The seat of our existence is endowed with something we call reason and logic. This is either located in the corridors of where our soul resides, or it is within the matrix of our soul itself. If it is true, then truth can be known about the world. If it is false nothing can be known. Strangely reason and logic itself comes with a nature that declares itself to be true. And so we make our first set of a priori assumptions and the first section of truth building is made. From this section more and more truths can develop upon it like an onion. The next truth is the nature of our self, the indubitable thought "..I think, therefore I am." So it seems at the very least oneself does exist and so another layer of truth is developed. It is here that a critical leap is made. It is here that we are left as a brain inside a vat looking for a hero to rescue us into truth. Is the experience of our "bodies" reality? or the performed theater of an outside existence? An a priori assumption is made here, the only tenable one...that we MUST be experiencing reality. But "MUST" is left as an unexplained certainty. As if it refers to some unwritten rule of existence, some rule of fairness written and declared throughout the kosmos of existence.
So now we have a body. But is our body capable of determining truth? Are the faculties of our experience capable of determining truth? There is a predisposition among children that all things exist for a purpose. Bark is for bears to scratch their back, eyes are for seeing the world. This changes as we grow up and learn science. We discriminate among these all too generalistic prior instincts based on our science. But there is no "for" in science. In science eyes see the world, but they are not "for" anything. They increase the probability that one life form may survive longer than another but they are not "for" anything. So how do we overcome this gap in trusting our faculties? This is really the source of any particular world view and where one world view diverges from another. There are really only three options to proceed. We can assume our faculties were given to us by reputable sources. We can take them as a given without explanation and hope through that assumption to find out if they are trustworthy (though this would be a circular reason). Or simply sit at this step and enjoy the experience for whatever it might provide. No matter who you are the way you close this gap defines who you are and your understanding of the world from your friends to the mechanics of a black hole. All the layers of the onion of truth peel back to this one layer as the first layer of truth that begins to define the shape of the onion.
There are two important facts about this system of knowledge that are relevant to our extraterrestrial experiences. The first is the fact that there appear to be immutable laws that extend to all existence. These are the things we experience a priori, the things that "must be" like reason, logic, and moral sense. When all understanding fails and confusion is at it's height certain things must necessarily be so. That square triangles will never exist and that murder will always be wrong. So we do have a grounding that transcends all experiences and allows us to determine truth across all realms.
The second is that psychic beings peel onions. Remember that last tricky assumption from which all world views diverge? That layer of truth that determines whether our faculties of experience are trustworthy or not? A being capable of psychological manipulation necessarily casts doubt on our faculties of experience. Those faculties are no longer trustworthy as created by reputable manufacturers or how ever you conclude their source in your world view. Those faculties are now in the hands of another being who has essentially placed your brain inside of a vat leaving you with the question "Am I experiencing reality or performed theater". There is no straight forward way to cross this gap. It is a long and dangerous journey but I think the key lies in how we naturally cross this gap. Remember that unwritten rule of existence that told us we "must" be experiencing reality, that life "must" begin in some fair way. We experience this every day when we say "that is not fair" as if fair is universally expected, or "that is wrong" as if right is universally expected. Ontologically we have an innate experience of a cosmological ethic and expectation. These things are epistemically unclear, but at least ontologically they appear concrete and real. Many ET experiences also reference this cosmological ethic and expectation, but many differ epistemically in that ethic and expectation.
I think this cosmological ethic and expectation is going to be the key in overcoming this dilemma, just as it was the key to overcoming our original gap. I think that in an experience if there is no cosmological ethic or system of expectations than we must ignore our experience because there is no way to determine if the experience is real or performed theater as that was our sole reason to pass that gap in the natural sense. Additionally if an experience includes a cosmological ethic and expectation we must determine if it is epistemically correct...and this is tricky because we all believe many different things. Whether you are a Buddhist, a Theist, a Deist, or an Atheist you must know (not just believe) some truth of the kosmos, before you can accept a truth from a psychic entity. This is because the psychic entity can you show any truth it wants as truth. Additionally if you don't know for good reasons if your beliefs about the kosmos are true then a psychic entity can adopt your beliefs as a grounding of trust to feed you lies. Dealing with a psychic entity is a very difficult task, but I believe this is the key and a key that we must exercise, develop, and test daily. Somehow, we must know the truth naturally, before we can know it supernaturally...unfortunately there is no easy way too it.
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Originally Posted by Sansanoy
