with him by telepathically asking them to appear before him. He writes of experiences where people have interacted with beings. Some have claimed to have been coming here since before mankind's time. Incredibly, Good tells us some have their home within our solar system.

Good or bad, I don't think we will have solid, 'approved' answers because our leaders don't want us to. There are valid reasons for this: anyone looking at what more sophisticated societies have done to primitive cultures, such as Europeans and their relationship to the Australian Aborigines, can understand where this might go. And it is not good for us, as David Jacobs elucidates!
 
There's a difference between badgering and what Chris and I did, which was to question the use of the term "Extraterrestrial" in the group's name. As much as Ray explained the definition is broader, that presents a problem. The difference between The Paracast and the other shows is that we aren't afraid to ask questions, comfortable or not. It is not the same thing as badgering, and your definition does not apply.

I am a massive fan of yourself and Chris. I didn't see the exchange between you both and Ray as 'badgering' so much as laboring the point. I am hoping to see Ray's links so we can look-up his stuff.
 
O'Brien was over the top, imo, and to use the excuse that it was "asking tuff questions that no one else will ask" is simply that, an excuse. It would have been much cleaner to have admitted that attempting to bully guests is excellent entertainment, that, at least, I could have a modicum of respect for.

I can tell you this. Ray Hernandez may not be the mst eloquent spokesman for FREE but he is not the least bit concerned or surprised at the engagement. It comes with the territory, ideas that challenge the norm are always, at first, ridiculed before accepted.

I believe that I could say with a high degree of probability that this true of all the Board Members, all the participants in FREE including the experiencers. We do not have the most comforting or socially acceptable positions to uphold but the alternative is so much less palatable.

Being dishonest for the sake of gaining some kind of temporary societal acceptance doesn't work. Only being yourself, telling what you know is true, and letting the pseodoskeptics, the cynics and those who spend little to no time in the honest pursuit of the ET experience, the ET communications, let them do as they please.

That is their choice, we have made ours, sadly, we allow those who disagree with us the right to do so, very few of those who disagree honor us in the same manner.

I thought Ray handled himself pretty well. He is clearly a smart guy. It seems that he would be more at home in another field. In some sense this field might be still quite new to him. This field is still driven by extrapolating incredible cases rather than quantitative data. Chris's data and image capture process is an example of a research project that can change all of that. It would be great to have access to the data from the 'dark' projects that are happening in private science. How different would our understanding of science be?! If Ben Rich stated we have the technology to take ET home then private science is way ahead of mainstream science.
 
I think they make their entry through aggregation into a composite myth such as Bloody Mary which is doing the rounds of my children's primary school at the moment.

As an aside I recently purchased a second hand DK Collins kids encyclopedia of the paranormal for my two (10 and 8). Amidst alien abductions, sasquatch and the usual suspects, they immediately found the Bloody Mary myth and the invocation of her, an alleged infant killer, by repeating her name three times in the mirror. Both frightened themselves quite badly despite growing up in a household where from a young age they were making "reality distinctions" between Santa, tooth faeries, vampires and aliens based on available evidence - due to my and my partner's interest in this area.

They challenged me to invoke her after I explained the likely mythical nature of the story - hence nothing to fear. I refused to do so on the basis that I invite nothing unwanted into my life, irrespective of where it falls on the reality spectrum. Needless to say they found my position unhelpful in allaying their fears.

Would you invoke her?

I think I know where Burnt State is going here. As a kid, when I was 5 or 6, I had an experience with what I term The Toilet Troll. Two nights in a row I heard the sound of chains dragging, then saw what looked like a troll unraveling the toilet paper in the toilet opposite my bedroom. I was terrified and got little sleep. The following night it happened again. Due to exhaustion from the night previous I was so angry I got up and charged at the toilet and turned the light on...it never came back. All in the imagination!!
 
I thought Ray handled himself pretty well. He is clearly a smart guy. It seems that he would be more at home in another field. In some sense this field might be still quite new to him. This field is still driven by extrapolating incredible cases rather than quantitative data.

The field is new to him in a relative sense but the information about the ET community exists and does not require extrapolations or quantitative data. To follow that, the data will come when we are ready to have contact, and more so, obviously, when we have hard, personal contact with ET.
 
unwillingness to accept that there may be a problem that is not solvable per se - do they need to accept this before they go into UFO research? must they be convinced before hand that it is a problem that is solvable?

Why doesn't it operate as an invitation to intellectually curious people to rewrite the definition of a solution?

It does. I am an example of someone sincerely interested in the paranormal and possibly UFOs, but most of all I am someone who does not need or care about a specific answer. I know weird shit happens, even weird shit that's not romantic or psychologically satisfying to think about. I care about people, not what they say about what happened to them. You can choose to help experiencers or you can choose to investigate the phenomenon. Maybe.
 
It's good to hear this kind of detailed response to this proposal. It seems that the first forays into abduction data collection research might only be considered, in the interim, as a case of it's better to do something than nothing. Let's say questions are not as leading or so UFO-centric, would you, Sue, still dismiss all the information collected by FREE or are any parts or features of the study salvageable? What did you think of Project Core's survey?

For the record, I'm not an expert on anything. I am a failed academic; I spent a long time in a PhD program at Berkeley and have nothing but an MA to show for it. You have been warned.

Project Core sounded like a sincere attempt at lay survey. The main reason I paid attention to it was because I had already found the thinking of Ritzmann and Vaeni interesting. From a methodology point of view, Project Core was somewhat weak. Was it weaker than the 1991 Roper poll they say Bigelow funded and that was reported on in the CE4 MIT Conference book? Hard to say. That Roper poll, even with technicians helping it along, was pretty weak. Or so at least I thought until I heard about FREE, which was a train wreck.

Because this phenomena does interact with the perceiver in such a unique way there appears to be no real discipline that naturally lends itself to studying it. What are your recommendations, aside from a properly constructed sociological investigation, in terms of what kind of tools or disciplines would be best able to measure or investigate alien abduction syndrome?

Not doing ufology in the United States.
 
Good or bad, I don't think we will have solid, 'approved' answers because our leaders don't want us to. There are valid reasons for this: anyone looking at what more sophisticated societies have done to primitive cultures, such as Europeans and their relationship to the Australian Aborigines, can understand where this might go. And it is not good for us, as David Jacobs elucidates!

I tend to agree, the universe itself has lots of basic common elements such as stars etc, Its not impossible social mechanisms might run in parallels too.

Humans have a tendancy to consider themselves to be the top of the heap, An alternate reality isnt one easily accepted by many.

Its only been 400 odd years since Galileo

Galileo affair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The very idea that the earth wasnt the centre of the universe was simply unacceptable to his critics.

Likewise were it the reality we are at the mercy of more advanced sophonts, that may very well break our spirit so to speak.

Certainly our views have evolved since the examples cited


Indigenous rights activists call for such groups to be left alone, stating that it will interfere with their right to self-determination.[


Uncontacted peoples - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Hey all,
Huge fan of the show and did enjoy this particular episode, however I did not appreciate the badgering of Mr. Hernandez by both Gene and Chris, but more specifically Chris. I understand its "good radio" and even agreed with Chris and Gene's point regarding The group's use of the term "extraterrestrial", however i really feel like they badgered a guest, who is relatively new to the field, and a guest who I felt was answering questions to the best of his ability. What gets me is i listen to the badgering that Mr. Hernandez endured and then listen to the softball questions that were thrown at Travis Walton,(whos answers at the time really could use some probing), and cant help but think that Ray was treated unfairly. Ray was a great guest and new / fresh minds should be encouraged in this field not ostracized and discouraged out of it. Your point was made and taken, it did not need to be reiterated for 5 minutes. I love the show, keep up the good work, i just ask that you try and treat guests equally.
 
I suggest he should rename his group FREED with the ED meaning Extra Dimensional -and, hence, FREED of ET. LOL. :D

I'm impressed with this guy's background, and he seems well connected with academic researchers that are guiding their study. This guy MUST be followed-up on if they can carry on to complete the work.

I still am wondering why they're not doing some brain scans and other metabolic analysis, family history, genetics, etc.

Wow, that's really weird how many people in his family on both sides are seeing things too. A genetic component too or ?
 
Knapp has FREE on C2C tonight. Search: coast to coast July 18 2015 on youtube to get it later on.

ET Encounter Research 3 Guests:

A new foundation has been created to research ET contact called FREE (The Dr. Edgar Mitchell Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial Encounters), acting as a support network for anomalous contact experiencers and researchers alike. George Knapp will be joined by FREE members and researchers Mary Rodwell, Dr. Jon Klimo, and Rey Hernandez to discuss the scientific study of the phenomenon and how FREE's efforts might change how we view experiencers.
 
I listened to the C2C show, and I came away with this "scientific panel" being 100% convinced of their beliefs about this phenomena. This is certainly going to bias the research, since there seems to not be even one person that is neutral and skeptical about these topics.

The other thing that really makes me wonder is their need to avoid any labeling of ideas or analysis that leads to the thinking this phenomena may have brain [or other abnormalities] and mental health issues to a large extent. They have to design the study to avoid such outcomes. WTF?

As Chris joked: the need to avoid the idea that the inmates appear to be running the asylum.

There seem to be some serious design flaws and at least some problems with avoiding certain outcomes that may be important causes of this phenomena too.
 
Just wanted to say THANK YOU CHRIS, for your unrelenting probing (pardon the pun) about why the FREE organization are using E.T. In their acronym. It was infuriating listening to Ray try and reconcile what the term ET meant to his organization when 9/10ths of the world see ET and compartmentalize it based on modern perception of the term which generally ends in a belittling of the subject or subject matter! I hope he does bring it up to the board because the woo woo train has left the station and ET is on it! The burning question that I had for Ray was " who proved any of these things were piloted by ET!!?? NO ONE HAS RAY!! That's why it's still a mystery. Beware the front load- you're absolutely right Chris, and Gene for that matter- this type of prejudged front loaded approach may just attract all those 'ascended to the fifth dimension masters' who would only have positive contacts 'in the dessert' (as fun as that may be), and skew the data right outta the gates!
With that small but MAJOR first and possibly fatal flaw ( based on their 0$ funding for the project) out of the way, I'd like to commend Ray, Ed, Rosemary, Leo, and all others for putting together such an elaborate and comprehensive questionnaire that may just glean some results for us and help us link together important clues as to what we're dealing with here.
The answer has eluded us so far (ie- since the beginning of recorded history) so don't expect a miracle.
Does this sound pessimistic? I apologize, but I'm tired of folks who have a very good head on their shoulders make ridiculous claims when the data is just not there. Especially when there's an opportunity to collect some very intriguing data. I do hope that Mr. Hernandez takes your advice and brings it up with the board about that acronym- no matter how they're trying to redefine ET- it will always mean alien to all who read it. Let's hope, Chris, that he takes your lovely idea of changing that E in FREE to Extraordinary.

Let's not assume he has a good head on his shoulders to begin with. The guy is clearly an ardent leftist which, by definition, indicates an utter detachment from the real world. It's no surprise he not only prejudges, but draws the wrong conclusions as well.
 
Let's not assume he has a good head on his shoulders to begin with. The guy is clearly an ardent leftist which, by definition, indicates an utter detachment from the real world. It's no surprise he not only prejudges, but draws the wrong conclusions as well.
LOL

Thanks "pickles"!
 
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