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Are We Ready for Open
Contact?
Sheryl Gottschall
©
The modern era
of Ufology is rich with stories of alien contact with humans.
These contacts have been scattered throughout the world and
made with people who have passed on messages from aliens. Some
of the reports from these “contactees” have contained
descriptions of aliens who were so human looking that it would
be difficult to distinguish them from normal human beings.
Should it be of no surprise then, to offer the notion that
while people have been asking the question why don’t they
land, that ET has been here all along right under our nose.
Could it be that ET has been walking down the street, rubbing
shoulders with us in the workplace, at social gatherings,
sitting next to us on the bus, or even attending UFO meetings
and/or conferences without our knowledge?
Who are they,
where did they come from, why are they here are questions to
which we still have no clear-cut answers to. Sighting reports
continue, people report their close encounters, the
governments and military are silent, the media doesn’t quite
know what to say. ET is listening to us, looking at us,
observing us. ET is here whether people acknowledge it or not.
ET is not going away. The question remains - are we ready for
open contact?
What is
Contact?
Perhaps it
would be pertinent to qualify here what I mean by contact. UFO
literature is rife with reports of contact with an array of
alien beings. It appears the general public is having many
different types of contact experiences including friendly
contact, contact against their will (alien abductions), dream
contact, channeled contact, and sightings. However the type of
contact to which I refer is an open cultural exchange where
humanity and aliens meet on equal terms presenting an equal
opportunity for growth.
So far, contact
with humanity appears to have been an alien initiative. In
general, humans at large have not sought contact with aliens
of other worlds. If we are to believe what we read, aliens are
here, but it seems that humanity is having a problem showing
up for its part of the contact process. Over the decades
humans have done their best to bury their head in the sand
hoping that the UFO phenomenon would go away. Scientists,
military and governments have consistently denied the
possibility of the existence of extra-terrestrial life, yet
millions of people all over the world continue to see UFOs on
a daily basis.
Meanwhile, the
world of ET has seeped into our western culture, slipped into
our computer games, cartoons, commercial products, music and
movies. A new generation has grown up around the ET phenomenon
yet mankind as a race seems to be as oblivious to this
permeation as he ever was, preferring to remain in deep denial
about the UFO phenomenon.
History of
Human Contact
When we
consider our own history and how first contact was made by
different cultures we can see that humans don’t have a very
good reputation for making the most of cultural exchanges.
Historically, many nations weren’t ready for that contact and
more times than not cultures were lost, or at least hijacked,
because of that lack of readiness. One such example is that of
the incursion of European civilisation into the Americas. The
native American peoples inability to comprehend and adequately
respond to the complexity and danger of the white man
culminated in the rapid decimation of their population and
devastating loss of their culture. Another example of cultural
decimation due to contact was with the Spanish conquistadors
and the Aztecs. Within a short time of Spanish feet setting
down on South American soil, less than 1000 Spaniards overcame
300,000 Aztecs through the Aztec's inability to be prepared
for such an exchange. The once glorious Aztec culture soon
disappeared.
Sometimes the
cultural contacts began as covetous behaviour with one culture
realizing what a bounty they had come across, eventually
ending in outright plunder. At other times nations wanted to
make contact to impose their beliefs onto another which, as we
know with the Christian missionaries, often ended in disaster.
However, regardless of the ramifications, contact still
occurred.
What Do We Want
From Alien Contact
When we think
of alien contact we most often think of what the aliens want,
but perhaps it would be wiser to start asking what we want
from a contact experience. Whatever guidelines we set for
ourselves will have a direct impact on future contact and how
we progress from there.
We need to
state clearly in our intentions of contact what values we want
upheld and what standards we want met by both parties. We must
decide who we want contact with, if they can be trusted, and a
certain amount of proof of good intentions needs to be shown.
If we as a
civilisation carry an attitude of “what can we get out of
alien contact” then we are setting ourselves up for disaster.
That is the same mentality that many of our earlier explorers
carried with them. An example of this already happening could
very well be the alien abduction experiences, wherein aliens
may possibly appear to be approaching contact with what they
can “get” out of it. We need to change our previous approach
to one of mutuality and in doing so prepare to bring our best,
not our worst, to that exchange. If we decide on bringing and
expecting the best to that contact wouldn’t that be more
conducive to a positive experience? Of course at this stage of
our development we are still trying to discover what our best
is.
For the kind of
contact we would like with an alien species which is much more
than physical proximity, extending some quality of depth from
ourselves to another will not only be necessary but conducive
to a first contact experience. We need to feel and look beyond
the surface of the encounter to sense whatever underlying
energies or qualities may be there and how or whether to
engage with them. We need to sense the underlying connections
we may or may not share. This too can only be done at a deeper
level and again may rely on us developing more of ourselves
than we already understand.
After first
contact, as we progress, we begin to develop a relationship.
But human relationships, as we know from experience, contain
anticipations, projections, hopes, expectations, fears along
with other qualities. Can we bring these components to a
human/alien relationship? Are these ingredients for success?
Looking Into
The Mystery
How well we
understand the UFO phenomenon will depend largely on our
willingness to embrace our new discoveries, both personally
and collectively. If we continue to deny aspects of the alien
phenomenon because we aren’t “ready” to see them, then we will
never understand it.
To date, hard
core researchers have based their findings on the physical
data alone and tended to deny the “other-worldly” aspects of
the phenomenon. It is true that investigators need to collect
some static background material but if that is all we collect
then our understanding will remain just as static as the
material. And isn’t that what until now has happened? By
trying to play it safe and remain “scientific” in our
approach, researchers have inadvertently anchored our
understanding of the phenomenon so that we continue to go
round and round in circles.
We can no
longer continue to only collect the “hard” data in relation to
UFOs, that is, being willing to only recognize and deal with
the “nuts and bolts” side of UFO research. It is necessary for
us to also look at its mysteriousness. In general, up until
now, we haven’t been willing to do this.
In the book
UFOs and the Psychic Factor, Ida Kannenberg states “we need
many people to unravel the UFO mystery, the hard fact man, the
behaviourist and the psychic explorer because each contact
experience is enormously complex, representing many levels of
meaning, various conditions of reality and accomplishing a
whole multitude of ends, all of this lying under the surface
of the event itself. It is like a ball of string that someone
has been collecting for years with many strands all lying in a
crisscross, back and forth, in and out fashion, forming a
geometric design of meaning and purpose.” To the previous list
I would also include the philosopher, historian, healer,
spiritual seeker and so on.
Preparing for
Contact
In asking
ourselves if we are ready for open contact perhaps we should
be asking if we make “contact” with our own species, do we do
it well and can we expect to do any better with an alien race?
Another question to ponder is are we in contact with ourselves
or are there parts of us that we are still yet to acknowledge?
The open
contact of which I speak will demand the best in humanity to
step forward, leaving behind egos, closed-mindedness and
encrusted world-views, but is this possible at the moment? One
only has to be a student of life to find the answer to that
question. It becomes glaringly obvious that the step for
mankind from where we are in our development to being ready
for open contact is like a yawning cavern, almost
unbridgeable. Yet the seeds for readiness are already planted
within humanity’s consciousness otherwise we wouldn’t be
discussing the matter. All they need is a bit of water and
sunlight and they will begin to shoot and bear fruit. As we
prepare to become a space faring society, it is inevitable
that we make contact with other cultures but we must do the
work and be prepared for that contact. Although collectively
mankind may not be ready for open contact there are those
among us who want this and are willing to work towards it.
What Disclosure
Asks Of Us
Although Dr
Steven Greer has set the Disclosure Project in motion, it
should be understood that the Disclosure Project is only the
beginning. The truth about ETs will impact the lives of many,
including those within the UFO community, in ways that we as
yet do not fully comprehend. The flow-on effects, if not
correctly integrated as they reveal themselves, will leave
many in the general population struggling in the depths of
full-blown ontological shock. Many UFO researchers, at one
time or other, have already found themselves dealing with this
process at varying degrees with members of the general public.
We already understand how an upset in people’s world view can
leave them grappling with a fractured reality which can take
years to heal. Consequently, it becomes even more important
that those who think they are prepared for full disclosure and
open contact make sure of it so as to create a stabilizing
influence in society.
There will be
many areas of our life that contact will affect, calling into
question much that we presume about our place in the universe,
our global status and our very identity. While many are
already on the path of reassessing these questions, they are
but a handful. Inevitably, when open contact happens we will
have to face the discomfort of changing our consensual reality
over and over again until a new collective world-view emerges.
This may be fast or slow but if UFO disclosure is to be
successful, this is a process that must happen.
So far, the
human tendency has been to childishly refuse to grow up and
take responsibility for who we are, what we become and what we
want to accomplish with our own destiny. Disclosure is asking
humanity to reverse this inclination and finally mature. We
are entering another phase of existence complete with greater
problems and greater challenges, but we will have to face
these if we are to enter the larger cosmic community and
fulfill our birthright to evolve into cosmic citizens.
Although the
process of dealing with open contact seems much out of our own
hands, there are a few things that we can do. Following is a
selection of some of the ways that individuals may prepare
themselves for contact and hopefully the domino effect will
flow on to others.
1. Recognize
the shortcomings of our own mind. No matter how far out some
things may appear we must remember that we have not yet fully
developed all the conceptual tools necessary to understand
everything we will ever know. This often makes some
discoveries appear to be untrue, unreal or even impossible.
Very often we see defects in what others say but in truth the
defect could exist in our own lack of understanding.
2. Develop a
willingness to embrace our new discoveries. We need to make
room in our consciousness for new concepts and discoveries to
take hold. How well we understand new developments depends on
the flexibility of our minds and our willingness to embrace
the changes that those discoveries will bring.
3. Be on the
lookout for beliefs that are past their use by dates. Gather
realistic notions about the true nature of things and replace
inappropriate and outdated notions drummed into society by
cultural conditioning when necessary. Reality, as actually
experienced, is far from what scientists may want us to
believe. Their proposition is often just an abstraction of a
fuller experience and usually does not equate with what we
feel and sense.
4. Be in open
contact with ourselves. Search for parts of us yet to be
discovered and work towards developing ourselves so we are
more complete. Contact will demand our best and require us to
dig down deeply within ourselves to find it.
This is just a
small selection from a much greater and ever expanding list.
The transition
for our society from one of non-extraterrestrial awareness to
full throttle interaction with our cosmic neighbourhood could
be likened to a pole-shift in consciousness. If it happens
extremely quickly, it may be too fast for full integration to
occur having catastrophic ramifications. If it happens slowly
and steadily it could integrate harmoniously into our newly
acquired world-view. How we deal with either possibility will
be of our own choosing. Until such time there is a lot of work
to be done in preparation.
References:
The
New Being Project http://www.wclynx.com/bus/newbeing/index.htm
UFOs And The Psychic Factor by Ida M. Kannenberg 1992 Wild
Flower Press, Oregon
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