As the creator of the Area52 Youtube Channel, I’m also its biggest fan.
Today, I thought I’d give you some insight in why I think building this world through magical realism is not only beneficial to the collective body of truth-seekers but also necessary.
Our minds are wonderful architects of perception. Our five senses, as solid as the walls, floors and ceiling. The windows and doors made of our memory. The furniture, our emotions. The decor, our values. But the foundation is made of our assumptions.
Imagine walking up the stairs in your home at night. The lights are out but you’ve trod these steps so many times before, you could easily navigate them blindly. And you do just that. But just as you get to the very last step, your foot suddenly goes through the floor as if the step simply vanished from underneath your being! It takes you a second to realize that in fact you’ve simply miscalculated the amount of steps you’ve taken and overshot it by one. But in that moment, for a very small point in time, you, with all of your accumulated earthly knowledge, believed there to be a step. So much so that you would rest your entire weight on it. And in this next moment, everything you assumed to be real, turned out to be reality adjacent. That ephemeral moment in time was quite literally ground breaking!
So if assumptions (which can obviously be wrong) dictate a large portion of what we deem as real, then why bother assuming anything at all? Better yet, why not assume something far better for ourselves? Or at least more magical?
There is a story by Isabel Allende, Chilean-American novelist, (widely regarded as one of the most important living writers in the world) about a woman who learns her husband has been cheating on her. She doesn’t cry or confront him. That night she simply goes to the village dance.
At first her steps are light, but as the music builds she begins to think of him and everything he’s done. Something tightens in her chest and she starts to dance harder. Her movements grow increasingly fierce and sharp, and people step back to watch as she moves herself through the rhythm with this growing fury.
Far from the hall, her husband is in the pasture, trying to settle a restless herd. The cattle begin to shift and press together, uneasy for reasons unknown.
She pushes through the peak of the song with a furious dancing. Stomping her feet. Letting out small cries of anguish.
At that same moment in the field the herd breaks. The cattle surge in a violent rush and her husband disappears beneath them.
The music ends. She catches her breath, thanks the band, and walks out into the night. But the tale never explains the timing.
Maybe her dance caused it to happen. Maybe it was bad luck. The story doesn't choose a side for you, it kind of just leaves you wondering. That is what I strive to create. That exact moment where you ask yourself “could it be?”
The answer is inconsequential. The question changes everything.
I choose to present the topic of UFOs and Extraterrestrials etc to my audience in an entertaining way. Sometimes, in the words of Marshall McLuhan, Canadian philosopher, media theorist, and professor, “The medium is the message.”
Some may prefer a more direct approach when it comes to this topic and that's just fine. I however believe that if you expect an audience (especially one that is possibly uninitiated) to retain such complex and important information as is found in the deep wells of UFO lore, then you must make them care. Or at the very least, create an emotional attachment to the information, not unlike using mnemonics to memorize large numbers or playing cards.
Memory champions have employed these tactics for years. Attaching visceral, emotional, often graphic mental imagery to a set of mundane pieces of information which allows them to easily recall the information, often without failure. These "hooks" are what help create and maintain these neural connections. But you don't need to be a memory athlete to make people care or even to recall, you simply have to foster an environment where the audience allows themselves to be taken out for a spin.
Let's take the three Georges of entertainment that have helped create this environment for me and have encouraged me to pursue the unknown through their storytelling.
1. The late great George Carlin, one of the most influential and fearless comedians of all time. This George had a major hand in my personal development, his approach to politics, anti-establishment and focus on contradictions allowed me to question societal norms. Something that in this field is fully required.
2. George Orwell, famous British novelist and political thinker known best for his book "1984". This George's focus was abuse of political power, truth vs propaganda and language as a tool of manipulation. His forward thinking on how powerful figures will make use of technology to control and monitor its citizens gave me a whole new perspective on how our governments might behave. Again, a very useful tool when it comes to this subject.
3. George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars universe. This George challenged millions of people around the world to dream bigger and to imagine other civilizations filled with all sorts of intelligent lifeforms from around the Universe coexisting. His work helped me imagine life beyond earth.
The importance of entertainment or "the medium" cannot be understated when it comes to creating or providing a message. To me it is a medium I can nurture with love and care. A place of whimsy and folly and at times a place of earnestness and prudence. A world of unimaginable boundaries but also a familiar nostalgia. Like reminiscing about a memory that isn’t fully yours but isn't entirely foreign either.
I hope this sense is somewhat felt within some of you with every upload. I will continue to strive for that balance as long as you'll let me.
Thanks for reading.
CR
