Disclosure: Permission to Think the Unthinkable
If the Earth is teeming with non-human flying objects, then the future is liberated: anything can, and just might, happen.
Early in my life I discovered something unusual about myself: thinking certain concepts causes physical sensations ranging from pleasurable brain tingling to uncomfortable heart racing. I first discovered this as a preteen when reading Sophie’s World, a novel about philosophy that repeatedly triggered delightful brain tingles.
I remember having a particularly strong reaction when the author explained Zhuangzi’s famous meditation: “I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?”
Ever since I figured out the connection between ideas and sensation, I have been drawn to the thoughts that cause these sensations. That is one of the main reasons I majored in philosophy in college. And many of my special interests were chosen because of the sensation they bring when being pondered.
I think these sensations are a kind of ASMR or synesthesia. They do feel remarkably similar to the tingles I get from watching people chew ice—which is a common ASMR trigger—but their connection to concepts and inner speech suggests synesthesia.
When I was young, I pursued the concepts that gave pleasurable tingles.
But as I aged, I also began studying the concepts that caused uncomfortable physical reactions: heart racing, feelings of claustrophobia, a sense of terrifying vastness, etc. I’ve made a list of them and if I think about them deeply enough—or if I’m very tired—I can consciously trigger the sensations over and over again.
I’m sharing this because two of the concepts that always works on me, and which I’ve been privately studying for years, are outerspace and extraterrestrials: two topics that have suddenly become relevant to us all.
Last weekend, three unidentified flying objects were shot from the sky above North America. The unusualness of the event is double underlined by the fact that this was the first time in the history of the United States that the military has shot down an airborne object within the nation’s airspace.
The government claims the objects have not been recovered and insists that they still do not know what they are. When asked directly if these objects are extraterrestrial aliens, the U.S. General in charge of protecting America’s airspace confessed: “I haven't ruled out anything.”
For those who have been following the trickle of information about “unidentified aerial phenomena”—which includes videos taken by advanced military jets of unknown objects demonstrating wildly futuristic technological capabilities—the most likely explanation is the one unthinkable for mainstream society: human civilization is not the most advanced lifeform on Earth.
That conclusion still leaves open plenty of room for debate. Within the extraterrestrial literature, there is a surprisingly wide range of explanations. Some take the classic view that these are aliens from outer-space. While others insist they are an alien society that lives amongst humans on Earth. Still others believe they are human time travelers from the future. They might be biblical demons. Or they could be artifacts of an unknown aspect of reality, such as cracks in the multiverse.
What I find crucial, however, is not the outcome of the debate about what these non-human objects might be. Instead, it is that the debate brings us closer to “Disclosure”—the moment when the existence of advanced non-human entities is openly acknowledged by governments and accepted by the average person.
One of the critiques of Disclosure is that it’ll be a dangerous distraction from the real world problems you and I face. Some go so far as to argue that the unknown flying objects are a hoax perpetrated by the government to scare the populace into submission. From this perspective, the reason the military claims to have shot down unknown objects is to bury news about America’s involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline bombing, the toxic plume in East Palestine, Ohio or the unmasking of Epstein’s friends—pick your topic based on your ideology, but don’t question the importance of your ideology!
For me, disclosure is permission.
Disclosure is permission to let go of the concerns that dominate us. If the Earth is teeming with non-human flying objects, then the future is liberated: anything can, and just might, happen.
The chief of the IMF recently said that the key to navigating today’s reality is to “think the unthinkable.” The world does not function how we used to think it does, she warned: “we all have to change our mindset to be much more agile.”
My whole life I have been guided by tingles and jolts toward the unthinkable. Now it seems the unthinkable is becoming more and more thinkable. I’m looking forward to feeling what happens next.