Saucer-shaped

Jenny Randles makes the interesting point that the word ‘saucer’, used commonly to describe the appearance of UFOs, started out as a term to describe their movement [ FT349:27]. This naturally implies that if the appearance of UFOs as ‘saucer-like’ followed from this, then there was a sense of our seeing or saying we had seen something that came about as a mistake or misinterpretation of what was ‘really there’. Did the common idea of a UFO stem from a mistake? An unusual problem that begs further thought.

Whilst this is a natural and arguable conclusion, there are other interpretations that deserve consideration. Firstly that it is possible that by coincidence UFOs do look like saucers, which is why the word acquired its longevity; and secondly, perhaps the movement of the original crescent-shaped craft that were described as saucers requires craft to be saucershaped too. This is a case of which came first, the chicken or the egg? Did the word ‘saucer’ inform our perceptions or are we seeing something that is really saucershaped? I suspect we are seeing both chicken and egg.

Alice Hepple is concerned that a dream she had was both trying to kill her and rescue her [ FT347:77]. The dream occurring whilst she has a severe asthma attack represents one side of her attempting to keep her asleep whilst the other side wakes her up. Fortunately, the truth is much more likely to be healthier than that. What she felt with regard to feeling restrained by the dream is I suspect sleep paralysis: whenever we sleep the body goes into a state of mild paralysis so as not to act out thoughts that we might dream. This is to enable it to rest and is why it was so difficult to wake up despite being aware of the need to do so. Ms Hepple’s dreams only had one moral side: the one that urged her to awaken. Simon van Someren London