The Cult of Bigfoot

The field of Bigfoot "research," "hunting," "exploration," "conservation," "investigation," is exploding with zealotry.

Here's the dividing camps:

Believers (theists) Motto: Everything is a `squatch!

Nonbelievers (atheists) Motto: There is absolutely no such thing as a `squatch!

Skeptics (agnostics) Motto: Prove there's a `squatch and then I'll believe!

We have the same thing in the ghost hunting world; "everything is a ghost," "there are no ghosts," and "I'll believe in ghosts when I see one."

Here's our dilemma:

You cannot make a believer stop believing. Try it to a Catholic or a Jew some time and see what happens. Nada. Once someone believes in something, it becomes a part of their explanatory style. To a New Ager, if a butterfly lands on her, it is surely a sign of a visit from a dear friend. If a Catholic sees a human shape in a tree trunk, it becomes the Mother Mary. So long as belief is a part of how we explain our world, every death of a loved one is God's will and to the Bigfooters, every acorn dropping in a forest is a distant wood knocking.

You think believers are immovable? Try a nonbeliever. Their intellectual ego is invested in there being no unknowns in the world that could have passed their detection. They have said quite vehemently that these things CANNOT exist. To believe in it, would be to ruin the order of this person's "logical" world in which all things that are, have been explained already. When he declares something, this declaration become his reality and his intellect is at stake!

Next, we have the noncommitals. This is perhaps where the largest grouping of our population lies, in that most folks don't give Bigfoot a thought but suppose that if one shows up and is captured, they will then know Bigfoot exists (not believe, but know).

The most vocal people in the world of religion are the theists and the atheists and the agnostics stay quiet as neither their belief system nor their intellectual ego is threatened by the determination of whether there is or is not a God.

Sometimes, we lose the object of this search for proof of Bigfoot because we become driven by belief systems and egos. A lot of the ugliest infighting and insanity-making going on in the BF arena right now is based on the egos involved and the cult of the believers.

Within those believers, you also have your figureheads from self-purported BF hunters and pseudo-celebs and camo-wearing/gun-wielding good ol' boys. It's a lot like your reverends and ministers, pastors and priests. Everyone has a cult they've joined, and belief system under that figurehead that they adhere to, even when some of the doctrines are ridiculous. Teams are pitted against each other, catty name-calling and petty fighting has broken out in the ranks and creating even more fervor for their leader. You see, their identities are now now affiliated with that team and the collective's message.

Personally, I have seen this creature. I have heard this creature. I don't believe in Bigfoot. I know.

So, those of us who do not believe, do not disbelieve, and are not ambiguous about Bigfoot's existence, those of us who know of it can sit back and observe without involving our ego or our belief system and therefore never risk losing ourselves in the ever evolving holy war.

Perhaps it's time for all those of the Cult of Bigfoot and the ego-driven naysayers to just sit back for a moment and have a listen...