Are Black Op Projects the New Collective Unconscious?

I have had some thoughts concerning the way we as humans like to populate the unknown that I would like to share some of these.

In previous times the unknown was always the place unconscious projection as in the 'here there be dragons' phenomenon. The socially accepted consensus map of reality always has limits - usually the limits of physical exploration. But the planet has now been largely mapped; such that the new physical limits are offplanet - specifially the moon - or even more specifically the dark side of the moon (always faced away from the Earth). The moon functions now as a border area, half known and half unknown as a place actually visited by humans. Further than this it is 'here there be aliens'. In order for the unconscious archetypal material to have access to the conscious ego, it must transit the liminial boundary through the mechanism of plausability. In other words, people dont believe in dragons anymore, but cannot rule out the possibility of alien life. This is why certain spiritual/religiously orientated material found will be found linked with material dealing with alien life. The is the border of physical exploration (i.e. manned exploration). This space of imagination/projection is populated by the collective unconscious (as mediated by existant cultures) and as such is generally always seeking re-integration into the individual psyche. Thus, such spaces are always actively sought out and entertained as apocrypha, legend and myth - also necessitating the requirement for new spaces of projection.

With the strong delineation of nature through science and exploration on the
planet; these spaces become smaller and smaller such that new unknowns become necessary as repositories of projection. As a possibly modern phenomena (On the physical level) new spaces are now
created within known spaces such as the Bermuda Triangle, based not on physical
exploration but suppossed limits of scientific understanding transposed to geographical locations. It is from here that we can see how the deliberate culture of secrecy (disinformation, compartmentalization, obfuscation and obstruction) practiced by Govermental Defense departments and industries
will also qualify as a new unknown space. As such it will be siezed upon by
human projections of the collecttive unconscious - often also transposed onto geographical locations (Area 51, Montauk etc.).

It is wondered whether there is a psychological transference occurring, wherein Black budget operations and secret defense intitiatives are now becoming the new image of the collective unconscious; possibly causing indirect reprogramming of conscious individuals through the assimilation of military style secrecy policies through fascination with the exotic (as the entrance and limit of the known).
(Witness the excitement palpable in certian individuals visisting the border of area 51, popularised in various visual media) The idea is that susceptible individuals assume (inadvertantly) this web of stories concerning
the military/extra-planetary as their unconscious. This represents a mutation with the usual represenations of the collective unconscious which have traditionally been religious-shamanic (gods and animals). Of course fusions of traditional images and the new unconsious paradigms often occur as well.
So we have a combination of the old sage/magic man with the alien prototype - telepathic aliens with cosmic knowledge etc. What is the result of these new archetypal mutations? Unkown, except that phenomenologically
the new unsconsious paradigm seems to be oriented internally rather than externally, also suggested by the finding of new uknowns within existing spaces rather than literal map boundaries. The content of abductin
experiences for intance uses a well know shamanic trope of the tearing apart of the body, but transposed internally - injection of implants, bodily probes, invasion of the mind through telepathy etc. The body is not torn by external spirits but rather medically imploded.

On a side note, this not meant in any way to eithe confirm or deny the actual possible existence of any of the aforementioned phenomena. It is meant purely as a possible overview from an (obviously) psychological perspective

[edit on 1-8-2010 by liquidself]

I think you are right, the UFO phenomenon is clearly a transformation (mutation) of archetypes in the collective unconscious. I think a 'Black Ops' aspect of the overall UFO mythos is to be expected. In particular I refer to MIB.

www.paranormalnewscentral.com...



[edit on 1-8-2010 by Student X]

Now that you mention it, MiB definately has to be one of the more obvious representations of a black op kind of unconscious. Thnak you for the excellent link - I was having difficulty thinking of traditional archetypal images for the MiB phenomena. They definately have a trickster-like feel to them, a certain inappropriateness and mischeviousness is evident in the stories. Could they be a guardian type trope? The number 3 is frequently mentioned with reference to them - one thinks of Cerebrus the 3 headed guardian of the underworld. (In north america native american legends of Raven come to mind - in reference to the colour black). In a Jungian context there is alos the D.U.M.B.s, deep underground military bases. Obviously there are underground military bases but the fascination fixates upon unknown/secret bases - which has an obvious analogue to traditional archetypal myths of the underworld. I have come accross an old UFO hunter show that featured a journalist I believe who encountered a classic MiB while he was searching for a D.U.M.B. - perhasp linking them as guardians of the "underworld"; the underworld is a classic representation of the collective unconscious. Jung did write about "flying saucers" and saw their shape as signifigant - as a mandala type representation of wholeness. I wonder what bodes for the also frequently reported cigar shaped U.F.O.? (Freudian perhaps...?)

I kind of disagree about that.

I don't really believe in archetypes manifesting through collective unconscious in a visible physical way.

A much simpler explanation, I would expect, would be that something like dragons were merely leftover Pterodactyls that have now died out due to changing environmental conditions etc, prior to the advents of the "modern age" where evidence could be collected.

Also the UFO thing would be either actual sightings of secret military aircraft, or maybe even alien spaceships or what have you.

Granted 95%+ of all sightings are clearly misidentification of common phenomena, there is substance to some of them that begs for closer scrutiny.

I just do not believe in such things as "collective unconscious" , I only believe it works on individual levels, and everyone's is totally different. They may overlap but there are many differences between all people.

I also do not believe people "hallucinate archetypes" that just seems totally unreasonable to me.

I think you just see something or you didn't see it. And if you saw it, you may not have identified it correctly.

And about the MIB I am sure it was just merely government agents or something. Some stories get way weirder.

And we always have to watch out for hoaxers. They are out in force you know?

So we have tons of other explanations for these sightings rather than having to fall back on some junk psychology archetype mumbo jumbo hocus pocus.

I apologize for attacking psychology theories so much but they are just so easy to argue with.

reply to post by muzzleflash


If the nature of reality is in any way 'holographic' or whatnot, then such manifestations are plausible. They would be temporary, and their intensity would probably be influenced by the sort of variables that influence psychic phenomena. Variables such as geomagnetic activity and sidereal time.

reply to post by muzzleflash


Just want to make it clear; I am not saying that these sorts of phenomena (ufo sightings, MiB etc.) are all hallucinations. I know that the way i am discussing these issues it might be construed that I have that attitude but I asure you I do not. The idea of a collective/transpersonal unconscious itself is probably seen as part of the whole panopoly of fringe topics and itself is not 'proven'; but it is a great working hypothesis and does explain many things. My point was really about projecting into the uknown, not to say what they are or whether they are real. As Jaques Vallee and others have pointed out, abductions and what have you adhere surprisingly well to mythological matrices in many ways if you look at them phenomenologically, and that something has changed in the way we relate to the unknown. the peripheral.

Many of these events seem not to just require interpretation, they seem tjo actively challenge it - it is not so much is it real but what is reality? A postion of either/or on reality doesnt seem tenable. What is needed is some kind in between, semi- or quasi- real.

Just for example; if an intrusion from another dimension or brane say occured - this object or being technically cannot exist in our 'here', some of the physical laws it normally abides by are in all liklihood not applicable.
It then becomes a matter of having to negotiate between its originating reality and 'our' reality - if there are obsservers here chances are that their psychological interpretation of the event are going to partially order the reality of that being or object (possibly due to large scale quantum fluctuations etc.) strange as that might seem.

Many of these phenomena seem to have a very strong psycholgoical aspect to the point where sometimes it almost seems like that is the point.
So Jungian psychology is one of the theories that provides some kind of framework, many other psychologies do not. But it is impossible to long ignore the psychological implications.

To the "true believer" that disagreed with you, you need to get your head checked out buddy.

In the Dark Ages it was getting abducted by fairies, alone in the woods. In modern times, it's getting abducted by aliens, alone in your bed or on a small lake.

You've hit the nail right on the head, it's just that if some of these people realized this they could discuss these topics and realize that they have more to do with changing your consciousness than with developing a laser gun to defend Earth from aliens.