Riflessioni sulle religioni ufologiche e sul contattismo

In this article we will consider the contactees, a privileged object of study of religious ufology. The contactees are men who claim to have met the aliens and to have received from them the mission of making known to men truths of a religious nature of fundamental importance. Furthermore, contactees are very often founders of new religions called UFO religions.

The modern stories of encounters between human beings and non-human identities from other worlds belong to an ancient tradition that has been studied in the history of religions. The basic elements of the contactee theories are the following: aliens reveal their presence to contactees without them having any expectation; usually the contactees are pushed to go to a given place where the meeting will take place by a telepathic message. Furthermore they claim that aliens are superior beings who wish to help humanity by preaching a message of peace and responsibility. Another very important fact for historians of religions is the similarity between the stories narrated by the contactees and the doctrines of theosophy since the brothers of the contactee space have the same characteristics as the "cosmic masters" of the theosophical belief system.

It is not very difficult to get contactees into well-defined religious and sociological historical categories and typologies. They have a lot in common with other types of prophets and the structure of their belief system is very similar to what we can find in many traditional religions. The contactees are defined by the historians of religions as the "prophets of the space age" and can be considered as the modern equivalents of the prophets of the Judeo-Christian tradition. And they can be understood in the broader context of a "prophetic pattern".

In this respect Weber distinguishes between two types of prophets: the type of the emissary and that of the exemplar. Contactees without any difficulty can be framed in the prophetic type of the emissary (this type of prophet believes that he has received a message of great importance from extra-human entities that he must communicate to men). Contactees can also be framed in other religious models. There are for example many statements and beliefs of contactees that recall shamanism. The shaman in fact travels to the land of spirits where he receives powers and knowledge which he brings back to the world of men and which he uses to improve the conditions of human beings.

Similarly, many contactees travel in space to distant worlds, see wonders of all kinds and return to earth with a mission to accomplish and sometimes even receive special powers. Furthermore, contactees also have many characteristics in common with the mediums of spiritism. In fact, we must point out that some contactees are endowed with mediumistic powers and in some cases are also part of mediumistic circles in which they occupy a role of considerable importance.

Furthermore, it frequently happens that the contactees acquire mediumistic powers after the encounter with the aliens. Finally, it also happens very often that in the houses inhabited by the contactees poltergeist phenomena occur.

Da quanto abbiamo detto finora appare chiaro che esiste un legame misterioso tra presenza di poteri medianici e possibilità di diventare contattisti tanto che si potrebbe ipotizzare che dietro il contattismo lo spiritismo e i fenomeni paranormali si nascondano le stesse forze che si manifesterebbero di volta in volta con modalità diverse.

Furthermore, an element that characterizes almost all contactees is the belief that they are predestined individuals, chosen ones chosen from birth to carry out a specific mission. Another psychological trait that characterizes the personality of the contactees is the conviction of being hindered in their mission by the wickedness and ignorance of men.

We must not forget that the typology of the prophet persecuted by ungodly and wicked men is often present in the history of many religions. Another element that can be found in almost all contactees is the fact that they are completely uncritical towards the content of the message they receive from the aliens. based on them, there are elements taken from numerous traditional religions. Another pivotal element of the religious vision and messages of the contactees are the apocalyptic themes since they argue that the earth is in danger of being destroyed by natural catastrophes or atomic conflicts due to the wickedness of human beings.

Such catastrophic events can only be avoided by the intervention of aliens who are seen as cosmic saviors. Such apocalyptic themes are combined with messianic themes based on the belief of an imminent public manifestation of aliens on our planet. This demonstration must be prepared by the action of an enlightened minority, ie the followers of the contactees themselves.

We conclude this article by highlighting that almost all contactees support the need to abolish nations in order to achieve a world government that unites all the peoples of our planet.

Prof. Giovanni Pellegrino

For those wishing to deepen the subject, we remind you that Professor Giovanni Pellegrino is co-author with Umberto Talarico of the book entitled “The new ufological religions“.