With her books Encounters and American Cosmic, religious studies professor Diana Pasulka explores the modern edges of belief.
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The Spotlight shines On Diana Pasulka, religious studies professor and the author of two books I have really enjoyed in the last few years: 2019’s American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology and Encounters: Experiences with Non-Human Intelligences, released in November 2023.
As Diana points out in her work and in our discussion, religious studies is not about the veracity of any particular religion or religious claim, instead, it is about the implications of belief on the believers and the societies they live in. As you will hear, this led to Diana’s interest in other groups of ‘believers’, namely people who claim to have had experiences with UFOs and other non-human intelligences. A big part of this work involves talking with and spending time with the so-called ‘experiencers,’ not only of UFOs but of angels, demons, and other types of perceived sentience and consciousness, including AI.
Another strand of Diana’s work, which we only briefly touched on but may be of specific interest to listeners of this podcast, is the role of media in shaping and reinforcing belief - and how context, presentation, and repetition shape perceived ‘truth’ about topics for which there is no objective or agreed upon fact. For example, Diana relays cases of experiencers who report interactions with crafts or beings that do not look like stereotypical flying saucers or little gray aliens. Even in the community of ufologists, those cases get criticized or dismissed because the reports are not what UFOs or aliens are supposed to look like.
In our hour together, we covered a fraction of the ground I would have liked to cover, so we are linking to Diana’s website, books, and other resources in the show notes.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:34 Spotlight on Diana Pasolka: Her Work and Interests
01:34 Exploring the Role of Media in Shaping Beliefs
02:57 Diana's Journey into the Study of UFOs
08:02 Understanding the Impact of Digital Infrastructures on Religious Belief
08:58 The Conjuring: A Case Study
11:03 Exploring the Historical Records of Aerial Phenomena
19:51 The Influence of Indigenous Traditions on UFO Studies
25:19 The Role of Media in Shaping Beliefs about Non-Human Intelligence
27:40 The Allegory of the Cave and Media Influence
27:59 Unveiling Project Blue Book and its Impact
28:33 The Struggle for Access to Classified Information
29:18 The Role of Media in Shaping Public Perception of UFOs
29:57 The Shift in Allen Hynek's Perspective on UFOs
30:28 Exploring Plato's Allegory of the Cave
31:14 The Manipulation of Public Perception Post-American Cosmic
31:44 The Influence of Ancient Texts on Modern Perception
33:59 Intermission and Podcast Promotion
34:21 The Complexity of Presenting Information on UFOs
34:42 The Age-Old Struggle and Spiritual Practices
36:28 The Role of Pre-Verbal Language in Extreme Environments
38:22 The Influence of Indigenous Authors and Western Tradition
39:40 The Impact of Plato and Aristotle's Teachings
46:04 The Importance of Jacques Vallée in UFO Research
50:24 The Emergence of the Sol Foundation
50:42 Closing Remarks and Appreciation
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Visit Diana Pasulka at https://dwpasulka.com
Follow Diana Pasulka on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/dwpasulka
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-heath-pasulka-512003205
and Twitter (X) → https://twitter.com/dwpasulka
Purchase Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences from Macmillan → https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250879578/encounters
Bookshop → https://bookshop.org/p/books/encounters-decoding-extraterrestrial-intelligence-from-beyond-the-edge-d-w-pasulka/19546887
or Amazon → https://www.amazon.com/Encounters-Experiences-Nonhuman-Intelligences-Pasulka-ebook/dp/B0BQGH6Q2P
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