One Seeker's Journey

What will/would the Awakening be like?

2008-01-03T15:50:30Z

For years, many including myself have been writing about a coming shift in consciousness - a psychic/spiritual emergence or Awakening. Since this sie is all about the coming New Civilization, I thought I'd pose the question here as to what people here feel that might be like.

I am currently writing a novel series about the transition, the time in which we make the change in consciousness, the apocalypse, the transitioning to the fifth world, or whatever one wants to call it.

There will most likely be a series of books (the first of which is pretty much done and looking for a publisher). The final book will be that in which we make the above-mentioned transition, whatever that might look like. I am currently trying to form a picture to the conclusion in my mind as I write a general backstory for the series.

My questions for the general NCN world are this:
1) How do you think a transition will actually occur (if it does)?
2) Will it be associated with 2012, or some other time? Gradual or sudden? etc...
3) What do you think the world will look like after such a transition?
4) What would life be like in such a world?
5) Will it be Psychic emergence? Some form of enlightenment? Something else? Or will we simply learn (somehow) to live together in a better way?

I have a zillion questions about this, and I've played with some ideas myself. But I'm most interested in the perspective of people in NCN, since this group is about the New Civilization.

Let me know what you think.
Thanx,
-Craig Lang

The Dream of the Trail

2007-10-09T15:32:39Z

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I awoke this morning in the middle of an interesting dream. In it, I had begun to take a short walk in the evening. I remember walking around my childhood neighborhood in Madison, WI. Suddenly, I found a trail near a park that was a bit beyond my normal childhood stomping grounds. I started to walk this trail and found that it went further than I thought. I continued on the trail and found that it kept going further and furhter.

I recall that in spots, the path looked challenging. It was late (this was only supposed to be a short, after-dinner walk), and I was concerned that I would run out of daylight pretty soon. In spots the way looked treacherous, and I did not want to be on this trail after dark (though visually, it looked pretty wide and smooth). Still, the idea of exploring was irresistable so I continued walking.

Eventually the trail led to another park, and then another. I realized that there was a whole series of parks I had known nothing about, even though this had been my childhood home. Finally, I ended up in a major park with a commons area and a shelter house were people were gathered. I apparently joined the people and got to know them pretty well. I fit into the group nicely, feeling right at home.

Fast forward a bit and we get to a moment where I was in the group, but now it was time to head home. It was alot later than I had thought. I asked one of the people there, the leader figure, exactly where we were. He confirmed my thoughts that the main road (Midvale Blvd., the "busy street" that runs several blocks from my house, and right behind my grade school) was just a few blocks away. I thought to myself that I could either take the trail back home, or walk along the boulevard (I remember again thinking that I did not want to be on the trail after dark). The next thing, I was saying goodbye to my new friends and setting out for home. I'm still not sure whether I took the trail or the road, but I know I was now on my way.

Dream interpretation is always an interesting thing. It was one of the first times in a while that I have clearly remembered a dream. I have not done that in quite some time, and this one was extraordinarily clear. Over the weekend, I had just read Cal Banyon's booklet on "the 7th Path," a relatively recently developed methodology of self-hypnosis and meditation. One of the things he says is that, as a side effect, one might begin to remember dreams after doing some of the suggested work. In addition, I have had extrememly deep meditations in the last few days. This usually happens at critical times in my life-path. So my thought is that there is most probably a big change afoot. This is probably both for myself individually, and for others in the bigger picture - as within, so without.

My own interpretation of this dream is that I-am/we-are going in a new direction, something I never knew existed but that is directly linked to that which has always been familiar. The trail looks scarey, yet is actually pretty smooth. I remember being concerned about being in this unknown place without guidance (i.e. after dark). However, the trail leads to something that is far better - a joining with a group (a purpose?) that is welcoming and confirms/affirms where I am and what my own purpose is.

I ask where I am, and one of the members of this new group, a leader figure, tells me that I am actually not very far from the conventional (Midvale Blvd.). Ultimately, as I need to return home, it is not clear to me whether this should be via the same trail (the new), or via the main boulevard (the old, straight and well-understood).

I still don't know which route I chose. Since we are approaching a RIF (layoff) at the day job, and I don't know whether I will get "liberated," this is a very valid question. I don't know whether I will be taking the familiar boulevard (keeping the day job), or the trail traveling through the wilderness, in the dark (going independent).

Yet, even on the trail, I realize that I am never actually very far from the boulevard; safety and conventionality are not as far away as they might seem at times. Even in the roughest of times, I'm probably safer than I think. In addition, both routes connect the new with the old. They join my new discovery of purpose and path with my life as it already exists.

Still, I wish I could have seen the end of the dream - which route I actually took. It would be nice to have a look ahead. Maybe I should bring a flashlight, just in case...

Not everyone is a skeptic...

2007-10-03T15:56:33Z

During the talk, I was expecting a bit of a skeptical audience, so I kept my talk pretty conservative. I focused mostly on close encounters of the first kind (CE1's) which are relatively close UFO sightings - close enough to see details, but not actually encounter occupants. My goal of the talk was to describe the apparent technological capability shown by UFOs, and what we would have to do to duplicate these effects.

I highlighted effects such as:
- High speed,
- Rapid accelleration,
- Hovering and very-low speeds,
- Completely silent operation (noted by nearly all sighting witnesses)
- Radiation, field and electromagnetic effects
- Ground traces.

I described a significant number of cases, displaying each aspect of the encounters. The talk briefly brushed on the abduction phenomenon - just enough to tickle/tease the curiosity, without getting too far beyond what the more conservative folks in the room could expect.

As I indicated above, I had expected some rather skeptical comments/questions. I noted a couple of people seemed to be somewhat turned off, but of the 15 to 20 people present, most seemed quite fascinated - one or two of them thoroughly drawn in.

I can usually tell from someone's reactions as I do a presentation like this, whether they have had some form of interaction with the phenomenon. And in at least one person, I saw exactly that. After the talk, the person came up to me and indicated that she had had an encounter that, as she described it, sounded almost exactly like a close encounter of the 4th kind (a.k.a. abduction).

The rate is about right, I found. Approximately one percent of the population seems to be affected by the phenomenon (events of the fourth kind), with about 10 percent having had more distant sightings (events of the first kind). When I talk about UFO research in public, I find that that same percentage, roughly 10 percent having seen something, with another 30% being interested. About 10% are hardened skeptics, with the remainder of those present having varying degrees of interest. These are just arm-wavey numbers from my own observations, but they seem pretty consistent.

So, again, where I expected (or at least was prepared for) a certain amount of skepticism, I refreshingly found a receptive audience, and possibly some closer involvement with the phenomenon than expected. It again helps me to get a feel for how pervasive the phenomenon appears to be, and also, how much more accepted it seems to have become in our society.

The Ark and The Grail - An evening of fascination and discernment

2007-10-02T20:26:19Z

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Yesterday evening, I went to a fascinating talk. It was presented at the Minnesota Theosophical Society, by Frank Joseph. Frank is a prolific writer and very detailed researcher. He has dug quite deeply into the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail and other historical legends/mysteries that have fascinated so many of us for so many years. I thought his talk was intriguing, and yet like most lectures on these topics, it had my discernment filter running in high gear.

Frank Joseph described a very different history behind the Ark - one which is very much not from the JudeoChristian point of view. He described how the Ark was initially installed in the Great Pyramid. At it's core is a crystal stone, an electromechanical transducer. It's purpose was to dampen out siesmic vibrations, as Egypt is in a very seismically active area.

Going back into prehistory, Joseph depicts the origin of Egyptian civilization, as with other civilizations, as descended from an initial union with the gods. Specifically, enlightened proto-humans of a previous age. At some point, human lust for power caused the separation, with a band of less (but still quite) enlightened people settling on the shores of the Nile delta.

At that point, the Pyramids suddenly simply appear. This is about 3100 BC (Note the top is dated to 3100 BC, while the bottom dates to about 2500 BC). At this point, they are carrying with them a large stone tablet, which is a source of energy, spiritual power, etc. This, they install in the sarcophagus of the pyramid. This is "coincidentally" at the start of the Egyptian golden age.

Segue ahead to the reign of Akhenaten, the pharoh who tried to introduce monotheism to Egypt. He removed the stone from the pyramid and installed it in his new religious capital. This caused the pyramid to lose its function, and "coincidentally" corresponded with a decline of Egyptian civilization. Once Akhanaten passed away, the stone was restored to its place in the King's chamber and Egyptian civilization "coincidentally" began it's second kingdom, a new golden age.

Now fast-forward a few years. After the death of Akhenaten, his followers, including a marginalized group known as the Hebrews, carried their monotheistic beliefs with them to the western part of the delta. At some point, they had a falling out with the restored polytheistic theocracy. They rebelled, under the leadership of one named Moshare. They overpowered the guardians of the pyramid and took the crystal tablet with them.

This was about the time of the Egyptian struggles with invaders they called the Sea People. During this time, the Hebrew rebellion caused them alot of trouble. But eventually, both were defeated. The Egyptians chased the Hebrews west across what is called the Sea of Reeds. At that point the Sea People attacked again, and a battle ensued in the marshes. Joseph theorizes that this probably led to the story of the parting of the Red Sea. Of course, the similarity is not lost on anyone. Moshare is the Hebrew Moshe, or Moses. And the crystal tablet, in its "carrying case" is, of course, the Ark of the Covenant.

Joseph goes on to describe how the ark is used throughout history, both for good and for evil. Fast forward to the middle ages. A band of nobles from Europe is sent by a secretive group opposed to the Catholic hierarchy, to the temple to search for the ark. This group soon becomes the Knights Templar - Knights of the Temple. Their real job is to search for the Ark and the Grail (Joseph states that these two are really the same thing). In summary, they found it, and spirited it away, eventually to France.

As the ark tends to enlighten all who possess it (with some definite downsides, however), the group appointed to guard it, the Cathars, founded a mini-civilization within France. At some point, the church cracked down on them, and on the Templars, resulting in the Albaginian Crusades - or, in short, a massacre of awful proportions. Again, the ark/grail was spirited away. Joseph suggests that it was hidden in a cave somewhere in the Pyrenees.

There's lots more, including Nazi Germany, etc. But I think you get the picture. There is an endless history of intrigues, travels, disasters and enlightenment that follows the Ark/Grail stories. It is a fascinating series of accounts, which Frank Joseph has researched, and builds a good case for. Whether they are true, the jury is definitely out. But they are tremendous food for thought.

What Joseph describes is quite at odds with several other recent works in the Grail hunt. One of these is the Martin Gardener, etc. al. work on "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" that describes the grail as, in actuality, the bloodline of Jesus. Another account that Joseph is in conflict with is the work of Graham Hancock that traces the Ark to the city of Axum. Again, who is right? I certainly don't know, but none of these can be dismissed out of hand without doing alot more homework.

So what do I believe? nothing. It definitely casts a new light on the Old Testament, which I never took literally, anyhow. As Frank Joseph stated, the Old Testament is a poetic recounting of history, captured from Hebrew oral tradition. It is a beautiful cornerstone to the Judeo-Christian family of religions, and thus, divinely inspired by God. But it ends with that.

So, again, I need to take with a grain of salt, anything I hear on these (pro or con). Anything described in most of this literature is simply a theory, an interesting interpretation of research and archival digging with many possible interpretations. For me, it was an evening of fascination and discernment.

Notes from NGH 2007

2007-08-14T17:32:24Z

I hitch-hiked on my instructor, Devin Hastings's table, using a sliver of his table space for a while. This was an interesting scenario in itself, as his table was so full of items that there turned out not to be enough room for mine (and he was the one who owned the table).

What happend was this: I ended up moving my books to a chair along side. This served both to distinguish me - making my books stand out (and down) from the table, and to provide lots of humor material. It brought alot of attention to the display, as I could say something like, "...and when you get to the edge of the world, there I am..." The result was that I got alot more publicity than I otherwise would have had I remained as a tiny sliver of Devin's table. And in return, I ended up selling quite a few CDs and books for Devin.

On Sunday, Kevin Hogan closed down his table a little early. Kevin's table was next to ours, so I quickly snarfed some vacant table space to spread out my wares. This was perfectly synchronistic, as immediately after my talk, I had quite a few people interested in "Bridge." Ultimately, I ended up selling a fair number of books, and getting to know a lot of hypnotherapists and experiencers - all members of the guild.

I presented my talk on working with the UFO experiencer on Sunday, early afternoon. It was a 50 minute talk for hypnotherapists on how to work with abduction cases - the practical nuts and bolts of regression work and healing of contact trauma. It was well received, I thought. Not sure what my marks will be, but I thought the talk went well. Prayers are always welcome... :-)

This weekend, it seems that God answered my prayers, the Universe answered my intentions, or whatever. I put alot of energy out there over the last several months asking to connect with experiencers, sell my books (mostly to get the word out since I hardly make much/any money off of them), and to teach hypnotists on how to work with abductees.

All of this is a step toward a dream, founding an experiencer healing center and sanctuary. Today, I feel as though I am a step closer to that dream. Each day that dream morphs a little bit. But in the last months, it has been pretty consistent. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and this weekend, I felt as though I had made a tiny baby toddle toward building the dream.

Synchronicities positive and negative - Catch God on a whisper

2007-08-03T21:51:17Z

Firstly, A woman named Aerielle Louise, an acquaintance of mine who had done a lot of internet publicity for me on The Cosmic Bridge, passed away on Tuesday. To the best of my knowledge she was quite a recluse and had no family. She was largely a shut-in and seldom left her trailer. She lived mostly on-line, I think. She had a zillion e-acquaintances, but when people have tried to find her next of kin, they seem to hit alot of brick walls. I'm still looking...

Next day came the I35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. All along, lots of other stuff has gone on as well - like trying to get a document written at work and needing to find people who aren't around/available. At the same time, I finally got my car into the shop to get routine maintenance done; they still haven't found out why the slow leak in my left front tire, but they did confirm it was low. That's something in itself, as I've been screwing around with that for nearly a month. Also, Gwyn has succeeded on several occasions in locking up the PC. It is a unique talent of hers, something I have been kidding her about in recent weeks. I might be overdoing it with the humor... :-)

I also had a couple of events in my HT practice which were, I think, very definite roadsigns. One was a series of really great, very successful sessions with a series of clients, while the other was a couple of clients in a row who had been booked, but who suddenly (for various reasons) cancelled. One was not able to come in the evenings, or on the weekends - which is when I do most of my HT work. So that pretty much eliminates my working with him. The feeling was frustrating, but them's the breaks, I guess. Anyway, I got home from the day job on Tuesday evening, rather bumbed, frustrated, and just plain angry. Poor Gwyn. But after about an hour, my orneries passed - which was good, since I had a client coming in about an hour. :-)

It turned out that that client did extremely well - one of the experiences that reminds me of just why I do hypnotherapy work. It really does help people who want to be helped. And so, I forge ahead. Another positive sign - "proceed this way..."

Last night, I had planned on plinking away with my laptop, playing with a new storyline. However, instead, Gwyn and I just sat in front of the TV, watching the Tom Clancy movie, The Sum of all Fears. It might not have been the best movie to see to set my mind at ease after being bumbed earlier in the week, but it was interesting - as Tom Clancy always is.

Life seems to be one long chain of synchronicities - both positive and negative. The negative ones seem to tell me something like "don't go there" or at least, "don't dive in feet first." I get that on occasion w.r.t. my HT practice - clients cancelling, no-showing, etc. I often think that this is telling me that I shouldn't go into a particular form of HT work, or should modify some aspect of my business. But at the same time, the rewards I get from doing healing work far exceed the downers from those few clients who no-show, etc. The world is full of both hope and disappointment, and ultimately, discernment is our most important gift. What is the Universe trying to tell us?

Another synchronicity - I added it as a footnote to my Yahoo 360 blog entry: "what else..." - has to do with the bridge collapse. I wrote the blog entry on Monday or Tuesday, asking what else could cause catastrophic problems with technology. The next day the collapse came. I had been discussing a show I saw on the Science Channel about a massive engineering project proposed in the early 1920's in the Mediterranean. It now turns out that this would have caused catastrophic environmental change. EE Gads - what if we had actually done it?

And even more syhchronicities; the movie I watched last night, The Sum of All Fears, was the same way - I had earlier thought about that movie - about a week ago, I think. I was surprised to see it on the TV. I find that I often will see things like mile markers exactly coinciding with the number on the clock, or the radio playing a song I was just thinking about. More synchros in the chain, more grist for the mill.

I guess that synchronicities can be marks along the right path, but they can also be warning lights over closed doors. Over the years, I have learned to listen to them, because I think that they have alot to tell us about our path through the roadmap of life. Or, as a friend of mine once said, "Catch God on a whisper."

Announcing global release of The Cosmic Bridge

2007-03-31T15:54:25Z

The Cosmic Bridge directly takes on the question, What is Alien Abduction? Why are the visitors here? What might their agenda be? What is their effect in the lives of those who experience contact with them?

The book is based upon case studies in my own files, as well as others from the UFO abduction literature. It then expands the discussion to talk about contact in general - what appears to be the global dynamics of the UFO encounter phenomenon.

Why are they here? Are we a possible threat to them? Or do we offer a possible gift to the cosmos that is too precious to lose? In "Bridge" I build several models of contact, culminating in a hypothesis of how and why contact may be occuring in our time. I propose ways to test this theory - what must we see in the near to intermediate future for this theory to be true?

I think you will find that "Bridge" offers a different view of UFO abduction and alien contact.
Check it out on www.theCosmicBridge.com or on lulu.com at www.lulu.com/CraigRLang

Thank you,

-Craig R. Lang

A Symphony of Change

2006-10-17T02:40:59Z

On Friday evening, we went to see the Lord of the Rings Symphony, put on by the Minnesota Orchestra. It was a eerilly haunting overture, a combined instrumental and choral arrangement of the musical score of the movie, Lord of the Rings. It caught the sense of mystery and fantasy behind the books and movies. To me, it captured the essence of the books, and it made my scalp tingle.

During the performance, I found myself thinking back to some of the impressions I had gotten as I read the books many years ago - and more recently, saw the movies. The greatest was the sense of an undercurrent of meaning to the events of history. The complexity of the music seemed to suggest the intricate interweaving threads of events that make up history. Are they now, as portrayed by J.R.R. Tolkien, leading to the end of the age?

When we got home, I looked up a webste I had read a year or two earlier, Tolkien at the End of Time. In this article, Jay Weidner and Sharron Rose describe how Tolkien appears to have captured the transition from what they say was the third or "Bronze" age, to the fourth or "Iron" age. It is a time of transition from an age of magic to an age of technology - from the age of elves to the age of men. It is the ultimate shift from spirituality to concreteness - when mankind became fully separated from godhood.

Rose and Weidner propose that this is - at least metaphorically - a tale of the start of the present age. They argue that it is the beginning of the technological realm that we now call "history." They state that this would have been approximately 6,500 years ago - at least - at the dawn of history (CL Note: my guess is that it would be at least 10 to 12 thousand years ago, at the end of the previous ice age). They describe how this is the transition to the present era of technology, war and power.

Rose and Weidner describe various mystical traditions, especially alchemical lore, astrology, the Mayan calendar, the book of Revelation, and the Great Cross at Hendaye, France (which they describe as depicting a vast array of alchemical knowledge). The ancient adepts discerned trends and cycles in the physical, spiritual and religio-political worlds, which seemed to correlate with these themes. From this, they described the four ages of the historical cycle - the golden, silver, bronze and iron ages.

The ultimate conclusion of Rose and Weidner is that, while Tolkien describes the transition from the Bronze to the Iron age, we are now at the conclusion of the Iron age, and thus of the complete cycle of history. Thus, we are about to transition from the age of Iron to the next Golden age. A complete renewal of spirit and the beginning of the next cycle of history.

I was struck, also, by how the transition of ages seems to be characterized by climactic struggle between the forces of good and evil - in whatever manifestation they appear at that moment in history. In the case of Tolkien's books, this is the struggle between the evil forces of Sauron and those of the human/elven world of Middle Earth. In other popular SCi Fi epics of the present-day world, such as Babylon 5 and Star Wars, the same themes appear - the grand struggle against a menacing evil and an intricate weave of the threads of events. These form a tapestry of conflict that ultimately brings about transition from one age to the next.

So I wondered, as I was sitting in the concert hall, are we presently in such a scenario? Do we see the impending climactic conflict that will bring us from the Iron age to the Golden age? Is this the time indicated in prophecy as the close of the age? I thought about events in my own life, the feeling of being on a misison - and the sense that each of us has our own missions in life, our own life purpose to fulfill. I wondered, do these also interweave in a similar way, into an epic saga of the end of the age?

I thought about the description in the Bible, in the book/chapter of Matthew 24: "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars" and "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places."

That night I remember having an indistinct nightmare. I dreamed that something was amiss. The next morning, I awoke with the sense of things being wrong. I felt that everything was somehow "off." I gave a talk that afternoon at Minnesota MUFON, which seemed to go well. Yet somehow it seemed to miss the mark. I decided that I needed to make some changes to the PowerPoint slides, to improve the flow of the talk. In my mind, that fixed the immediate issue. Yet there was the sense that something was wrong. This was the feeling that I had as I went to bed that evening - the same one that I had at the time of the Indonesian Tsunami, and the night of 9/10/2001. Something was amiss.

In the morning, I awoke feeling refreshed. We went to church, then did the usual Sunday afternoon stuff - mostly family leisure day-off type stuff...
That afternoon, as I was sitting in the den with my laptop, doing some writing, Gwyn's sister suddenly called with the news of the big earthquake in Hawaii. The phrase, "earthquakes in various places" suddenly came to mind - in richter scale force...

I again wondered whether we are indeed seeing an increase in earthqauakes, storms, droughts, etc? The earth is at carrying capacity - and with any shift in climate, it looks like famine might be imminent. Is this the time indicated in Matthew 24? Is this the time of the apocalypse? Are we approaching the fabled changes of 2012? The questions mount in my heart and mind.

Then I recalled the final passage in the paragraph, "All these are the beginning of birth pains." To me this measn that there will be alot more "excitement" to go before the transition is complete. It's still a long way to 2012. But the phrase "birth pangs" also suggests that it is the sign of a birth - the coming of a new world - the shift from the Iron to the Golden age...

I am struck by the currents of history, of prophecy and of the tapestry of events. They remind me so much of the threads of meaning interwoven in literary epics such as Lord of the Rings. I continue to notice the present-day interweave of politics and religion with natural events such as earthquakes and storms - and with the decline of the environment. Ultimately, I wonder: are they, indeed, building toward climactic events in 2012?

Is this the conjoining of so many threads of prophecy - Revelation, Nostradamus, Hopi, Mayan, Alchemical, and so many more...? Are these the birth pangs? Dreams and earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars - are these indeed the early movements in a climactic symphony of change?

Aliens, Allies and Discernment

2006-07-24T17:46:43Z

This particular talk was presented on Saturday evening, by Marshall Vian Summers - author of the "Allies of Humanity" book series. In his talk - and in his books - he presents (channels, actually) an argument that the Visitor presence is a dark one. He states that contact is already underway and that humanity is in peril from it.

Summers cites examples from history, such as the Spanish conquistadores subduing native cultures realtively easily by exploiting native religious beliefs. He uses this as an example of the perils of contact. He says that viewing the Visitors as enlightened, gods/saviors, divine, etc. puts us in the same peril as the Native American civilizations 500 years ago.

In some ways, he is saying roughly the same thing as David Jacobs, a UFO researcher who takes a very dark view of the alien agenda (see Jacobs' book "The Threat"). Is Summers accurate? I don't know. I believe that we understand very little about the Visitor presence, much less their agenda. Yet it makes me wonder, is contact good or not-so-good?

Summers states that humanity is the native civilization of Earth and as such we have a responsibility to unite as stewards of our homeworld. If we do not unite, and if we do not recognize that Earth is just one world of many in a populated universe, we risk abdicating our soveriegnty over this world. If that happens, we could easily become subject to influences of ET agencies who place little value in freedom or free will. We could easily find ourselves becoming vassals of a civilization (empire?) from which we may never free ourselves.

He then goes on to state that at the core of freedom is spirituality, and most technological civilizations became so at the expense of their spiritual being. Thus, they abdicate their freedom in favor of imperial expansion. [Note: This would be consistent with what Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs and other abduction researchers write about the "culture" of the Visitors - that there is little "flavor" to the alien realm. It is sterile and colorless. You get the picture...]

Any truly free species - some which form the "allies" which Summers claims to have contacted - have maintained their spirituality, rather than pursuing a technological course. They are powerful but solitary worlds - non-imperial in nature. Summers suggests that in order to remain free, a species must unite under such a spiritual banner.

In his talk, Summers argued that it is recognized in the cosmos that humanity is not ready for contact. We are divided and warlike. While we have accomplished some great feats of art, spirituality, music and engineering, we are essentially only a step or two above savagery (he suggests that any meditator will discover this as they begin to explore their own soul). Thus, he states, we are not yet ready to take our place in the cosmic community. Therefore, any species which does contact us is doing so for their own selfish reasons - resons not in the best interests of humanity.

Summers continued to warn about the presence of the Visitors, that they are in the process of aclimating humanity to their presence, installing themselves as saviors and assimilating themselves (hybrids) into human society. He warns that their agenda is not in the interests of humanity - that, in some way, they intend to make us vasals of their own civilization.

Are the Visitors here for purposes of economic (genetic?) exploitation? I believe that in truth, we do not know why they are here. They could be here for our benefit or theirs. In The Cosmic Bridge, I argue that the benefits of the Visitor presence are mutual. They are here to raise human consciousness to the point where humanity can join the cosmic community. However, they need to do so before humanity develops star travel or risk a barbaric humanity spilling out into the cosmos. It appears that I see a more positive universe than Summers does.

Who is right? I don't know. But in The Cosmic Bridge, I offer the material as a hypothesis, understanding that I might be wrong. On the other hand, Sumers claims that his material is channeled from the "allies" - a consortium of alien races with our interests in mind. Thus, he is certain of its correctness. Still, whether or not he is right, much of his message bears careful consideration.

I believe that humanity does have a responsibility to unite for our own good - a need that would exist even if there were no other civilizations in the cosmos. We need to rise above our warlike ways - to understand that we are all one. And we need to do so promptly. Venturing to the stars while we are in our current state of consciousness will, I believe, lead us to disaster.

Whether or not the Visitors are here as stealthy conquistadores, as scientists minding a nature preserve, or as teachers with a new way of living, we need to view them with caution. We do not know their agenda, and thus we do not know whether it is in our interests. When dealing with the Visitors, discernment is always vital.

Hidden Contact -- The Fermi Paradox and The Deardorff Hypothesis

2006-07-07T21:39:21Z

* * * * *

Could the Visitors be conducting a program of orchestrated contact? If so, then what might be their overall strategy? Could the close encounter phenomenon be one stage in such a plan - one in which contact is conducted one individual at a time?

Let's begin asking these questions by examining some of the big-picture models of how the Visitors might conduct a contact process, an ET strategy for Earth. Let us assume that warnings of the danger to human society from open contact with extraterrestrial beings are accurate. How could an ET civilization initiate contact, yet avoid the accompanying perils?

In his article, "A Possible Extraterrestrial Strategy for Earth" Dr. James Deardorff postulates just such a model of contact. In this article, he suggests a slow, gradual progression of contact in carefully managed steps.
The Deardorff article begins with one of the biggest questions posed, and perhaps the biggest problem with the traditional contact paradigm. This is the lack of confirmed ET intelligence (ETI) detections to date. According to several possible interpretations of the Drake equation, there should be a significant number of civilizations detectable to our radio ears. Thus, according to the SETI paradigm, we should have heard something by now. Furthermore, the reasoning goes that if "they" have space travel capability, they should be visiting our skies now, and thus should be visible to us. In short, in the words of the physicist, Enrico Fermi, "Where are they?"

Probabilistic arguments alone suggest that a large number of worlds in our region of the galaxy could be home to intelligent beings. On at least some of these worlds, inhabitants should have developed a technological civilization - and eventually, radio and/or space travel. Thus, our model of intelligent life in the universe must explain this apparent lack of contact to date. The Deardorff model suggests a way to explain this apparent silence. Yet at the same time, it hypothesizes a large-scale unfolding of covert contact between humanity and the Visitors.

Deardorff envisions a staged program of quarantine, observation and gradual contact. Finally, once all previous stages are successful and the time is right, there would be open disclosure of the ET presence and overt interaction between civilizations.

Assumptions:
Deardorff and others make some very broad assumptions about the nature of potential Visitors to Earth. They assume that any world, which has survived long enough and become sufficiently advanced to be welcomed into the cosmic community, can be assumed to have survived its potentially warlike youth. We can reason that they will have reached a level of civilization qualifying them for membership in such a cosmic community. Thus, we can probably assume that, at least to some extent, the prevailing ET civilization(s) would be benevolent. Deardorff suggests that we can therefore assume the overall ET civilization is motivated to protect the interests of the developing worlds within its sphere of influence. From this, he assumes that the overall community of intelligent beings would be reasonably nurturing to "up and coming" worlds such as ours.

Contact Strategy
A quick perusal of first-contact speculation, in which the consequences of overt contact are considered, strongly suggests that at our present level of civilization the results would be negative. Thus, Deardorff proposes that at the present time any enlightened ET civilization would avoid open contact. Instead, he suggests that an advanced civilization would most likely follow a gradual plan for the acclimation of humanity to an ET presence.

Deardorff proposes that Earth (and other emerging worlds) would be under some form of quarantine, a Star-Trek-like "Prime Directive." This would serve both to insulate "primitive" worlds such as ours from external influence and to prevent the expansion of humanity into the cosmos while still in our warlike adolescence. With this quarantine in place, a careful program of contact and acclimation could occur.

There would very likely be several stages to such a program:
1. An initial observing stage: mapping, surveying and scientific observation - effectively concealed from human perception but including the close study of humanity.
2. Initial covert interaction: this would include abduction and expanding clandestine contacts.
3. Gradual disclosure of the ET presence: this would occur in subtle ways, beginning at the grass-roots level - but perhaps also secretly, at official levels.
4. A Subtle infusion of knowledge of ET topics into the mainstream of human culture: this would include concepts and/or discoveries that shift human paradigms toward the acceptance of contact.
5. As humans eventually became more accepting of an ET presence, a careful but ever increasing level of overt contact could occur.

An evolving contact agenda would most likely begin with an extended period of observation in which the extraterrestrials would study humanity extensively, learning as much detail as possible about our society, capabilities, psychology, etc. A program of limited contact would follow this, occurring covertly. This interaction would be kept out of the attention of the authorities (political, military, scientific, etc).

Deardorff also suggests that there might be an air of mystery and logical absurdity to the ET contact effort, at least partially due to their advanced technology, "indistinguishable from magic." He further suggests that the ET presence might even deliberately conceal itself with a veneer of absurdity. One purpose of such deliberately illogical behavior might be to make it seem nonsensical and thus "unscientific," making it uninteresting to the scientific community. In this way, the contact effort would avoid a premature acceptance by the authority structures of Earth - until humanity had evolved sufficiently for open contact.

In the Deardorff model, contact would occur to selected individuals in a covert manner. This process would occur at a grass roots level. It would begin selectively, gradually widening in scope, slowly acclimating greater numbers of people to the ET presence. This furtive but ubiquitous process of contact would be compatible with an overall "Prime Directive" style embargo and would bring about a relatively painless preparation of humanity for contact.

Within the UFO encounter phenomenon, we see many potential signs of such a large-scale acclimation process. Indeed, when one researches the UFO and close encounter phenomenon to any degree one begins to conclude that it is built around this very concept. Nearly every experiencer describes the phenomenon as being covert, coming to him or her in the dark of night.

The phenomenon itself seems cloaked in mystery and absurdity, even an aura of magic. It presents us with a host of logical paradoxes and superpositions of reality, an overlay of dreams and the physical. Is this "magic" simply our (mis)perception of a vastly superior technology? Or is there a deliberate presentation to us of absurdity, in order to repel the "rational" scientific community?

The vast scope of the abduction phenomenon seems entirely compatible with the bottom-up strategy described in the Deardorff model. Roper poll and other estimates suggest that phenomenal contact in some form has affected nearly one percent of humanity. We could perhaps view this as an indication of a massive effort to introduce humanity to the Visitors' presence.

The Deardorff model corresponds closely with some very basic assumptions I would make about humanity:
1. Humanity is not yet ready for overt contact: As we have suggested earlier, the reactions of humanity to overt contact would not be positive. Thus, the Visitors would probably avoid overt contact at the present time.
2. The primary human occupation is war: We have perfected the art of killing each other to a high degree. It is not too difficult to imagine humans treating Visitors in this same way. We can only assume that the Visitors are well aware of this and thus see us as dangerous.

These factors suggest that the Deardorff model of covert acclimation could be a key to understanding any possible alien agenda. Perhaps the Visitors are gradually opening humanity up to contact with the greater cosmic community. We can imagine a goal of eventual open disclosure, when the time is right, presumably culminating in the entry of humanity into what UFO researcher and author, Stanton Friedman has referred to as "The Cosmic Kindergarten."