Sacred Skies: UFOs and the Religious Function of the Psyche

In this captivating episode, host Thomas Elsner sits down with Elliott Morgan—stand-up comedian, actor, and PhD student in depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute—to explore the psychological and spiritual dimensions of the UFO phenomenon. Drawing on Carl Jung's groundbreaking 1959 work Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky, their conversation delves into what Morgan calls "the enchantment around UFOs" and its profound implications for modern consciousness.As congressional hearings bring unprecedented credibility to reports of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), this discussion shifts focus from whether UFOs exist to examining what the phenomenon reveals about our collective psyche. Morgan argues that UFOs may represent a "newly dominant archetype" in the Western psyche—specifically, the trickster—blurring boundaries between material and immaterial, inner and outer, real and imagined.From synchronicities and shadow encounters to dreams of aliens and the breakdown of traditional meaning-making systems, this conversation explores how the UFO phenomenon might signal the emergence of a new god-image for a culture grappling with ecological crisis, technological acceleration, and the death of traditional religious forms. Is this "visionary rumor" pointing us toward a necessary transformation of consciousness at the end of an era?Join us for this mind-bending exploration of sacred skies, trickster energies, and the return of mystery in our modern world.Elliott Morgan is a comedian, content creator, and scholar of depth psychology currently pursuing his PhD at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California. He is one of the original members of the popular YouTube channel SourceFed and the founder of The Valleyfolk, a crowd-sourced comedy production company. He co-hosts The Fundamentalists podcast, along with Dr. Peter Rollins, which explores modern culture through the lenses of psychoanalytic theory, philosophy, and depth psychology.Based on Elliott Morgan's article "Sacred Skies: UFOs and the Religious Function of the Psyche" from Psychological Perspectives, Volume 66, Issue 3 (2023).Timestamps00:00 Introduction to Jungian Perspectives02:08 Today’s Guest, Elliott Morgan08:33 The UFO Phenomenon and Jung’s Flying Saucers12:08 The UFO as a visionary rumor18:43 The UFO as a Trickster Archetype26:25 UFO Sightings30:20 New God Image33:02 Transformation brought on by revelation38:26 UFOs in dreams45:55 Projection and Psychological Dimensions56:37 Outro to Jungian Perspectives