Custom essay on Unidentified Fundamental Obsession

Nowadays it is the same – some planets, galaxies, and universes that have not been so far reached by the science are containing a certain form of extraterrestrial life, with aliens that are endowed with consciousness and intellect, the same as humans but with the only difference – they are intellectual giants and Cyclops, i.e. their abilities exceed those of the humans several times.
There are, of course, a lot of witnesses, even the victims, of alien visitations, who have shared their experience with the people. Numerous articles, reports, books, investigations, photographs, videos etc are revealing us the reality, and often even hazard, of encounters with the extraterrestrial creatures. The number and diversity of these evidences could be compared to the multiplicity of ancient and medieval myths and legends. What is more they share the same scenario – a person unexpectedly and without his/her consent receives a kind of revelation (it may take on various forms – abduction, conversation, medical experiments, tortures, non-verbal dialogue, endowing with supernatural abilities etc.), which he / she is to share with the rest of humanity. Very often such messages are prevailed by apocalyptic overtones, which is proved by the messianic conduct of the ufologic prophets.
As a rule, each separate action is not motivated by a separate need according to Maslow (212). Any human activity is usually determined by a bundle of motives, needs, demands etc. The same is true about the overwhelming interest to the unidentified flying objects. Not only the need to know and cognize fosters people to invent, to believe, to look for the data on the UFO. The physical need for hunger and thirst is not so apparent here and requires a more qualified psychological investigation, at least, it can be completely absent here. As for the safety needs, however, we can’t say so. It is too evident that the reports on alien visits trouble the sense of security of many people. Each piece of news on a flying saucer invokes the presentiments of planetary catastrophes, global disasters, alien invasions, demise of humans, and the like. Some messages contain even explicit threats.
The security needs contribute to this “fundamental obsession” in a significant way, and it is possible to suggest that many people may take interest in the “issue” only because they do not feel safe, and they demand for the maximally detailed information on aliens only in order to provide for their security.
The esteem needs might be also inherent here. The status of a prophet, oracle, messiah, representative of higher reason satisfies the vanity of many individuals, who cannot be distinguished for some other features and achievements. Aliens give a fair chance to reach glory, public interest and respect without any great effort.
All those who are seriously concerned about the future of the Earth, lifetime or posthumous fame do not constitute the majority among the UFO obsessed. Most people are driven by a keen interest what is beyond the known and familiar world.
Focusing on supernatural, inexplicable, and mysterious phenomena is tightly linked to the 5th constituent of Maslow’s hierarchy, but why then all eminent astronomers and scientists deny the existence of aliens, at least as they are represented in the media and film industry? Don’t they really have sincere desire to know, explain, understand? The answer lies in the fact that the scientists do have keen interest in everything unknown and enigmatic, but their interest is conscious, critical, professional. They will recognize any phenomenon or law of nature only if it is clearly and unambiguously proven, shown, presented, it must be verifiable, which means anybody who will repeat the investigation or experiment will reach the same result. At this point the ufologists are the weakest.
The above mentioned obsession presumably comes from an unconscious, untrained cognitive demands that lack a necessary amount of criticism and skepticism. Such minds become victims of various pseudoscientific manipulations and are prone to believe everything that is offered them by the media and unrecognized “oracles.”
Thus, the mass obsession with the UFOs, and other “evidences” of extraterrestrial life is the mythology of nowadays, with the only difference that the imps and goblins are replaced by aliens. The names have changed but the appearance remained mostly intact – the images of humans with slight modifications – a bit transformed proportions between the bodily organs, the supernatural abilities. The main shape is, however, too much human – a head, two eyes, two arms, two legs. Why didn’t anybody invent aliens whose body would consists of, e.g., electromagnetic waves, or gravitation, or gamma rays, and who would not have human shape?

Works Cited
Achenbach, Joel. “Unidentified Fundamental Obsession.” UTNE Reader November/December (2009):
Maslow, Abraham H. “A Theory of Human Motivation.” A Sequence for Academic Writing. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J.Rosen. 4th ed. New York: Pearson, 2010. 209-13.