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This, then, is my theory of the UFOs - why they are here, what their basic operating principles are, what their relationship to us is. But, of course, it is only part of the story. For there is also the matter of our response to the aliens, which has, without a doubt, made the whole issue vastly more confusing. Besides the UFO cults, themselves, some of which seem clearly terrestrial in nature and intent, and some of which are espousing very disturbing and/or not particularly enlightening views of the future, we also have the massive involvement of the government to consider. In fact, I believe that the activities of the US government (and other world governments) have been extremely significant in shaping the way that the UFO phenomenon is viewed today.

Let me begin by saying that I do not think we should approach the government’s involvement in the UFO phenomenon as a sinister or ruthless conspiracy, either of denial, or manipulation. Although the government’s role has surely not been constructive in terms of letting us (the general public) discover the truth about the UFO phenomenon, and in terms of letting us receive the potentially beneficial impact of the extraterrestrial "message", it is perhaps best not to see the government along the lines of some cruel, darkly-enlightened cabal. It is probably more productive to see it - that part of it which is in touch with the UFO phenomenon - in terms of an, at first, bewildered and frightened group of men whose paradigm of reality was shattered, yet who kept clinging to pieces of the old world, the old order, in which they had been raised, seeking to protect it, rather than envision its ending, either by collapse or transcendence. Then, probably, after a time, this group of frightened men began to relax - ever so slightly - inferring, as I have done, as many have done - that the extraterrestrials did not pose a threat, in terms of invasion or intervention; that they were bound by a protocol, and limited in the ways they could contact or influence us. (Of course, like trained soldiers, these government officials would remain ever-wary, and open to the unfoldment of a wide variety of alternative scenarios. Alarm would not leave them, only diminish, from panic and shock, to something more bearable, something easier to function with.)

Of course, the first objective of these men would be to seek ways of controlling the threat of the extraterrestrials, themselves. In order to do this, they would seek to find out everything they could about them; they would scramble jets to test the alien UFOs, and to photograph them; utilize satellite technology (when it became available), radar, and radio telescopes; build up a network of top-level scientists, military experts, biological and sociological experts, maybe anthropologists and historians, as well. They would try to get a fix on the aliens’ technological abilities (realizing the aliens might not be showing them everything); try to make inferences about the extraterrestrials’ behavior and intentions; try to devise strategies for coping, and for defense.

Probably, very quickly, they realized that the earth could not be defended from a serious invasion of the extraterrestrials. That we were, in terms of raw power, at the utter mercy of the extraterrestrials. This must have been extremely frustrating for men who had just won WW II, just survived the Nazi V-1 and V-2, the Me-262 jet fighter, overcome the Luftwaffe and Panzer Korps of Hitler, and astounded and horrified the Empire of Japan into surrender with the deployment of the atom bomb. Although the Roswell crash - if it occurred - is likely to have given a brief moment of hope, that the aliens were fallible, mortal beings, not invincible Gods as the first wild flights of their untouchable UFOs had seemed to indicate - it is likely that other men - men with cooler heads - may have re-grounded the group, restored its touch with reality. One downed UFO could not consign, to irrelevance, a fabulously superior technology, embodied by entire fleets of UFOs.

Accepting the fact that the earth could not defend itself from the extraterrestrials, this group of men must have begun to devise new stratagems for coping with the extraterrestrial presence. (Nonetheless, a small core of "old minds" - "super patriots" or "fools" - must have still plotted ways of fighting back - imagining a system of rockets mounted with atom bombs, perhaps; futuristic batteries of antiaircraft lasers; biological countermeasures, inspired by the happy ending of HG Wells’ War of the Worlds, in which the invincible Martians were finally bested by the "common cold", for which they had no natural immunity; or perhaps devising clever ruses for pretending to surrender or to betray the earth, then capturing alien technology from the inside, and turning it against the aliens. In the process, psychic and spiritual means of combat may have been considered, leading to the development of a secret "paranormal defense program", for a civilization so overmatched as ours might seem to need either "magic" or "God" in order to prevail. Possibly they also considered the invention and deployment of a "Doomsday Device" or "global suicide strategy" capable of utterly destroying our world, as an apocalyptic deterrent to the aliens who, they reasoned, might wish to keep our world intact for their own use, and might therefore balk at provoking us to desperation.) While "fight-to-the-death hard-liners" most likely worked on last-ditch military strategies in the back rooms of this project, the leading elements of the project probably began to work on the problem from a different angle.

One subgroup of this more "practical" group was probably set to exploring the possibility of forging a cooperative arrangement with the extraterrestrials. If the aliens were inclined or able to become involved in the affairs of the earth, this group was probably hopeful that, instead of conquering our world, or reordering it in some extraterrestrial way, they could be convinced to back us up - to support the USA with their technology and power. Some members of the secret UFO project, inflated with a sense of the superiority of the American system, even seeing it as the pinnacle of any conceivable social order in the universe, may, rather ingenuously, have expected the aliens to "recognize" America as its "natural partner", and to at once endow us with elements of its technology, to grant us the overwhelming power needed to neutralize the Soviet Union and to assume leadership of the earth. They may have concentrated their efforts on preparing a "diplomatic presentation" meant to win the support of the aliens, should they come down from the skies. The hopes of this subgroup may have been lifted by the crash at Roswell, in that the aliens did not rush to recover their lost technology. Perhaps it was their way of leaving us with hints of new technologies that could aid us, "building blocks" for new military advances, elements that could be mimicked, or open new conceptual doors. Perhaps it was a discreet gift to us, implying that the aliens did favor America, and were trying to help us gain ascendancy on the earth, because we were the "good guys." (My own opinion is that revolutionary technology, capable of being integrated into our contemporary system, did not fall into our hands at Roswell: just like a stone-age man would not be ready to utilize the knowledge contained in an airplane wreck to build a flying machine of his own. Nonetheless, some new conceptual directions may have been suggested, still requiring further advances in physics in order to be fully applicable.) However, as news of other UFO crashes outside the US occurred, this preliminary sense of optimism may have waned.

While the approach just mentioned draws upon the assumptions that (1) the extraterrestrials are wise and benevolent beings, (2) that the USA embodies a system that is so fair, just, and moral, that the extraterrestrials are bound to empathize with it, and to favor its cause on the earth, and (3) that the extraterrestrials, are, therefore - if they intervene at all - likely to intervene on behalf of the US, and through the US - other members of this subgroup are likely to have had doubts. For example, who knows what kind of mind, what kind of system, the aliens have and might, therefore, favor? Supposing they were merely imperialist beings, disdainful of all earthlings, and indifferent to our political system? Or supposing that they did not share our values - that they despised America for using atomic bombs against Japan, for allowing segregation of blacks in the South (during the 1940s and 1950s), for bullying Latin America, or for having an economic system based upon profits? Members of the "pragmatic" subgroup with these doubts, may have begun research on possible methods for wooing and placating an essentially hostile civilization of overwhelming power. If America meant nothing to the aliens, how could we make it mean something to them, how could we make ourselves be liked, or become useful to them, in some way, so as to win our survival? Essentially, the subgroup may have begun work on what I call "strategies of submission." They may have referred to cases from our world’s sadly rich history of "survival by submission", studying the ways in which some African tribes of the 18^th and 19^th Century were supported by European firearms, and allowed to dominate their regions in exchange for serving European interests there (we could survive as guardians of the earth, on behalf of the extraterrestrials, accepting servitude for the right to maintain certain secondary forms of power, and to receive the "spoils" of collaboration). Or, on the other hand, we could turn to the lesson of the Native American scouts of one tribe, used by the US army, to track down villages of other tribes - or, sometimes, once the process of demoralization and tribal disintegration was advanced enough, to even hunt down members of their own tribe. (The US could serve as a reliable source of humanoid spies, warriors, and analysts, to help the extraterrestrials make sense out of certain civilizations, on other planets, which were more mentally akin to our own.) This pragmatic and desperate subgroup may also have studied systems of tribute and slavery imposed by the Romans, or systems of forced labor imposed upon the natives of Peru by the Spaniards. (We might survive at the price of "slavery" - perhaps as miners of platinum, cobalt, uranium and other minerals on the earth, or on other worlds - though it is possible that alien technology might do away with the need for our labor, altogether.) Finally, perhaps they considered the tale of Scheherazade, who won her life from a mad sultan, disposed to hang her, like every other woman that he had married, until she amused him, enchanted him, made herself so entertaining and beloved to him, that he could not bear to do it. (We could seek to find some point of contact with the alien mentality that would endear us to "him." Perhaps our emotions could in some way nourish him, or interest him, as he absorbed them telepathically. Perhaps we could give him an experience he could not attain on his own, become pleasing to him, like a lover, a court jester, an object of study, or a pet.)

While this subgroup is sure to have worried about the fate of our country, as a whole, and the world, also, some members may have begun to think in terms, not of national or global survival, but in terms of the survival of a small elite (including themselves), which would earn its keep by "handing over" the rest of Humanity to the aliens. Whether such an idea, likely to occur, gained any ground, or was immediately rejected, is difficult to say.

Probably, however, the most influential subgroup of the "practical" wing of the UFO project (as opposed to the "fight-to-the-death warriors"), was that which quickly adapted itself to the idea that the aliens were not going to launch a massive intervention in our world’s affairs. Members of this group are sure to have quickly discovered the alien protocol of limited non-interference - as I have, as many have - and to have shifted their perception of the problem to an entirely different set of concerns. Instead of preparing to resist an unstoppable invasion from the stars, their main focus now shifted to controlling the way in which the visible extraterrestrial displays were individually perceived, culturally absorbed, and politically utilized on the earth, by earthlings.

Today, many feel that one of the main motives behind the government’s probable efforts to limit our knowledge of UFOs, is its desire to prevent panic from sweeping the earth. They remind us of the effect of The War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938, in which a radio "hoax" triggered waves of panic across the nation. However, in my opinion, this explanation has its limits. Although some measure of fear would be likely to greet the general public’s discovery that a mighty extraterrestrial civilization, which we had not the slightest power to resist, was hovering just "off shore", it does not seem that panic, in the true sense of the word, would necessarily be our response. The panic produced by the 1938 radio broadcast resulted from horrifying descriptions of alien "death machines" roaming the countryside, at will, scorching everything in their path with merciless "heat rays." But if the real UFOs showed no hostile intent, then the initial fear that comes from "powerlessness" might gradually wane, to be replaced by curiosity, even respect, longing, and idealization. Of course, it is understandable, in the very beginning, that the government might wish to keep the lid on this phenomenon due to fear of a "panic response." Rather than saying, "Aliens from outer space with technological abilities far beyond ours are flying all over the planet, and if they want to wipe us out, there’s not a damned thing we can do about it", they decided to keep us in the dark, while they desperately searched for solutions, ways of protecting us. As I said, they must have very soon discovered that there was no solution. But, as time passed, they must also have come to realize that we were not a target of invasion, after all, and that something very different was taking place.

As a result, "mass panic" should have become less of a realistic concern. Indeed, a properly prepared and informed public would - given the apparently peaceful intention of the UFOs - not be likely to panic at all. The proximity of the extraterrestrials could even create a sense of excitement, opportunity, and euphoria.

The Psychological, Social and Political "Threat" of the UFOs

So why, then, the prolonged - and very serious - effort to keep the UFO phenomenon "under wraps"? Rather than preventing panic, the subgroup involved in dealing with the UFO phenomenon on this level, must have reasoned that: (1) The extraterrestrials were not planning an invasion. (2) If the people of the earth knew that the extraterrestrials were here, and recognized their truly peaceful intentions, then they might cease to fear them. (3) This would open them up to the possible influence of the extraterrestrials. (4) This influence might merely be the mental expansion precipitated by the presence of the extraterrestrials stimulating the human imagination to wonder, to question the nature and achievements of our civilization. It might cause a destabilizing shift in our perspective, excite a dangerous increase in discontent. (5) One possible result could be that the awe and respect with which we hold our own government, our own leaders, and our own institutions, might be diminished. We would now begin to see our own symbols and sources of power as weak, instead of strong, comparing them with the extraterrestrial might hovering on the edge of our vision. The authority that we feel in the presence of strength might lose some of its force, some of its internalized compulsion. Like a boy who sees his father, weak and ineffective outside of the house, begins to think of his father in another way, so we might begin to emotionally change our relation to our earthly power structure, which could be a prelude to changing the way we respond to it. (6) Other aspects of our civilization would be likely to be undermined, as well. The drive to accumulate wealth might be diminished, for example, as the minority that remained anxious about an alien invasion gave up long-term projects that could be ended at a moment’s notice, and began to "live for the day", or to "live in the now." (But when one considers all the terrestrial investments and activities that have occurred in the shadow of our own nuclear weapons - as well as the many thriving towns that have been built upon the slopes of living volcanoes - it hardly seems that the fear would inhibit our lifestyle for more than a matter of years, if not months.) More likely would be a shift towards spirituality. For our lack of spirituality often occurs as a result of our own self-absorption, as we are mesmerized by illusions of our wealth, and power, to believe that we are everything, the only thing, the measure of all that is and can be. When that illusion is shattered - when we rediscover our limits, our smallness in the Universe - when we age, for example, or become sick, or frail, or lose everything we have built - that is when spirituality is able to find its way back into our lives. That is when the hunger for understanding grows, and the need - the real need - for God, becomes the center of our lives. The very concept of another civilization, far greater than ours, might - by making us feel small and frail, tiny amidst the stars - drive us to seek the greatness of God. And surely, if we were to act in a spiritual way upon the earth - not just pretend that we are spiritual - it would alter the very nature of our civilization.

(7) Not only would the members of the UFO project realize this, they would surely consider the innate psychological drive of the human being to bond with "power figures." We see it often in the relations of children with their parents. Then, after the parent falls from his pedestal and finally becomes "human" to the child, the "parent archetype" may be redeployed, in the individual’s new attachment to political figures, even to demagogues and dictators. ("Transference" could occur, in which feelings learned and experienced in one’s relationship with one’s parents, are transferred to another individual.)

And the psychological process of "identification" may also take place. The one who aspires to be loved, to be great, to be strong, to be beautiful, to be respected, may, feeling incapable of being all this, and winning all this, on his own, seek to live all this and achieve all this through some other person, with whom he forms a "psychological identification." He then proceeds to live vicariously through that other person, whose triumphs and powers become "his own", nourishing him and giving him the life that he could not attain by himself. In effect, a facet of his existence disappears into the other: his self-respect and belief in himself, which are transformed into his respect for, and belief in, the other. He does not fight to shine, but to be able to stand in the light of another, who does shine. And to that other he gives all the energy of his adoration, or his obedience, a small price to pay for the privilege of being able to partake of the other’s victory. We frequently see this force of "identification" at work in the effect of rock stars, movie stars, sports heroes, and once again, political figures and even "abstract concepts" like nations.

Add to this the undeniable human impulse to "follow" - whether it is to follow a "strong leader", a "fashion" or "trend", a crowd suddenly breaking into a run - and you will begin to see what the UFO project was really afraid of. They were afraid of our human population being mesmerized by the power of the UFOs; they were afraid of our human population "bonding" to those UFOs, via the processes of transference and identification. They were afraid of our human population being set at ease by the apparent benevolence of the UFOs; and then, beginning to "love" the UFOs. (For love is a force which we sometimes send into the unknown, to attempt to control it, pacify it, and protect ourselves from it. On the psychological level, by "loving" the UFOs, we could begin to "win them to our side.") All of this combined, it seems, could turn the extraterrestrials into a new "God-force" on our planet - an idealized, beloved image of power, vicariously empowering and shielding those who adored and loved the aliens, those who "followed" them.

(8) This could, of course, create a tremendous political liability. For, if the extraterrestrials themselves chose to exploit it, even subtle, practically invisible forms of interaction with the earth might turn this powerful psychological bonding force into the birthplace of a massive global "revolution." (The analysts may have thought back to the Spanish conquests of the Aztec and Inca Empires, in which tiny bands of Spaniards, vastly magnified by the aura of their new technology and by the mystique of being considered Gods, initiated processes capable of destroying powerful civilizations.) Just as bad - or even worse - the UFO project must have almost immediately recognized the possibility that "UFO" cults and movements, and even foreign nations, unrelated to the extraterrestrials, could exploit the powerful psychological groundwork being laid by the UFOs, to create new political-religious movements capable of undermining the stability of existing institutions. They could, in other words, use the extraterrestrial mystique to enhance their own cause; they could, by pretending to represent the alien civilization, "capture" the loyalty and quasi-religious devotion of millions of people who were emotionally bonded to the extraterrestrials, and transfer it to themselves, use it to drive their own political agenda, to launch their own "revolution."

(9) Most likely, the members of the American UFO project remained more or less committed to our present social, economic, and political system, once they saw that the extraterrestrials were not coming here to change things, or to offer us explicit advice or suggestions at a high governmental level. Bred their whole lives to believe in this system, to revere its strengths and probably to overlook its faults - perhaps deeply and personally imbedded in the system, in various ways - these men were not about to be dislodged from their worldview, regarding the basic social, political, and economic principles which govern life in this country. Whatever they thought about the alien’s opinions of these principles, they are sure to have felt protected by the protocol of non-interference, and, therefore, free to continue advocating and defending these principles on the earth.

Government Defense Strategy, and the Secret Government UFO Project

Given this perspective on, and approach to, the UFO phenomenon, this subgroup of the UFO project - which, I believe, emerged as the key designer of our national policy on UFOs - must have decided that its main task was not to "contain", or defend against, an invasion of UFOs, but to prevent the UFO phenomenon from generating or connecting to movements and changes-of-consciousness on the earth, which could destabilize the existing system.

In order to achieve this goal, the UFO project is likely to have developed a strategy focused, first of all, on insulating the masses - the "general public" - from the UFO phenomenon as much as possible, in order to diminish the psychological impact of the extraterrestrial presence. That, in turn, would diminish the psychological energy available for mobilizing social and political movements on the basis of the UFO phenomenon; and prevent cultists, opportunists, enemies, or even real "contactees", from exploiting the phenomenon for the purpose of mounting challenges to the existing sociopolitical system. In order to achieve this end, the UFO project is likely to have recommended a program of "debunking" or "explaining away" the sightings, to essentially erase them by "transforming" them into something else (comets, meteors, stars, aircraft, weather balloons, birds, "swamp gas", hoaxes, or hallucinations); barricading the phenomenon inside a circle of ridicule and contempt ("only fools or liars claim to see UFOs, and no respectable scientist would ever waste his time on such nonsense"); and further confusing, contaminating, and discrediting the "UFO scene" by means of "disinformation."

While installing these preventive measures to keep our belief in UFOs limited to a fringe, a minority without the social mass needed to significantly affect our civilization, they simultaneously launched an extensive effort to penetrate all communities and groups seriously concerned with the UFO phenomenon. In the same way that the CIA, FBI, and police intelligence units have infiltrated various organizations in the past, ranging from trade unions, to radical political parties, to student activist groups, to social movements, to cults (and also academia), intelligence operations were set up around or in the midst of all serious members of the "UFO community." Undercover agents were assigned to attend meetings; phones were tapped; backgrounds investigated; disruptive activities were sometimes launched to disorganize or demoralize the "UFO movement"; and evidence strongly suggests that some witnesses were threatened, warned to be silent or "back off", and that some evidence was confiscated under duress. Activities of this sort have certainly helped to darken the image of our government, in UFO circles, leading to nightmare impressions of a manipulative, sinister, and authoritarian conspiracy ruling America, some kind of secret realm of power, an evil brotherhood, lurking behind the scenes, behind our everyday illusions - a monster-heart beating beneath the false face of a democracy which does not really exist. Although it hardly pays to be a "babe in the woods" - a "lamb amidst wolves" - it is, as I have said, probably more productive to see these activities as the result of the fears of human beings committed to defend a particular vision. They were - and are not, for the most part - "evil." But like most people who are very afraid of something, they may be prone to commit excesses, in defense of what they believe in. Certainly, we have seen, in the behavior of our political system in the past, some truly abominable excesses, even full-fledged crimes. CIA-backed coups, assassinations, training of foreign police and military units involved in interrogation, torture, and genocide (Guatemala and Chile, for example), as well as violent tactics on American Indian reservations (Pine Ridge, for example). We also have evidence of the capacity of some governmental elements to operate deep below the surface of civil society, sometimes in pursuit of objectives at odds with the wishes and interests of civil society (as in the case of Iran-Contragate). Given the magnitude and political impact of the UFO phenomenon, I have no doubt that the "UFO project" is directed by a special, UFO-related command structure, comprised of elements of various military, intelligence, and governmental branches, and probably interfacing only slightly with most normal, elected, and transferable "offices" of government: for it would not trust most governmental officials enough - congressmen and senators, for example, and even some, or most, presidents - to openly share its knowledge with them, for fear of creating the opportunity for a "leak" which could undermine its work, or confronting an administration or committee dedicated to taking a new approach. I also have no doubt that this project would consider its work every bit as necessary as warriors of the "Cold War" era saw theirs, and might, therefore, be willing to play very rough, indeed, if pushed into a corner. In this sense, there actually is something to the "dark cabal" theory, after all. And yet, I do not feel that this "UFO project" is in any way running America, or that it has completely lost touch with the values of the society in which its members were born and raised. I feel that it is, instead, somewhat recognized within the government (though its depth is not fully understood), as a secret project which may "possibly" exist, but is "under control", and "should be left alone." This project group and command structure would not be "in control" of our government, but it would, at the same time, have a considerable degree of independence from most governmental forms of direction and oversight. It would consist of a top-secret level, and a level far more secret than that. The top-secret level would be the level at which much of its work was done, and at which some of its information was shared with normal, and cleared "high levels" of government. Beyond this level would exist a world and subculture of "dangerous" intelligence information all its own. Most likely, the project would be funded from generic or disguised portions of the military and intelligence budgets, and perhaps by some secret front organizations and operations, as well. Being so isolated in secrecy, and semi-independent of the government, there would exist a danger of gradual emotional separation from the country at large; the danger of a kind of elite identity, above and beyond the nation, being developed, which could one day put the project at odds with the political mainstream, and make it capable of perpetrating extreme actions in order to protect its interests. (Isolated elites are almost always a threat to their own societies, since they have lost the ties that inhibit them from treating their own people as "the enemy.") On the other hand, at this point in time - although I do believe there are some anti-democratic forces in high places in America, embodied in some well-placed "social networks" straddling the military, government, and business communities - networks attempting to gradually create the groundwork and circumstances for a "coup", or the "erosion of democracy" - I do not believe the UFO project needs to be considered as a nucleus, or uniform player in that scenario. It is likely that the UFO project, instead, consists of members of all types - "patriots" committed to the American system as it now exists; well-meaning soldiers propelled by the inertia of their training and beliefs; excited scientists and thinkers, bewitched by the drama; valuable, but now uncomfortable, contributors, trapped by the code of secrecy and somewhat afraid to know so much; tough "pragmatists", who think in terms of nations and worlds, not of individuals; and some of those cruel souls which every society is capable of finding to do its "dirty work."

No doubt, this project has generated operations to infiltrate the "UFO community" for various reasons, including for the purpose of gathering intelligence. In touch with their own scientific and investigative sources, they will also want to survey what is going on among independent researchers, in UFO cults, and in citizen’s groups, to see if any new information turns up. Any new sightings? Any new trends of UFO behavior? These groups could provide valuable leads.

The infiltrators will also want to keep an eye on the activities of any real, imagined, or fraudulent contactees. Mostly, they will expect to find deluded or manipulative leaders, who could, nonetheless, trigger "undesirable" social movements, which should be discovered at as early a stage as possible, so that they could be "nipped in the bud." On the other hand, they may also consider it a possibility that real contactees, charged with alien missions, do actually exist. Perhaps, they reason, as long as humans carry out the work of the aliens on the earth, it will not count as a fatal violation of the extraterrestrial protocol; and contactees might therefore be recruited, inspired, and enlightened by the aliens, to direct a massive transformation on the earth: an alien spark, to ignite a human movement. In this case, the members of the UFO project would have to decide if we should go along with the wisdom of the aliens, or reject their efforts at indirect guidance. Most likely, in such a case, the UFO project would reject the "alien guidance", it if implied a radical change in the current system. They would justify this decision by denying, to themselves, the legitimacy of the contactee (as Jesus’ role as Messiah was rejected by the Sanhedrin); "no - he was just a fake - he must have been," they would tell themselves, in order to enable themselves to discount him. Or else they would tell themselves that the aliens, whatever their accomplishments, just didn’t understand humans well enough to suggest a change to our social system. In this case, they would accept a state of "limited war" against the aliens - a war of conflicting ideas, fought between the rulers of the earth and a vastly more powerful extraterrestrial civilization, which, on account of its own protocol, could only fight "us" by means of displaying itself, creating a psychological energy conducive to change, and inspiring "human messengers" to tap into that energy, and utilize it to create significant movements of human beings, on the earth. (Although such an "antagonism" might be considered to threaten the long-range destiny of the earth, the anti-alien strategists would either not care, knowing that they could get what they wanted in their lifetimes; or they might believe that the aliens would forgive subsequent generations for the acts of their "ignorant" forefathers; or that the aliens would accept our "rebellious way", as long as we showed them that we could make it work - like the poet who comes back to the family that once wanted him to be a doctor, as a world-famous Nobel Laureate, with plenty of money to pass around.) In all events, whatever the case - "real contactees", "fantasy contactees", or "pretend contactees" - the infiltrators would be likely, first, to monitor their activity; second, to try to discredit or disrupt their activity; and third, if the contactee(s) began to gain too much "revolutionary" influence, to try to suppress or destroy their activity. (Particularly nerve-wracking to the UFO project would be the possibility that the aliens might seek to build a movement in another country, which might block out or impede the project’s efforts to penetrate and control it: something like guerrillas establishing bases on the other side of a border you are not at liberty to cross. In this case, the control issue might become an international issue.)

Besides this reason for infiltrating the UFO community, there is, also, doubtless, the desire to set up an undercover infrastructure which can potentially paralyze, disrupt, and discredit "undesirable" movements, through a variety of means: setting off power struggles, strategy debates, and personality conflicts; rigging up "sting operations" or "blackmail schemes" from the inside; compromising or alienating sources; creating an inside base for developing tactics of intimidation ("we know everything you are doing", "we know all your secrets, we even know what you are thinking", etc.)

And finally, infiltration would allow agents to monitor the current psychological conditions of the struggle - where people’s minds were at, how they were being affected by the presence of the UFOs, and by "mimicking operations" (read on); how they were reacting to disinformation, and to "official" reports and explanations. (In cases, the groups could also be watched on account of information they might inadvertently have obtained regarding classified American aircraft, mistaken for UFOs.)

How Skepticism Works

No doubt, this "in-the-trenches" work at ground zero with the "UFO community" is critical to the aims of the UFO project; but even more critical to it is the previously mentioned work of discrediting the UFO phenomenon in the public’s eye. In these efforts, the project is fortunate to be able to count upon a large number of skeptical scientists, some of whom are exceptionally contemptuous of the possibility of there being UFOs, some of whom are gifted with the weapon of a sharp tongue, and some of whom may be informally or formally in contact with the project, probably on a superficial level. A large list of journalists and other culture/mindset-shapers is probably also in their hands, to be used as mouthpieces for official reports, news feeds, and efforts to ridicule the phenomenon, and filter this ridicule down to the "man on the street." A lot of this mind-shaping may be stimulated to take place at certain moments (for example, local and national news agencies could be made aware of an article by an "expert" ridiculing an event, and this article could then become a "standard source" used to nourish and color the judgment of a vast number of media outlets, pumping this one viewpoint into the veins of the entire nation). Of course, our society is already permeated by a very skeptical streak to begin with, which is not a bad thing, for excessive credulity is no virtue. On the other hand, regarding UFOs, it certainly seems that we are going too far in the opposite direction.

Most definitely, for starters, it is "the kiss of death" for a scientist to take this phenomenon seriously. Any active interest will typecast him as a fringe character, because, of course, "UFOs are impossible according to Einstein", and who goes against Einstein, except a "drunken hillbilly with a shotgun who had a little too much to drink"? For a scientist, to seriously pursue the question of UFOs - except in terms of trying to explain them away as natural phenomena unrelated to extraterrestrials - is like conducting research on the "tooth fairy", or writing a paper on "The Physics Of Santa Claus’ Bag." In other words, kiss that scientist good-bye! Of course, this innate hostility, based upon rigid adherence to certain, no doubt, temporary premises in our contemporary body of knowledge, drives away some of the potentially most valuable players on the UFO field, and by lowering the technical depth and expertise of the UFO community, also diminishes its credibility and ability to affect society.

As for the common man on the street, he is swayed by authorities "more eminent than himself" to consider the idea preposterous - or, at least, suspect. (For he treats scientists rather as a priesthood, allowing them to define his reality, even in contradiction to his own experiences.) While it is true that many members of our society "sort of" believe in UFOs, they will, at the same time, immediately distrust anyone who claims to have seen one himself. They will fear that such a person may "have a screw loose", and will likely view him as somewhat flaky, unreliable, and odd, if not outright crazy. Someone "not to be taken seriously", unless it is in fear for one’s life. While some UFO witnesses who open their mouths may not be distanced, or ostracized by others, some of these "lucky ones" end up having their niche in the social group re-created, becoming "the character" or "beloved nut" - a role not without its advantages, but also not to the taste of all. On the other hand, some people may face severer consequences, become the butt of unwanted ridicule, or behind-the-back gossip, that leaves them feeling hurt and humiliated. It doesn’t help that law enforcement and local government officials tend to view calls about UFOs as "crackpot cases", often exuding an air of, "Someone could be robbing a store, and you want to talk about little green men?" Naturally, with this price to pay for reporting a UFO, many people just keep what they see to themselves, slowing down the spread of knowledge about the phenomenon. Even more than that, they all too easily accept bogus explanations, as a way of "letting it go", "letting themselves off the hook", and getting on with their lives. Better to change a UFO into a meteor, than to be ridiculed for the rest of one’s life (maybe even by yourself!) Or to lose nights of sleep, weighed down with a revelation that no one will share with you.

Working in this environment, the UFO project and allied experts, or unaffiliated experts operating on a parallel mental track, typically provide alternative explanations to most UFO sightings: natural "scientific" explanations, which do not always have to be "convincing" to convince. For we are often ready to grasp at them like straws. As Dr. James Van Allen is reported to have said (referring to the strange 1908 explosion over Siberia, variously attributed to a meteor impact, a comet impact, a black hole "crash", or a UFO crash): "One of my favorite sayings is one my daughter uses, and that is, if you’re in the middle of a ranch in Wyoming, and you hear the thundering of hoofbeats, you don’t expect a herd of zebras. It doesn’t mean they couldn’t be there, but one should at least exhaust known natural phenomena and possibilities before grasping at exotic possibilities." (The UFO Casebook, by Kevin D. Randle, p. 196.) It’s a wonderful expression, and one with a lot of truth in it. However, in a world in which "Wyoming zebra sightings" are punished by rejection and ridicule, it is also possible that many people who do see zebras running by in the night will just shake their heads and say, "No, impossible. Must have been my eyes playing tricks on me. Must have been horses." And that no one will begin the search that could lead to the discovery of the eccentric millionaire’s estate with the broken gate, or the crashed zoo truck, that is behind the sightings.

Of course, I do not mean to imply all "natural, scientific explanations" given to account for UFOs are deceptive, or cover-ups. On the contrary, most reported UFO sightings probably do have a "natural", non-extraterrestrial explanation (just as many are hoaxes), and many of the explanations offered by the government must be given with honest intentions, and, in fact, provide accurate clarifications of the observed events. On the other hand, as I said before, there is a definite body of extremely suggestive events amidst all the sightings and experiences which are "naturally explicable", and it is an injustice to these to allow them to be buried under the assumption that they must be ordinary events, in spite of all appearances. Nor can we jump to the conclusion that because the majority of UFO sightings have a rational, non-extraterrestrial explanation, all of them must.

Disinformation Strategy: Roswell

Besides the attempt to erode belief in the UFO phenomenon by providing alternative explanations as frequently as is possible - an effort in which many official investigators may actually be duping themselves as much as the public ("it can’t be a UFO, so it must have been the moon") - there are, without a doubt, deliberate efforts to mislead the public, by means of "disinformation."

"Disinformation", of course, means the fabrication and/or release of "false information" intended to mislead others: to either take the place of the truth, and substitute "official reality" for reality; or else to confuse people, by paralyzing them between alternative realities, trapping them in paradoxes and doubt; or even to generate a false reality so absurd, that it infects reality with its absurdity, and cripples the truth by making it inaccessible (too ridiculous, too tainted and disgraced, to approach). As anyone involved with the serious study of the UFO phenomenon will tell you, disinformation in this field abounds. To give some examples:

The infamous "UFO crash" at Roswell was, after a moment of honesty, explained away as the crash of a weather balloon. Major Jesse Marcel, who had earlier surveyed debris from the saucer, was given pieces of balloon wreckage to display, and photographed; the photograph was then disseminated to the press. (The testimony of witnesses - and logic - all dictate against this possibility. For even if the "weather balloon" was a cover for a top-secret high-air balloon project or an experimental aircraft, why was it not being tracked, and why didn’t a major search and recovery mission begin right after its disappearance on July 2, instead of several days later, on July 8?)

Many years later, in 1997, the Air Force added a new element to the disinformation campaign, suggesting that the rumors of alien bodies discovered at the crash site could be attributable to a series of experiments involving instrument-filled "test dummies" dropped from high-altitude balloons in the 1950s, in order to study ways in which pilots and astronauts, forced to escape from their craft at extreme altitudes, might be able to return to the earth in safety. The problem with this explanation is that these tests occurred long after the Roswell crash. (Maybe, if we human beings lived for 1,000 years, a mere decade would not make much of a difference, and a memory lapse of this magnitude could be considered plausible. But as it is, it hardly seems likely.)

Then, in 1995, there was the televised footage of an "alien autopsy." This was supposedly a top-secret film which the military made, after coming into possession of the extraterrestrial cadavers found at the site of the Roswell space crash. Somehow, amazingly, this "explosive information bombshell" got out of the more-secret-than-top-secret vaults where it must have been stored, past the armed MPs with loaded rifles, past the attack dogs, and past the barbed wire, into the hands of a major media network. American security either committed "the goof of the century", or - even though, on all other fronts, the UFO files remained tightly closed - decided to go public and to "leak" the most shocking UFO story of all! Then, observing the quality of the film, itself, one might ask, why even bother making such a film at all? Bodies from another world - a momentous "biological treasure" - were on hand - truly an occasion for detailed and vivid recording. And yet the filming of the autopsy was amateurish, the view of the operating frequently blocked, the views of organs either brief or unclear, the camera shots roving and unintelligent. What competent professionals, in the midst of an epochal event, would dare to produce such a mediocre record? The spectacle had "hoax" written all over it. The motive, you may ask? Besides making money (the media’s motive), probably, on the part of others, there was the intention of building up public expectations, drawing the attention of all who might be interested, and then presenting them with a low-quality, disappointing product, likely to diminish their belief in the whole affair. For many would fall victim to the fallacy that if some of the evidence used to back up the reality of Roswell were false, then the incident itself must be false; forgetting that a great deal of valid evidence continued to exist, which the false evidence could not destroy, only hide beneath the cloud of its own pollution. (Consider this example: Vague traces of a Viking settlement in Newfoundland are taken as evidence that the Vikings reached America before Columbus. Then, an archaeologist - perhaps an admirer of Columbus - "discovers" a treasure-trove of Viking weapons and implements at the site, which seems to provide even more abundant evidence of the hypothesis: until the implements and weapons turn out to be forgeries, or "plants" from other sites, in Norway. Of course, this hoax is likely to cast a cloud of disrepute and disbelief over the whole Viking hypothesis. Rather than destroying the hypothesis from the outside with scholarly arguments, the clever operative has "infiltrated" the hypothesis, and poisoned it from within, eclipsing the valid evidence with his own deceitful and collapsed position.) Perhaps loyal to the adage "birds of a feather flock together", we tend to run from scandal, foolishness, and deceit, without staying around long enough to see if anything real is masked behind its ugly glow.

Although most likely not part of a deliberate "disinformation plot", but rather, part of an exploitative money-making agenda unrelated to government operations, tabloid "coverage" of the UFO phenomenon, including Roswell, has probably also contributed to the process of discrediting the phenomenon by coating it with a sheen of fantasy, and hyperbole. When doctored photographs of Roswell survivors or extraterrestrial ambassadors, shaking hands with the President, and articles filled with laughable, and utterly comedic claims, greet us at every supermarket checkout, how are we to avoid internalizing the sense of "absurdity", and applying it to all UFO-related stories? How are we to avoid beginning to take all UFOs as a joke, impeding the possibility of developing any kind of serious relationship with them? It is as though the extraterrestrial had become a stock character of "fairy tales", like Aladdin and his magic lamp, genies, and flying carpets - "typecast" in the role of a fantasy figure, and thereby, stranded from reality.

The Mack Attack: Or, If the Man Falls, So Does the Idea

Very much akin to "disinformation", and to the "absurditization" (if I may invent this word) of the phenomenon, is the occasional use of "character assassination" to undermine our sense of belief in UFOs. Being a species much more capable of becoming linked to people than to abstract ideas, we tend to personalize many of our ideas by associating them with a particular individual, or set of individuals. This helps us to better relate to, or bond with, the ideas in question. However, it also tends to make us vulnerable to the fallacy that the proponent of an idea, and the idea, are the same thing; meaning that if the image of the proponent can be toppled, then his idea - even if it is true - is likely to "go down" with him. One clear example of this is the "set-up" of UFO abduction expert, Dr. John Mack, who was "duped" by an individual who pretended to be hypnotically regressed by him, and who then acted out an invented alien abduction scenario, which greatly excited Mack, who took the fabricated experience at face value. Tapes were made, and Mack was then "exposed" by the media, portrayed as a gullible fool, without the critical faculties, judgment, or methodology necessary to be taken seriously. Although the "set-up" did, most likely, expose flaws in Mack’s approach, a great deal was left out during the media’s gang-tackle of the Harvard psychiatrist gone AWOL from mainstream science. There was the fact that yes, it is possible to fake the state of hypnosis, and to deceive an experienced professional with a convincing acting job. (A person screaming and holding his abdomen would, in the same way, be taken seriously at a hospital, accepted into an Emergency Room, given batteries of tests, and probably administered pain-killers, by competent medical professionals. It would not be a question of incompetence, that they did not recognize a hoax, but instead took the patient’s claims and apparent symptoms at face value, and initiated efforts to diagnose and treat him.)

Then, there was the fact that Mack believed alien abductions were possible. For him, therefore, it was no shocking "suspension of judgment" which led him to accept the hoaxter’s abduction claims, which fell within the range of what he believed was possible. In the same way, a conventional psychologist might easily fall for his patient’s lie that he had been abused as a child - something that we all know is possible. The act that Mack was deceived by a "patient" would not, in itself, have been so devastating to his reputation, if there was not already an implicit social assumption that UFOs, aliens, and abductions are "absurd", which was used to inflate his mistake into something utterly discrediting.

Finally, Mack’s belief in the possibility of alien abductions, which played the major role in his acceptance of the hoaxter’s claims, was not utterly illogical. Although the insinuation of his critics was that his entire belief-system was constructed on the basis of uncritical methods, such as those which allowed the hoax to "slip by", the fact of the matter is that a large and interesting body of possible evidence had been gathered, some of it recovered by means of hypnotic regression, some of it reported by individuals troubled by recurring nightmares, or by actual memories encountered in the waking state: memories sometimes linked to episodes of "missing time" or UFO sightings. Although hypnotic regressions can, indeed, produce false memories and generate fantasies, meaning that many "remembered" alien abductions may never have taken place - (especially once the classic "extraterrestrial image" became burned into our mass psyche, as a new form of creative raw material) - and although some hoaxters may have gotten "through the net" - there still seemed to be an interesting-enough and large-enough body of abduction reports to warrant taking them out of the "joke box", and putting them into the "possible box." Without taking sides on the alien abduction issue, I do consider the way Dr. Mack was "jumped" to be unfair. And it is a classic example of "character assassination"; and of the attempt to destroy an idea, by destroying a proponent of that idea.

How the Government Gets Others to Do its "Skeptical Work"

With regard to how the attack on Mack connected, or did not connect, to the efforts of the UFO project, I am not in a position to comment. Many individuals and groups of individuals not linked to the UFO project, nonetheless, have their own private problems with, and rages against, the UFO phenomenon and the abduction phenomenon. It may be a loyalty to the conventional scientific worldview, to their notion of rationality, or to their concept of proper scientific methodology, which drives them to fight. Acting completely on their own, these individuals and groups will frequently plan, organize, and launch attacks meant to "debunk" and "discredit" the "UFO scene." While not directly generated by the UFO project, they, nonetheless, are reinforced by other efforts of the UFO project - efforts which help to conceal the extraterrestrial truth from society, thereby keeping unrelated "defenders of science and reason" trapped in a state of limited knowledge: which maintains "UFO-belief" as a target in their eyes. It is something like the case of two men - #1 and #2 - who go out hunting, in an uninhabited tract of wilderness belonging to a friend, #3. They shoot a deer (poor thing), and leaving it hanging up outside, retire for the night inside their tent. Upon awakening next morning, and walking outside to stretch, they discover that the deer is gone! #1 blames bears or wolves. But #3, who is an "expert" back at his home in the town, assures #2, by cell phone, that there are no bears, wolves, cougars, or other large predators in the area, and also assures him that he has never had any problem with trespassers. What #3 does not tell #1 and #2 is that he has, in fact, seen large bears in the area. But he didn’t want to tell them (some friend). #2 then begins to blame #1 for somehow stealing and hiding away the deer, because to him, it is, now, the only logical possibility. Although #2 is not "following the orders" or "in the employ" of #3, #3 is, nonetheless, by withholding critical information, shaping #2’s "worldview" in such a way as to turn him against #1. Now replace #1 with the "UFO believers", #2 with the "defenders of reason", #3 with the government "UFO project", and the bear with the extraterrestrials, and you will have a pretty accurate metaphor for how the UFO project - even when it is not directly involved in disseminating or promoting specific acts of disinformation - plays a crucial role in engineering mass resistance to the UFO reality. As the last line of a haiku poem by Buson has been translated: "Pretty clever, eh?"

Disinformation Strategy: The Crop Circles

Back on the subject of disinformation, now, another excellent example would be what has been going on with the crop circles. This phenomenon, which really took off in the 1980s, in England especially, involved the appearance of mysterious circles and designs appearing overnight in grain fields. Immediately, the phenomenon attracted attention as a manifestation of either fairy/earth spirit activity (occultists) or extraterrestrial activity (Ufologists). A scientific theory to explain the circles was offered as a counterproposal: the "plasma vortex" - an electrically-charged whirlwind said capable of creating a powerful downward thrust that might flatten crops to produce the circles. However, as the complexity of the circles escalated during the 1980s, and patterns obviously the product of intelligent design began to appear, the plasma vortex theory became increasingly untenable. That is when, in 1991, a pair of colorful Englishmen emerged with the tale that they were responsible for the crop circles, having "pulled them off" as a hoax. They demonstrated how they were able to make crop circles with a system of ropes, and wooden planks, and the mainstream media immediately rushed in with delight to pump their story, and its "lesson", into the global consciousness: that the circle-believers were just a bunch of wide-eyed ridiculous "suckers", taken in by a folksy pair of everyday, fun-loving Joes. What a wonderful blow for the "common man", to crumble this whole new edifice of pseudoscientific learning - crop circle studies and "cereologists" - in such a decisive way! What a wonderful reenactment of "The Emperor’s New Clothes" - to expose the nakedness of the circle-believers to all the world. And for many that was it. End of story.

In reality, however, the story was not over, or even legitimately challenged. What had occurred was nothing less than an act of "PR vandalism." A mysterious phenomenon was "jumped", "explained away", and left for dead; but, in reality, very little had been explained. What was explained was that some crop circles could, indeed, be created by human beings. (Circle-bashers claimed to be able to replicate any formation, of any level of complexity, and succeeded in convincing some reporters of this, who promptly transmitted this "fact" to the world. But circle-believers noted important differences between the faked circles and the real ones, sometimes involving complexity of design and size, but even more importantly relating to the nature in which the crops had been flattened within the circle. They also noted the large number of crop circles, which would seem to exceed the capacity of the prankster buddies, and other hoaxters [whose numbers did, indeed, multiply]; as well as the fact that farmers, police, and "cereologists" rarely caught hoaxters in the act of attempting to fake the circles. It seems that so much attempted hoax activity on private property would have produced more arrests, especially since the time required to make such elaborate and well-formed circles in the nighttime, if human effort was involved, would have necessitated extended exposure [not just a few minutes]. Besides this, some crop circle formations, as indicated, seem to have taken place in conjunction with UFO sightings and/or the appearance of small flying light sources, above the fields.)

What was also shown was that some of the circles were, in fact, hoaxes. But, once again, it is a fallacy to insist, on account of that, that all crop circles are hoaxes. Especially when one considers that one of the prime stratagems for disinformation available, is to imbed hoaxes into the midst of a real phenomenon, in hopes of contaminating it in the public’s eye. Although I have already gone over this point, it bears going over again. Imagine, in olden days, when seashells were first discovered in the middle of a desert. Imagine, then, an intellectual establishment which did not want to accept the possibility that the earth is subject to flux and change; an intellectual establishment that did not want to countenance the possibility that this desert might once have been the bed of an ancient sea. What better way to "destroy" the evidence of the seashells, than to engineer a hoax, or publicize one, in which a man admitted to planting seashells in the desert in order to fool people? And what better way to exploit the hoax than to rush in, in the moment of shock, as the hoax was first revealed, to shower the "ancient sea scientists" with laughter and scorn, and turn them into "idiots" whose own mothers would shut the door in their face? The laughter, and the existing mental framework, would seize the handful of planted shells as its explanation, then quickly turn away, without lingering to consider the millions of other shells littering the desert sands, some imbedded in rock, some of unknown shape and size, not available to any hoaxter.

In essence, this kind of hit-and-run "science" is really remarkably like the alleged "pseudoscience" of the UFO-believers. As Carl Sagan wrote in The Demon-Haunted World, of New-Age-types, which would include UFO-believers: "They long for the scientific seal of approval, but are unwilling to put up with the rigorous standards of evidence that impart credibility to that seal." (P. 58.) In the case of the crop circles, science has not stayed around. It has glimpsed one "solution" that it finds pleasing, then left the scene (trying to carry the world with it), without worrying about the inadequacy of that solution in terms of explaining a large percentage of crop circle incidents. It has behaved arrogantly and frivolously, like a boy king who tastes one dish out of a hundred on a table, and pronounces the feast a catastrophe, departing with orders to behead the chef.

Disinformation Strategy: The Hudson River Valley Sightings

Fitting into the pattern of lacing real phenomena with hoaxes comes the hugely important Hudson River Valley sightings of 1983 and 1984. In this case, very impressive appearances of large extraterrestrial craft, witnessed by great numbers of people, were discredited by reports of a private flying club which had taken to flying planes in formation, at night, out of New York’s Dutchess County, with their navigation lights illuminating the darkness. Spectators on the ground, seeing the outline of the lights, might be tempted to mentally "connect the dots" and imagine a single, giant spacecraft, which corresponded to descriptions of a giant triangular, or boomerang-shaped UFO frequenting the area in those days. At the same time, there were also rumors of military aircraft flying in formation out of Stewart International Airport, or from other locations. These maneuvers of terrestrial aircraft were most definitely inserted into the environment of the Hudson River Valley sightings with the purpose of misleading the public into believing that the UFO reports were actually the product of misidentified terrestrial aircraft: that the whole thing had nothing to do with UFOs, after all! While people who had got a good look at the UFO knew that there was no way it was an earthly aircraft, or formation of aircraft - and while people who had seen both the UFO and the decoy planes were especially sure of this - for the wider public, which had only secondhand information of the affair, the "misidentified plane" excuse seemed logical. (You could say that this reaction parallels our belief in ghosts - if you have not seen one with your own eyes, you are not likely to believe that they exist; while if you have, you will not doubt that they exist, ever again.) In this way, thanks to the actions of the "rescue pilots", the impact of the UFO was kept locked up in the Hudson River Valley area, isolated to those who had had actual contact with it. And their revelation, their awakening, was prevented from triggering a wider response in society.

Disinformation Strategy: Cattle Mutilations. Or, Creating the "Sinister Alien"

Finally, when it comes to the topic of disinformation, we must consider the somewhat bizarre and frightening rumors of "cattle mutilations", which began to cause a sensation here, in the United States and Canada, in the 1970s. According to reports, large numbers of cattle, out in the Western states, began to turn up dead, with various organs and body parts missing, removed with surgical precision; the animals were frequently found to be drained of blood, as well, and no trace of perpetrators was found. A kind of tension, and sometimes even panic mentality, began to spread about this phenomenon, as local ranchers, law enforcement officials, authorities, and other investigators began to seek an explanation. Among the explanations tendered: (1) The "mutilations" were the result of normal predators, scavenging, and decomposition. (No doubt, a great many cases were explainable in this way. However, the condition of some of the corpses did not seem to conform to any known pattern of natural animal-by-animal dismemberment.) (2) The "mutilations" were the result of satanic cult activity, or the activity of other religious groups committed to ritual sacrifice. (Although some mutilations appear to have been connected with such activity, the scope of the phenomenon, as well as the alleged technical skill of some of the mutilations, seemed to be beyond the capacity of such groups.) (3) The "mutilations" were the result of extraterrestrial operations. No tracks were left because the aliens came down in UFOs, or else levitated the animals into their ships, where they surgically removed body parts of interest, perhaps with lasers. They then left the bodies lying in the fields. These operations were presumably carried out for the purpose of scientific study, or else as part of some kind of genetic/biological experiment. (A very small number of individuals claimed to be witnesses to this.) (4) The "mutilations" were the result of a top-secret government project, in which highly-trained teams of agents descended onto isolated ranches in unmarked helicopters, cut out body parts, removed blood, and left. Sightings of "mystery helicopters" in the vicinity of cattle mutilations, whose unidentified occupants sometimes buzzed or fired on witnesses, though, mostly, they just flew away when spotted - and the possible discovery of a government-issue satchel with a scalpel and bloody cow parts inside of it, on a Colorado ranch - led to the development of this theory.

In my opinion - from the evidence I am able to gather, which is secondhand, and does not come from "the field" - a variety of causes are probably behind the reported phenomenon. First, a real core of strange, effective, and deliberate acts of mutilation not perpetrated by any known animal, predator, or scavenger; second, a number of ritual kills perpetrated by human cultists; and finally, a large number of natural deaths and disfigurements, which were allowed to become tangled up with the "cattle mutilation" lore, and which were incorrectly added in as evidence to back up the extraterrestrial or "government conspiracy" theories. Of course, our concern must be to consider what might be behind the bizarre cases of precisely deliberate mutilations which did take place - or may have taken place - at this time.

In my opinion, once again, the extraterrestrials should not have been involved in any of this. I could be guilty of trying to make facts fit my belief-system, but given what I have inferred about the extraterrestrial civilization and its intentions, it does not seem they would need to mutilate so many animals to study them (why not just scan them, or keep some living specimens?); or that they would engage in such a senseless, cruel, and disrespectful destruction of animal life. Furthermore, if it was their intention to "guide" us, to psychologically impress us, to "model" some form of enlightened behavior for us, then leaving behind the mutilated bodies of ruthlessly slaughtered cows would hardly be the way to present that positive influence. Instead, it would be sending us the very opposite message, that cruelty and barbarism were just fine.

Even if the aliens had decided to shift tactics, and to try to "intimidate" us into behaving ourselves - to consider another possibility - it would be utterly counterproductive, for then they would not be stimulating us to rise up to a higher level, to become greater, but only keeping us down in the pit of bestiality and fear. I do not think that is their intention.

As for the idea that there are groups of "evil aliens" as well as "good ones", I tend to believe that the dynamics of planetary evolution and expansion into deep space, which I outlined earlier, will most likely prevent the development of evil, intergalactic civilizations; just as I tend to believe it very unlikely that an "evil" alien presence could coexist, in the vicinity of the earth, with a "good" one, for we would be likely to fall under the sway of either one or the other. In that case, if the "evil ones" had control, they would most likely have conquered us by now; just as, if the "good ones" had control, they would have kept the "evil ones" away. If, on the other hand, the "evil ones" were "up and about" and able to slip raids past the "good ones", they would probably have done us much worse damage than just mutilating cows; and we might also have witnessed some fierce high-tech battles, as they attempted to gain control of bases on and around the earth, since they, unlike the "good ones", would not have any reason to follow a protocol of discretion oriented towards protecting the integrity of our planet’s evolution. Finally, if the "evil ones" had been slipping "commandos" onto the earth, instead of engaging in full-scale raids - commandos meant to act as spies or agents - why risk alerting the "good ones" to their presence by engaging in cattle mutilations, and thereby leaving their "fingerprints" all over the earth?

To my mind, the extraterrestrial hypothesis just doesn’t make sense when it comes to "cattle mutilations." What does make sense, however, is an effort by the human UFO project to link the "cattle mutilations" to the aliens. This could be done by actually going out into the field, via helicopter, to do some high-tech mutilations, and making sure that the bizarre cadavers came to the attention of the UFO community, and that some members of that community ended up connecting the mutilations with UFOs; or, it could be done by simply providing disinformation, consisting of exaggerated reports and conclusions, fed to some "UFO investigators", or else piped out through agents posing as "UFO investigators." That disinformation would embellish, magnify, and reshape a common phenomenon - the natural effects of animal predators on cattle - into "evidence" of a complex extraterrestrial plot.

Of course, you may wonder, what possible motive could the government - or the UFO project - have for this? The operation would be carried out with the purpose of gaining psychological capital: confusing the UFO community; casting doubt on the assumed benevolence of the extraterrestrial, and undermining the God-association many people have formed, or might form, with the extraterrestrial. At stake would be nothing less than an effort to alter the extraterrestrial archetype, to take the "wise guide", "the brilliant friend", out of our minds, and leave confusion, doubt, uncertainty and even fear in its place. Rather than being an inspiring symbol, above our government and earthly systems, the extraterrestrial would once more - as in the days of H.G. Wells - assume the potential to be a predator, a threat - inhuman and terrifying (for nothing, say psychologists, so horrifies us as mutilation) - a force no longer to separate us from earthly authorities, but to send us running back to them for protection. By creating the possibility of a "sinister alien", the UFO project would no doubt be aiming to develop the potential, in the future, to undermine the work of contactee-messiahs and "world-changing" UFO cults, should they ever assume any importance; for it could then paint these movements as disguised invasions of the earth linked to hostile "evil aliens", in place of idealistic campaigns to save the earth, inspired by wise men from the stars.

Chupacabras

Besides "cattle mutilations" here in the US, it is possible that the outbreak of "chupacabras" reports from Latin America in the 1990s is related. The "chupacabras", or "sucker of goats", is a kind of legendary monster credited with sucking the blood out of livestock, and its bizarre, mainly unseen nighttime attacks in Latin America, share some common elements with the US cattle mutilations. In Latin America, the "chupacabras" was variably viewed as a horrifying, unknown monster; a kind of supernatural demon; or some form of frightening extraterrestrial.

MIBs

Additionally, in regard to the "vilification" of the extraterrestrial, we have some stories of MIBs - or "men in black": not the funny, movie type of guys. These MIBs reputedly show up to threaten witnesses who have just seen UFOs, warning them to be silent. They may typically be dressed in black, with sunglasses, drive black unmarked cars, and create a terrifying, or at least intimidating, impression, especially some of them, who are reported as having a most unusual appearance, almost as though they were part-extraterrestrial, themselves. What this is all about is quite hard to say, but once again, in the case of the "hybrid thug" type, the attempt to place an emotional barrier between human beings and extraterrestrials is a likely guess. In cases, simple strong-arm tactics may be being used by human agents of the UFO project, in order to silence witnesses of certain key events - or else, perhaps, to inject a new element into UFO lore - the idea that talking about the UFOs, and spreading their effect, through increasing their believability, is a dangerous thing to do. The MIBs, operating with an almost supernatural, esoteric aura about them, create the impression of something ghostly, psychic, unstoppable, and thus become a kind of bogeyman residing in the subconscious, sure to make anyone who has seen a UFO, and knows about them, think twice before opening his mouth. (Some other analysts believe the MIBs have been inserted into the mix, by the government, in order to give a heightened "fringe" appearance to some valid UFO experiences: to discredit legitimate sightings by introducing "weird" elements that will make the whole thing seem too "far out" for public consumption: as though it were all a product of "paranoia" and "delusion.")

To Believe or Not Believe: The Dual Option Strategy

Obviously, all of this manipulative human activity linked, in so many different ways, to the already bewildering UFO phenomenon, makes it that much harder for us to find the truth, and to get our emotional bearings, as regards this issue. And still, there is more to come. For the UFO project not only has taken an active role in seeking to keep the UFO barricaded from our social and political instincts by placing a wall of ridicule around it, brushing it with the colors of fantasy, and making it emotionally confusing to us - it has also, in my opinion, developed significant initiatives to exploit the presence of the UFOs for its own benefit. For it must not have taken very long for it to realize that it might, itself, develop the capacity to do what it feared its enemies might do; that it might, itself, grow to wield the very kind of social and political power, energized by the UFO phenomenon, which it was trying to keep others from attaining.

Although, at first, this might seem like a contradiction, given the fact that the UFO project seemed to be trying to deflate the power of the "UFO presence" to the point where it could not empower anybody, the truth is that the UFO project eventually developed a balanced approach aimed at preserving its options, and enabling it to turn the psychological power of the UFOs either on or off, according to its needs. While a containment barrier of disbelief was built around the phenomenon, out of the material of alternative explanations, scientific contempt, discrediting hoaxes, ridicule, and disinformation - just enough level of believability was maintained to keep the potential of the phenomenon alive. (The UFOs themselves, as "transmitted" to our collective consciousness by our own sightings, and by the work of independent investigators and journalists functioning in an "open society", helped to keep some embers glowing in the midst of the suppressed fire. These embers, when needed, might be blown upon by the UFO project, and brought back to life, to start up a fire which they controlled, and used in their way.) The UFO project is, therefore, likely to have become the guardian of a delicate psychological structure, dedicated to keeping the level of UFO belief low in our society: "boxed in", but able to be released; "turned off", but able to be activated. The possibility of the aliens being evil, or of some aliens being evil, was crafted into the master-design, to permit an angle for attack against threatening UFO cults or movements; but the "character of the villain" was not boldly finished, it was left open-ended, in case the government, itself, might want to put the "positive image" of the extraterrestrial to use.

Mimicking Operations. Or, Humans as ETs

And then, the heart of the strategy was introduced, which was the beginning of the development of a whole military, technological, biological, and cultural foundation for exploiting the UFO presence, through a variety of activities which I will call "mimicking operations." In my opinion, this is still a "work in progress", something that is "out", in the sense of being up and about, undergoing active testing; and yet it is mainly still in a developmental stage, held back as an undeployed potential.

What the "mimicking operations" are all about is creating the capacity here, in our society, to mimic aspects of the UFO phenomenon; to "activate" the psychological power of the UFO-god-image; and then, to step into the command cockpit of that image; to take over the role of the "extraterrestrial father" of the world, and by doing so, to gain his authority over the American people, and perhaps the world.

No doubt, one aspect of this program would be the development of high-performance experimental craft designed to mimic, as much as possible, the behavior of UFOs. The capabilities, of course, would not be the same, but the construction of an otherworldly appearance could do much to make up for that, mesmerizing and shocking witnesses who beheld it and immediately "recognized" it as a UFO (because it met their expectations). In the nighttime, tricks with lights could seem to make the craft appear and vanish - and perhaps rockets or flares could be launched in such a way as to mimic sudden changes in direction or acceleration. Appearances of the craft could be staged in such a way as to create the maximum effect, even filmed in dramatic footage to be turned over or "leaked" to the media; while military radar, jets, and some special witness-agents (useful for making important specific claims) - official elements committed to "verifying" and "documenting" the manufactured events - could all be mobilized to increase the plausibility of the phenomenon. Now, instead of keeping the UFO phenomenon locked away from the public, the government would "open the floodgates", letting the idea that we had been contacted by an alien civilization pour into the consciousness of the nation. (Although many UFO investigators believe the US government is actually in possession of extraterrestrial technology, right now, possibly reconstructed from super-advanced elements of the Roswell crash - and that it is, in fact, building and testing real forms of "alien aircraft" out at Groom Lake, and "Area 51" in the Nevada desert, a top-secret testing and development center which has already given birth to such cutting-edge aircraft as the SR-71 spy plane and Stealth bomber - I do not believe that this is so. Once again, due to my conviction that the extraterrestrials are following a protocol of limited non-interference, and due to my belief that they would not leave advanced technological components, able to shift the balance of power on our planet, in our hands, I am forced to conclude that what is taking place out at Area 51 is the development and testing of "UFO mimicking technology." - As I conceive of it now, this work is divided into two parts: one part, as I have just stated, is meant to provide the government with the possibility of tapping into the psychological and political potential of the UFO phenomenon, and is focused on appearance even more than performance; the other part, which is focused on functionality and performance, is purely military and technological - an effort to extrapolate principles of alien technology based upon observations of UFO behavior and capabilities, and to generate new terrestrial technology from within the expanded paradigm.)

Besides enabling the government to open up the valves to UFO belief on our planet, the mimicking technology would also enable the government, in select cases, by exposing its own versions of "similar" craft, to camouflage new outbreaks of real UFO activity as nothing but its own test flights. Or, on the other hand, mere rumors of secret government projects of this type, fed to the right UFO group, could be used to help convince important segments of the public that the UFOs might actually be part of a top-secret government program. So many options! Ready to be used, in so many different ways! This is the meaning of strategic flexibility, and the quality of a "beautiful plan."

The Contactee as Agent

But let us say that the government’s purpose were to one day create a fake extraterrestrial contact in order to bolster its own power. How would it do so? How could it connect the power flying about in the skies, and mesmerizing people’s minds with visions of a new world order, to its own policy objectives on the earth? Obviously, the UFOs would need to find a mechanism for transmitting "their will" to the earth. No doubt, this could be achieved in a variety of ways.

A human contactee, or messiah, or council of contactees, could be coached for this role. Even before the appearance of the fake UFOs, they should be preaching, claiming to be receiving messages, presenting their vision for the earth. And then, they should begin to make predictions which are fulfilled; and they should show themselves to be in communication with the "UFOs", which the government will maneuver and make appear in such a way as to indicate that they are, indeed, in communication. (For example, the contactees go to a sacred place with their followers to pray or meditate, and lo and behold, the UFOs appear!) Soon, the interrelation between man and extraterrestrial becomes apparent, and the contactee-messiah, seemingly "appointed" by the UFOs, gains vast authority over the beliefs and minds of men. A new religion is born, perhaps a mixture of Christianity with ufology: a familiar and cherished belief-system, invigorated by startling new "miracles." Or perhaps just a new religion, born from the body of science.

Of course, the approach of this contactee-messiah (or council of contactees) might be direct or indirect. He might come, as an intermediary, to express the extraterrestrials’ support for the government, adding new power to it. (As the Sun God was said to have handed to the ancient Babylonian king, Hammurabi, his code of laws, with which to rule men, this messiah would come as a divine-sanctifier of the government). Or he might come as a "reformer" or "revolutionary", pretending to challenge the government, while he was only, in fact, helping it to "reengineer" itself, probably leading to the replacement of democracy by a "benevolent, alien-guided elite", which would really be a front for an authoritarian human regime. He might come to take an active role in the government, or just remain on the outside, in charge of an important social movement useful to the government.

Naturally, there would be complications to the process. Some people might ask, "Where are the extraterrestrials?" They might tire of seeing their ships flying around and around in the sky, yet being stuck with an only human Messiah. And they might begin to grow suspicious. Why couldn’t the aliens at least show themselves? Reports of Close Encounters of the 3^rd Kind (incidents of meeting the occupants of UFOs) and alien abductions are very ingrained in popular UFO lore, so most people would not buy the explanation that the extraterrestrials did not want to be seen. In this case, it might be necessary for the government to fabricate extraterrestrials, as well as their spacecraft! No mean feat! But, with the right approach and tools, solutions might be found. Illusions, holographs, magic show tricks, computer-generated graphics, actors and make-up… Best of all, some surgically-altered human beings, or even "genetically-altered" human beings, small, diminutive, light humans, with enlarged or changed eyes (the most crucial effect), who could at least pass as hybrids. Without having to present a full-fledged alien, that shocking evidence of "alien blood" might be enough. (Note: If real alien bodies were discovered at Roswell, there seems to exist a possibility that extraterrestrials might be able, one day in the future, to be "cloned" from recovered genetic material. In that case - if the biological complexities of the process were able to be surmounted - could the government produce "extraterrestrials" of its own? And having produced them, would it be able to rear and indoctrinate these alien beings to serve its purposes; or would these beings prove unmanageable? This is an interesting, and potentially vital question. In my own mind, I do not feel that this possibility can have escaped the attention of the extraterrestrials, so I am of the opinion that there must either be biological or technically-introduced impediments to the cloning of the Roswell aliens, if they exist, that will prevent us from reproducing them; or else natural personality endowments, that will prevent any cloned ET from ever being molded into the tool of an unevolved civilization.)

Then, of course - after the desire to "meet" actual extraterrestrials, or at least hybrids, had been addressed - there would be questions of technology. Earthlings would want to receive great gifts from space, amazing miracles in the forms of spectacular new machines, and devices, treasures from the extraterrestrial Magi. They might expect the Messiah to produce these. And surely, he would have to come up with an excuse (for even though the government might be able to develop a few advanced "crowd-pleasers", just as ancient Greek engineers were able to create temple doors which opened "automatically", creating the illusion that they were being opened by the hand of a God, the government would not be likely to be able to meet the public’s expectation in this regard; and, in fact, overly primitive "alien technology" might expose the whole business as a fraud. Messy business!) Therefore, the space messiah would be likely to protect himself with an "alien rule", something like, "It is for you to face your own challenges, and to grow from them." Or, "The key to the future of this planet is not technology, but the political and social organization of nations. This must be attended to before it will be safe for you to receive new technology." And a watered-down version of the alien protocol might have to be presented.

The contactee-messiah might also raise some doubts if he represented, too clearly, the not always moral interests of a particular nation, at the expense of others. People might expect some kind of utopian, millenarian world of peace, justice, love, and fairness to blossom from his presence, and might begin to doubt him if he, instead, seemed only to endorse a system which, though it is defended by our words (and sometimes by our lives), is yet, understood to be quite imperfect, and not equal to our heart’s longing. How could a nation of warriors and profit-makers ever be satisfactory to a representative of the highest and most enlightened minds of the Universe? Surely, a new philosophical invention would be in order, something like: "Every species progresses through successive stages of development. On this rung of your evolutionary climb upwards, it is still necessary to maintain certain characteristics of the past, which will best suit you for this moment in time, until you have fully developed the capacity, and created the conditions, to proceed to the next phase"; somewhat like Marxist philosophy, with its idea that the "dictatorship of the proletariat" is necessary while the capitalist states exist, and can only fade away into utopia ("the withering-away of the state") after the threat of the capitalist nations are overcome. (In other words, it would be argued that a certain stage of imperfection was necessary as a prelude to the attainment of "paradise.")

The International Response

The development of a "UFO theocracy" of this nature would, naturally, encounter its greatest challenge in the arena of international politics, for nations are not of one mind, and many nations, armed with their own military, intelligence, and scientific experts, might conclude that the UFO events being staged in America were only a hoax. They might impede the worldwide spread of the UFO-religion, and prevent the US from using it to gain mental control of the rest of the world. Any program to create a US-led world government, sanctioned by the "UFOs", might, therefore fail, depending upon the vision, will, and complicity, or lack thereof, of other key players in the international arena. As for the idea of "uniting the world" behind the imaginary threat of an invasion by "evil extraterrestrials" - another possibility which has been suggested - that, too, would most likely not be feasible, given the differences existing among nations, and given the much greater difficulty of faking an "evil extraterrestrial invasion", than a "friendly extraterrestrial contact." - Try blowing up Moscow or Peking with an evil "UFO", and - unless you really do have a UFO - see what happens! (Note: some have also suggested that the aliens, themselves, might try to alarm us in order to drive us to unity. Possible. On the other hand, that might be a very "contaminating" form of cultural interference; lead to the formation of a deceptive, rather than real, peace upon the earth, constructed over still unresolved issues of aggression, temporarily masked by the need to deal with an outside "threat"; and damage the extraterrestrials’ far greater potential to serve as positive "role models.")

Most likely, given the nature of the international arena, the UFO project’s option to pump life into the UFO phenomenon, and to utilize it to create a new energy-source of political power, would apply only (or mainly) to the US. It could be a tool for raising morale, mobilizing popular support, and eliminating democracy (if such was desired), increasing America’s strength and "manageability" by its elites. However, against that must be weighed the danger of "freaking out" and alienating the rest of the world, which could isolate this nation if the UFO religion were not able to ensnare at least some other influential allies. (Note: one interesting variation of the "fake-UFO-strategy" might be the deployment of UFOs as a counterinsurgency tool - "fake UFOs" used in the Third World to build up a religious social movement capable of competing with, and defusing, radical politics. The greater spiritual receptivity of people in these regions, and the lower technical obstacles involved in penetrating these countries with high-tech hoaxes, could make this a potentially inviting strategy.)

Concluding Remarks and Exhortations

Of course, I am speaking, now, only of options. I believe that the strategies and outlooks I have described are under consideration, and in various stages of conceptual, organizational, and technical development. I do not wish to imply that there is a major commitment, at this time, in either the UFO project or in associated ultra-secret levels of government, to pursue any particular option or policy. I just do believe that, like any good soldier, the UFO project is engaged in studying possibilities, and is maximizing its strategic potential, by pursuing the development of "mimicking technology" and related procedures, so that it will be able to act in the event that "opportunity and necessity" coincide. In most scenarios, I do not expect these possibilities to get a "major play" in the real world, because there are simply much easier ways to accomplish concrete objectives such as mobilizing public support behind the government, or getting rid of democracy. (Overreacting to a terrorist threat, for example, is surely a far more likely path to dictatorship than seduction by a UFO messiah.)

Even if "mimicking technology" is not likely to provide clandestine cliques within the government with their most obvious or efficient tools for pursuing secret, power-related goals, however, it might still prove highly valuable in enabling the government to compete with and undermine UFO movements generated by real UFO activity, should they ever emerge, and become a genuine "threat" to the existing order.

Whether this work of mine contains valid insight or only overly inventive speculation, remains for you to judge, and for time to reveal. All I can say is that as an individual for years fascinated by the UFO phenomenon, I have finally struggled to put my thoughts about this subject down on paper (I once thought to hide them in the midst of science fiction novels, but as those novels were rejected, I finally had no choice but to leave behind the story-vehicles, and present the naked content). Of course, I am aware that much of what I have written must sound like science fiction. Perhaps. And yet, is it not more prudent to have an overactive imagination, than an overly quiescent one?

As you must have seen by now, my article - which has grown into a book - is built upon a familiarity with basic accounts of the evidence in this field; my use of logic to make inferences and draw conclusions; my imagination, attached to real facts and trends, and carrying on beyond them, traveling on the paths they have left me with the momentum they have given me; and my intuition and instinct. Using my human mind, my human emotions, my human capabilities to try to understand an extraterrestrial phenomenon may be a mistake, but I see no alternative, no way to be who I am not, and who they are, although I have tried to limit the damage by being aware of this fact; and tried, at times, to drift out of myself, to open space for something of the extraterrestrial reality to come into me, for the purpose of understanding them.

Regarding my capacity to understand human beings, that is much more developed. Sadly, I am not so pure as not to be able to find the dark strands of the story; indeed, I can find them all too easily, as if I had played a part in devising them, myself! Gladly, however, I have enough grace to understand that there is hope even for the lost. And I hope that my human brothers entangled in this web of amazement, fear, adaptation, and preparation, will carefully consider their role in this epic drama, and not let it poison them against their brothers; not let it drive them to lock shut the door to our togetherness, and our future. There are times when loyalty to a lower thing must give way to loyalty to a higher thing; when strength used to fight a change ought to become strength used to make oneself capable of change. Perhaps we are at such a time now; a time to see our planet as the extraterrestrials do (like we were coming out of the desert of space to witness it for the very first time) - as a beautiful blue jewel shining in the night, precious, with human beings of all colors and kinds clinging to it: human beings who need to be loved and cared for, who should stop fighting and hurting each other, who should stop denying and misusing each other, and wake up to who they really are, and what they really can be. This is not conquest, but inspiration, and its goal is not "the extraterrestrials", but us.

And I would conclude this article (or book) on the UFO phenomenon, by saying that whatever is "out there" - let us not forget what is "in here." Let us honor that, and live by that, and not live in its shallowness, but in its depth. Let us remember: we do not need to be another species, only who we really are inside, but have not yet freed. Let us live spiritually, compassionately, morally, looking up to the stars above with admiration, but finding salvation in the stars that shine in the night of our own heart. Let us realize that whatever truth, whatever illusion, whatever reality, whatever fantasy underlies the UFO phenomenon, the real work is in our hands; and that no one can give us our future, but ourselves.

PEACE!

"WHO CONQUERS WAR SHALL TOUCH THE STARS!"

-JRS, March 2002

Appendix

If it were possible at this time, I would fill this book with art, with colorful pictures of mandalas, crop circles, UFOs, "artists’ conjectures" of other planets and civilizations, all the stirring images that could help give birth to the dreams of a world. Unable to do this at this time, however, I present this brief appendix of poems, to finish off a serious analysis with some acts of pure imagination.

The first poem, "The Space Age Is Here", is from one of my science-fiction novels. It was a song sung by space explorers at the graduation ceremony of their "Academy", and later adopted as a kind of "national anthem" among their members. It does have music.

Similarly, the second poem was inspired by the theme of one of my science-fiction novels.

The third poem is merely a poetic rendition of my take on the relationship which exists between our interstellar visitors and ourselves.

I hope you will enjoy them.

The Space Age Is Here

The Space Age is here

the mighty have heard

they’ve taken to rockets

said good-bye to the birds

said good-bye to the trees

said good-bye to the earth

said good-bye to their parents

and the place of their birth

Said good-bye to their loved ones

and to the wars that they fought

given everything up

for the sake of a thought

as silent and vast

as the space they will cross

from one star to another

whatever the cost

Whatever the cost

not just words my friend

some of you will never

come home again

Whatever the cost

we’ll pay it

Whatever the cost

we’ll pay it

Our last words

we’ll pay it

The Rocket Of Pirjan

In a desert, stands a rocket -

the rocket of Pirjan -

aimed for distant stars,

yet it never left the sand.

For before it could take off

and spark a star-exploring age,

the world that had built it

was destroyed by its own rage.

And fires swept across that world

and burned its genius down,

in its soul it discovered weapons,

but peace was never found.

For pirates led the nations,

who thought power was the jewel.

They lit the night with wars,

and broke the sacred rules.

Until ambition wrecked itself,

and the desire to possess

left nothing more to steal

and nothing to protect.

Resilient, yes, the people lived,

at least a few of them,

crawling from the ruins

to try to start again.

But they had no memory,

there were only legends in the dust;

pieces of long ago, they said,

"Belong to ghosts, not us."

And so it came to pass

that one day the burned wasteland,

was visited by a wild group of men,

a fearless nomad band.

And coming to the heart of it,

they found something they could not understand,

a strange and lonely tower:

the rocket of Pirjan.

And by the rocket they found engraved

words of which they could read just part -

words of hope’s last living day:

"WHO CONQUERS WAR SHALL TOUCH THE STARS."

Rise

See it

Rise

Believe it

Rise

The light in the sky

is you

The Wise One

is your awakening

Build the landing site

in your heart

and the Gods will come

where they need to come

You’ll be saved

only if you

catch on fire

Your mind is filled

with crop circles

waiting to imprint themselves

into the fields of history,

waiting to take over the grain

with ingenuity

that doesn’t outfox love

Deny your genius to the

treasure-filled night,

give it to the light!

Don’t go after the fool’s gold

Don’t be the top,

God does it

side-by-side

Spinning

shocking

light of you

All the airplanes in the world

can’t catch

your dancing hope,

it is the supreme

technology

Believe in it

Be abducted by it

Stretch your arms upwards

and let the light

crucify you,

let the belly open

home

Look for above

inside

Say yes

The appetite, off course,

will turn into the Eye

See through you

to you

The angel in the mirror

can only do

what you do

Say yes

Be captured

Let the Wise One

make love

to you with

eyes like stone,

stone with mother inside

Say yes

See it

Rise

Believe it

Rise

Their eyes,

your enlightenment

Tomorrow

Bibliography

Vast numbers of books, of all types, have been written on the subject of UFOs, extraterrestrials, and intelligent life in the Universe. Here is just a small sampling of works that fully, or partially, deal with elements of this complex issue:

Asimov, Isaac. Extraterrestrial Civilizations. NY: Crown Publishers, 1979.

Clark, Jerome. The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial. Detroit, MI:

Visible Ink Press, 1997.

Clark, Jerome. Unexplained! 347 Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and

Puzzling Phenomena. Detroit, MI: Visible Ink Press, 1993.

Fuller, John G. The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours "Aboard a Flying Saucer".

NY: Dial Press, 1966.

Good, Timothy. The UFO Report. NY: Avon, 1989.

Hopkins, Budd. Missing Time. NY: Ballantine, 1981.

Hopkins, Budd. Witnessed: The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abduction. NY: Pocket Books, 1996.

Hynek, J. Allen. The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. NY: Ballantine, 1972.

Hynek, J. Allen and Philip J. Imbrogno, with Bob Pratt. Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings. NY: Ballantine, 1987.

Mack, John. Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens. NY: Ballantine, 1994.

Noyes, Ralph, editor. The Crop Circle Enigma: A Range of Viewpoints from the Centre

of Crop Circle Studies. Bath, UK: Gateway Books, 1990.

Randle, Kevin D. The UFO Casebook. NY: Warner, 1989.

Randle, Kevin D., Russ Estes, and William P. Cone. The Abduction Enigma. NY: Forge, 1999.

Randle, Kevin D. Invasion Washington: UFOs Over the Capitol. NY: Harper, 2001.

Randle, Kevin D. and Donald R. Schmitt. UFO Crash at Roswell. NY: Avon,

1991.

Randles, Jenny. The Truth Behind the Men In Black: Government Agents or Visitors

from Beyond? NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.

Sagan, Carl. The Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective. NY: Dell, 1973.

Sagan, Carl. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. NY: Random

House, 1995.

Spencer, John and Hilary Evans, editors. Phenomenon: Forty Years of Flying Saucers.

NY: Avon Books, 1988.

Sullivan, Walter. We Are Not Alone: The Search for Intelligent Life on Other Worlds.

NY: McGraw Hill, 1964.

Vallee, Jacques. Messengers of Deception: UFO Contacts and Cults. NY: Bantam,

1979.

Von Daniken, Erich. Chariots of the Gods?: Unsolved Mysteries of the Past. NY:

Bantam, 1971.

Walters, Ed and Frances. The Gulf Breeze Sightings: The Most Astounding Multiple

Sightings in US History. NY: William Morrow and Co., 1989.

Wells, H.G The War of the Worlds.

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