Existing in Different Realities

Reality is an interesting concept.  Basically its the mental question that we ask on a second by second basis: "What is real?"

Reality is the state of things as they actually exist, not as it appears or as it is imagined.  Are UFOs a reality?  That depends on how you view reality which in turn goes to state of mind.  And most importantly, that reality may be intractably imbedded in relativism.  I'll touch on the concept of relativism in a later post, but it is the biggest obstacle we face when discussing the UFO subject both from a skeptical and believer point of view.

Can we exist in different competing realities?  The obvious answer is yes.  I use a personal example of living in two different versions of reality...and both were real, existing side by side, but one totally hidden from the other, yet meeting the textbook definition of reality.

Most know by now that back in the early 1980s I was a missile officer for the old Strategic Air Command...I was on a Minuteman II launch crew pulling nuclear alerts at Malmstrom AFB, MT.  Rather than live on base, my wife and I lived in the local community of Great Falls proper.

We initially lived in an apartment then saved up to buy a small home.  Along the way my daughter was born.  During this time I was subjected to the realities that come with living in a local economy.  I had rent/mortgage to pay along with the usual utility bills.  Gas was $1.15 per gallon and I bitched and moaned about that.  Social outlets were movies, occasional eating out at local restaurants, and road trips around that beautiful state called Montana.  This was the normal reality that most Americans were living in.

Contrast that to going out on nuclear alerts.  Getting up at 5 or 6 am depending if I had packed my crew bag the night before.  Pre-departure briefing at 7 am.  Because I was in the 490th SMS, I could anticipate a 2 to 3 hour drive to the site.  Once the alert commenced time changed as I was no longer clocking time in Pacific Standard local, but now under Zulu [GMT].  There was no visual references for day or night.  It was noisy as cold air was being blown into the equipment racks to keep them from overheating.

There would be a constant flow of message traffic [we were in a higher state of DEFCON] via the Primary Alerting System.  A warble tone...deedle, deedle, deedle ..."Sky Bird, Sky Bird, the is the SAC Airborne Command Post with a test of the primary alerting system...acknowledge."  This would go on with SAC HQ, 15th Air Force HQ and 8th Air Force HQ...all day and that does not include the myriad of Emergency Alert Messages that hit the command net.  I was surrounded by motor generator noise, radio traffic, communication racks discharging messages, buzzers and ringing bells.  Throw in the constant SAC exercises for good measure to complete the picture.

The above two mentioned realities co-existed side by side, yet one was totally hidden from the other.  So yes it is possible for two different realities to exist as both reflected things as they actually existed despite appearances and one's imagination.