Paper short abstract:

This presentation attempts a preliminary investigation into the connection between UFOs and modern esotericism.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, the UFO phenomenon has become mainstream and under active consideration by the US government, introducing ideas of time travel, advanced states of evolution, and magical technological abilities into public conversation – all themes that have been found in modern currents of alternative spirituality known as esotericism. Esotericism in the modern context is largely understood as an array of related but differentiated ideas and movements that emerged during Europe's transition to a global modernity. Often this took place in reaction to Enlightenment rationalism, but just as often it was an attempt to synthesize allegedly separate domains of knowledge (e.g. religion, magic, and science) and ways of knowing (e.g. rationally, mystically, scientifically, etc.). What's important is that the modern groups and thinkers now associated with esotericism challenged the view that the cosmos was spiritually uninhabited and only scientifically explainable. For them, a much wider perspective was required. Is there a connection between the development of modern esotericism and the UFO phenomenon? If so, do they share a specific type of modern religiosity, a way of knowing the world, which includes ideas of planetarity, evolution, technics, outer space, various forms of monism, and interaction with non-human intelligences? This presentation will attempt a preliminary investigation into this connection in order to offer us, as so-called moderns, living in the modern world, a chance to enter a liminal state, an esoteric reality, to get outside ourselves and see the world from a different perspective – a perspective that could help us better understand theories of disenchantment and secularization and their potential pitfalls.