I was once asked by my state director to be a panel speaker about UFO's and abductions at a new age meeting, for lack of a better description. He had a prior commitment he could not break.
I was very interesting for all attending, especially me. I described many of the same concerns you just did.
Being the main so called UFO expert in the room on this panel, substituting for my State Director....prior to the meeting, mingling among the crowd, some approached me 'proclaiming' they had been abducted. Some I remember even with some degree of glee on their faces. I was glad to be there, I was seeing a whole other side I knew existed, just from reading many of Vallee's books..... but now..a whole room full of them to observe!
I was one of 5 panelists, representing Mufon then and what I knew about abduction cases. My views expressed were (are) somewhere between John Mack & Budd Hopkins, with some leaning toward Hopkins. Many did not dig what I had to tell them about the subject. They saw it as a spiritual awakening, or a positive experience. I said that was wonderful, and they were fortunate. But telling them that in surveys, only about 20% considered any of their experiences as 'positive', referring to Dr. Mack, Jacobs, Hopkins, Smith - was basically throwing a bucket of cold water on the subject - if I was to maintain any sense of integrity. Based also on what I already knew first hand talking with others, some I had worked with under regressions.
Frankly, I felt many of these people likely never had a experience. I reflected could it simply be I was accustomed to such persons approaching me in a different context, and I was too bias? I thought...no......just common sense told me you just don't go around announcing this sort of thing. Not to say it could not happen...but I was skeptical, perhaps more so.
They really were hoping for such an experience. It was closer a kin to a belief system or religious fervor. It was very illuminating, as I am sure many of you too - Jo, anna, and others have noticed perhaps.
I learned then one very important truth fundamentally - that you do not find the phenomenon - the phenomenon finds you.
I remember one young man who with some glee expressed he had been abducted...and repeated it to others in the room. Imagine saying in a social situation...that young man simply substituting the word 'abduction' for 'rape'. With the same glee?
It told me many people lack a purpose or focus in life. Many of these 'want a bes' are vulnerable to suggestion.
My colleague and dear friend Mary who works with experiencers is always seeking as a therapist how to instill in her clients some means of defense and coping skills. She sees first hand the damage after such supposed encounters. To her clients, it is definitely all too real.
Mary in her work sees as a source of strength tapping into our own sense of spiritually facing such encounters. However you wish to characterize it as. If the wish of the experiencer is to resist...one must do so physically, emotionally, but spiritually too. I do not see these entities as demons or supernatural, they seem to be quite mortal. But why not bring to bare that part of ourselves to gather strength from too?
Not eliminating fear, to become just passive. Fear is normal. But to find within some positive energy - you will survive this...with courage.
Yvonne Smith, a well known abduction researcher and hypnotherapist.... once told me about such folks..."be careful what you wish for".
Contrast these people seeking help, and those at that New Age consciousness meeting.
I think I have shared these thoughts before, so forgive me if I seem to be repeating myself.
Hope this makes some sense.
Steve