The term UAP—Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena—has replaced “UFO” in official language because it broadens the scope (and lessens the stigma.) These phenomena are not always flying, and they’re certainly not always shaped like saucers. UAPs can appear as glowing orbs, translucent geometric shapes, luminous plasma, or objects that move in ways that defy known physics. Some stop on a dime. Others vanish or shift direction with no inertia. Many move effortlessly between air, sea, and even space, without visible propulsion.

In 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense defined UAPs as:

“Any object operating or judged capable of operating in outer space, the atmosphere, ocean, or bodies of water that is not attributable to known human technology or natural phenomena.”

This definition reflects the growing number of credible reports, especially from trained observers like military pilots, radar operators, and intelligence officials. These accounts describe craft that far exceed the limits of human engineering—sometimes clocking speeds that would destroy a human body, or performing maneuvers that appear to break the laws of inertia, gravity, and time.

From “What” to “Who”—And How?

Much of the public discourse about UAPs focuses on shape, size, and capability. People categorize sightings into “tic tacs,” “black triangles,” “spheres,” “cylinders,” and increasingly, plasma-like or translucent light forms. Lue Elizondo, former director of AATIP (the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program), identifies five observable traits of UAPs that distinguish them from known aircraft:

1. Instant acceleration
2. Hypersonic velocity without sonic booms
3. Low observability (they’re hard to detect)
4. Transmedium travel (air, sea, space)
5. Positive lift without aerodynamic control surfaces

But rarely do people stop to ask:
Who or what is flying these things—and how?

We don’t have answers yet, but there is a growing overlap between the UAP conversation and research into consciousness. Some experiencers claim to attract UAP through prayer, meditation, or tuning into a specific frequency. This has led to increased interest in contact modalities like CE-5 (Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind), which emphasizes human-initiated communication using thought, intention, and emotional coherence.

Still, it’s worth asking whether we should be trying to call these things in at all. If we don’t know what they are or where they come from, is it responsible to try and make contact? Dark Forest hypothesis, anyone? Personally, I’m uneasy with the idea of summoning unknown intelligences, no matter how peaceful the intention. But no one’s really having that conversation. No one’s asking whether we should, only whether we can.

If even a fraction of these reports are true, then consciousness, not just propulsion, might be a missing piece in how we understand UAP.

The implications are staggering. This would suggest that perception, intention, or even emotional state could play a role in how or when these phenomena appear. The boundaries between the external world and our inner experience may be thinner than we think.

What Are We Seeing?

We may be (and likely are) dealing with multiple phenomena at once—some technological, some natural, and some perhaps beyond our current categories.

Observers have described a wide variety of UAPs: spheres that hover silently, metallic disks with no visible propulsion, glowing orbs that respond to thought, dark triangles the size of football fields, translucent shapes that ripple like heat waves, and fast-moving “tic tac” objects that defy inertia. Some seem solid, others plasma-like, and still others flicker in and out as if not entirely present in our dimension.

These are not easily explained by foreign adversaries or secret military programs. And while some sightings could be atmospheric or technological anomalies, the consistency of certain features, and the emotional impact on witnesses, suggests something more.