Evolutionary Metaphors: UFOs, New Existentialism and the Future Paradigm

by David J. Moore

Evolutionary Metaphors is an exploration of the many occult, esoteric, imaginative as well as creative speculations that have resonated around the UFO phenomenon. Understanding the phenomena as an archetypal challenge to our cultural limitations, the author, David J. Moore, incorporates Colin Wilson’s optimistic ‘new existentialism’ with the recent studies in ufology. The book presents a spiritual and philosophical foundation for the creative integration of our consciousness towards anomalous experience. It is a call for what Carl Jung called ‘active imagination’ and Coleridge’s poetic-imaginative access to the deeper streams of consciousness - that which exists below the iceberg. By presenting a fresh approach in the inter-disciplinary spirit, Moore offers a vision into human existence - as well as the symbolical realities - that aims to integrate our evolutionary minds with a new understanding of reality.

Genres: Nonfiction

162 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 31, 2019

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book I got as a gift from a friend, who did not enjoy reading it much. I can understand why: The content is as shockingly 1970's New Agey for a book written in 2019 as the psychedelic cover art promises, often getting into rather flakey territory. The author also relies heavily on quoting other authors' work without doing that much analysis on this own. However, I enjoyed reading "Evolutionary Metaphors" for several reasons. Not only does it build on ideas I first encountered in The Occult by Colin Wilson, a book I got interesting information and ideas out of despite not being on board with Wilson's conclusions. Author David J. Moore also gives a good introduction to the "UFO contact as religious awakening and existentialist hero's journey" idea-complex described listing many other authors' takes on the same subject. Many of whom I either have never heard of (e.g. Bertrand Meheust) or had heard of without knowing much about their ideas. (e. g. Jason Jorjani)

"Evolutionary Metaphors" is an analysis of the UFO contactee phenomenon as not just a form of space-age religion with extraterrestrials in place of angels, demons or gods (a fairly common perspective) but also as a form of existentialism. The key to realising this is to notice just how many UFO witnesses go through a "hero's journey" process of philosophical and spiritual awakening as a result of their experiences, where they suddenly get a whole new sense of order and direction to their lives as a consequence of having a new grand narrative and new understanding of their own place in the universe. This is not a new idea, being a recurring theme in science-fiction novels about extraterrestrial contact. Examples include Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Wilson's own The Space Vampires, later filmed as "Lifeforce". However, it is nice seeing it put into print and formulated in a clearer way than I could myself.

Another key insight here is that religious awakening and existentialistic individuation are not always easily separable, as the former frequently involves some kind of extraordinary experience that opens up the individual's perspective to the underlying true nature of reality by shocking them out of a materialistic worldview. This becomes clear in the case of UFO contactees, except that their experiences of this shift in consciousness usually come in a form that fits into a modern scientific worldview. After all, it is easier for a modern Westerner to believe in extraterrestrial life than in angels and demons. Colin Wilson made similar comments on psychic powers in his "The Occult", where he observed that learning to use paranormal powers (the "Faculty X" as he called it) involves discovering how much agency you really have in the world but were hitherto unaware of.

I am still not convinced of many of the ideas advanced forwards in this book. I also wager it would not be as impressive to readers already more familiar with the other authors referred to. The important thing is, this book opened my perspective to taking the ideas mentioned inside more seriously and to re-read books that do touch on some of the same themes. (e. g. Clarke's "2001" which I remember not understanding very well last time I read it)

[Jason Heppenstall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for anyone interested in the idea of evolving consciousness and what the UFO phenomenon might represent. David Moore takes the works of Colin Wilson and - building on the ideas outlined in Alien Dawn - extends them for a new audience.

[Richard Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

At its strongest when it is demonstrating the common ground between the witness-statements of 'UFO abductees' and the experiences of mystics and shamen throughout the ages, this one is less convincing when it proposes some degree of 'intentionality' on the part of the 'UFO's and the entities travelling in/with them. The book convinces me that some folk have found the experience of a Close Encounter, in the long-run, beneficial but it doesn't convince me - necessarily - that the entities involved are acting for our benefit; after all, many millions of insects and microscopic animals live in and upon its bark but that doesn't prove an oak has an affable or benevolent disposition. Symbiosis can happen by accident. I am, though, convinced completely that those who live through such encounters find them unlike any other life experience - wholly alien and not readily analysed by known scientific method.

[Paul Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think David Moore has been writing excellent Wilsonian articles for some years. This is his first book and I hope the first of many.

If you're a fan of Colin Wilson's later books, the works of Anthony Peake, Gary Lachman or Jacques Vallee l think you will find this a superb debut, very well written and a joy to read.

[Sherrie Dillard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives a fresh and in depth study into UFO's and other phenomena. I appreciate and learned a lot from the other's study of this timely area

[- Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh the charm I feel when I read someone who had read colin Wilson what a common ground

[Gomery Kimber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book and it marks the debut of a thinker in the tradition of the late, great Colin Wilson. David Moore uses Wilson’s New Existentialism as a kind of key to help unlock the mystery of the ufo experience, always baffling, sometimes terrifying.

Society may nowadays be pleased to call ufo abduction ‘anomalous,’ but this has not always been the case, and I found the most important part of David’s investigation near the end of the book where he considers shamanism. Like Charles Fort, David Moore is not afraid to stray into the absolute elsewhere and readers of his work will be glad that he dares to do so. Life is stranger than we think and our normal mode of ‘daylight consciousness’ gives only a partial view of actuality. Be assured that David Moore’s reconnoitring of other worlds, in this book and his next, will gift the reader a boon.