Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World

Therapy
alien abductions to help them 'remember' their experiences. He is
gratified when what they eventually recall under hypnosis resembles
what he describes in his papers. The similarity of the cases is one of
his chief reasons for believing that abductions really occur.
A leading UFO scholar comments that 'When the hypnotist does
not have an adequate knowledge of the subject [of alien abductions],
the true nature of the abduction may never be revealed'. Can we
discern in this remark how the patient might be led without the
therapist realizing that he's leading?
Sometimes when 'falling' asleep we have the sense of toppling from
a height, and our limbs suddenly flail on their own. The startle
reflex, it's called. Perhaps it's left over from when our ancestors slept
in trees. Why should we imagine we recollect (a wonderful word)
any better than we know when we're on firm ground? Why should
we suppose that, of the vast treasure of memories stored in our
heads, none of it could have been implanted after the event, by how
a question is phrased when we're in a suggestible frame of mind, by
the pleasure of telling or hearing a good story, by confusion with
something we once read or overheard?
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