In the latter half of the 20th century until today we UFOlogists find ourselves caught between a Giant Rock and a scientific hard place. The playing field has not been, and still is not in any sense, level. Indeed society's complex combination of factors push and pull us in every which way in UFOlogy, such that the base of UFOlogy resembles more the undulating, twisting and turning floor of an amusement park fun house rather than some stable meaningful knowledge base. Only, for many, UFOlogy is not nearly as much fun. It seems as if we are caught between the two end points of a continuum bounded by uncritical newage-ism on the one hand and an impotent, rigid, dogmatic 20th century science on the other. Any way you look at it, UFOlogy has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century impeded by a limiting quasi-religious, fundamentalistic outlook, which bogs down any real, meaningful progress in the field.

To make matters worse, it also seems as if we are racing to beat midnight on a hypothetical doomsday UFOlogical clock. Most researchers figure we are probably very dangerously close to midnight, while others, such as David Jacobs, conclude that we are already well beyond midnight!

While the new physics of the latter 20th century imbues us with a renewed vigor that, maybe, just maybe, the new emerging scientific paradigm(s) will expand the frontiers of science such that a breakthrough might similarly occur in UFOlogy instead, we learn that attempting to measure the phenomenon even affects, i.e., changes the phenomenon, itself. Only, we have so far failed to take this lesson to heart, namely, that investigating the UFO phenomenon, might in some analogous way, alter the phenomenon itself and not only on micro levels but also in a macro sort of way.

Thus, on a micro level, we have just begun to notice that our UFO 'weltschau' (point of view, frame of reference, perspective) might just influence to some extent the outcomes of our observations and research, say, for example, that some results of alien abduction research might be determined by subtle pre-screening selective processes, i.e., some researchers tending to select or screen for cases that fit or support their own apriori particular abduction paradigms that, in turn, tend to further strengthen their own particular (possibly erroneous) points of view. Notwithstanding this, however, we fail to consider in what ways at the micro level that we, ourselves, might be influencing our conclusions about UFOlogy today.

Oh yes, much lipservice has been paid to Jacques Vallee's notion that the manifestation of UFO-related phenomena in our current day and age is, perhaps, the current iteration or version of an ever-changing, forever 'shape-shifting' process, reflecting the current culture and mythology of any given age, e.g., fairies, wee-folk, strange airships at the turn-of-the 20th century, and so on. But have we given any thought to the idea that we may be the ones somehow affecting, shape-shifting the phenomena in subtle, fleeting, elusive ways, based on our paradigms of the time?

Where does this all leave us today? As we enter the 21st century, science is groping, ever so slowly towards even newer paradigms, such as the idea that subtle energies might just be responsible for here-to-fore 'paranormal' processes, which might now take on the rubric of 'supra-normal' processes and which might then lend a boost to UFOlogy (See Paul Von Ward's Solarian Legacy and Brian O'Leary's books). Indeed, physics and related sciences seem to be pressing more urgently toward attaining science's 'Holy Grail'--the unified field theory i.e., the theory of everything!

Alas, it seems UFOlogy quests, as well, towards its own theory of everything every bit as complex and maybe even more so, perhaps, than the physical sciences counterpart of unified field theory. Imagine at some point if we are ever to achieve a unified field theory in science, not to speak of how such a theory might lap onto UFOlogy. With such advanced paradigms, imagine how our UFOlogical weltschaus might then govern our perceptions, knowledge and conclusions of what the UFO phenomenon is all about. And such a theory ought to take into account how we contribute to shape-shifting our perceptions of the phenomena.

Well, some of us feel that perhaps it ain't gonna happen for a long time to come or even ever. Perhaps, 25th, 30th, or even 50th century science may not yet take us there. Whether because of naivete, 'stupidity', or otherwise (Bruce Maccabee) we will have either failed to achieve breakthroughs in UFOlogy or we are, woefully, simply incapable of doing so.

I am reminded of the English teacher in the film, The Magus (with Anthony Quinn) ... Just as he begins to feel that he finally understands the reality of the strange events taking place around him, everything suddenly shifts and confuses him anew the magician, Quinn, evidently shape-shifts events that now newly confound the teacher ... so whatever his perceptions of the serial reality may be at the moment it is not!

And, indeed, an opening verse by Robert Frost in the film anticipates same: "We shall never cease from our explorations, and the end of all our exploring shall be to arrive at the place and know the place for the first time." [I am not sure of the accuracy of the exact wording here]

Will UFOlogy have in store for us an ever-changing serial of perceptions of what it is all about, without ever really holding out the hope of comprehending it in an immutable way? Or, if and when we finally attain a theory of everything, will we be able to grasp UFOlogy from some kind of penultimate paradigm, perspective or point of view?

Finally, are we helpless, destined to never have any kind of a real, true or satisfactory sense of or handle on what is going on in UFOlogy? Is there anything we can do? Well, aside from plodding along with our noses to the data-gathering grindstone, we should be making the effort to achieve breakthroughs of some kind(s). Every once in a while, we should try to stick our noses ever so slightly above the undulating, wobbling playing field of UFOlogy. We should maybe be striving towards developing some sort of a of meta-UFOlogy change that to metufology.

By metufology I mean a sense of the field of UFOlogy just slightly ahead of its time, just a bit beyond the way we normally approach the subject matter. I mean, we should maintain minds open enough to engage new ideas covering the broad scope of the field. We should entertain the full gamut of the subject matter to see what ideas might lend themselves to viewing the field in new, creative and comprehensive ways.

And thanks to the genius of humanity, coupled with the chaos of the field, perhaps some unknowing accidental Ufoologist might intentionally, or in spite of himself, just happen to stumble upon the theory of everything you ever wanted to know about UFOlogy!

Michael Brein, Ph.D. is a consultant in social psychology and Ambassador-at-Large for Mufon.

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