The UFO phenomena has been with us for a long time. In the Bible you can read of Ezekiel's encounter with one that he calls a vision (Ezekiel 1:1). Perhaps it was a vision, perhaps not. If it was a vision, I find it interesting that Ezekiel could conceptualize such a flying craft as he described considering the state of technology available at that time. Nevertheless, we shall never know if it was in fact a real machine or a vision. We view stories such as this as myth or legend. If we were to find some writings from some other ancient and extinct culture that told of an encounter similar to Ezekiel's; we probably would not call it 'a fact that lends credibility to Ezekiel's encounter as something real and not imagined." We would probably say it was a 'perpetuation of a myth'. There are many writings and glyphics from ancient civilizations such as Sumerian, Babylonian, Akkadian, Hittite, Incan and Mayan that tell of or depict men whose home is in the heavens and the unusual "boats" or "chariots" they use to travel back and forth between the Earth and heavens. Is it just coincidence that man needs to creates these similar myths? Or have these stories simply been passed along from one civilization to another even somehow crossing the Atlantic to South America? Or did something real and physical happen to these civilizations? There is enough evidence available to support either the myth or the fact. It all depends on how you want to view the evidence. We can't provide any definite, indisputable evidence since the peoples who wrote these stories are no longer with us. So it's up to each of us, individually, to examine the evidence for ourselves and reach our own conclusions. In UFOlogy today, we hear reports that tell us that the UFOs are controlled by evil, four foot tall, gray skinned aliens who mutilate cattle and abduct humans. We also hear the UFOs are piloted by an intelligence that is benevolent and only wants us to mature and evolve into a higher state of consciousness. I don't think we could ask for nor create, two more diverse extremes. These extremes create an umbrella under which all UFO speculations reside. Many of us here share a common bond, or, put more precisely, a common question. That is: what is truth to these UFOs? One truth I can say with reasonable confidence is that the majority of people have never had, nor ever will have a true UFO experience. This is unfortunate because it's always nice to be able to have a large number of people at your side when you're trying to prove something. So how does one go about proving the existence of something as elusive as UFO's? If you've had a UFO experience, whether good or bad, I'd say that would probably be a pretty darned good convincer. But is your experience enough to convince some stranger as to the reality of UFO's? How would you feel if after having a UFO encounter you were laughed at by everyone you told? I think it would take your self esteem down a few notches and I don't think you would talk about it anymore. Why are people so prone to laugh at those who claim to have UFO encounters? I think it's because our society encourages critical thinking and discourages abstract thought except in the fine arts where abstract thought is appreciated. There are also people who will con, rob and cheat you so it's necessary for us to keep our guard up. Sad commentary, but true. Part of our society's foundation is built upon science. The creations of our science permeate almost every aspect of our lives every day. Our science has a proven track record and it's been very good to us but because of this, we become more dependent upon science, elevating it to almost a philosophy. Is this good or bad? It should be noted that for a couple thousand years that the Earth was flat and at the center of the solar system. This was undeniable fact until one day the science of the times proved it wrong and suddenly the Earth became spherical and took it's rightful place in the solar system. All this means is that science can make mistakes and science itself can evolve, change and mature, and with it, the ideals of mankind. When we bring all speculations covered by this UFO umbrella under the lamp of science, what do we have to see? Not much. The first thing science will do is to clean up these suppositions by throwing out the ones our science can't deal with. The first casualty will be the space brothers theory. Sorry, but there's no room for it within our science. But is this proper? From the viewpoint of our science, yes, no doubt about it. From the viewpoint of UFOlogy in general, no, it's not fair, but that's just the way it is. It's just possible that our present science may be flawed, but it's all we've got right now. Currently there are things going on in the world of quantum mechanics and the implications read like science fiction! But the science we have right now, today, is all we've got and it is through this science we must rely to help us solve the UFO mystery. So although there are many "theories" about UFOs, the only ones our science can deal with are the ones that are real, physical and tangible and this is where we must get our science to investigate. If we can get science to prove the existence of UFOs, then score one for us. And there's always the possibility that science will discover something that will help it change its way of thinking and open up new realms to things which today are laughed at. Science seems to be governed by the process of natural selection. What doesn't work dies, what does, prospers. No matter what ones personal beliefs are, we must all encourage science to continue to discover itself, to continue to evolve. Because the truth is, as science evolves, so do we. I feel that someday the things we call paranormal will all be explained by science; but not the science we're familiar with today. I hope that I'm around to see it. Paul Faeder