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The Main Issues
Facing UFO Research in the 21st Century
Martin Gottschall, PhD ©
INTRODUCTION
UFO Research
has a number of strands, several of which have evolved to the
point where one can see one phase of this activity ending and
another replacing it. It is timely for us all - researchers
and the interested public, to pause, see where we are at and
where we might go from here. We will consider the matter under
a number of headings.
1. The Proof
phase is ending.
The evidence
relating to the UFO phenomenon is now at the point that
reasonable scepticism is no longer possible. Consider the
list:
1.1 In
the early 50's Donald Keyhoe ("Flying Saucers from Outer
Space", Henry Holt, NY 1953) was able to publish 41 official
US Air Force reports on UFO sightings, including simultaneous
radar, air visual and ground visual sightings, in the public
domain. This very important disclosure has been allowed to
slip out of public view.
1.2
During the intervening decades numerous highly placed
officials from a number of countries have made statements to
the effect that the UFO/ET phenomenon is real. For example, in
the 1950's General McArthur warned cadets at West Point
Military Academy that they might have to wage war against
invaders from other worlds and in the early 1990's the Belgian
Air Force released radar video footage of one of their jets
chasing a large triangular UFO and obtaining a radar lock on
it before it abruptly moved away.
1.3 Each
year millions of UFO sightings have been reported globally.
Many of the more detailed incidents have been carefully
investigated and reported. There is now a vast body of
literature on the subject through which these cases are held
on public record. Furthermore the incidence of sightings in
the general population is so high (about 6%) that virtually
everyone has a friend or relative that has experienced an
unambiguous UFO sighting. Instances of special significance to
me include the "Gill" sightings of New Guinea in 1959 and the
Tully incidents of the 1960's.
1.4
Together with the incidence of sightings, there have also been
reports of encounters with UFO occupants of the "contactee"
type, encounters of the "abduction" type and distance or
telepathic communications, some of which have the form of
"channelled" communications. These incidents have been much
more controversial amongst UFO researchers than sightings, but
they are also very important as a potential source of
information about ETs. George Adamski and Daniel Fry of the US
and Frank Howard of Australia are of particular significance
to me.
1.5 As
if to close the circle with Donald Keyhoe, Steven Greer has
assembled about 400 witnesses prepared to testify about their
involvement as military personnel or other servants of the US
government, with UFO sightings, radar tracking, crash
retrievals, back engineering of ET technology and evidence of
ET bases on the moon.
Greer's work
may be seen as picking up Keyhoe's early efforts, and together
with all that has emerged during the intervening decades, as
sketched out above, we can say that the case for the reality
of the UFO phenomenon has been adequately established. The
question: "Is it real?" has been answered in the affirmative.
This, however is merely a first step which every UFO
researcher has to take at some stage in their personal study
of the subject. Other steps must follow.
2. The
Cover-up is likely to continue
One of the
cherished hopes of many researchers (me included) has been
that at some point officialdom will cave in under the weight
of evidence and "reveal all". We are nowhere near the point
where this event is at all likely. ET technology gives a
relative military and economic advantage to those who have it,
an advantage which diminishes the more this technology is
shared around. Furthermore, ET technology is bound to have a
potential for destructive application far exceeding that of
present nuclear weapons. Who has the courage and foresight to
let this genie out of the bottle and get around the obvious
dangers? Disclosure will not come about until we no longer
need it. Until we can take it in our stride and use it
constructively.
Some (including
Greer) hold that "free" energy based on ET technology will
help us protect the terrestrial environment better. Not
however if it can also be used to literally blow up the
planet. We have free energy right now. Solar energy for
example is abundant and free. Everyone knows this. If the
money devoted to just the "peaceful" uses of nuclear energy
had been committed to developing a solar energy power system
suitable for mass application, we could be benefiting from it
right now. It is not technology we need to solve our problems
so much as a radical change of heart.
3. How
Change Comes About
A number of
changes during the 20th century and before reveal to us how
change comes about. If we look at such things as alternative
medicine (as perceived in the West), the environmental
movement, belief in reincarnation, near death experiences,
acceptance of the UFO phenomenon, we see the same trend. These
matters receive general acceptance amongst the people, but our
various institutions - governmental, religious, social,
academic, scientific, economic or political contribute almost
nothing to that process, and are typically their most vehement
adversary.
If we observe
how the present views and beliefs of our institutions came
about, we generally discover a similar process. Certain views
and beliefs become prevalent in society at large and they
eventually penetrated into its institutions, which then
champion these views and beliefs. Thus it comes about that we
can have a whole generation of scientists for example
espousing erroneous notions about say the nature of life in
the universe, or the possibility of convenient, cheap and
rapid interstellar space travel and communication, because
they are trapped in the mindset of yesterday, and resist the
truths of today.
Looking a
little further back into our history, there is a span of about
half a millennium during which the sun was recognized as being
the centre of our solar system, stars were recognized as being
other suns very far away in space and subsequently many of
these "stars" were recognized as being galaxies of stars, like
our own Milky Way.
In general, the
institutions which champion today's beliefs were in their past
the most bitter enemy of those very beliefs, and are today the
most resourceful and remorseless enemy of the very ideas and
beliefs which they will eventually champion at some future
time.
Knowing this,
we can estimate the time needed for change to come about. If a
particular change requires just one step, it can penetrate
institutions in possibly two generations - one to be accepted
in society at large, and another to replace the "old wood" in
the relevant institutions. However, if the change is more
complex, and requires several steps, it will takes longer.
With the UFO phenomenon there are at least three steps. The
first is coming to terms with the fact of life in the
universe, the second to invent a social structure which can
safely use the knowledge and power implicit in the first and
the third is to make some progress in this new direction.
Clearly we need to be in it for the long haul. We have been at
it for half a century. It may well take half a millennium.
4. The
Important Role of the UFO Phenomenon
From what has
been said above we can see the challenge of the 21st century.
It is to make the world safe enough so we can benefit from,
and not be destroyed by the tremendous promise of ET contact.
A century of intense UFO activity has brought us to where we
are today. If UFOs were to go away, never to return, the
process of change which they are fostering would stop, and
this episode would become a historical curiosity in a future
society that failed to reach cosmic maturity, or maybe failed
altogether.
Consequently,
although the time has come to change gear as it were, it is
vital that we continue the groundwork of investigating
analysing and recording UFO sightings, contacts, encounters
and communications. Indeed we need to do these things even
better than before, because the new emphasis is about the
meaning rather than the reality of the phenomenon.
Through the UFO
phenomenon, ETs can speak to us, and we to them, and this can
help keep us on track, and also to recognize those of our
ideas and beliefs which have passed their use by date. This
contact allows us to discover and build the new science, new
philosophy, new society and perhaps new spirituality which we
are going to need to create the new and better world.
5. New
Research
In the past it
has been a practice to investigate rather than analyse. When
the facts of a sighting or encounter were established and
placed on record, the research process tended to stop.
Sometimes similarities between independent cases would be
noted. The analysis was left to the "experts" and these
experts were conspicuous for their absence. They will continue
to be conspicuous for their absence for the same reason that
the cover-up will also remain, and the time has come for UFO
researchers to pick up this work. Fortunately there has been a
privatization of laboratory expertise, and some is now
available for money. This is one avenue of solution. In other
respects, unusual instruments are becoming more readily
available, as for example with image processing and the
analysis of genetic material.
UFO researchers
will need to extend themselves into fields of expertise, UFO
Associations will need to attract individual experts into
their area of interest. In short we must begin to consciously
build what will eventually become a new branch of learning.
"Cosmo-society" will ultimately become a branch of learning
and study every bit as fruitful and useful as any other of the
major fields of human endeavour.
A subject close
to my interests is "UFO Physics" - understanding UFO
propulsion and related matters. There is already a growing
body of literature in this area, a notable contribution being
Paul Hill's "Unconventional Flying Objects" published
posthumously by his wife Julie through Hampton Roads in 1995.
A branch of
learning from which trained professionals have been more
willing than any other to look at UFO matters is the
behavioural sciences, and this needs to be encouraged further.
It is no good
waiting for experts in various fields to come to UFO Research
and pitch in. It does happen, and that is most important, but
too few come. We need also to encourage people with an
established commitment to UFO study to go and acquire new
expertise.
We need a new
orientation amongst the rank and file of the supporters of UFO
study, and this is a willingness to encourage, support and
welcome the contributions of people with expertise. For the
general public who have not taken the time to study the
subject, or do not feel competent to do so, it is the opinion
of sincere people with some expertise, who have studied the
subject carefully, which gives them a dimension of assurance
which is presently denied them by the cover-up.
6. Keeping
the Faith
The new science
and technology of our future is not to be introduced into our
society by the disclosure of secret government knowledge. It
is going to be reinvented by people on the fringes of
established science and technology who can draw inspiration
from both ET and higher sources in a slow, "controlled"
process. This is the phase which we are now entering. As we
embark on this venture, we are confronted by the very same
questions which faced the people maintaining the UFO cover-up.
Where will this take us? Are we risking the destruction of our
civilization through the misuse of the new power this can give
us? The plain answer is that we do not know, and have no way
of knowing before we actually do something.
To resolve this
impasse, we need to look beyond the ET phenomenon. "ET" here
means other physical beings and cultures engaged in living
their lives as we are engaged in living ours. They may and do
interact with us, but we expect them to mind their business
and us to mind ours. They are not available as our saviours
although they may be willing to help us along.
Throughout
history, people of discernment have always looked to Divinity
for the confidence they needed in order to even take on the
challenges of the unknown. When we confront the challenges of
creating the new science and technology of the new world with
all the unknowns and dangers which that entails, we do well to
do something similar. I call this "keeping the Faith" and mean
by that that just as we are willing to help another where we
can, so we accept that there will always be present when
needed, a higher power and intelligence which will help us.
This does not mean that we can now recklessly rush into
inventing whatever comes to hand and for whatever application,
but that we proceed with care and courage, always cultivating
that openness which ensures the right guidance. This I think
is the true meaning of the phrase "In God we trust" printed on
the US one dollar bill.
"Keeping the
Faith" means that people of goodwill, embracing "Goodness" as
a guiding principle of their lives reach out to people of a
similar inclination from other worlds to create a cosmic
community based on goodwill, and in the process we are also
taking the safest, surest course in the evolution of our
society.
7. The New
World is for all
At the moment
we have an "old" world and the seeds of a new one in our
contact with ETs. The new world, must be for all, and only
those who helped to build it can be part of it. The cover-up
can not be a permanent institution in this new world. Our
society as a whole needs to change and evolve at every step of
the way, and this has to be real. It means that the entire
population is actively working towards this goal and people
are prepared to do this for the whole of their lives.
On Earth,
civilization has reached great heights a number of times in
the past, and then has collapsed again. Anthropologists have
generally held the view that the further they go back in time,
the more primitive the societies of that age. This is indeed
so to a certain point, but then the trend reverses. Many
ancient "mysteries" testify to this fact.
Today we again
face the danger of our civilization self destructing. How is
this to be averted? At every stage of our development there
will be a particular and relevant answer to this question. One
of these answers is going to have to be that at every stage,
those individuals who are able and willing to derail our
progress, are either persuaded to change, prevented from
interfering, or removed from our world. In particular, the
reincarnation of souls into the new world will not be or
remain open to those willing to be part of such destruction or
unwilling to contribute to the common good.
If the new
world is to be for all, then the work is for all too. Indeed
it is the striving and commitment which creates a society able
to maintain as well as enjoy the new world.
8. Going
Back to School
There is ample
evidence that ET bases exist on and in the Earth as well as
the moon. There may also be bases on other solar planets and
moons, and in solar space. Given the nature of ET Technology,
bases could be maintained anywhere except perhaps in the sun
itself. In short, ET is living right next door to us. We are
not and never were alone in the universe. Furthermore, we can
safely assume that whatever knowledge or technology we can use
constructively is there waiting to be given to us. We do not
need to shoot down UFOs or capture and interrogate their
occupants. Whatever we are able to use responsibly is there,
waiting to be given freely.
This means that
our whole civilization has to be willing to go to "school"
again. Not school as we might understand it, but in the sense
that we are in primary school compared to probably most of the
ET civilizations at these bases. Our society and our
institutions have sensed this from the very start and it has
put their egos out of joint. Probably 90% of the scepticism,
denial, ridicule and misrepresentation of the UFO phenomenon,
and the cover-up, is because of this bruised ego.
9. The Way
Forward
9.1
During the phase of UFO Research, which I think is now
closing, the emphasis was on the vehicles, rather than their
occupants. Contacts were largely ignored, and even abductions
have had no significant impact, because the abducting ETs
engage in little if any communication.
9.2
During the next phase, we need to pick up what was abandoned
so long ago - the occupants of the UFOs need to become the
centre of our focus. One can see a UFO in the sky without
understanding how it works, but can one relate to an ET
without understanding him or her? This, I think is a major
obstacle, and many of the contactees recognized it. George
Adamski established a "school" of Cosmic Philosophy, Daniel
Fry an Association for Understanding, and Frank Howard
presents a highly detailed and very coherent cosmic
perspective in his works. There has been a tendency to debunk
such efforts as "cultish" or platitudinous or non-scientific,
often without good reason, simply because, I think, the
debunkers were very uncomfortable about relating to ETs.
9.3 The
model which UFO research might adopt for relating to ETs was
already tried out in the early 1950's and reported by George
Hunt Williamson in "The Saucers Speak". Here, a group of ETs
and a group of humans were in regular communication by radio
mainly but other means as well. The mere fact that it happened
(and there are other similar cases usually involving single
individuals or small groups) allows us to assume that it might
well happen again if there is a good enough reason. However,
new contact can not just be a repetition of what was done in
the past. We have to study all the available information
concerning all kinds of ET/human contact of the past, and set
up an approach appropriate to our times, able to take the
ET/human relationship further.
9.4 In
working towards ET contact, we do well to let history teach us
its lessons. One of these is that the controversy which has
dogged contactees and contacts in the past, is due largely to
the intrusion of the cover-up agents who want very much to be
the only channel of communication with ETs. Many genuine and
sincere contactees (if not all) were discredited through the
secret actions of cover-up agents who were well versed in what
was going on, and were quite willing to pose as ETs, and pass
on "messages" or requests calculated to get the contactee into
difficulties. Many of the disreputable contactees and
channellers doubtless owe their existence to the same agents.
The lessons of history are that we need to learn to
distinguish the genuine from the false, and be forever on
guard against intrusion by secrecy agents and disinformation.
CONCLUSION
By focusing
almost exclusively on UFO sightings, UFO researchers have been
able to take the easy way and bypass the difficult issues and
decisions. By focusing on the ET/human interaction, this is no
longer possible. We have to worry about keeping our
civilization on track while maintaining a heady pace of
change, and we need to be and remain very discerning and
alert. We must also become thoughtful students of UFO related
history. From here on it will be harder than it might have
been in the past. Are we ready for it?
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