[mythistorian]

Do I believe that UFOs are real? This question reminds me of the answer Jung gave to the analogous question of whether he believed in God or not: “Difficult to answer. I know. I don’t need to believe.” (C. G. Jung Speaking 428) Or again when says: “I only believe in what I know. And that eliminates believing. Therefore I do not take His existence on belief—I know that He exists.” (251) Such statements are indeed ambiguous and require further discussion. Does he mean that he has objective scientific proof for the existence of God? No, that’s not it. So what does he mean by it? Some kind of gnostic confession of faith?

In any case, I must admit a deep affinity with Jung on this question. In terms of where I stand on my “belief” in alien presence on earth, my answer could look like Jung’s. I don’t believe, I know They are here; They have always been here. As a phenomenologist, UFOs are not for me objects of belief. But the question of their objective “existence” in our usual definitions of “reality” gets a bit muddled, especially when we fail to clarify the ontological status of the “exists,” and the differences between various modes of knowledge and belief.