Aliens, outer space, the astral plane, mysticism, ghosts, spirits, and in general 'the other side' form a complex set of audiovisual imagery ingrained in our subconscious. Because of years and years of subliminal programming from exposure to how they are depicted in the arts we cannot help but connect certain sights and sounds to 'out of this world' paranormal phenomena.
But is this imagery valid?
Artists and musicians maintain that there are patterns and a hierarchical order connecting all sensory experiences from sorrow and grief, to blandness and boredom, to joy and relief. We relate bright colours, high notes and light, boppy tunes to happy events and dark murky colours, sombre low notes and plodding rhythms to the opposite. But why? Is it just conditioning? How did they come to represent those things?
Why are aliens portrayed as technologically advanced, communicating by digital synthesised noises, having superpowers and always deformed, mutant, half machine or half zombie? Unless you've encountered them in real life the only reason you'd expect to see an alien lifeform as weird is due to the arts. All hypothetical indeed.
Back to the real world. The reason I mentioned the astral plane earlier is because many philosophers, transcendentalists, theosophists and metaphysical seekers connect the astral planes as where we go when we dream, where we go when we die, and where we wait until we either take birth again or go to heaven if you're religious (I put that in for fun).
Here's something to think about. No matter what language is spoken, everyone laughs and cries the same. Foreigners don't go 'boo hoo' when they laugh and no-one goes 'ha ha ha' when they cry.
Some suggest that it is all part of a Universal Language. This is where the imagery comes from - a secret, hidden vault of life experiences that exists eternally in another dimension. This is what artists and musicians tap into to express themselves, and why it has an effect on us, moves us, and leaves an imprint.
Aliens again! What the? Maybe we HAVE seen a UFO. Maybe we HAVE been abducted and had our memory wiped. And what's with all the high-pitched screeching violins at seances and ghostly hauntings, and those theremins (THAT science fiction sound) whenever a spaceship appears out of nowhere. Perhaps those moviemakers have taken a bit of artistic licence and stolen a few things from the vault. Or perhaps they are real and exist on another plane or dimension that we are unaware of during normal waking consciousness.
Every now and then I'd like to hear an alien monster make harp string sounds. Or a ghost playing the banjo. And a UFO with trumpets for jet propulsion.
No. That would be far too incongruous and our minds won't make sense of any of it. Not in the vault, apparently.
