There are some papers dealing with the recent discovery of "Mirror Neurons", after reading some of these, it struck me that this might explain a lot of psychological manifestations, including Alien Abduction Syndrome and other similar occurances.

According to this link (http://www.interdisciplines.org/mirror) There is a lot more to the story than just monkey experiments, I am wondering if the process described, ie: neurons firing when observing another doing something that interests the subject, might lead to certain symptoms that we hear about all the time in the UFO field, and might be a cause for such things.

If one is suffering from a psychological reaction to mirror neurons, for what ever cause, and has a disposition to fantasy or fugue states, then when the culture comes up with aliens abducting victims....and we have a full blown epidemic of Gray Aliens and various stories that all have a lack of proof and many internal inconsistencies.....

Dale

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A more likely explanation is "sleep paralysis"--as a lot of what "abductees" report mirror common sensations of sleep paralysis.

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

TD: I think I was looking at it the other way around, that mirror neurons cause sleep paralysis, which might be the root of all this...when they confabulate the cultural paradigm of abduction on top of the sleep state, which is full of fantasy anyhow...we get the current equivalent of sprites, fairies,demons and other bogeymen...

Dale

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"Ad astra per aspera"

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night to turn over, and my leg will hurt like heck as I move it for a few minutes. Is this sleep paralysis?
Thinking about aliens could certainly make you "see" them if you thought about it strongly enough or were tired. When I was younger and saw a bit of a scary "documentary" about Gray Aliens, I was scared that Grays were sneaking up behind me any time that I couldn't see, and wouldn't fetch things from the basement or shut my eyes to shampoo my hair.

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No, that's your leg "going asleep" (loss of blood). You get into a position that causes loss of blood to a leg or an arm, and when the discomfort level gets great enough, it alerts your brain enough to get you moving, so that blood can return.

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Okay, at least I know what it is. My foot falling asleep during the day feels like nothing compared to when this happens at night. Is there anything I can do about it?

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Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song
'Evolution and science are one thing, but you don’t mess with Yoko Ono. Everybody knows that. ' - 386sx

That's because during the day you are awake and aware of the "warning" signals. Sleep paralysis is a hypnogogic state that can be quite frightening when it occurs but, with a bit of self control, can be quite enjoyable. It is usually a precursor to "out of body experiences"

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I did actually get to see a grey alien in the corner of my bedroom once, thanks to sleep paralysis and over-tiredness. So I know it can be done.

Half-asleep as I was, I seem to remember that I consciously willed the alien to become more vivid: this suggests to me that it was a lucid dream of some sort. Lucid dreams sound fun - and if I could be bothered I'd investigate them in more detail- but I don't have the time to spare.

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brief description of sleep- paralysis: you have "that dream where you can't move". It's as if your body is asleep but the mind is awake and aware, but you can't move a muscle, and your breathing is on full automatic without possibility of conscious control. It typically lasts for a few seconds before you come out of it. Sometimes, it is accompanied by a dream or hallucination. Typically, the dream/hallucination involves something you would want to run away from, but of course you can't move--with me, it was always a giant walrus with big tusks when I was a child. It is commonly a gorilla or monster of some sort, or a space alien, or Satan, or an incubus or succubus (mythical creatures once thought to punish sinners in their sleep by sitting on them and keeping them from being able to move). "the greys" are just the modern-day incubi.

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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

I might be inclined to agree with the general consensus. I've struggled a long time with certain aspects of faith and religousness in general. Whether or not God exists is only indirectly relevant, it's more about what we interpret as revelation.

I've long been frustrated that many christians are not only in disagreement with other religions, but tend to be hostile toward them even though those other religions/belief systems may have similar "revelation styles". Not to say God couldn't use visions and dreams, but why would he give different ones to different people. In particular I'm thinking about modern day "prophets" within the last two hundred years that people watch go into "vision" and come back with, well, whatever they come back with. Most are obviously fakes, just looking for attention. Some though, I wonder (and just looked into it recently actually, I wonder if I can find it again) have some sort of seizures or other funkiness going on.

I had even thought to myself "alien abductions would also be explained really well by this". Some people, again, are obvious fakes just out for attention, but some are really convinced of their experience. Maybe there are aliens (I doubt it) but this would fit much better.

Interesting this thread should come up so soon after I had a curious bout with such things. It must be a conspiracy...the aliens are trying to convince me they aren't real by presenting me with a false cover story...

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I had a dream similar to that about a ghost with a withered face, electric-shock hair, and a big, sharp sword. I was frozen there, hearing footsteps getting closer... closer... closer...
I woke up in the hotel room, and sighed in relief. But then I heard, outside the door, the footsteps still getting closer... closer... closer...
The door opened and I screamed and... it was my dad coming back from work after staying late.

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Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song
'Evolution and science are one thing, but you don’t mess with Yoko Ono. Everybody knows that. ' - 386sx

I've had a few sleep-paralysis moments myself - none within the past few years, fortunately. I don't see any aliens or anything of the sort - I just wake up and I can't move. Feels really weird.

- Maha "is this normal?" Vailo

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Sure that was a sword, and not a remote?

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One need only visit the drinks aisle of your local supermarket to find out the most likely cause of alien abduction reports.

Doug

Yes, it was a woman with a skeletal face and curved sword. I would not run from a guy with a remote.

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Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song
'Evolution and science are one thing, but you don’t mess with Yoko Ono. Everybody knows that. ' - 386sx