Антрополог из Калгари изучает феномен «техно-шаманизма» и попытки контакта с НЛО

A southwestern Saskatchewan researcher and University of Calgary anthropology professor is examining how people around the world are attempting to make contact with extraterrestrial beings through practices that combine spirituality and technology. Shayne Dahl, an assistant professor with the university's Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, has been researching a movement known as Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind. Dahl said participants in the movement form small communities and travel to wilderness locations where they use meditation, visualization, laser pointers, and other techniques in attempts to initiate contact with UFOs and their potential occupants. “The claim is that they're able to actually do this,” Dahl said. “I thought that was interesting and I studied the anthropology of religion. So I looked into it, connected with some people, did some interviews, and then ended up developing a small research project around this.” From shamanism to ‘techno-shamanism’ Dahl said the practices he observed shared similarities with traditional forms of shamanism studied by anthropologists. Participants use altered states of consciousness in an effort to communicate with non-human entities, but Dahl said the modern groups add another component: technology. “It looked very similar to some of the practices that we call shamanism in the anthropological literature,” he said. “There’s a similar structure in the ritual practice of these Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind communities and traditional studies of shamanism, except there's the addition ... where they use advanced technologies.” Dahl coined the term “techno-shamanism” to describe the practices. What is a Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind? The terminology behind the different types of UFO encounters dates back to a classification system developed by an astrophysicist in a 1972 book. Dahl said a Close Encounter of the First Kind involves simply seeing a UFO, while a Second Kind encounter involves physical effects such as burn marks or radiation. A Third Kind encounter involves seeing the occupants of a UFO. The terminology gained mainstream recognition after Steven Spielberg's 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Dahl said the Fourth Kind emerged later in connection with reports of alien abductions. The Fifth Kind differs because humans are considered active participants in initiating contact. “In Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind, human beings are initiating the communication and the contact through things like telepathy,” Dahl said. He emphasized that the claims surrounding the movement are not scientifically verified. “These are narratives,” he said. “I'm not saying, you know, this is real, scientifically verifiable. It's not. It's all sort of anecdotal and scientifically unverified.” Related Stories: - Futurity & relationality at art gallery's new exhibition - Tour the inside the last standing Cold War radar tower in Canada Research, not disclosure Dahl said his work is not intended to promote UFO disclosure efforts or determine whether extraterrestrial visitors are actually present. Instead, he is interested in how people respond to the possibility. “I'm just an anthropologist who's trying to understand the puzzle, trying to put the puzzle pieces together,” he said. He said he has been watching the growing amount of UFO-related news and disclosure activism in the United States and examining how people react to it. “It's more just trying to understand how human beings are responding to the possibility, you know, that we're being visited,” Dahl said. “I can't say whether or not we are.” Dahl said determining whether extraterrestrial life is visiting Earth is outside his area of expertise and is better left to scientists or government officials. Dahl has seen an unidentified object Despite his academic interest in the subject, Dahl said he has never personally confirmed seeing an alien spacecraft. However, he did witness an unexplained object while conducting fieldwork in Japan about three years ago. Dahl said he was on a mountain summit about 650 metres above the ground during the Festival of the Dead when he and others saw a luminous ball of light move across their field of vision. He said a fireball or meteor is the most likely explanation, but other witnesses interpreted the sighting differently. “It was really, really interesting,” Dahl said. “And I have some research sort of developing around that particular sighting.” Interest in UFO research growing Dahl said the response to his research has been notable, with numerous people contacting him to share their own stories of UFO sightings or unusual experiences. He currently has one public-facing publication on the subject, an essay in The Conversation titled “Are UFOs Inspiring a New Religion?” A more extensive essay by Dahl, titled “UFOs and the Rise of Techno-Shamanism,” is scheduled to appear in an edited volume on religion and the UFO phenomenon in December. Dahl said the public response to his initial essay has been unexpected. “Once all this news came out about my research, it's been fascinating how many emails I've received from people who claim to have seen things or experienced things,” he said.