The experience that I am about to talk about is the first significant odd event in my life that I can recall. I like to consider this event the one that might have sparked my path toward individualization.

I was about 18 years old when this first happened. I remember falling asleep but waking up because I felt something in my room. That feeling can best be described as a rush of energy nearby. When I opened my eyes, I remember seeing gray figures in my room. Still, I couldn’t fight back because an intense sensation immediately rushed into my head – almost telepathically. This is much different from a sleep paralysis experience, which I’ve had multiple times. As I was lying in my bed, practically tranquilized by this intense energy entering my brain, I felt as if I were receiving an immense amount of information and data at the speed of light. I felt like I was being programmed.

When I woke up, I tried to make sense of what had happened the previous night. Was it a bad dream? As I was lying in bed, I realized I was on my blanket – meaning my bed was already made. I could not understand how my bed could have been made unless I was sleepwalking – which I’ve never done. I thought perhaps my mother or someone in my family could verify this possibility and maybe even had tucked me in last night. However, that possibility was no longer an option since my family did not see me up that night or experience anything unusual. I still wondered whether I had sleepwalked only within my room and tucked myself in. However, what I soon discovered as I was changing near the mirror added another layer of strangeness to this experience. At the bottom of my back was a scar I had never had, and it is still there to this day.

Analyzing and providing a logical perspective on what occurred that night remains challenging. The common skepticism I receive from peers and family about this experience is that it was a case of sleep paralysis or a dream. As I mentioned, I’ve had my fair share of sleep paralysis, and I can vividly describe it. Each time, I wake up in terror, almost feeling as if there is an entity or something on top of my chest, and I am unable to move. It is a phenomenon of being aware of your surroundings and sometimes feeling a strange presence in your room. It is that feeling of trying to scream, but nothing comes out. This was not the case.

In terms of it being a possible dream, the experience was too vivid for me to believe this theory. Also, how could sleep paralysis and dreams explain the scar I had received on my back? While I could not find a reasonable explanation for what happened, I tried to take a different approach, which is considering that period of my life. Looking back, I realize my life drastically changed right after.

I believe I was 18 or turning 18 at this point in my life, and some might call that age a significant point in a man’s life. I remember that circumstances had intensified quite a bit at this point, as college and even career prospects began to take shape in my mind. I also started to become more rebellious and embraced myself as an individual. I made a huge decision not to play football my senior year, despite the expectations the coaches, friends, and family had of me. For many years, I did what society told me to do – be a follower. The sense of not doing what was expected of me was a pivotal moment in pursuing an individual path. Looking back, it might seem silly, but as a young man in modern society, there are not many moments that allow us to make an individual choice, given the influence that teachers, friends, and family have in the first 18 years of our life.

As I write this, the new thought patterns and way of thinking that emerged soon after these events can seem foreign to the person I was before the experience. Where did the sense of individuality and rebellion come from, if not from my parents and friends? These new concepts and ideas must have originated somewhere to influence my thinking.

This leads me to two other questions to think about:

• Could it have been that the telepathic data transmitted into my brain were the foreign concepts that would soon play a pivotal part in my development as a young man?

• Could our brain process foreign ideas and concepts and manifests them into this world as what modern culture describes as Aliens and UFOs?

It is important to note that this interpretation does not dismiss the possibility of UFOs being real physical objects. Instead, I am emphasizing the symbolic representation they hold within the psyche.

The experience that I am about to talk about is the first significant odd event in my life that I can recall. I like to consider this event the one that might have sparked my path toward individualization.

I was about 18 years old when this first happened. I remember falling asleep but waking up because I felt something in my room. That feeling can best be described as a rush of energy nearby. When I opened my eyes, I remember seeing gray figures in my room. Still, I couldn’t fight back because an intense sensation immediately rushed into my head – almost telepathically. This is much different from a sleep paralysis experience, which I’ve had multiple times. As I was lying in my bed, practically tranquilized by this intense energy entering my brain, I felt as if I were receiving an immense amount of information and data at the speed of light. I felt like I was being programmed.

When I woke up, I tried to make sense of what had happened the previous night. Was it a bad dream? As I was lying in bed, I realized I was on my blanket – meaning my bed was already made. I could not understand how my bed could have been made unless I was sleepwalking – which I’ve never done. I thought perhaps my mother or someone in my family could verify this possibility and maybe even had tucked me in last night. However, that possibility was no longer an option since my family did not see me up that night or experience anything unusual. I still wondered whether I had sleepwalked only within my room and tucked myself in. However, what I soon discovered as I was changing near the mirror added another layer of strangeness to this experience. At the bottom of my back was a scar I had never had, and it is still there to this day.

Analyzing and providing a logical perspective on what occurred that night remains challenging. The common skepticism I receive from peers and family about this experience is that it was a case of sleep paralysis or a dream. As I mentioned, I’ve had my fair share of sleep paralysis, and I can vividly describe it. Each time, I wake up in terror, almost feeling as if there is an entity or something on top of my chest, and I am unable to move. It is a phenomenon of being aware of your surroundings and sometimes feeling a strange presence in your room. It is that feeling of trying to scream, but nothing comes out. This was not the case.

In terms of it being a possible dream, the experience was too vivid for me to believe this theory. Also, how could sleep paralysis and dreams explain the scar I had received on my back? While I could not find a reasonable explanation for what happened, I tried to take a different approach, which is considering that period of my life. Looking back, I realize my life drastically changed right after.

I believe I was 18 or turning 18 at this point in my life, and some might call that age a significant point in a man’s life. I remember that circumstances had intensified quite a bit at this point, as college and even career prospects began to take shape in my mind. I also started to become more rebellious and embraced myself as an individual. I made a huge decision not to play football my senior year, despite the expectations the coaches, friends, and family had of me. For many years, I did what society told me to do – be a follower. The sense of not doing what was expected of me was a pivotal moment in pursuing an individual path. Looking back, it might seem silly, but as a young man in modern society, there are not many moments that allow us to make an individual choice, given the influence that teachers, friends, and family have in the first 18 years of our life.

As I write this, the new thought patterns and way of thinking that emerged soon after these events can seem foreign to the person I was before the experience. Where did the sense of individuality and rebellion come from, if not from my parents and friends? These new concepts and ideas must have originated somewhere to influence my thinking.

This leads me to two other questions to think about:

• Could it have been that the telepathic data transmitted into my brain were the foreign concepts that would soon play a pivotal part in my development as a young man?

• Could our brain process foreign ideas and concepts and manifests them into this world as what modern culture describes as Aliens and UFOs?

It is important to note that this interpretation does not dismiss the possibility of UFOs being real physical objects. Instead, I am emphasizing the symbolic representation they hold within the psyche.