I. Introduction

Qualifications

President Dwight David Eisenhower

[There] ... is a story that President Eisenhower visited Edwards Air Force Base in early 1954, and either viewed the bodies of dead aliens and the wreckage of their craft, or met with live aliens on some sort of diplomatic mission to earth.

William L. Moore, Possible Extraterrestrial Incident with President Eisenhower.

... [Some] aliens demanded that we dismantle and destroy our nuclear weapons and cautioned us that we were on a path of self-destruction and that we must stop killing each other, stop polluting the earth, stop destroying the earth’s natural resources and learn to live in harmony with one another, or we would surely perish. President Dwight D. Eisenhower rejected their warnings and demands.

Discussion of Eisenhower and Extraterrestrials. August 25, 2009. Retrieved on June 11, 2013.

... while on a “vacation” in Palm Springs, California, President Dwight D. Eisenhower went missing and allegedly was taken to nearby Muroc Airfield (later renamed Edwards Air Force Base) for a secret meeting. When he reappeared the next morning at a church service in Los Angeles, reporters were told that he had to have emergency dental treatment the previous evening and had visited a local dentist. The dentist later appeared at a function that evening and presented himself to reporters as the doctor who had treated Eisenhower. The missing night and morning has subsequently fueled rumors that Eisenhower was using the alleged dentist visit as a cover story for an extraordinary event. The event is possibly the most significant that any American president could have conducted, an alleged “First Contact” presidential meeting with extraterrestrials at Muroc ....

Bradford C. Olsen, Future Esoteric: The Unseen Realms The Esoteric Series. San Francisco, CA: Corsortium of Collective Consciousness Publishing™ (CCC Publishing). 2013. Kindle edition.

I know the time frame was about the middle 60s [1960s] when all of that [official contacts with extraterrestrials] kind of slowed down. And I can suggest to you, from what I’ve heard, a possible answer. And that is this: That these people who met the contactees claimed that they had also met with our leaders, and that they had made them certain offers. But the offers were not offers of technology. It was only offers of help on straightening out certain problems which we have on our planet. And that these offers were rejected because they did not offer to share their technology with us. And we were primarily interested, from a military standpoint, in their technology. They didn’t want us to go on a shooting spree throughout the universe using this kind of technology. They felt that we had already over-produced in the weapons department.... And we were already bringing on ecological damage in the early 50s [1950s], and they were very concerned about this. But they primarily told us that we had advanced our material sciences at too great a rate beyond what we had developed in our social and spiritual sciences. And that there needed to be a balance.

Bill Hamilton, “The UFO Contact Experience.” Ralph Steiner, producer. The Edge of Science. Retrieved (transcribed) on June 11, 2013.

Ralph Steiner: ... there are long-standing allegations that UFO landings occurred at Edwards Air Force Base – Muroc Air Field – in Southern California ... beginning in, say, 1954. There might have been some earlier ones at other facilities.... Landings at Air Force bases have been reported by scuttlebutt and rumor for decades. But the one that supposedly occurred in 1954 – on February 20th of 1954 – involved perhaps three extraterrestrial spacecraft .... And, at that time, President Eisenhower was golfing in Palm Springs on a vacation. The Commander at Edwards Air Force Base supposedly sent for the President who was, on an emergency basis, helicoptered out to Muroc Air Field – and, supposedly, had a face-to-face meeting with one of the occupants of the landed UFOs on the tarmac at Edwards Air Force Base.... I remember that [when Eisenhower disappeared] – when that event occurred.... We were living in Palm Springs [California] at the time; and it was all over the local media and the local television station and was in the L.A. Times – that the President had had a heart attack and had keeled over and died. And there was a great deal of confusion there for about, perhaps 24 hours. And then the President was hauled out by his press secretary with a dentist who claimed that he had simply chipped a tooth while eating a chicken dinner at a ranch. And that was that.

Whitley Strieber: ... Normally anyone who treats the President is sent a letter of thanks; and these letters are considered quite precious. I believe that [UFO researcher] Stanton Friedman discovered at the Eisenhower Library that the dentist had been sent no such letter.... Well, the dentist would not attest to ever having done it. He wouldn’t say that he had done this. And there’s no letter. So, there you go.

Ralph Steiner: Well, what there is is testimony from people who were on the base at the time, who have spoken to numerous residents and investigators who followed about events that did allegedly take place between the 20th and the 23rd [Saturday-Tuesday] of February of 1954. And it was stated that the President met with a particular group of aliens or ETs, and an offer was made to help us resolve some of the pernicious problems on our planet. But we had to first ... give up our nuclear weapons, our nuclear arsenal, our weapons of mass destruction. They would not transfer technology to our government because of the fear that we would abuse that technology and weaponize it and go out in the universe in an aggressive way and harm other civilizations. That is a frame of reference for the testimony that emerged during the era of the contactee movement in the early-to-mid 1950s when this story surfaced.... There are allegations that after the event in 1954 ..., this landing and their overture openings to the Eisenhower administration, a redaction of an offer of planetary aid in exchange for giving up weapons of mass destruction, took place. And the advisors supposedly advised the President not to accept that offer because, in essence, it would be tantamount to disarming in the face of what they perceived as an unknown potential threat from an advanced civilization.

Whitley Strieber interviewing Ralph Steiner, “The UFO Contact Experience.” Whitley Strieber’s Dreamland on Unknown Country. June 7, 2013. Retrieved (transcribed) on June 13, 2013.

The first [report] came only days after the event stating that Eisenhower had been spirited off to meet with a group of aliens at Muroc. In this account ... shortly thereafter Eisenhower ordered absolute secrecy about anything having to do with UFOs.

The story faded from this history books until the 1980s when research was presented supporting the idea that Eisenhower may actually have gone to Muroc arose. This happened when it was discovered that the story about the President breaking a tooth may have been a cover story given to the press to cover what had really occurred.

Grant Cameron, “Eisenhower and His Alien Contacts: Part 1. The Presidents UFO Website. November 21, 2012. Retrieved on June 21, 2013.

Any encounter with entities known to be of extra-terrestrial origin is to be considered to be a matter of national security and therefore classified TOP SECRET. Under no circumstances is the general public or the public press to learn of the existence of these entities. The official government policy is that such creatures do not exist, and that no agency of the federal government is now engaged in any study of ETs or their artifacts. Any deviation from this stated policy is absolutely forbidden.

Quoted in Michael E. Salla, Ph.D., Eisenhower’s 1954 Meeting With Extraterrestrials: The Fiftieth Anniversary of First Contact? Alleged official U.S. government document from April, 1954, two months after Eisenhower’s reported contact experience at Muroc Army Air Field. Febuary 12, 2004.

In the press room of the Mirador Hotel, amid a scene described by Time magazine as a “demonstration of journalistic mob hysteria,” Haggerty solemnly announced that the uproar had in fact been caused by nothing more than the President having “knocked a cap off a tooth” while chewing on a chicken leg, and that he had been taken by his host, Paul Helms, to a local dentist, to have it repaired.

The press corps accepted the story, hut the rumors persisted. Had Ike really gone to a local dentist, or was the story a cleverly concocted cover for what had really happened? At least one persistent (although generally discredited) rumor had it that there were other reasons for Ike’s [Eisenhower’s] disappearance that evening—and the reason was somewhat “out of this world.” According to this new rumor, the President’s tooth was all a cover story, and that in fact he had been taken, in strictest secrecy, to nearby Edwards Air Force Base to view the remains of the crashed disc(s) and the preserved bodies of the little men that had piloted it (them).

Meade Layne, then director of Borderland Sciences Research Associates (now Borderland Sciences Research Foundation ...), had heard these rumors too, but had paid little attention to them until about three months later when, on April 16, 1954, he received a startling letter from one of his associates, Gerald Light of Los Angeles.

Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore, The Roswell Incident. New York: Crosset & Dunlap. 1980. Retrieved on June 29, 2013.

GERALD LIGHT

10345 SCENARIO LANE

LOS ANGELES 241, CALIFORNIA

Mr. Meade Layne

San Diego, California

My dear Friend: I have just returned from Muroc. The report is true – devastatingly true! I made the journey in company with Franklin Allen of the Hearst papers and Edwin Nourse of Brookings Institute (Truman’s erstwhile financial advisor) and Bishop MacIntyre of L.A. (confidential names, for the present, please). When we were allowed to enter the restricted section (after about six hours in which we were checked on every possible item, event, incident and aspect of our personal and public lives), I had the distinct feeling that the world had come to an end with fantastic realism. For I have never seen so many human beings in a state of complete collapse and confusion, as they realized that their own world had indeed ended with such finality as to beggar description. The reality of the “other plane” aeroforms is now and forever removed from the realms of speculation and made a rather painful part of the consciousness of every responsible scientific and political group. During my two days’ visit I saw five separate and distinct types of aircraft being studied and handled by our Air Force officials – with the assistance and permission of the Etherians!

I have no words to express my reactions. It has finally happened. It is now a matter of history. President Eisenhower, as you may already know, was spirited over to Muroc one night during his visit to Palm Springs recently. And it is my conviction that he will ignore the terrific conflict between the various “authorities” and go directly to the people via radio and television – if the impasse continues much longer. From what I could gather, an official statement to the country is being prepared for delivery about the middle of May.

I will leave it to your own excellent powers of deduction to construct a fitting picture of the mental and emotional pandemonium that is now shattering the consciousness of hundreds of our scientific “authorities” and all the pundits of the various specialized knowledges that make up our current physics. In some instance I could not stifle a wave of pity that arose in my own being as I watched the pathetic bewilderment of rather brilliant brains struggling to make some sort of rational explanation which would enable them to retain their familiar theories and concepts. And I thanked my own destiny for having long ago pushed me into the metaphysical woods and compelled me to find my way out. To watch strong minds cringe before totally irreconcilable aspects of “science” is not a pleasant thing. I had forgotten how commonplace things as dematerialization of “solid” objects had become to my own mind. The coming and going of an etheric, or spirit, body has been so familiar to me these many years I had forgotten that such a manifestation could snap the mental balance of a man not so conditioned. I shall never forget those forty-eight hours at Muroc!

Gerald Light, Postal Letter from Gerald Light to Meade Layne. Received by Layne on April 16, 1954. Retrieved on June 13, 2013.

Our weapons have become a menace to the Etherians themselves, and it is said that seismic disturbances are impending. Over the Pacific slope, for example, the flight of Ether ships has followed the magnetic meridians, north-and-south. It is said that the Etherians are doing this in order to observe the formation of the etheric vortexes which presage an earth quake; they are charting this area, and also the whole of the earth’s surface, for the same general purpose of scientific study.

... Let us remember that the Etherians are not ill-disposed toward us, that we should NOT fear them, should never attack them. Further phenomena are almost certain to occur – and may be of the most remarkable kind. Panic and superstitious fear may seize upon the masses. It may happen that a considerable measure of responsibility will fall upon those us who have some measure of understanding of what is taking place. Heretofore the Etherians have withdrawn quietly when their mission was completed; men thought of them as Gods or Angels, or spirits of the air or demons, embodied them in folklore and mythology, and forgot them little by little.

Meade Layne, The Ether Ship Mystery and Its Solution. San Diego, CA: self-published (mimeographed). 1950 (republished in December, 1957). Retrieved on June 22, 2013.

Back in 1954, under the Eisenhower administration, the federal government decided to circumvent the Constitution of the United States and form a treaty with alien entities. It was called the 1954 Greada Treaty, which basically made the agreement that the aliens involved could take a few cows and test their implanting techniques on a few human beings, but that they had to give details about the people involved.... Slowly, the aliens altered the bargain until they decided they wouldn’t abide by it at all.

Phil Schneider, What Really Happened in the 1979 Dulce Firefight? Retrieved on June 17, 2013.

... [Dr. Michael Wolf] claims that the Eisenhower administration entered into the Treaty with an ET race and that this Greada Treaty was never ratified as Constitutionally required.

... a number of whistleblowers argue that the Greada Treaty that was signed involved some compulsion on the part of the ETs....

[Col. Phillip] Corso’s claim of a “negotiated surrender” suggests that some sort of agreement or “Treaty” was reached which he was not happy with.

According to Cooper, the Grey ETs signing the Greada Treaty were not trustworthy ....

[Philip] Schneider claimed that despite the Greada Treaty’s provisions on the number of humans who would be “abducted” for experiments, “the aliens altered the bargain until they decided they wouldn’t abide by it at all.” ...

[Dr. Michael] Wolf has described the Greys as having positive motivations in regard to their presence on Earth .... Similarly, Robert Dean believes that ETs visiting Earth are friendly.

Michael E. Salla, Ph.D., Eisenhower’s 1954 Meeting With Extraterrestrials: The Fiftieth Anniversary of First Contact? Febuary 12, 2004.

President Eisenhower met with the aliens on February 20, 1954, and a formal treaty between the alien nation and the United States of America was signed. We then received our first alien ambassador from outer space. He was the hostage that had been left at the first landing in the desert. His name and title was His Omnipotent Highness Crilll or Krilll, pronounced Crill or Krill. In the American tradition of disdain for royal titles he was secretly called Original Hostage Crlll, or Krlll. Shortly after this meeting President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack.

Bill Cooper, The Secret Government. Retrieved on July 24, 2013.

In general there is an axiological asymmetry between properties of the spiritual or metaReal infrastructure and the levels it sustains in that you cannot have those levels without it, but you can have it without them or the present form they take. I arrived at this sense of spirituality by reflecting on unity and identity. Unity and identity are very closely related ... to the idea of transcendence as overcoming dualism (e.g. contradiction) and to love as the chief transcending, or unifying, binding force in society. The three big realms then are the realm of identity or non-duality (absolute reality), the realm of difference or duality (relative reality) and the realm of dualism, split, antagonism and contradiction (demi-reality), which is duality grounded on falsity, on illusions. What we have to do is recognize and empower the realm of non-duality so as to get rid of the demi-real level. When we have done that we will still be living in a world of duality but not of dualism and split.

The unity or identity of metaReality, which may be seen as the seventh level of development of critical realist ontology, is essential for social life in three ways. First as a basis for it, and here the key concept is that of the ground-state. Second, as its mode of constitution or more particularly reproduction or transformation .... For instance, there has to be a level at which you just act without thinking, without doing anything dualistic. In the same way, when I am listening to you or perceiving anything, there has to be a level that involves, or just consists in, a transcendental identification in consciousness. Third, as its deep interior or fine structure. This is very interesting; there is a sense in which, if you go into anything deeply enough, you will find a deep interior that you can become one with and, in so doing, experience bliss ....

... the relative reality of duality ... [is] the battleground of dualism and unity.

Roy Bhaskar with Marvyn Hartwig, Theism, Atheism, and Meta-Reality. Mervyn Harwig and Jamie Morgan, editors. New York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group). 2012. Pages 205-206 and 226.

... characteristically the world of demi-reality, of dualism and split dominates the world of duality, of relative reality generally; or you could also say it is the dominant form, and also a mystifying form, in which relative reality is experienced, lived, reproduced and transformed. This demi-real form of relative reality in turn dominates and occludes its non-dual basis or ground, its non-dual mode of constitution, which depends everywhere on the spontaneous creative ingenuity, loving compassion and capacity for right-action of human agents, and its deep fine structure which reflects characteristics of the ground-state....

Relative reality is the world of becoming, and as such encompasses change and process, evolution and development, structured by difference, constituting difference, grounded in non-identity, differences which can be attractive or repulsive. Within relative reality is of course the world of dualism, of demi-reality, characterised and indeed dominated by hate, split, fear, divisiveness and above all alienation which the dominant, irrealist philosophies merely reflect. Critical realism, insofar as it isolates the deeper structures of relative reality, can indeed be an emancipatory philosophy. It is truer to the world of relative reality than the philosophies of demi-reality, because it situates the deep structures of that world, and shows how it may be transformed. But such a description is still grounded in duality ....

... [meta-Reality] is not really even a system of thought, but an intervention in the discursive [rational] process which is designed to enable agents [individuals] to reflexively [referring to oneself] situate [place] their struggles in ... not only the relative world of duality but the absolute non-dual world on which it entirely reposes [rests] ....

... We could also say that meta-Reality designates the constellational [pattern of relationships] unity of non-duality and duality ....

Roy Bhaskar, The Philosophy of MetaReality, Volume 1, Creativity, Love and Freedom. New York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group). 2012. Kindle edition

It was with some disbelief that two UFOs had come to Holloman AFB in February of 1955....

Soon after the UFO landed in front of Air Force One, a man many assumed to be the President, came to the doorway of the plane, descended the portable stairs and approached the saucer on the ground. Some sort of a hatch had been opened a few minutes before and had folded down to become a small ramp. The man walked up the ramp, stood briefly at the opening, shook hands with someone, and went inside.

Observers thought the period of time to be about 45 minutes. When he emerged from the craft, he walked towards Air Force One. Part of this time he was facing the observers, and most were sure it was Ike. He wore no hat, and many recognized the hairline and his erect military walk.

Clark C. McClelland, President Eisenhower’s Close Encounter at Holloman AFB. December 5, 2007. Retrieved on June 17, 2013.

At the Spring session of the U.N. Disarmament Subcommittee [March, 1956], Soviets present plan for gradual reduction of conventional forces linked to a ban on all nuclear tests.

– U.S. rejects plan on grounds that it lacks verification provisions. England, France, and Canada promote compromise plan including reduction of nuclear and conventional forces, nuclear testing limits, and provisions for international supervision. Session ends in deadlock....

Eisenhower ... [said] (April 25) that H-bombs [hydrogen bombs] are necessary element of missile-based nuclear deterrent. He says U.S. will continue to test, not to develop a more destructive bomb, but to perfect it for a variety of military uses.

Timothy J. Pounds, A Chronology of Comprehensive Test Ban Proposals, Negotiations, and Debates: 1945-1993. Prepared for the Office of Arms Control and Nonproliferation of the U.S. Department of Energy. January, 1994. Retrieved on June 19, 2013.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address. January 17, 1961.

The actual drafter of the speech, Ralph E. Williams, relied on guidance from Professor Moos. Milton Eisenhower explained that one of the drafts of the speech referred to the “military-industrial-Congressional complex” and said that the president himself inserted the reference to the role of the Congress, an element that did not appear in the delivery of the farewell address.

When the president’s brother asked about the dropped reference to Congress, the president replied: “It was more than enough to take on the military and private industry. I couldn’t take on the Congress as well.”

Melvin A. Goodman, Eisenhower’s Neglected Warning. January 16, 2011. Retrieved on May 3, 2013.

Because of the intensity of the cover-up of information relating to these topics, we cannot know exactly what has gone on between the visitors and our governments. Let me speculate, based upon my experiences and perspective, about what really happened: Aliens made contact with principal Earth governments years before the Roswell crash. They explained to the Earth leaders that environmental disaster was imminent and that we had to do something about it. Our leaders, however, guessed that Earth populations were not ready for knowledge of aliens just yet. So a deal was struck: The aliens would supply certain technologies to us to help us clean up our environment, which would help ensure human survival and protect their investment in us as an inventory of biological spare parts. In return, certain time guidelines were agreed to, during which our leaders were to carefully spoon-feed all Earth populations with information about the existence and role of non-human intelligent life on Earth. The technology duly arrived, but the appropriate time to disclose never did, leading to a long period of secrecy, disinformation, incarceration and missing people, most of which was done for the sake of national security. We took the technology and made money and weapons with it, and we let the disclosure timetables lapse.

It’s also possible that the aliens may have delivered even more technology in return for Earth governments destroying all nuclear weapons. They clearly detest nuclear weapons. Once again, we failed to honor our side of the bargain, again because of international distrust and competition. Roswell and other crashes were covered up, not only to conceal the fact of offplanet life, but also to hide the depth to which our governments have been secretly involved with alien civilizations, and the reckless risks our governments have taken with the viability of continued life on Earth....

If we continue to misuse our environment as we currently do, the human race will not be long on this planet, and life will not be worth living during our exit process. The possible end of human life on Earth deeply concerns the aliens, who have a large investment in us. They have taken great invisible steps to adjust our environment, but the task is too great for them to do it alone any longer, and they respect the fact that it is still our planet. The aliens and we need each other. We need their technology to fix our environment, and they need our governments to disclose the truth so that we can all work together to preserve life on Earth. Truly, we are all in this together!

Jim Sparks, The Keepers: An Alien Message for the Human Race. Columbus, NC: Wild Flower Press. 2006. Pages 201-203.

All of us know that international peace is good, that it is the cause of life, but volition and action are necessary. Inasmuch as this century is the century of light, capacity for achieving peace has been assured. It is certain that these ideas will be spread among men to such a degree that they will result in action.

ʿAbduʾl-Bahá (in a provisional translation) quoted in Century of Light. Prepared under the supervision of the Universal House of Justice. 2001. Page 22.

Unity, He [ʿAbduʾl-Bahá] declared, is the power that illuminates and advances all forms of human endeavour. The age that was opening would come in the future to be regarded as “the century of light,” because in it universal recognition of the oneness of humankind would be achieved. With this foundation in place, the process of building a global society embodying principles of justice will begin.

Century of Light. Prepared under the supervision of the Universal House of Justice. 2001. Page 127.

Other Presidents

President Richard Nixon was, according to comedian Jackie Gleason, a President very interested in UFOs. He was supposed to have had a large collection of books on the subject.

Grant Cameron, “Presidents Gallery.” The Presidents UFO Web Site. 2013. Retrieved on July 22, 2013.

It was a chance conversation one afternoon, back in 1974 in Florida, while Jackie [Gleason] was playing golf with one of his regular partners, President Richard Nixon. Jackie had mentioned his interest in UFOs and his large collection of books, and the president admitted that he also shared Jackie’s interest and had a sizeable collection of UFO-oriented materials of his own. At the time, the president said little about what he actually knew, but things were to change drastically later on that same night.

Marty Murray, Jackie Gleason’s Trip to the Alien Morgue.

We [Jackie Gleason with President Richard Nixon] drove to the very far end of the base [Homestead Air Reserve Base in the vicinity of Homestead, FL] in a segregated area, finally stopping near a well-guarded building. The security police saw us coming and just sort of moved back as we passed them and entered the structure. There were a number of labs we passed through first before we entered a section where Nixon pointed out what he said was the wreckage from a flying saucer, enclosed in several large cases. Next, we went into an inner chamber and there were six or eight of what looked like glass-topped Coke freezers. Inside them were the mangled remains of what I took to be children. Then – upon closer examination – I saw that some of the other figures looked quite old. Most of them were terribly mangled as if they had been in an accident.

Jackie Gleason from an interview with spaceship (UFO) researcher and author Larry Warren.

Mr. President, I cannot guarantee full cooperation in this area [“the UFO problem”] but I owe it to future history and the security of our planet to try. As you must know I have been somewhat limited in my official capacity as Party Chairman [earlier position as First Secretary] to order such cooperation in this area. We too feel that the UFO is a matter of highest importance to our collective security. If I can arrange for a secret meeting between our working groups at a secret location and at a time designated by you, I feel that this much on my part can happen.

Mr. Premier, if a meeting at this level can convene it will be a important first step. It will lead to more dialog and trust between our countries and reduce the ever present threat of nuclear war.

Reported words of Premier Nikita Khurshchev and President John F. Kennedy, Majestic Twelve. Containing alleged official U.S. government documents. Retrieved on July 3, 2013.

The fact UFOs had messed with nukes in both the USSR and USA ended the Cold War ....

“ufo disclosure...................?” Unhypnotize. Message board. March 21st, 2011. Retrieved on May 10, 2012.

I couldn’t help but – one point in our discussions privately with General Secretary Gorbachev – when you stop to think that we’re all God’s children, wherever we may live in the world, I couldn’t help but say to him, just think how easy his task and mine might be in these meetings that we held if suddenly there was a threat to this world from some other species, from another planet, outside in the universe. We’d forget all the little local differences that we have between our countries, and we would find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this Earth together. Well, I don’t suppose we can wait for some alien race to come down and threaten us, but I think that between us we can bring about that realization.

Ronald Reagan, Remarks to the Students and Faculty at Fallston High School in Fallston, Maryland. December 4, 1985. Retrieved on October 13, 2012.

I have spoken today of a vision and the obstacles to its realization. More than a century ago a young Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, visited America. After that visit he predicted that the two great powers of the future world would be, on one hand, the United States, which would be built, as he said, “by the plowshare,” and, on the other, Russia, which would go forward, again, as he said, “by the sword.” Yet need it be so? Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien to the universal aspirations of our peoples than war and the threat of war?

Ronald Reagan, Address to the 42d Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, New York. (General Assembly of the United Nations.) September 21, 1987. Retrieved on July 27, 2012.

Ashtar Galactic Command

This is the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you. For many years you have seen us as lights in the skies. We speak to you now in peace and wisdom as we have done to your brothers and sisters all over this, your planet Earth.

We come to warn you of the destiny of your race and your world so that you may communicate to your fellow beings the course you must take to avoid the disaster which threatens your world, and the beings on our worlds around you. This is in order that you may share in the great awakening, as the planet passes into the New Age of Aquarius. The New Age can be a time of great peace and evolution for your race, but only if your rulers are made aware of the evil forces that can overshadow their judgments.

Be still now and listen, for your chance may not come again.

All your weapons of evil must be removed. The time for conflict is now past and the race of which you are a part may proceed to the higher stages of its evolution if you show yourselves worthy to do this. You have but a short time to learn to live together in peace and goodwill.

Small groups all over the planet are learning this, and exist to pass on the light of the dawning New Age to you all. You are free to accept or reject their teachings, but only those who learn to live in peace will pass to the higher realms of spiritual evolution.

Hear now the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you. Be aware also that there are many false prophets and guides operating in your world. They will suck your energy from you – the energy you call money and will put it to evil ends and give you worthless dross in return.

Your inner divine self will protect you from this. You must learn to be sensitive to the voice within that can tell you what is truth, and what is confusion, chaos and untruth. Learn to listen to the voice of truth which is within you and you will lead yourselves onto the path of evolution.

This is our message to our dear friends. We have watched you growing for many years as you too have watched our lights in your skies. You know now that we are here, and that there are more beings on and around your Earth than your scientists admit.

We are deeply concerned about you and your path towards the light and will do all we can to help you. Have no fear, seek only to know yourselves, and live in harmony with the ways of your planet Earth. We of the Ashtar Galactic Command thank you for your attention. We are now leaving the plane of your existence. May you be blessed by the supreme love and truth of the cosmos.

Vrillon, Ashtar Galactic Command. Southern ITV (Independent Television). London, UK. November 26, 1977 (5:12 PM). Retrieved on August 8, 2013.

The Lesser Peace

... historical documents enable us to understand the origins of the connection between UFOs and nuclear bases, and to see that this problem was taken very seriously by the military and governmental authorities.

Leslie Kean, UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record. New York: Random House, Inc. 2010. Pages 137-138.

... they [the extradimensionals] know every single nuclear warhead – hidden, surreptitious, whatever – on this planet. They know where every single one is, and they can neutralize it in a heartbeat. There will never be on this planet – because it is not allowed by something out there – a nuclear slugfest.... For instance, they took the finger off the nuclear trigger. There would have been a nuclear war twice since 1955 alone.... These guys stopped it. These entities stopped it.

U.S. Army Major Ed Dames (retired), “Remote Viewing Mars.” Coast to Coast AM. George Noory, host. October 16, 2012. Retrieved (transcribed) on October 17, 2012.

I am absolutely certain there will be no nuclear exchange on this planet – period.... First of all, there have been a number of incidences where we got a hair’s breath of a nuclear exchange, such as the Cuban missile crisis and so on.... [O]ne of the things I have concluded, beyond any shadow of a doubt for me, is that, (a), we are fully capable of using nuclear weapons against each other, and, (b), that the extraterrestrials are not hostile, and they are not going to allow that to happen. That is the one thing they are forbidding. They’re letting us do anything we want with conventional weapons, but they’re not letting us do that.... [Nuclear exchanges] would affect the free will of everyone on the planet. And my personal observation is that’s the one level of involvement that the extraterrestrials are allowing themselves. They’re not allowing that to happen. In part, they don’t want that to happen because they’re trying to help us get through these new changes that are going to occur in the post-2012 world. In the post-2012 world, everything changes, and they’re helping us get to that point where a new world will basically be born. But I am not the slightest bit concerned about a nuclear exchange.... I am absolutely certain it is not being allowed.... It was apparently a decision made after that [the nuking of Japan by the U.S. at the end of World War II] not to let another thing happen.... We happen to live in a free-will universe, and while they may prevent us from doing further harm to ourselves, ... we did it to ourselves.

Courtney Brown, Ph.D., “Dr. Courtney Brown Ph.D.: Remote-Viewing Phenomenon” (brief excerpt). The Edge Broadcast. MP3 audio file. Daniel Ott, interviewer. July 21, 2012. Retrieved (transcribed) on February 2, 2013.

O kings of the earth! We see you increasing every year your expenditures, and laying the burden thereof on your subjects. This, verily, is wholly and grossly unjust. Fear the sighs and tears of this Wronged One, and lay not excessive burdens on your peoples. Do not rob them to rear palaces for yourselves; nay rather choose for them that which ye choose for yourselves. Thus We unfold to your eyes that which profiteth you, if ye but perceive. Your people are your treasures. Beware lest your rule violate the commandments of God, and ye deliver your wards to the hands of the robber. By them ye rule, by their means ye subsist, by their aid ye conquer. Yet, how disdainfully ye look upon them! How strange, how very strange!

Now that ye have refused the Most Great Peace, hold ye fast unto this, the Lesser Peace, that haply ye may in some degree better your own condition and that of your dependents. O Rulers of the earth! Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need no more armaments save in a measure to safeguard your territories and dominions. Beware lest ye disregard the counsel of the All-Knowing, the Faithful.

Be united, O Kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your people find rest, if ye be of them that comprehend. Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.

Baháʾuʾlláh, Proclamation of Baháʾuʾlláh. Pages 12-13.

Consider the civilization of the West, how it hath agitated and alarmed the peoples of the world. An infernal engine hath been devised, and hath proved so cruel a weapon of destruction that its like none hath ever witnessed or heard. The purging of such deeply-rooted and overwhelming corruptions cannot be effected unless the peoples of the world unite in pursuit of one common aim and embrace one universal faith. Incline your ears unto the Call of this Wronged One and adhere firmly to the Lesser Peace.

Strange and astonishing things exist in the earth but they are hidden from the minds and the understanding of men. These things are capable of changing the whole atmosphere of the earth and their contamination would prove lethal. Great God! We have observed an amazing thing. Lightning or a force similar to it is controlled by an operator and moveth at his command. Immeasurably exalted is the Lord of Power Who hath laid bare that which He purposed through the potency of His weighty and invincible command.

Baháʾuʾlláh, “Words of Paradise,” Tablets of Baháʾuʾlláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Pages 25-26.

The Baháʾí Faith will not establish [the lesser] peace. According to the Baháʾí teachings, human beings need to do it – to be forced into it by dire circumstances. Peace will come to this world following global convulsions and worldwide chaos. Gradually, we will rebuild. The present world order needs to unravel before we will see world peace.

As to the Lesser Peace, Shoghi Effendi has explained that this will initially be a political unity arrived at by decision of the governments of various nations; it will not be established by direct action of the Baháʾí community.

From a letter, dated January 31, 1985, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual Baháʾí, Lights of Guidance: A Baháʾí Reference File. Number 1430.

Seldom, if at any time since its inception, has such a widespread publicity been accorded the infant Faith of God, now at long last emerging from an obscurity which has so long and so grievously oppressed it. Not even the dramatic execution of its Herald, nor the blood-bath which, in circumstances of fiendish cruelty followed quickly in its wake in the city of Ṭihrán, nor even the widely advertised travels of the Center of Baháʾuʾlláh’s Covenant in the West, succeeded in focusing the attention of the world and in inviting the notice of those in high places as has this latest manifestation of God's inscrutable will, this marvelous demonstration of His invincible power, this latest move in His Own Major Plan, using both the mighty and lowly as pawns in His world-shaping game, for the fulfillment of His immediate purpose and the eventual establishment of His Kingdom on earth.

For though the newly launched World Spiritual Crusade, constituting at best only the Minor Plan in the execution of the Almighty’s design for the redemption of mankind—has, as a result of this turmoil, paralyzing temporarily the vast majority of the organized followers of Baháʾuʾlláh within His birthplace, suffered a severe setback—yet the over-all Plan of God, moving mysteriously and in contrast to the orderly and well-known processes of a clearly devised Plan, has received an impetus the force of which only posterity can adequately assess.

Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith. Page 139-140.

There is nothing in the Teachings about spaceships; and the Guardian [Shoghi Effendi] does not feel this is a subject on which he can offer the friends any advice whatsoever. Indeed, to be frank, he is so busy with the work of the Cause that he seldom has time to devote much thought to speculation of this nature, however fascinating it may be.

From a letter dated February 15, 1957, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual Baháʾí.

O SON OF MAN! Wert thou to speed through the immensity of space and traverse the expanse of heaven, yet thou wouldst find no rest save in submission to Our command and humbleness before Our Face.

Baháʾuʾlláh, The Hidden Words of Baháʾuʾlláh. Arabic. Number 40.

As to your question whether the power of Baháʾuʾlláh extends over our solar system and to higher worlds: While the Revelation of Baháʾuʾlláh, it should be noted, is primarily for this planet, yet the spirit animating it is all-embracing, and the scope therefore cannot be restricted or defined.

From a letter, dated July 14, 1938, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual Baháʾí, Lights of Guidance: A Baháʾí Reference File. Number 1594.

Return to the table of contents.

II. Pitfalls of Globalization

Globalization

France will close foreign embassies and schools Friday in anticipation of backlash from cartoons mocking the Muslim prophet Muhammad published by a French magazine, the Associated Press reports.

Seth Cline, “Lewd Muhammad Cartoons Force France to Shut Down Embassies.” US News and World Report. September 19, 2012. Retrieved on September 20, 2012.

While conveying enthusiasm about their beliefs, the friends [Baháʾís] should guard against projecting an air of triumphalism, hardly appropriate among themselves, much less in other circumstances.

The Universal House of Justice, Riḍván 2010 letter.

tri·umph·al·ism (trī-ǔm′fə-lǐz′əm)

n.

The attitude or belief that a particular doctrine, especially a religion or political theory, is superior to all others.

tri·umph′al·ist n.

“triumphalism.” The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language. Fourth edition. Chicago, IL: Houghton Mifflin Company (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). 2009.

triumphalism /trʌɪˈʌmf(ə)lɪz(ə)m/

▶ noun [mass noun] excessive exultation over one’s success or achievements (used especially in a political context): an air of triumphalism reigns in his administration.

— DERIVATIVES

triumphalist adjective & noun

“triumphalism.” Oxford Dictionary of English. Third edition. Angus Stevenson, editor. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2010.

There’s been a fair bit of controversy over the newly prominent TSA [U.S. Transportation Security Administration] practice of randomly testing liquids after checkpoints.

“This is What a TSA Beyond-the-Checkpoint Soft Drink Inspection Looks Like.” Jaunted. September 7, 2012. Retrieved on September 14, 2012.

... [The] non-dual world [is] the cosmic envelope (in which the deepest natures or ground-states of all beings sit and are connected) ....

Roy Bhaskar, “The Philosophy of Meta-Reality, Part I: Identity, Spirituality, System. Interview by Mervyn Hartwig.” Abstract (excerpt). Journal of Critical Realism. Alethia 5.1 2002. Retrieved on November 24, 2011.

Neocolonialism is a term that describes relations of continued or renewed domination of a nation or region by another in the period after formal decolonization. It most commonly refers to unequal relations of power between formally decolonized nation-states and their former colonizers. Most uses of the term have emphasized economic relations of dominance or dependence, while others have included ideas of cultural domination or military and political interference by former colonizers, often with the collusion of local elites. Many explanations of the term simply refer to “imperialism,” in the sense of indirect systems of influence and domination of developing nations by dominant nations ....

Peter Phipps, “Neocolonialism.” Encyclopedia of Global Studies. Helmut K. Anheier, Mark Juergensmeyer, and Victor Faessel, editors. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 2012. Pages 1233-1237.

Several of the seven designated state sponsors of terrorism—most notably Libya and Sudan—took significant steps to cooperate in the global war on terrorism—and the liberation of Iraq removed a regime that had long supported terrorist groups. Nevertheless, the other state sponsors—Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria—did not take all the necessary actions to disassociate themselves fully from their ties to terrorism in 2003.

Overview of State-Sponsored Terrorism. Official U.S. Department of State document. Retrieved on June 6, 2012.

Angelic Challenges to Militarization

It seems that where there is a concentration of uranium deposits or uranium mines, or something nuclear going on, you find more craft than in other places.

Roger K. Leir, D.P.M., “Space Tech./Turkey UFO.” George Knapp, host. Coast to Coast AM. March 31, 2013. Retrieved (transcribed) on April 1, 2013.

“Dr. Feynmen, do you believe in UFOs?”

... “Klarfeld, I believe in the law of probability.... Of the billions and billions of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and the billions and billions of galaxies in the universe, the law of probability tells us that there are 10,000 solar systems exactly like ours.... If any of those older older ones, since we were the younger star, survive their space age, they could have visited us. Yes, I believe in UFOs.”

Now, I take that exact quote, and I publish it in my first book, because I thought it was an astounding answer for a young undergraduate to get from his future Nobel Laureate professor. And if you analyze what he said, the most important part of it was not that we’re the youngest star, and that 10,000 like us are older than we are – therefore, more advanced. He said, if they “survive their space age” .... And it took me about 60 years to figure that one out. And I finally came to realize that every civilization that progresses towards space-age exploration, is faced with the rocketry necessary to get off the planet, but also the atomic bombs that go on top of these rockets. And the chance of the civilization obliterating itself are quite real, and that’s what he was referring to when he said if they “survive their space age.”

Marshall Klarfeld, “The Anunnaki Were Here!” Veritas Radio. Mel Febregas, interviewer. April 5, 2013. Retrieved (transcribed) on April 6, 2013.

Dr. Feynman said that if a civilization “survives their space age” then they could explore the “stars.” My opinion is that our destiny is to replicate humanity in the Universe.

Marshall Klarfeld, ADAM: The Missing Link (The New History of Mankind’s Creation). Bloomington, IN: Trafford Publishing. 2009. Kindle edition.

Aliens may have interfered with US and Soviet nuclear weapons during the Cold War in an attempt to send “a sign to Washington and Moscow that we are playing with fire,” according to a UFO researcher [Robert Hastings].

Toby Harnden, “Aliens ‘tried to warn US and Russia they were playing with fire during Cold War’.” The Telegraph (newspaper). London, UK: Telegraph Media Group. September 28, 2010. Retrieved on July 24, 2013.

In its [religion’s] place they [increasing numbers of people] have turned either to the hedonistic pursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made ideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which it groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing the concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of concord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to subordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt to suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously abandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all too clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while enabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely dreamed of by our forebears....

The time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether of the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give account of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise.... Why is the vast majority of the world’s peoples sinking ever deeper into hunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the Pharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth century is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?

The Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace. October, 1985. Page 5.

alleged saucer-shaped vehicle at Russian military base

The [April 26, 1986] explosion [at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Russia] was very large, but, luckily, it was a thermal blast. The fourth power generating unit was basically destroyed by overheated steam. There was no nuclear explosion. Roughly 180 tons of enriched uranium were in the reactor. If a large blast had happened, half of Europe would not currently be depicted on any maps.

There are many theories to explain such luck. One of the theories is that there was help from an Unidentified Flying Object. When troublesome events started to occur, some people saw a spaceship hovering above the fourth generating unit of the Chernobyl plant. Eyewitnesses say that an UFO was there for six hours and that hundreds of people saw it. People started writing about it only two years after the catastrophe.

“UFO Prevents Blast at Chernobyl Nuclear Plant.” Pravda. September 16, 2002. Retrieved on December 25, 2012.

Although my own research has been exclusively devoted to UFO activity at nuclear weapons sites, UFO sightings at commercial nuclear power plants have been reported worldwide for over four decades. These incidents are obviously integral to the UFO-Nukes Connection. A short, far from complete, compilation of them appears below—including the widely-reported sighting of a UFO that hovered over the stricken Chernobyl nuclear plant, near Kiev, in Soviet Ukraine, after one of its reactors exploded in April 1986....

In September 2002, Pravda published an article titled, “UFO Prevents Blast at Chernobyl Nuclear Plant,” saying that hundreds of witnesses saw the UFO. One, Mikhail Varitsky, was quoted as saying, “I and other people from my team went to the site of the blast at night. We saw a ball of fire, and it was slowly flying in the sky. I think the ball was six or eight meters in diameter. Then, we saw two rays of crimson light stretching towards the fourth unit. The object was some 300 meters from the reactor. The event lasted for about three minutes. The lights of the object went out and it flew away in the northwestern direction.”

Robert Hastings, Robert Hastings has a Message for UFO Non-Believers. January 26, 2010. Retrieved on September 29, 2012.

For nearly 40 years, noted researcher Robert Hastings has sought out and interviewed former and retired U.S. Air Force personnel regarding their direct or indirect involvement in nuclear weapons-related UFO incidents.... In fact, taken to their logical conclusion, these cases have planetary implications, given the horrific consequences that would result from a full-scale, global nuclear war....

To date, Hastings has interviewed over 120 military veterans who were involved in various UFO-related incidents at U.S. missile sites, weapons storage facilities, and nuclear bomb test ranges....

Hastings believes that UFOs are piloted by visitors from elsewhere in the universe who, for whatever reason, have taken an interest in our long-term survival. He contends that these beings are occasionally disrupting our nukes to send a message to the American and Soviet/Russian governments that their possession and potential large-scale use of nuclear weapons threatens the future of humanity and the environmental integrity of the planet. In short, Washington and Moscow are being warned that they are “playing with fire.”

Robert Hastings: About UFOs and Nuclear Weapons. Retrieved on January 11, 2012.

Captain [Robert] Salas [former U.S. Air Force nuclear missile launch officer] notes, “The U.S. Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it.”

UFOs Vs. Nuclear Weapons: National Press Club Meeting. September 27, 2010. Retrieved on September 22, 2012.

Colonel S is a retired Colonel from the US Air Force. He went to Stanford business school where he studied management. In the 1950’s part of his responsibilities included maintaining the inventory of nuclear weapons owned by the US federal government, and accompanying security teams checking out the security of these nuclear weapons. Many reports kept coming in that UFO’s were seen at various nuclear storage facilities and some of the manufacturing plants. He has seen UFO’s many times, and was present when there was a fly-over by UFO’s in 1952 over the Capital Building of the US federal government. At that incident he recalls seeing nine illuminated disc-type craft. He also tells of at least two occasions when UFO’s destroyed nuclear weapons headed out to space, one heading to the moon to be detonated for tests.

Advanced Technologies and UFO’s. A 57-page report produced by Dr. Steven Greer was received in May 2001. Retrieved on January 3, 2012.

... there was one incident when we exploded a nuclear weapon over the Pacific and this was in about ’61 [1961] I believe.... And of course this was one that the extraterrestrials were really concerned about because it affected our ionosphere. In fact, the ET spacecraft were unable to operate because of the pollution in the magnetic field which they depended upon. It was my understanding that in either the very end of the ’70s [1970s] or the early ’80s [1980s] that we attempted to put a nuclear weapon on the Moon and explode it for scientific measurements and other things which was not acceptable to the extraterrestrials....

The ETs destroyed the weapon as it went toward the Moon. The idea of any explosion of a nuclear weapon in space by any Earth government was not acceptable to the extraterrestrials and that has been demonstrated over and over.

U.S. Col. Ross Dedrickson quoted in Steven M. Greer, M.D., Disclosure: Military and Government Witnesses Reveal the Greatest Secrets in Modern History. 2001. Pages 192-193. Retrieved from Scribd on May 21, 2012.

The main attention of the UFOs is, above all, on the United States of America and on Russia.... Above all, the attention is on all humanity; but, above all, ... the reason is that the United States and Russia have the most powerful nuclear reserve in the world; and, combined with the other five superpowers, they, the aliens, are worried.... It’s my opinion that the nuclear military program is something that attracts the attention of the UFOs; and I believe, not only nuclear arms, but the general behavior of the states and the spiritual condition of states like America and Russia attracts their curiosity.... I think that these [alien] powers exist and expect something of us. Yes, I think that is possible [that the U.S. and Russian governments have been withholding physical evidence of the existence of flying saucers for fifty years].... These [1991-1993] photos [below] led military analysts to the assumption that, near to Tver, there is some kind of dimensional door that is used by spaceships to enter and leave our dimension.... It’s difficult to say why [the Russian and American governments do not tell the truth about UFOs]. Let’s say they know everything. Can we state this? I think we can. They know everything; it is my personal opinion. Why don’t they say so? Perhaps they don’t understand what could be the consequences. Because once people will realize that aliens are peaceful, good, and powerful, they would not believe in religion anymore. They would believe in the religious message, but they would not recognize the power of religion or even the state. This is the real danger. This is the real truth – that the states and the religion do not want to lose their power....

A military team that studied UFO phenomena on behalf of the Russian government (within The Anti-Aircraft Academy of Defense) and other Russian officials, The Truth about UFOs in Russia. Tver, Russia. A film by Georgio Bongiovanni and Pier Georgio Caria. 2012. UFOTV. Retrieved on October 28, 2012.

photos taken around Tver, Russia

Bilderberg was conceived in response to the 1952 Star Visitor repeated overflights of Washington, DC and the following year’s meeting between President Eisenhower and Star Nations representatives at what is now Edwards Air Force Base, CA. It is no coincidence that Walter Bedell Smith, President Eisenhower’s CIA Director, was also his designee to the 1954 inaugural meeting of the Bilderberg Council.

Richard J. Boylan, Ph.D., The Bilderbergers, the Star Visitors and World Peace. Retrieved on June 6, 2012.

Shooting at Angels

F-16 fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a UFO seen following a London-bound passenger jet.

Matthew Moore, “Fighter jets scrambled after UFO follows plane over Athens.” The Telegraph (newspaper). London. February 10, 2009. Retrieved on March 4, 2012.

An American fighter pilot flying from an English air base at the height of the Cold War was ordered to open fire on a massive UFO that lit up his radar, according to an account published by Britain’s National Archives on Monday.

Raphael G. Satter (Associated Press), “U.S. pilot was ordered to shoot down UFO: He was told to never talk about Cold War incident; files now are public.” MSNBC. October 20, 2008.

To be fair, most UFOs do turn out to be misidentifications. Furthermore, there are some outrageous hoaxes perpetrated and tall tales told. And yet, as the recent event at the National Press Club illustrated, there is a serious and potentially sinister side to all of this. Some UFOs are seen by reliable witnesses such as pilots. They are tracked on radar, performing speeds and manoeuvres that exceed the capabilities of our most sophisticated aircraft. Attempts have been made to shoot down at least two UFOs – maybe there are other such cases that have never been disclosed.

Nick Pope, “Shoot Down the UFO.” Nick Pope. (He “... used to run the British Government’s UFO Project ....”) Retrieved on September 27, 2012.

UFOs are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head. I’m so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something. The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning. The time has come to lift the veil of secrecy, and let the truth emerge, so there can be a real and informed debate, about one of the most important problems facing our planet today.

Paul Hellyer, the Canadian Minister of Defence (1963-1967). Retrieved on February 27, 2012.

The UFO is first picked up coming over the horizon when the shuttle is close to Lake Carnegie, WA. Later, the light flash and one contrail can be tracked back to Exmouth Bay near the North West Cape military facility [September 15, 1991]. A second contrail can be tracked back to the Pine Gap military facility in central Australia.

Along with other UFO incidents recorded on video by NASA, this material has contributed significantly towards NASA’s recent decision to discontinue live television transmissions from space.

“Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-48) films UFOs” Williamson Labs. Retrieved on July 5, 2012.

The [U.S.] STS 48 shuttle mission caught a video of an apparent attempt to destroy a space craft on September 22, 1991, but the UFO managed to make a sharp turn as shown by the blue line to avoid being hit. The video seems to show a particle beam weapon fired at a UFO.

The shuttle was over Alice Springs, Australia [site of the United States Air Force Detachment 421] and something could have been fired from this site.

Retired U.S. Major George Filer, “Are We in an Inter Galactic War in Space?” National UFO Center: Filer’s Research Institute. April 11, 2012. Retrieved on July 5, 2012.

alleged incident on September 22, 1991

... there have been incidents where we have shot at these [extraterrestrial] craft and, in some cases, have brought them down – certainly in the early days. My understanding is that even our technology has been developed to the extent that we now have very, very capable weaponry to deal with some craft, but I’m quite sure that they [the extraterrestrials] could wipe us out if they wanted to – no question about it.

Timothy S. Good, “Secret UFO War.” George Knapp, interviewer. Coast to Coast AM. October 21, 2007. Retrieved (transcribed) on March 3, 2013.

It is notable that during so many UFO sightings, including the select few I have shared here, the “unknowns” never seemed to intentionally hurt or threaten anyone. When you consider what could have happened to the nuclear bases in Montana or to the airborne craft in Argentina, the imagination conjures up grave consequences. Those behind the unexplained phenomena were revealing their existence, getting our attention, nothing more....

Witnesses themselves [to the alleged Phoenix lights spacecraft sightings, March 13, 1997] have changed for the better. Many have become more aware of our environment and are now taking responsibility for this planet, realizing that we are stewards of the Earth.

Lynne D. Kitei, M.D., The Phoenix Lights: A Skeptics Discovery that We Are Not Alone. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company. 2004. Kindle edition.

... we have spent many years trying to destroy UFOs and it is said that we have caused the crashes of a few of them, and yet there has been no real retaliation. People state that we have been given subtle messages by the aliens that we were too warlike and these messages consisted of UFOs flying over military bases and turning off our nuclear missile capability. This has happened more than once that we know about and probably a lot more. The old Soviet regime discovered that UFOs could be disrupted by powerful radar and built an installation with a radar weapon and a UFO flew over it and hit the radar with a beam and destroyed it. Even more interestingly, the beam had passed through a Soviet soldier without harming him on its way to the target. How could anyone on this planet think that they could compete with such advanced technology?

Are Extraterrestrials Guiding The Human Race? Retrieved on May 21, 2012.

There was an Excel spreadsheet and the title was “Non-Terrestrial Officers,” and it had names, ranks... it wasn’t a long list; it didn’t fill the whole screen, I don’t think.... 20, maybe 30 [names were on the list]. Definitely ranks, but nothing to say Army captain, or Navy captain, or US Air Force captain.... I mean, that was the title “Non-Terrestrial Officers,” and obviously it’s not little green men. So I was thinking: What force is this? And that phrase is nowhere to be found on the web or in official Army documentation or anything. And the other thing was a list of ship-to-ship and fleet-to-fleet transfers – and bear in mind fleet-to-fleet, that means multiple ships – movement of materials. And these ships weren’t, you know, US Navy ships. Again, I don’t remember any of the names, but I remember at the time looking and trying to match up the names, and there wasn’t anything that matched.... What I surmised is that an off-planet Space Marines is being formed. And if you actually look at DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, literature at the moment and in the last few years, a lot of government and space command stuff is all about space dominance. It is really, you know, the final frontier. Yeah, so I think it’s natural for them to want to control space and to be developing a space-going force in secret. But I think most likely using technology reverse-engineered from ETs.

Gary McKinnon, Project Camelot. Kerry Cassidy, interviewer. Retrieved on August 1, 2012.

A NASA photographic expert said that there was a Building 8 at Johnson Space Center where they regularly airbrushed out images of UFOs from the high-resolution satellite imaging. I logged on to NASA and was able to access this department. They had huge, high-resolution images stored in their picture files. They had filtered and unfiltered, or processed and unprocessed, files. My dialup 56K connection was very slow trying to download one of these picture files. As this was happening, I had remote control of their desktop, and by adjusting it to 4-bit color and low screen resolution, I was able to briefly see one of these pictures. It was a silvery, cigar-shaped object with geodesic spheres on either side. There were no visible seams or riveting. There was no reference to the size of the object and the picture was taken presumably by a satellite looking down on it. The object didn’t look manmade or anything like what we have created. Because I was using a Java application, I could only get a screenshot of the picture – it did not go into my temporary internet files. At my crowning moment, someone at NASA discovered what I was doing and I was disconnected. I also got access to Excel spreadsheets. One was titled “Non-Terrestrial Officers.” It contained names and ranks of U.S. Air Force personnel who are not registered anywhere else. It also contained information about ship-to-ship transfers, but I’tve never seen the names of these ships noted anywhere else.... The military want to have military dominance of space. What I found could be a game – it’s hard to know for certain.

Gary McKinnon, “Interview with ’UFO Hacker‘ Gary McKinnon: Why’d He Do It?” Boing Boing. June 21, 2006. Retrieved on May 5, 2013.

Gary McKinnon, the English hacker facing 70 years in U.S. prison for searching Pentagon sites for UFO evidence, says the weirdest thing he found was a list of “Non-Terrestrial Officers” and fleet transfers between ships that don’t exist in the U.S. Navy....

This is possibly a profoundly important development. If Mr. McKinnon’s data and assumption are correct, it validates what many have been postulating for many years: that the US Navy/Military may well be operating off-planet via back-engineered ET technology (or WWII German related?). This must have been occuring as well for a long time, long enough to have a “fleet” of space craft and officers to either man them or otherwise control them. For those who remember the Clementine mission, you will recall it was a US Navy project which micro-mapped the entire Moon. If McKinnon stumbled onto a secret file of “Non-Terrestrial Officers” it would, indeed, suggest the US Military has been quietly, efficiently, secretly running off-planet operations for a long time.

Gary McKinnon and the Non-Terrestrial Officers. Retrieved on August 1, 2012.

Air Force Space Command, activated Sept. 1, 1982, is a major command with headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. AFSPC provides military focused space and cyberspace capabilities with a global perspective to the joint warfighting team.

Air Force Space Command. Official U.S. government document. January 2, 2011. Retrieved on February 4, 2013.

UFOs crash for the simple reason that their power systems are interferred with by means of Electronically Pulsed Radar Systems directed at them by the U.S. Military so that they can recover the technology that are encompassed within the UFOs.

The principle is similar to what happens when an atomic explosion is triggered. ALL Electrical systems are “knocked out” within the “blast area.”

UFOs use Magnetic Field Energy to operate. Disrupt the Magnetic Field by directing Electronically Pulsed Radar at the UFO and its systems are “knocked out.”

UFO Casebook: Why Do UFOs Crash? Retrieved on May 21, 2012.

An investigator for the Air Forces [original term for the U.S. Air Force] stated that the three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico. They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots.

According to ... [the] informant, the saucers were found in New Mexico due to the fact that the Government has a very high-powered radar set-up in that area and it is believed the radar interferes with the controling mechanism of the saucers.

Guy Hottel, Flying Discs or Flying Saucers. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Official U.S. government document. March 22, 1950 (memorandum issued three years after the alleged incident in Roswell, NM). Retrieved on March 28, 2013.

It is believed that the debris discovered on 2 July 1947 by a local rancher was the result of a mid-air collision with an X-plane from HAFB [Hill Air Force Base]; another unidentified object; or possibly collided with both. Radar film and tower logs do not explain the merging of three radar targets prior to collision and subsequent crashes.

There were five recovered bodies, two of which were found in a severely damaged escape cylinder, and the remaining three were found some distance away from the cylinder. All five appeared to have suffered from sudden decompression and heat suffocation ....

Majestic Twelve Project, Annual Report, Summer 1952. Possibly fabricated official U.S. government document. Retrieved on June 5, 2012.

On 10 December, the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed that a Bulava missile test had failed. According to a spokesman, “The missile’s first two stages worked as normal, but there was a technical malfunction at the next, third, stage of the trajectory.” Russian defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer stated to AFP that “such lights and clouds appear from time to time when a missile fails in the upper layers of the atmosphere and have been reported before .... At least this failed test made some nice fireworks for the Norwegians.” Prior to the Russian statement, Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, had already suggested that the unusual light display occurred when the missile’s third stage nozzle was damaged, causing the exhaust to come out sideways and sending the missile into a spin.

Designed to be the next-generation submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Bulava has had 11 test flights since 2005—and has failed most of them, including the last three in a row.... Beyond the threat to Russia’s nuclear deterrent, the problems with the missile have become a major scandal for the Putin/Medvedev government. Hard-line Communist Party critics accuse them of letting the entire Russian military industrial complex decay to the point of danger.

Different sources, Norway Spiral. Retrieved on March 1, 2013.

... SPIRALS have always existed. Several have been reported down throughout history. There are HUNDREDS of Petroglyphs around the world that bear witness to this phenomenon.

Spirals. January 8, 2011. Retrieved on January 27, 2013.

The Sounds of War or Something Else?

The thing that comes closest to matching all of the observations is sonic booms from military aircraft....

In the Myrtle Beach case, the Air Force claimed responsibility and said that they had been conducting training exercises at the time. The seismologist whom I called in Virginia reported that, during the 1970’s, Seneca guns [mysterious noises sometimes heard off the coasts of Virginia and the Carolinas and elsewhere] were heard on the coast of Virginia. Reporters and seismologists investigated for several weeks but were unable to determine the cause. Finally the Navy admitted that one of their planes had caused a sonic boom. The problem with sonic booms is that they cannot explain Seneca guns that occurred before supersonic jets.

Naval ships firing their guns offshore might have produced some of the booms. Under certain atmospheric conditions, sounds can travel farther than usual so that they might be heard onshore as loud booms....

Earthquakes are also a possible cause. In southeastern North Carolina, earthquake lists show seven events between 1871 and 1968. Each event was reported by people who felt it or heard it. The problem with the earthquake explanation is that something that is felt or heard that strongly should have been recorded on nearby seismographs (these are the instruments that record ground shaking for seismologists to analyze). A seismologist in Virginia who has tried, has never been able to match any of the reported Seneca guns with his seismograph records, and he has tried lots of times over the years ....

There does not appear to be any agreement on what causes the Seneca guns. They have been occurring in several places around the eastern U.S. and in India for at least a century or two. As far as I can tell, they have worried people but they have never cause damage or injury. The Earth is a complex place and there is a lot about it that we don’t understand. Perhaps someday we will understand what causes Seneca guns, but right now we don’t understand what makes them. However, they do not seem to pose a threat to anyone.

“Earthquake Booms, Seneca Guns, and Other Sounds.” U.S. Geological Survey. July 18, 2012. Retrieved on March 10, 2013.

In the past few weeks and months, people all over the world have been reporting hearing strange sounds that are like groaning, loud trumpets or voices coming out of nowhere. It could be a hoax or a partial hoax, but I think that at least most of it is real.

Strange Sounds Heard Worldwide in 2012: Trumpets of Revelation? January 18, 2012. Retrieved on May 24, 2012.

The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter. The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise the night. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew in midheaven, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

Revelation 8:7-13. New Revised Standard Version.

In the first Gospel according to Matthew it is recorded: And when they asked Jesus concerning the signs of His coming, He said unto them: “Immediately after the oppression of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the earth shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet.”

Baháʾuʾlláh, The Kitáb-i-Íqán. Pages 24-25.

When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.

Exodus 19:19. New Revised Standard Version.

... the Son of Man hath come upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and He hath sent His angels with the sound of the great trumpet, and no one knows the meaning of these emblems save the wise and informed.

In the Book of Zephaniah, trumpets are associated with horrible destruction:

The Word of God, the divine Lōgos, is apparently symbolized by the sound of an angelic trumpet or a ram’s horn (Hebrew, šôfār, horn) and by claps of thunder. From this perspective, the beloved Ṭāhirih, the first female disciple of the Most Exalted Báb, was, figuratively speaking, an angelic trumpeter:

Predictions of roaring and terrifying sounds can be found in the Books of Jeremiah and Isaiah:

A wild yet intriguing, and unverified, proposal is that a field experiment is being conducted, using a measurable sequence of trumpeting sounds followed by explosions, on acoustic weaponization. The sounds might, in other words, have been intentionally generated. For instance:

In times of social anarchy or during other significant crises, acoustic weapons can be utilized as a means of population or crowd control:

Steve Quayle, for his part, associates certain sounds with alleged shockwave weapons:

Some of the strange sounds have also been interpreted as aggressive maneuvers, possibly using reverse-engineered technologies, against angelic spacecraft. On January 8-10, 2013, James E. Brown, a corporate finance manager from Cedar Mills, Utah, described (MP3 audio file) strange rumbling sounds. They were allegedly accompanied by orange flashings lights and three globes, arranged triangularly, in the sky. No seismic activity was reported. The booms reminded him of the sounds of war. Afterwards, helicopters, he said, appeared to be conducting a careful search. Brown explained:

Similarly, Linda Moulton Howe referred to an incident in which booms were accompanied by an alleged spaceship sighting. If so, they might have been produced by an advanced form of weaponry:

According to Howe, the booms were sometimes followed by helicopter searches. Perhaps, following an attack, military agencies have been looking for intermediate angels, their crashed spacecraft, and related artifacts:

A falling object which looked like a trumpet bell (MP4 video), perhaps from a angelic spacecraft, and a large explosion, possibly military, were reported in western Pennsylvania on July 23, 2001:

Some people see in the imagery of the ancient epic on the Indus Valley Civilization, the Mahābhārata (Sanskrit, Great Dynasty of the Cherished), possible depictions of tragic thermonuclear or other warfare, including trumpeting and thundering sounds, staged within the distant past:

This following quotation suggests the possibility of a nuclear explosion, in approximately 12,500 B.C, around the Great Lakes region of North America:

The next account, transcribed from an MP4 video, was produced by Jaime Maussan. He appears to suggest that intermediate angels, as angels, are literally blowing the trumpets of the Apocalypse (the Book of Revelation). Reportedly, these sounds, produced technologically, were accompanied by spacecraft sightings:

Another videographer also compared sounds he heard in Alberta, Canada, to Apocalyptic trumpets (MP3 audio file and PDF file). Furthermore, seemingly inspired by Maussan’s meme:

A few alleged witnesses have suggested the rather far-fetched possibility that some people have been hearing boring machines used to construct subterranean and suboceanic fortresses, research facilities, bomb or air-raid shelters, or protections against natural disasters. To my knowledge, however, no hard empirical evidence for these claims has ever been presented:

Others, instigated by the Internet rumor mill, have been panicking. As a result, many of the explanations for certain sounds are not only highly implausible but ridiculous and mega-conspiratorial. Since HAARP, commonly associated in the far-right alternative media with manipulating weather and practically everything else, may either be history (as of May, 2013) or entirely privatized, the far-right alternative media may need to find some other bogeyman:

Still others have attributed certain explosions, perhaps legitimately, to the deterioration of the industrial infrastructure:

Loud booms or explosions have sometimes been accompanied by lights, spacecraft, chalices of pure light, or possibly two or all of these phenomena. Here are four screen captures from an MP4 video:

Perhaps some of the luminosity can be explained by earthquake lights:

According to journalist Linda Moulton Howe, the loud booms, resonating in the ionosphere and bouncing back to earth, are related to flashes of light:

The U.S. military could be preparing for the devastating aftermath of Earth changes and any possible warfare, as desperate nations, and even individuals, plunder the limited resources which remain:

Spiritually, I would suggest, the Revelation of Baháʾuʾlláh has, from its beginnings in 1853, upset the world’s social, economic, and political order. However, starting in 2010, if not earlier, the Earth’s planetary equilibrium and geomagnetism might have been literally and geologically disturbed:

Observations of spacecraft, discussed by Maussan and others, have often been reported during cataclysmic events, including sudden Earth changes and warfare. Perhaps, as planetary guardians, the angelic servants aboard angelic spaceships continue to monitor these situations and the acoustic phenomena surrounding some of them. The military helicopters or other aircraft might have been deployed to investigate the craft, the unusual sounds, or even both. These quotations illustrate this issue:

For example, in the midst of the Ukrainian crisis, during March of 2014, this cigar-shaped craft was photographed over Ukraine (MP4 video file:

Elchin Khalilov, Ph.D., of the International Committee on Issues of Global Changes of the Geological Environment, was asked, “Mr. Khalilov, what is the nature of the unusual very low-pitched sounds reported by a great number of people in different parts of the planet since the summer of 2011? Many call them ‘The Sound of the Apocalypse.’ Information about that comes from all over the world: US, UK, Costa Rica, Russia, Czech Republic, Australia, etc.” He responded in part:

Drawing upon information from the International Committee on Issues of Global Changes of the Geological Environment and an affiliated organization, ArkNow, 2013 has been predicted to contain the most significant rate of seismic activity during the peak 2013-2015 period. Unparalleled devastation was anticipated:

An amateur geologist from Florida, Lance (“The United Knowledge”), addresses the issue by discussing earthquakes combined with geomagnetic changes (MP3 audio file 1 from December 23, 2012, and file 2 from January 15, 2013):

• There is a direct connection to Earth’s magnetic field experiencing anomalies around the time of the Mega Quakes.
• Earth’s magnetic field experiencing the very same thing year after year to the date.
• March 11 the last two years Earth’s magnetic field sideways, on March 13th this year it completely flipped.
• These mega quakes and patterns ONLY happen in the beginning of the year.
• Earth Booms increase all around this time as well
• EXACT dates for the year by year happening for anomalies of Earth’s magnetic field and Auroras in connection.
• I was able to be predict activity before hand in knowing this data before any solar activity and before any NOAA/NASA forecasts.
• There appears to be a cover up with spaceweather that can’t be the same to the date year after year, especially proven due to the accuracy of the predictions.
• All the anomalies in connection to this data have increased in severity the past 3 years....

A comparable interpretation considers interactions between the geomagnetic field and the Earth’s core. However, I do not know whether these processes occur directly within an audible frequency range:

Another suggested geomagnetic possibility for the sounds is spacequakes. Listen to this audio explanation of skyquakes. As far as I know, however, human ears, often of multiple witnesses, cannot function as receivers for electromagnetic radio waves. Without technological assistance, these acoustic tremors are, according to my understanding, inaudible by ordinary means. Therefore, spacequakes may be unrelated to the unusual sounds. According to NASA:

This clip, from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website, includes radio emissions captured by spacecraft and converted into sound waves. They resemble many of the sounds in the MP3 compilation which was previously mentioned. Here are NASA’s explanations for certain inaudible magnetospheric sounds:

Similar sounds can be heard on University of Iowa Professor Donald A. Gurnett’s website:

In the first century A.D., the sounds of Earth changes might have been chronicled by Flavius Josephus:

Additionally, Professor Unto K. Laine, from Finland’s Aalto University, has associated certain sounds with plasmatic auroras (MP4 video):

This possibly spiral-shaped aurora, or the result of a missile test, from Western Canada was reportedly accompanied by sonic booms (MP4 video):

The information below is fascinating, but I am not qualified to judge whether any of it is accurate:

The theory of Earth Crust Displacement was originated by Charles Hapgood and later discussed and developed by Rand Flem-Ath and Rose Flem-Ath. While intriguing, it is, to my understanding, not accepted by most geologists:

On January 5, 2013, strange lights and booms (MP4 video) were observed in Salem, Massacheusetts, by Derek Barr. This photograph is followed by a brief description:

In two MP4 videos (file 1 and file 2), anomalous sounds are accompanied by lights. In another MP4 video, Duncan Taylor claimed to observe a pulsating light while listening to an unusual sound. Below is a screen capture from that video followed by a description:

Another alleged incident (MP4 video) was recorded in (American) Georgia on January 18, 2012. Here is a screen capture:

Along much the same line, unusual sounds (MP4 video or MP3 audio file) were reportedly heard in snowy Gällivare, Norrbotten County, Sweden, on January 15, 2013. Here is a screen capture:

In neighboring Finland, odd horn-like and orchestral or female-singing noises reportedly accompanied a storm in Finland. People are also heard screaming and observed running from the beach. Although, to be honest, I personally suspect that the MP4 video (uploaded on November 25, 2012) is a hoax, I decided to include it anyway. Here is a screen capture:

Therefore, the pattern appears to suggest that reports of buzzing, humming, and trumpeting or horn-like sounds were supplemented, over a year or two, with accounts of booms or explosions (MP3 audio compilation). Speaking as a layman, there are two plausible explanations, in my opinion, for many or most of these sounds:

1. The booming sounds may indicate a rapid intensification of worldwide geomagnetic instability. Any issues with the aging infrastructure might also be aggravated. Speculatively, certain rapidly accelerating Earth changes have been generated from within the planet, or its atmosphere, and then reverberated. (Please bear in mind my profanity warning on this MP3 audio file.) The craft of intermediate angels, sometimes observed during these incidents, may be monitoring the activity.
2. Through the trumpeting sounds, the intermediate angels (the so-called extraterrestrials) are, as angels, literally blowing the trumpets of the Apocalypse. From this perspective, the presence of angelic craft during the horn-like sounds is not an accident.

The sound of the šōfār can be a warning:

Weaponization has been a pitfall of globalization. Allegedly, beginning in the years after World War II, technologies found on certain downed angelic vehicles have, to one extent or another, been exploited, especially for enhanced military capability. If various unsubstantiated claims have any merit, those technologies may have been, in certain cases, imitated or even successfully reverse engineered:

Despite the explosion of conspiracy theories on undisclosed projects (black operations or “blackops”), they are, however elaborate, usually classified military and intelligence programs. Certain projects were, or continue to be, secretive. Others, including the pseudoscientific remote-viewing venture, were, at least to some extent, later divulged to the public. Undisclosed projects, globally, are demonstrations of high-stakes political poker. Countries are forced to guess whether an opponent is bluffing on its hand. This imperialist game is continually being played by governmental agencies throughout the world.

DARPA is also seeding (initiating) a NASA long-distance space-travel research project:

Nick Redfern suspects that DARPA or other U.S. Department of Defense agencies, housed in the Pentagon building (Arlington, VA), may have also attempted to reconstruct and weaponize the technologies of some ancient civilizations. Whether these hypothetical artifacts are directly related to intermediate angels is, of course, unknown. As usual, I cannot personally substantiate the writer’s statements:

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI or Star Wars), which is mentioned below, has since been re-established as the Missile Defense Agency (MDA):

Speculations aside, the MDA and other units, operating under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense (DoD), have, in effect, become a new, militarized, and often secretive U.S. space program:

Directed energy weapons, using particalization, are being developed:

Holographic technologies have been applied to weaponization and other areas:

Holographic projection (the “Voice of God” weapon), which has been alleged by William Arkin (born, 1956) and others, and, more recently, electromagnetic technology (“Battlefield Illusion”) could, potentially, be used in psychological operations (psyops). Speculatively, holographic projection may have been inspired by the angelic plasmatic projections in the sky:

This man was convicted, in a U.S. District Court (on the federal level), of exporting holographic weapons sights:

On the other hand, although the extreme weaponization of weather is apparently feasible, it would also be illegal.

Nevertheless, there is no empirical evidence that the technology of meteorological warfare has any relationship with HAARP:

Former Minnessota governor and professional wrestler, Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos in 1951), was denied entry to the HAARP facility. I have nothing against the gentleman. He is quite passionate, seemingly kind-hearted, and apparently sincere about his views. Governor Ventura is also willing to think outside the box. The fellow is, however, a self-defined conspiracy theorist. Honestly, if I ran HAARP, I would not want his television production team on the property either:

However, while hostile weather manipulations have been considered, more benign forms are currently being practiced:

Laser lightning weaponry has also been tested:

With a lack of knowledge, conspiracies multiply. As English writer Alexander Pope (1688-1744) wrote, in his well-known An Essay on Criticism, “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” (It is commonly misquoted as “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”) That aphorism is especially apropo when it comes to the paradigm-breaking issues regarding intermediate angels. The events of 1954 have, in my view, been distorted and redistorted multiple times by various sources. Their motivations possibly stem from mere ignorance. They are likely diverse but are obviously unknown.

I will begin with various degrees of speculation beyond the absurd. Most spiritually inclined conservatives have looked to traditional movements, such as Christian fundamentalism, neo-evangelicalism, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some conservative Christians, occultists disenchanted with conventional religiosity, and others have embraced various ideological “fringe” theories, including the Illuminati conspiracy (Latin, illūminātī, enlightened ones). The “conspiracy” is actively promoted on American right-wing talk radio as well as militia or “patriot” websites and other alternative media outlets of the libertarian intelligentsia (and wannabes).

Conservatism, in its several types, is often driven by nationalism, as a misplaced patriotism, or anticollectivism coupled by a fear of rapid social change or traditional instability. In our confusing and uncertain times, there is certainly an abundance of fodder. I will now critically examine some dark, primarily right-wing, conspiracy (or esoteric) theories concerning intermediate angels and, in some cases, a kind of manipulative panspermia. These alleged machinations have, with the rise of the Internet, enjoyed increased popularity. They are often associated with British esotericist, David Icke, but many others have adopted them, as well.

What is it with certain segments of the far-right and conspiracy theories? The dogmatic conservatism of these individuals frequently focuses upon imaginary impositions of a reified al-Šarīʿa (path, prescription, or religious law) from Islām, Illuminatis, undocumented workers, communists, socialists, liberals, or another constructed bogeyman of the day or hour. These conservatisms have, in some of their expressions, concealed an impious evil, and a contempt for the poor and downtroden, behind a veneer of pseudospirituality and religiosity. According to the Beloved Jesus:

Some far-right media outlets denounce Muslims who call people unbelievers or infidels (al-kuffār, literally, those who are hiding or seeking cover from God). However, the heresy charge is alive and well among many conservative Christians – even if it cannot be politically enforced anymore. Indeed, the practice seems to be a hobby in some quarters. These labels are, of course, not taken seriously outside the particular sect using them. Christian fundamentalism, one of the moral backbones of the American Bible belt, began in the U.S., during the early twentieth century, and Australia became its second home. In both countries, such accusations are fairly common.

St. Paul, the divine Apostle, prophesied to the early Christians about the last days:

Esoteric turns, such as the Illuminati conspiracies, are frequently indicators of social deterioration and alienation from dominant religious institutions. Demireality, disunity, or social disorganization is bad enough without making up imaginary conspiracies. One can be anti-establishment without being a conspiracy theorist. For instance, although Karl Marx was neither an occultist nor a conservative, he famously used the metaphor of opium, a depressant, for religion:

In the first model of the supposed Illuminati, I may, as a National Education Association (NEA) member and a socialist, be an unwitting Illuminati member:

Since I am an academic, a Baháʾí (a religionist), and a media producer (with my bachelor’s degree in journalism), I would appear, using these two diagrams, to be in the Illuminati threefold:

As a member of the Baháʾí Faith, the National Education Association (a union), PeaceNext (from the Council for a Parliament of Religions), WiserEarth (an environmental sustainability network), and People 4 Peace, I am, according to this next diagram, apparently an Illuminist five times over:

Given that I am an academic, a religionist, a social scientist (science), a critical realist (one of the -isms), a strong proponent of global spirituality, a global socialist, a defender of social justice, an advocate for a paradigm shift (to Critical Realism and The Unicentric Paradigm™), an entertainer (a ventriloquist), a website designer (art), a mass-media producer, a utopian of sorts, a Ph.D. who used American National Election Studies data from the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan, and a specialist on new religious movements (“cults”), the next flow chart seems to place me, on all fifteen accounts, in the Illuminati structure:

My interest in the subject of esoteric conspiracies, as a social scientist, is threefold. First, they are a fascinating case study of mass or collective behavior and the powers of suggestibility. The mass media, including the web, inform and shape human ideas. Social movements, fads, fashions, urban legends, paranoia, and panics now spread globally like wildfire. Second, as with Y2K (the year 2000), deception appears to be considerable: opportunism, blatant lying, scamming, disinformation, trolling, practical joking, and reactionary libertarian fearmongering. Third, the Illuminati conspiracies highlight the perils of groupthink.

Social networking, and the ability of many average people to globally disseminate their points of view, is both a blessing and, through the world’s lowest common denominators, a curse. Indeed, the Internet itself, despite a considerable technological potential to outwardly facilitate the spiritual unity of humanity, has unfortunately become, with numerous conspiratorial forums and videos, a borderless hotbed of pacifism, revolutionary extremism, and even anti-elitist anarchism (the perfect philosophy for someone with a death wish):

An interesting spin on the Illuminati conspiracy was formulated by William Lyne. According to him, ufology and the subject of “extraterrestrials” in general are a CIA disinformation campaign to coverup advanced earthly, not alien, technologies. Lyne alleged that these technologies, developed under a “secret government,” were based upon the electronic inventions of a common conspiratorial hero, the engineer Nikola Tesla (1856-1943):

Numerous questions come to mind. For instance, where is this Illuminati? Why are they so elusive? How have they managed to remain a private, cohesive unit for so many years? Where is their advanced technology, and why has it not been used? As governments openly brag, at least eventually, about their latest gadgets, what would be the point of permanently covering up some technologies while publicly discussing others? In an age of whistleblowers, why have no scientists, working with the alleged Illuminati, stepped forward to reveal these spectacular research discoveries?

The answer to these questions is, in my opinion, relatively uncomplicated. Although there is no secret government, when tightlipped bureaucracies, including agencies devoted to military and intelligence research development, are institutionalized, they often acquire considerable power and autonomy. Then again, if a secret government had somehow managed, from behind the scenes, to accomplish such outstanding, even magical, feats, why was NASA clearly so elated and excited after spending a small fortune to land a robot, Curiosity, on the surface of Mars?

Although the Illuminati conspiracy has branched into several factions, my primarily focus will now be upon the angelic versions. The vast, arcane conspiracy, say numerous writers, involves not just alien technologies, including spacecraft, but, in some cases, the aliens themselves:

Super-conspiracies are as simplistic as two plus two, or arithmetic, but studying human affairs requires a careful calculus instead. Factually, there is a long history of the U.S. and other governments political taking advantage of national emergencies in order to justify abuses of power. Claiming, however, that a national emergency was itself automatically a product of government action or intentional inaction is, generally speaking, an unjustified conspiritorial leap of faith. Evidence is demanded, not coincidence. Critically, through hypnotic or gnōstic self-delusion, conspiracy breeds conspiracy. Believing in them is not being skeptical.

I tend to differ with Benjamin Fulford (born, 1961) on most issues. In my opinion, however, the following statement has merit:

Somehow, I have managed to listen to conspiracy theorists on Red Ice Creations and Coast to Coast AM. Many of them come from the far-right libertarian (or populist) wing of the New Age Movement. Nevertheless, I will avoid gossiping and judging anyone. In some cases, these individuals are really libertarian fascists. Similar to the Nazis, their concern is for the freedoms of true patriots like themselves while marginalizing “the other,” whether imagined as undocumented workers or as fictional Illuminatis, such as bankers, globalists, communists, socialists, Freemasons and other secret societies, Jews, Muslims, Roman Catholics, and concocted reptilian aliens.

Right-wing nationalism (Italian Fascism, German Nazism, pre-World War II State Shinto in Japan, etc.) is, by definition, anti-elitist (populist). The Nazis argued that the liberties of the “true Germans” had been usurped by the elites (especially Jews). Modern libertarianism is quite similar. Many self-proclaimed libertarians (not all) will argue for the liberty of the average person or patriot (populism) against the supposed elites (elitism). The ant-elitist Illuminati conspiracy, which is quite a popular idea among many libertarians, had its heyday in Nazi Germany. Frequently, libertarians will try to censor me, calling me an academic elitist, on Internet forums.

Credibility is predicated on evidence, but truth is an untestable abstraction. As I once wrote on an online message board, Truth is not determined by majorities or minorities. Truth is determined by evidence. Yet. when evidence is demanded, a deductive conspiracy theory will rapidly fall into pieces. “The evidence for the conspiracy was covered up by the conspirators!,” rants the circular babel. Thus, I introduce Foster’s Law: If an absence of evidence is itself evidence, and the presentation of evidence is automatically self-refusing, the conspiracy theory will persist.

A gnōstic focus upon the truth promotes the parroting of rumors and urban legends. On the other hand, a common self-designation for the Illuminati and other hate-filled conspiracy theories, beginning with the terrorist incidents of September 11, 2011, and later spreading to other issues, is, somewhat ironically, the truth movement. Perhaps the focus on truth, rather than on hard empirical evidence, is one of the major problems with the perspectives of these so-called “awake” truthers:

My working assumption is that “Operation 9/11” of al-Qaeda (Arabic2, al-Qāʿidah, the Base), some similar incidents, and certain targeted assassinations were, in effect, gangland-style hits. Imperialism bites. The criminals themselves, operating in broad-based coalitions with other terroristic individuals, may have had diverse, even conflicting, agendas. Yet, the principal issue with 9/11, in my view, concerns those officials who used the incident to lie their way into a lengthy conflict in ʿIrāq. This heartbreaking war was one which many neoconservatives wished that President George Herbert Walker Bush would have continued after the successful liberation of Kuwait in February, 1991.

Any seeming cooperation between al-Qaeda and the United States or Israel is, in my opinion, an misinterpretation of common rules of engagement. Countries will often manipulate, to whatever extent they perceive necessary, countries, militias, guerrilla forces, or terroristic groups, whatever their degrees of friendliness, for perceived military or intelligence advantage. Realpolitik, as political realism or pragmatism, often demands that one does business or “gets down and dirty,” whether overtly or covertly, with some very shady characters. That fact alone, however unscrupulous, does not support the existence of a political alliance.

In the present state of global social disorganization and demireality, various agencies, some public and others private, have been jockeying for position. From time to some, some entities may have even intentionally wreaked havoc and chaos in order to justify economic and political dominance or Draconian stabilizing measures. For instance, the Great Depression, a worldwide crisis, was triggered by the crash of the American stock market on Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929). In Germany, Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) then rose to power as a perceived stabilizing influence. Through the Holocaust, he scapegoated and massacred Jews and others, in order to establish supposed stability.

In any event, there are many 9/11 conspiracy theories, not just one. That fact alone raises serious questions about any of the cabalistic explanations. If a particular conspiracy theory was highly persuasive, then presumably most people would accept it and drop the others. Furthermore, considerable time has passed since September 11, 2001. Had, in fact, a vast governmental conspiracy existed, why has not a single whistleblower stepped forward? Indeed, no matter the specific actors in that tragedy, the events of that day reflected a gruesome failure in American intelligence gathering:

Terrorist planning seems to be often focused on areas with drills or military exercises, including on 9/11, 7/7 (July 7, 2005, in London), and the Boston Marathon incident (April 15, 2013). From a law-enforcement standpoint, drills might indicate, thankfully, advance intelligence, as in Austin, TX, during August, 2013:

For the criminals or terrorists, on the other hand, carrying out operations during official drills, which are often announced publicly, may be a useful strategy. In the fog of war, so to speak, the participants in those activities might mistake the drill for the genuine article. Unfortunately, some people apparently confused the events with 9/11 with a military exercise:

On the other hand, God may be conveying a message. No amount of human effort and planning can delay God’s judgment:

Some have argued that the long delay in capturing Osama bin Laden (ʾUsāmah bin Lādin) was evidence of a conspiracy, but the opposite was likely true. Intelligence operatives are professionals. If they studied how his mind worked, taking him out prematurely could be counterproductive. Any replacement might be a dangerously unknown quantity. As Osama’s moves were accurately anticipated, he became a lame-duck terrorist. He was captured psychologically, while his financial sources were disrupted, long before he was killed. The terrorist was himself terrorized and isolated, as his friends and associates were executed.

Indeed, Osama, I would surmise, could have been confronted at almost anytime. Adding to his weakness, he presumably knew, from his own intelligence network, that he was a marked man and being tracked, as well. However, only when he was no longer deemed to be playing a central planning role for al-Qaeda, was arresting or, as it turned out, assassinating him in the best interests of U.S. and NATO forces:

As I see it, the principal reason why no massive terrorist attacks have taken place, in the U.S., since 9/11 is that American-based terrorist cells have been heavily infiltrated by the FBI. Human resources, however, are always limited. Only a finite number of agents can be assigned to particular tasks. Nevertheless, there is no need to penetrate every cell or to arrest everyone. Potential terrorists have presumably become paranoid and conspiratorial over whether someone working with them is an agent or a “sock puppet.” Not knowing whom to trust, they turn against each other. Based upon the record, this U.S. psychological operation (psyop) has performed brilliantly.

If, in fact, a massive 9/11 conspiracy transpired, why has no one, in all the years since 2001, blown the whistle? In order to accomplish a conspiracy of this sort, hundreds even thousands of people would need to be involved. Bluntly, no one could possibly expect to keep that many people quiet about such an egregious violation of civil rights and common American values. Sooner or later, a friend will tell a friend or, on the other hand, someone would get drunk and spill the beans. In other words, there is, it seems to me, an inverse relationship between the number of people involved and the plausibility of a long-term conspiracy.

Even in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden, one or more of the Navy SEALs, who have been sworn to secrecy, subsequently discussed the details of the operation. They are human beings:

Some commentators have pointed to alleged correlations between certain terrorist attacks and drills, including around 9/11, 7/7 (July 7, 2005) in London, and the Boston Marathon (April 15, 2013). These associations, they concluded, indicated false-flag attacks. Even excluding coincidence, two more reasonable proposals would be: that terrorists took advantage of the drill to confuse officials or, conversely, that officials had nonspecific intelligence or “tips” concerning the possibility of a terrorist attack. If the data were too vague to inform the public, the logical response was to take precautions. Revealing failures might compromise intelligence-gethering methods.

Many people, alternately, are quite intuitive. Clearly, if a particular government wished to impose Draconian measures on its citizens, “false-flag” events would be unnecessary. Officials would simply enact the regulations:

Discernment, though important, is not difficult. I watch for key words: Illuminati, conspiracy, cabal, new world order and one world government (as pejoratives), restoring our freedoms, secret societies (including the Freemasons), Bilderberg Meetings, Reptilian (or Reptoid) hybrids, Anunnakis (as a race of intermediate angels), bloodlines, mind control, brainwashing, zombies, hypnotized, slaves, Nazis, hollow earth, personal sovereignty, chemtrails, Ponzi scheme (including the Federal Reserve System), FEMA prison camps, psychopaths (or sociopaths), wake up, HAARP, forbidden knowledge, free energy, channeling, white hats, and others.

Conspiracy theories, which proliferated in Nazi Germany, are frequently disguised forms of populist bigotry or, perhaps, anti-multicultural “fascism.” Many supposedly “awake” people have done some very nasty things in the name of enlightenment or gnōsis. Nevertheless, while observing the sometimes mutually antagonistic promoters of this newfangled gnōsticism, with their interests in uncovering secret knowledge, I can usually tell, through their frequent pauses and stammers, that, even if unwittingly, they are reading from similar scripts while improvising on the fly.

The world has become dangerous and precarious, including the global economic system. People in positions of political responsibility are taking reasonable precautions. Since politicians are paid to worry about worst-case scenarios, the average citizen does not need to dwell on them. For instance, the meme of FEMA prison camp, while debunked, continues seemingly unabated. On the other hand, anarchy is never pleasant, and FEMA, with its local partners, has fortunately addressed some of the concerns raised after its admitted mishandling of Hurricane Katrina (2005) on the Mississippi Gulf Coast:

1. identification of the hazards to which they are vulnerable.
2. details on what they should do in an emergency.
3. the persons to contact for details about the plan.
4. a list of nearby evacuation centers.
5. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), The Emergency Program Manager: Independent Study Course.

Demireality or disunity, while “evil,” is not a conspiracy. However, focusing on demireality (disunity) and duality (diversity) to the exclusion of copresence (unity) can easily feed a conspiracy theoretical mindset. Carried to an extreme, governmental and bureaucratic paranoia can result in a neo-fascistic deification of the state:

Additionally, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins (born, 1945), has an intriguing, even a seductive, title. The premise, however, that “a few wealthy families” control Earth’s natural resources, is commonly found in many of the sources I have reviewed. Perkins, like some other conspiracists, has also written occult books, including, The World Is As You Dream It: Teachings from the Amazon and Andes (1994), Shapeshifting: Shamanic Techniques for Global and Personal Transformation (1997), and Psychonavigation: Techniques for Travel Beyond Time (1999).

Sadly, air rushes in to fill a vacuum of information. Certain writers refer to a clandestine space colonization program. Public NASA exploration activities are, they argue, merely a cover. Others suggest that a shadow government (cryptocracy) engages in galactic warfare and conducts black military operations with some species and against others. Objectively, many of these reports are speculative, logically fallacious according to the basic rules of critical thinking, or mutually contradictory. I must admit that, while I find some of the ideas to be fascinating, I remain largely skeptical and unpersuaded.

Anyone who is even reasonably familiar with the rules governing good critical thinking will, I imagine, immediately recognize the constant flow of logical fallacies streaming out of the conspiratorial esoteric literature on the far right. For instance, despite claims for the existence of secret governments, no hard data are ever provided. What’s more, without divine guidance, most religious and moral conceptions will be cluttered with nonsense and misunderstandings. The logical fallacy of interrogation, which is seen in the following quotation, demands information without sufficient prior evidence for its existence.

When someone presents a conspiracy theory, it is usually, like a newspaper horoscope, too vague to be challenged. For instance, which society is being discussed? Who are the conspirators? What are their names, their specific actions, and the methods they use control particular people? Is everyone controlled, or only certain types of individuals? Who are they? What is the evidence for a relationship between the behavior of those specific people and the controlling actions of other specific individuals? To illustrate, according to self-described metaphysician Stuart Wilde:

Many Illuminati believers, perhaps unintentionally for the most part, commit the logical fallacy of ad hominen (Latin for “to the man,” attacking the individual rather than the argument). In this case, instead of engaging, rationally, with a set of arguments, they comedically accuse President Barack Obama of turning the United States over to the United Nations and, in collaboration with environmentalists, forcing rural residents to relocate into urban areas. Of course, the deadline given (April, 2011) has already elapsed:

Furthermore, environmentalism is mainstream science, not a lunatic fringe. To the contrary, the extremists are those who oppose environmental protection. There is nothing “radical” about The Wilderness Society:

Even sustainable development, a reasonable approach to environmental protection document outlined within the Agenda 21 document, has been opposed. In my experience, most people who attack it, as a plot to take away personal liberties, have never read it. Conspiracy theories have, once again, proliferated. On May 11, 2012, a bill opposing Agenda 21 was passed, 76 to 41, in my own adopted state of Kansas:

Conspiracy theories present simple, one-dimensional explanations of complex, multi-dimensional human activities. They collapse a universe of causes into a series of holistic two-plus-two equations. These theories, which should be distinguished from isolated conspiracies, may be simple, but they are rarely accurate. Here is a question which could be addressed to a conspiracy theorist: “Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that you supported the creation of a world government and favored tighter gun-control regulations. In those cases, would you still regard them as conspiracies? That is to say, do you accept any conspiracies which you like?”

Unfortunately, falling into conspiracy theorizing can be quite easy. Conspiracies are seductive. For instance, spy novels, crime novels, motion-picture thrillers, and television soap operas have all been highly popular entertainment genres. Many of these productions generate considerable revenue. Conspiracy theories present similar stories in a three-dimensional form. The popularity of these legends among huge numbers of people online, many of whom cannot even string words together into a grammatical sentence, is evidence that a great deal of intelligence or education is not required to understand the Illuminati conspiracy.

These conspiracy theories begin with conspiracies rather than an open, but skeptical, mind. They are more deductive, based upon “connecting the dots” using medieval-like first principles, than inductive. Rationalism or logic is not empiricism or observation. Legitimate claims for a conspiracy, such as corporate collusion, need to be primarily inductive. Similarly, there is a difference between asking conspiratorial questions and asking scientific, empirical ones. The next two passage illustrate, through insufficient evidence, the problems with explanations which are not supported by clear empirical evidence and with the fallacy of hasty generalization:

This next creative concoction, partially based on Sitchin’s work, would, if it were to be true, certainly reflect an extremely pessimistic and, indeed, horrific characterization of the flawed human condition:

Indeed, the far-fetched, superstitious assumption lurking behind the popular terror of angelic Illuminati coconspirators, like other alleged magical leagues of Illuminati, is that evil beings wield considerable, even godlike, power. Through a functional atheism, faith in God and the fear of God are trumped by a paranoia regarding His servants. Fortunately, the concept of Śāṭan and his demons is a parable, not literal. It refers to our shared lower or animalistic nature rather than to a set of powerful beings. No demons or bad angels are visiting us whether from other planets or the world to come.

According to both ʿAbduʾl-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, the influence of evil, but not evil souls, is evident in both this world and the next:

All of us, wherever we may be ranked in systems of social stratification or inequality, have family or close friends. Not many people, no matter their levels of spiritual imperfection, could ever find enough collaborators who would intentionally plot with others in order to harm themselves and their loved ones. Social stability, not instability, is almost always expedient. Therefore, the ever-widening circles of corruption, greed, and lying among corporate and political leaders, however oppressive and megalomaniacal, is not a global conspiracy:

Further, as counseled by ʿAbduʾl-Bahá:

To put it another way, from a God’s-eye viewpoint, evil, while evident in both this world and the next, is the absence of spiritual perfection or the lack of faith-based attributes. There is no Illuminati. There are only the angels of the divine Kingdom and the inhabitants of the Supreme Concourse. All that exists are the unities and their wonderful attributes. Spiritually confirmed souls are heavenly angels or inhabitants of the divine Kingdom. On the other hand, imperfect humans are demons or jinn (al-ǧinn, the hidden ones). Their spiritual powers, or magnificent qualities, remain hidden and latent.

One of the chief problems with this countercultural bogeyman, a totalitarian new world order, is that far too much credit is given to other mortal creatures. God Himself is dethroned, usurped by a reified or hypostatized class of elites, and His absolute Sovereighty is denied. Instead of divine Unity (Tawḥīd, Unifying or Unification), partners (širk, sharing) are assigned to God. As a result, the forces of darkness become an independent power. To the contrary, Baháʾuʾlláh, the Supreme Manifestation of God, governs the kingdoms of existence, not someone’s fanciful Illuminati.

There is no universal “elite.” In a sense, each field has its own elites or people with high prestige. Moreover, neither elitism nor populism (or the new elitism of the supposedly “awakened” masses), both of which commit the fallacy of appealing to authority, are salutary or helpful prescriptions for the ills of present-day humanity. Both populism and elitism should, in my view, be replaced by servitude and obedience to God’s Will. No one, whether high or low, can successfully diagnose and treat the social problems of this Age. The only lasting remedy is the surrender of our wills to dear Baháʾuʾlláh, the Divine Physician. He holds within his hand the destinies of all beings and things:

When time passes, old elites are replaced by new ones. In the long run, however, these particular events are relatively inconsequential. In my opinion, the lighthouse, guiding us to an understanding of unfolding human affairs, is the Universal House of Justice – its Covenantal authority, guidance, rulings, and wisdom – not an imaginary Illuminati or cabal. An evil person might successfully elude law enforcement agencies, but no one can hide from the divine Essence, His Prophets, and, today, His Universal House of Justice. As with communism and corporate capitalism, sooner or later, everyone and everything will be judged.

Fixing the old world order is, ultimately, a waste of time. It, and all who belong to it, will, through God’s grace, be brought down:

Consequently, the widespread demireality of social disorganization, incompetence, impotence, competing agendas, corruption, and foolishness is confused with a massive conspiracy. In an age when dominant modes of political, religious, journalistic, and other types of authority are no longer widely trusted, some people have “awakened” to a dangerous gnōstic populism of the angry mob. The world order, as observed by Alan Moore, is alarmingly unmoored and adrift. It requires the cosmic envelope of unity, not the demireality of disunity:

Since I trust that the Blessed Beauty, the Greatest Name of God, is more powerful than evil, I do not care, one way or the other, about the validity of most conspiracies. I also do not share the reactionary mindset, common among many libertarian utopians, on losing supposed individual freedoms. Furthermore, because words have no independent meaning, multiple, even contradictory, definitions of freedom are conceivable. Two questions, therefore, someone might ask of a libertarian or a conspiracy theorist are, first, “Freedom from what and to do what?” and, second, “Are you saying that you do not have those freedoms now?”

Personally, I see far too much freedom, and not nearly enough social justice, in the Western world. Real free speech, in my opinion, is speech which frees the poor and the oppressed. Unfortunately, I have observed that many conspiracists who continually obsess and fantasize on their own supposed deficits in freedom are driven by a fear of change, by anger, and, sometimes, by a hatred of ethnic, religious, and other minorities. Divinely revealed moral principles are more important than silly hypotheticals or what ifs. God willing, through prayer and devotional meditation, one can awaken from this horrific, self-destructive nightmare.

ʿAbduʾl-Bahá prayed for all of us:

Here is an illustration from The Allies of Humanity:

Seeing a reptilian is projecting into a mirror. The true heroes and heroines of this world are the uniters, not, as commonly found in the conspiracy or so-called “truth” movement, the confronters or the dividers. As soon as a fear-based thought about the “evil elites” enters one’s thoughts, my humble suggestion is to immediately remember, in one’s heart, that we are the all, without exception, the creations of God. We manifest the unity of humanity. The same rational faculty is shared alike by all of us. Witness the divine Attributes of dear Baháʾuʾlláh reflected in the powerful and wealthy. Then pray for them.

Ram Roy Bhaskar (born, 1944), in his philosophy of metaReality, has discussed the cosmic envelope and copresence. His perspective, in my opinion, is the opposite of libertarianism and other philosophies which emphasize classical liberalism, including individualism, rationalism, and so-called free-market capitalism. Instead, freedom is reinterpreted and reconfigured as universal human rights through a nondual emancipation. The unity of existence, or the great cosmic envelope, includes everyone. The leaders of the world are not an exception.

Then again, if one focuses one’s anger upon some imaginary superhuman puppeteers who are, to some conspiracists, running the show, one is only hurting oneself. Fortunately, some people, such as Benjamin Creme (born, 1922), the founder of Share International, has a positive perspective on our exalted guests:

Similarly, Benjamin Creme (born, 1922), the founder of Share International, has a positive perspective on our exalted guests:

There is, today, no authentic Illuminati. Instead, contemporary Illuminati ufology appears, from my review of the literature, to be based upon six major historical sources. Chronologically, the first of these sources, and the documented inspiration for this durable urban legend, was the short-lived, Freemasonic Bavarian Illuminati. It both began and was dissolved in the late eighteenth century. Although many paranormal enthusiasts have oddly implicated royal families as reptilian elites, the historical fact which may have eluded them is that the Bavarian Illuminati consisted of Enlightenment rationalists. They opposed both royal and religious power.

The roots of United States can, to a significant extent, be traced back to a similar rationalist, secular, and anti-royalist Enlightenment movement. Indeed, the light emanating from the Eye of Providence or the all-seeing eye, which is seen at the top of the U.S. dollar bill’s pyramid, was adopted as a symbol of the rational Enlightenment. The U.S. Constitution, as a classical Enlightmentment document, focuses on reason and the absence of religious domination. Although the founding fathers, some of whom fluctuated between theism and deism, could have quoted from the Bible, they did not do so. The secret conspiracy is imaginary:

The Illuminati conspiracy is pure, unadulterated drivel. First, it is manufactured by hoaxers. Second, it is spread by dupes, especially over the Internet (these days), who cannot distinguish nonsense from history. I can usually, I believe, tell the hoaxers and dupes apart. Although I am hesitant to judge someone’s motivations, I suspect that, as in many social situations, the factors are fairly diverse. Some peope have made a living off of their conspiracy-mongering. Others are just pranking. For instance, myself and a few others once set up a chatroom called, The Amish Conspiracy. Within half an hour, we had many guests convinced of a plot by Amish to take over the world.

Moreover, anyone who accepts this conspiracy or its variants is unreliable. They are not, by definition, trustworthy sources of information. The antidote to conspiratorial thinking is a careful study of history. For instance, the similarity between the words Enlightenment and Illuminati was not accidental. The Bavarian Illuminati were, from their early modern perspective, illumined by the light of reason:

The second source, which was mentioned in the previous quotation, is the movement started by Abbé Augustin Barruel (1741-1820) and his Scottish disciple, the physicist John Robison (1739-1805):

In light of the fact that Barruel was a conservative, pro-monarchist French Jesuit priest (the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus) who despised the anti-monarchist Bavarian Illuminati, the subsequent alleged association between the Jesuits and the Illuminati is, to say the least, comical:

The third source is Theosophy and its factions. This Theosophical movement has exerted a major, perhaps even the most important, influence on the development of New Age occultism. In the Illuminati conspiracy, the “Masters” of Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) and the “Hierarchy” of Alice Ann Bailey (1880-1949) are negatively inverted into the evil extraterrestrials.

Mahu Nahi (real first name, James), who claims to be a angelic being, also refers to the Hierarchy:

Guy Ballard’s (1878-1939) and Edna Ballard’s (1886-1971) Saint Germain Foundation®, commonly known as the I Am Activity, developed through their study of Theosophy. In the writings of this esoterically-minded couple, and in the works of numerous authors whom they influenced, Blavatsky’s “Masters” became the “Ascended Masters”:

However, the existence of these secret or esoteric Masters, advocated by many modern-day gnōstics, is not supported in the Baháʾí Teachings:

The fourth source of the Illuminati narrative is the infamous antisemitic tract, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. It is a plagiarized, hateful forgery which was later adopted within Nazi Germany and or the Third Reich. (Elders, for instance, is a Christian, not a Jewish, designation.) In the populist libertarian (or “liberty”) New Age Movement, references to the Jews have sometimes, but not always, been transformed into extraterrestrials or, more specifically, reptoid (reptilian) aliens. Nonetheless, the fundamentals of the new world order canard have remained intact.

Briefly, when I looked at the calligraphy of “2012” in the Summer Olympics logo, my first thought was of two people shaking hands. Perhaps, however, it is like a Rorschach (inkblot) test. As an illustration of the antisemitic sources of various conspiracies, some conspiracists (listen to an MP3 audio file) saw the logo as a rearrangement of the word, Zion or Sion (Hebrew, Ṣiyyôn), while others, ironically, saw a swastika. Coming from an indigenous Jewish background, as Mōšeh Ahărōn ben Heʿršeʿl, I suppose I find these suggestions to be especially offensive. Needless to say, the graphics were not created by me:

Bear in mind that I am not defending nationalism. I am just giving my take on it. My views, across the board, are universal. Yet, in the modern world of political pragatism, or Realpolitik, leaders of countries act in their own interests, or perceived interests, and, when possible, try to favorably influence leaders in other countries. Unfortunately, many people single out Israel for behaving in precisely the same practical fashion as other nations. Notably, Zionism and Judaism are not synonymous. Not all Zionists are Jews; and not all Jews are Zionists. Nevertheless, singling out Israel might, in my opinion, cross the line from political criticism to antisemitism.

The ultimate source of the problems in the Middle East is, in my humble opinion, nationalism, not a particular country, such as Israel, Egypt, or Syria. While patriotism is pride in the positive attributes of one’s own country, nationalism is an ideology of national dominance or oppression. Nevertheless, the nation of Israel is in a precarious position. Much of its behavior has, when viewed in a historical context, been understandable. Although the nation-state system has become an obsolete construction, Israel should, it seems to me, be judged fairly by the same standards applied to other modern nations.

In 1947, the United Nations adopted a plan for the partition of Palestine into two separate Palestinian and Israeli countries. The Jews in Palestine accepted the United Nations resolution. The Palestinians rejected it. They claimed the entire territory for themselves. In retrospect, their decision may have been unwise, but futuristic predictions often fail miserably. The rest, as we say, is history. Fortunately, the issue has been settled again in 2013. At the request of the Palestinian Authority, the UN recently recognized Palestine again. Hopefully, the issue will now be resolved, by all parties, at some point in the near future.

The fifth source is the hollow-earth mythology. It was partially inspired by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s fanciful novel:

Subterrestrials, according to some writers, live in cavernous pioneer settlements, intergalactic cities, or cosmic parking lots, particularly beneath the continent of Antarctica. Since I have never taken such a polar expedition myself, I cannot comment. Needless to say, this unusual, perhaps farcical, idea might be a reflection of someone’s creative imagination or even paranoia:

The speculative proposition of subterrestrials has sometimes been taken to ridiculous extremes. Below are unsubstantiated satelite images, of the North and South Poles, which allegedly support these hollow earth theories:

An MP4 video which focuses upon Admiral Richard Byrd’s purported voyage beneath the earth, while on an unintended detour from the U.S. Navy’s Operation Highjump, is called The Untold UFO War in Antarctica. It can be watched in part 1, part 2, and part 3. Byrd’s diary, obviously pseudepigraphal (falsely ascribed), chronicles his supposed personal experiences during the operation. The repeated allusions to hollow-earth legends and Nazi conspiracy theories expose the text as a sham. After some editing, here is a good summary of these fabrications taken from another writer:

The following passage includes the majority of the message attributed to “the Master” in the alleged underground world of the Arianni (in other words, Aryani). The quotation will then be followed by two other excerpts from the document:

The conspiracy’s sixth source is the anti-government, demireal libertarian fringe philosophical movement. It has also influenced, to one extent or another, the Christian right. Libertarianism, also called liberty just for libertarians, is fascism. The libertarian movement is sometimes associated with the freeman on the land (sometimes called simply “freeman”) or sovereign citizen movement. According to these folks, laws are nothing more than voluntary or consensual arrangements, like marriage contracts, between governments and their citizens. Therefore, people can, if they like, reject being governed or, for that matter, refuse to pay any taxes.

In our socially fragmented civilization, diagnostic rates for Autism are also, reportedly, on the increase. Specifically within the online Autistic movement, libertarianism, as a path of least resistance, is, based on my own personal observations, rampant and widespread. It is, at the same time, a socially alienating perspective. Autists, like myself, generally struggle with issues of interpersonal interaction and spirituality or empathy. Although unity can be beneficial, ideologies of individualism and libertarianism are spiritually damaging. Thus, the idolatry of personal liberty, or the deification of the self, is, deceptively, the enemy of Autists.

The reasons for the popularity of libertarianism in U.S. can be partially explained by an examination of the origins of the American republic. The founding fathers were Enlightenment-era rationalists. They rejected the British monarchy and the domination of a single religion, as with an Anglican Communion under the authority of the queen or king. For many Americans, any threat, whether real or imagined, to “freedom” or “liberty,” however conceived, puts them into attack mode. That may partially explain the popularity of the standup comedian Alex Jones, taken seriously by some people, and other pseudo-pundits in certain demographics, sectors, or classes of the American population.

Whether Alex Jones, the professional wrestler of right-wing radio, and similar entertainers actually believe any of the wrong predictions they repeatedly make is an interesting topic for speculation. However, that question is, in my opinion, a distraction. The majority of people who listen to Jones’ broadcasts would not, I suspect, not be educated, informed, or perhaps intelligent enough to even ask that question. Therefore the issue at stake here, as I see it, is not what the lucrative personality Alex Jones, the satirical capitalist globalist attacking globalists, thinks or does not think about one or more issues. The problem is the harmful, even dangerous, effect that he is having on public opinion, societies, and civil discourse.

Libertarianism and quasi-libertarianism are, I would suggest, the opposites of true liberty. This socially atomizing perspective is, to my understanding, a denial of the unity of humanity, as our shared essence, and our universal human nature, the rational faculty. As I see it, libertarianism is the single most dangerous, destabilizing, and culturally disintegrative ideology of the twenty-first century. Any true liberty, in my view, is achieved by forgetting, even denying, one’s personal liberty while serving and loving others. Therefore, attaining to true liberty requires a negation of individualistic liberty.

In fairness to the social philosophy of libertarianism or liberty, however dismoralizing I find it to be, most libertarians would not go quite this far:

I am constantly getting attacked, often quite viciously, and I was removed from two discussion forums for my polite, but anti-conspiratorial, postings on the Internet. Yet, this reaction does not bother me. Quite the opposite is true. If the right kind of people are unfortunately getting angry, my words, my verbal activism, must be impacting an intended audience. Using the unintentional libertarian irony of waking up and becoming aware, an oxymoronic euphemism for being a conspiracy theorist, I am happily asleep. All the mindless conspiratorial chatter is much too exhausting to get out of bed.

Thomas Jefferson, the second President of the United States and the founding President of the University of Virginia, regarded an “informed electorate” as indispensable to a democracy. He must be rolling over in his grave:

World government remains one of the most pressing issues of the twenty-first century. The libertarian patriot and “Christian identity” movements, which often overlap with sovereign citizens or freemen, are also among the mainstays within the old, outmoded paradigm of world disunity. The opposition of many libertarians and others to global government as supposedly unnatural neglects the fact that all modern nations were formed out of clans, tribes, or other nations. Even today, throughout Africa and in other parts of thee world, many tribes resent the fact that their tribe were divided by European colonization. They are more tribalistic than nationalistic.

Conspiracy theories represent the last gasp of a dying system of racial dominance. The conspiracy itself is mostly supported by poor and working class white males. Lacking economic power, white dominance has been the only card in their decks. Not surprisingly, the Christian identity and, now to a lesser extent, the patriot movements have sometimes been associated with white separatism or white supremacy:

Members of each of the three movements mentioned – freeman on the land or sovereign citizen, patriot, and Christian identity – frequently refer to themselves as radicals. I suppose, although with reluctance, that this term might be accurate. However, they are really subscribers to reactionary, or ultraconservative, forms of social contract theory:

As in these two t-shirt images, some people connected with these right libertarian movements have even arrogated or usurped the raised fist from the Marxist Left:

Ron Paul Cured My Apathy!

from another libertarian t-shirt

This logo is from the libertarian Revolution Radio:

Given the history of far-right Nazism, Fascism, racism, populism, and anti-elitism in the years surrounding World War II, a concern by U.S. government officials is certainly understandable, legitimate, and warranted. Some lessons do not seem to have been well learned. The hypothetical scenario outlined in this paper further illustrates concern, among some individuals, over the issue of right-wing (often white-wing) terrorism:

In fact, the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution makes no mention of individual protections against government. If that were the intent of the Second Amendment, the law would have mandated the private acquisition of canons and the formation of fiefdoms. The full text of the Amendment, instead, establishes that the well-regulated militia must support the security of the government. The use of arms, should they be necessary, was a civic duty, not a personal freedom. Since the founding fathers of the U.S. supported a navy, while they opposed a standing army, an ad hoc militia was their alternative.

Although police departments can deputize citizens as needed, the U.S., contrary to the wishes of the founding fathers, has a standing army and a National Guard. Therefore, the provision for a “well regulated Militia” has, in a sense, become irrelevant:

Many American libertarians who support unrestricted, or virtually unrestricted, gun ownership oppose martial law. However, martial law is as constitutional as the Second Amendment:

Defining the left as collectivistic and the right as individualistic is in my view, a historically flawed construction. The left, particularly the far left, is identified with emancipation for oppressed populations. The right, especially the far right, is conservative. It attempts to conserve the power of the majority. Both the far right and the far left reflect a spectrum of positions. Far-right thinking ranges from right libertarianism to ultranationalism. The focus of right libertarianism has been placed upon recovering certain freedoms, for the majority, which have been stolen by an alleged elite.

Another example of libertarianism is seen in Larken Rose’s essay, “When Should You Shoot A Cop.” For context, and in fairness to the author, I suggest reading the entire article. Still, from my perspective, Rose is, in effect, claiming that anarchy is the only remedy for tyranny. There is, on the other hand, the middle course of representative democracy (a republic). Treason, it seems to me, is an odd remedy for oppression or bullying. If someone in authority behaves badly, one should contact her supervisor or complain to the court system. However, according to Rose:

The Platonic definition of (direct) democracy is, in effect, anarchy or mob rule. Personally, I am unaware of any modern society which has successfully functioned as a pure confederation, or horizontal free association, of human agents. Although, admittedly, many societies with vertical domination have, at times, been far from peaceful, a tranquil anarchy is an oxymoron. Without a legitimate authority structure, criminal gang leaders, fiefdoms, and ad hoc tyrants reign. Fortunately, the Baháʾí model of civic authority and civil responsibility is anchored in entirely different, and non-anarchist, principles.

I am not a fan of imposing psychiatric, or clinical psychological, diagnoses on societies. Nevertheless, the celebration of personal liberty might be understood, metaphorically, as The Culture of Narcissism, the title of a bestseller written by historian Christopher Lasch (1932-1994). I found it, by chance, in a White Plains, New York, bookstore immediately after it was published in 1979. If anything, the book’s major thesis, the death of a competitive individualist culture through self-centeredness, is more relevant now in the twenty-first century. According to Lasch, people are becoming increasingly self-involved:

In light of the purported, embarrassing events of 1954, official disclosure might be a mistake. The intermediate angels have disclosed through God’s Will. Additional revelations are unnecessary. In my opinion, the real disclosure, or knowledge of angels, is the divine Revelation, or Disclosure, of dear Baháʾuʾlláh and the loving emancipations by angels through the cosmic envelope. The spiritually advanced human intermediate angels, with their advanced celestial technologies, are angels and heavenly servants sent by His Sacred Presence Baháʾuʾlláh, the Greatest Name of God. They are not, God forbid, intruders or so-called aliens. No doubt, they do not wish to be worshipped.

Extreme bureaucratic obsessions with secrecy are, I feel, unfortunate. Yet, if there is any “secrecy” regarding disclosure issues regarding intermediate angels and their spacecraft, it is likely due to our own rejection of the visitors, not to them. Disclosure is, I feel, already occurring through personal angelic servitude, not from politicians and bureaucrats. The timetable has been a angelic, not an earthly, one. Sadly, the popular category error, widely committed by post-World War II ufology and, in particular, its right libertarian, gnōstic disclosure movement, has been to focus upon these souls from a political or military, rather than a spiritual, standpoint.

For what it’s worth, I was trained as a social theorist. Social theory, religious studies, family sociology, and history were my areas of Ph.D. specialization in graduate school. Good theory, however, is developed inductively. That is to say, theory is based on observed evidence. The disclosure movement, on the other hand, begins, deductively, with the assumption that secret knowledge, including technologies, are being hidden by a government or shadow government. That position more closely resembles, in the medieval Roman Catholic Church, the Scholastic method of synteresis, or first principles, than the scientific method.

In my view, through competing sects, factions, and gurūs, the disclosure movement, the exopolitics movement, and the truth movement qualify as new religious movements (NRMs):

Personally speaking, however, since my relationship with angels, whether angelic or departed, is prayerful, not fearful, I have little interest in so-called official disclosure. All of the fuss over the issue strikes me as misguided and ill-informed. Simply stated, I worship at the heavenly throne my dear Lord Baháʾuʾlláh, peace be upon Him, not at the altar of public officials, including politicians and bureaucrats. Furthermore, I do not assume that any high-profile politicians and civil-service bureaucrats have much, if anything, of substance to disclose. The corruption of the capitalist world system is obvious. A disclosure is irrelevant

Additionally, outside of the United States and some other nations, many countries have been quite open about their findings, and their research findings and data analysis suggest nothing more than the level of understanding one would ordinarily expect from serious researchers. In other words, there is no smoking gun. Aside from the conspiratorial silliness, I doubt that these folks, by and large, know significantly more about extraterrestials than many reasonably informed readers. Instead of relying upon governments, disclosure can occur as we open our hearts, through spiritual communion, to the bounties and blessings of God.

I must, therefore, admit that I cannot relate to the most of the activities and apparent assumptions of the disclosure movement. If earthly governments clearly understood intermediate angels with their active promotion of nuclear disarmament, environmentalism, and universal human unity since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, if not earlier, would the world remain in its perilous state of atomic proliferation, ecological degradation, and social disorganization? The only disclosure necessary is that these majestic angels have been warning both military agencies and emancipees (my term for contactees). Meanwhile, human affairs have continued to deteriorate.

Therefore, many emancipees, it seems to me, know far more about these angels than most government bureaucrats. In any event, information, knowledge, or gnōsis for its own sake is rather useless. If one opposes Agenda 21, as a grand conspiracy, the repeated ecological cautions given by intermediate angels, as in the well-known Ariel School incident (MP4 video 1, MP4 video 2, and MP4 video 3), become rather useless. Nevertheless, some governments, perhaps testing the waters to gauge public reactions in the twenty-first century, have already released their spaceship files:

The old world order of demireality or disunity is all around us. It is visible, not hidden. I have no desire to focus on attacking demireality or, for that matter, dismantling the old world order. Instead of a supposed disclosure of the corruptions in that order, the real Disclosure occurs through the unifying Revelation of His Sacred Presence Baháʾuʾlláh. Assisted by divine inspiration, we can reflect on universal reality and on individual human experience in light of that Revelation:

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (born, 1924) reported a spaceship (UFO) sighting prior to being elected. He then pledged to release information on the angelic presence once he was in office. There are unsubstantiated allegations that, after he inquired, then CIA Director, and future President, George Herbert Walker Bush (born, 1924) denied the president-elect the necessary clearances. Bush was not reappointed by Carter. According to some writers associated with the disclosure movement, the problem at the time was, I suspect, Carter’s promise to disclose. He was, at least initially, perceived as a security risk.

U.S. President Harry Truman (1884-1972) said:

One of the more fascinating cases is connected with Roswell, New Mexico (original PDF). The following report was later retracted, and the flying disk was humorously attributed to a weather balloon:

More remarkable is recent information provided by Chase Brandon. Although he worked, undercover, in the Clandestine Service of the Congressional Intelligence Agency (CIA) for 25 years, his last 10 years with the agency were spent as an official “liason” with the entertainment industry. Brandon made international news over the summer of 2012 when he personally confirmed that the well-known 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico, involved intermediate angels and their spacecraft:

Generally speaking, the United States government, unlike some governments (such as Mexico and the UK), has not be especially forthcoming on the issues of intermediate angels and their spacecraft. However, I doubt whether Brandon could have made his claims without some level of official authorization. At the time I am writing these words, the CIA has not, to my knowledge, refuted Brandon’s claims:

Here are two quotations from U.S. President Barack Obama in May of 2012:

Along the same general line:

Although honesty is, of course, important, transparency, in my opinion, is frequently over-rated. Revealing the intimate details of any bureaucracy can, in the long run, contribute to its inefficiency. Leaders may be more reluctant to seek counsel. Informants might hesitate. If citizens can observe every move politicians make, they could be pressured to consult, perhaps unnecessarily, with certain individuals. Time will be sacrificed at the altar of public opinion. Although many people think that they desire transparency in government, most of us, it seems to me, hope for justice and stability.

In addition, the angelic issue could present considerably greater nuance than the average person suspects. As discussed previously, it might involve much more than an official disclosure of carbon-based beings in spacecraft. Angelic, not diabolical, beings, from numerous planets, might even now be among us. Governmental reticence in discussing the issue of intermediate angels, therefore, becomes quite understandable. Nevertheless, the demonization of these cosmic angels displays a planetary arrogance or speciesism. Our cosmic protectors are not conspiring reptilians, heartless greys, or fallen angels:

On December 7, 2012, a Russian journalist asked Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev whether the Russian president is handed secret files on aliens when receiving the briefcase activating Russia’s nuclear arsenal. In my opinion, Medvedev clearly responded with sarcasm and a “poker face” (MP4 video). Here were his comments (translated from Russian):

Robert Stanley, the editor of Unicus Magazine, disagrees with my skepticism:

Many people crave some sort of official disclosure. I do not share this sentiment, nor do I require the acknowledgements of bureaucrats. One might also imagine the panic which would immediately ensue if, suddenly, the highest-level politicians in any country openly discussed the omnipresent chalices of pure light or revealed that no public officials could prevent emancipations by angels (“abductions”). The United States Constitution, for instance, not only provide for “the Blessings of Liberty.” In the same document’s Preamble are explicit demands that the government “insure domestic Tranquility” and “promote the general Welfare”:

As Thomas Fusco eloquently said:

In addition, as suggested out by radio talk show host, Mel Fabregas, not many governments would like to admit that they are helpless when facing the issue of angelic visitation. Thus, the campaign of disinformation, including the so-called evil aliens, may have been inevitable. If I were in a political or bureaucratic leadership position, I would probably take the same approach:

The work of Steven M. Greer, M.D. (born, 1955), develops an interesting approach to the subject of angelic visitation through The Disclosure Project, the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI), and ET Contact Now. As with many ufologists, he claims that his statements can be disproven. They are not, he says, conspiracies:

On a positive level, Greer relies upon eyewitness testimonies, and he appears to respect the interplanetary travelers and their stewardship. He is, however, a leader of the disclosure movement. Greer contends that “extraterrestrials,” and their technologies, have nothing to do with conspiracy theories:

I agree with Greer on this point:

On the other hand, Greer repeated the common far-right esoteric meme that a secret cabal is withholding knowledge of the extraterrestrial presence. This alleged cabal has, according to Greer, been depriving the world of free energy and supporting economic slavery to the petroleum industry. By focusing on technology, I would respectfully suggest that Greer, and some similarly minded people, are repeating the mistakes made by the Eisenhower administration back in 1954:

The official space program has outlived its longevity, and there is, allegedly, currently nothing in the public domain to replace it. Unfortunately, disclosures of angelic spaceship and alternative energy might, Greer contends, contradict the powerful interests of a petroleum-driven military and economy:

From my reading, when it comes to the issue of angelic visitation, even the highest government bureaucrats are, for the most part, as clueless as anyone else. Nevertheless, these statements reflect some of Greer’s proposals for examining and publicly disclosing the angelic issue:

The undisclosed spacecraft, with advanced technologies, may, Greer said, be both angelic and terrestrial:

Many people, after entering medicine, burn out and leave the field. The reasons why Greer quit his job as an emergency physician, and entered the disclosure field, are, of course, known only to him. Nevertheless, certain ethical questions have been raised about some of his activities (PDF file). For instance, time and time again, Greer has recounted an odd story about “briefing” former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, Jr., on extraterrestrials. This claim was disputed by Woolsey back in 1999. He politely asked Greer to no longer retell the narrative. Nevertheless, Greer has apparently disregarded Woolsey’s request.

For me, as a sociologist, prayerful relations between earthly homo sapiens and angelic beings, including chalice-bearers of pure light, are a kind of speculative and applied exosociology:

Exopolitics, however, is a world apart from the considerably tamer discipline of exosociology. Most observers would, I suspect, acknowledge exopolitics as the most unusual modification, or perhaps extension, of the disclosure movement. Yet, exopolitics is also regarded as a serious field of inquiry by many people. In my view, although intermediate angels are watching over us, and helping to protect us during our struggles with maturity, our immediate concerns should be on establishing the unity of humanity on Earth and, more specifically, on improving our relationships with one another, not with cosmic diplomacy.

Ed Komarek (born, 1948) has provided his own list of the founders of exopolitics:

Since definitions of the term, exopolitics, have varied, I will, in order to to illustrate the diversity of interpretations, simply provide quotations from several notable members of the field. In other words, I will let them speak for themselves. To begin, the founder of exopolitics is Yale Law School graduate, Fulbright scholar, and futurist Alfred Lambremont Webre (born, 1942). Although he is, in my opinion, a brilliant parodist or satirist, in a similar vein to the great Patrick Layton “Pat” Paulsen (1927-1997), many others oddly take Webre seriously. The field of exopolitics, which he named, is, it seems to me, a deliberate caricature of ufology. You may listen to my radio show on the subject.

Here are Webre’s own words:

Jim Fetzer apparently takes Webre seriously:

Second, Michael E. Salla (born, 1958) wrote:

In my opinion, the primary way in which we can respond to the angelic presence, in light of the reported events of 1954, is to promote world peace and environmental sustainability. However, according to another of the originators of exopolitics Paola Leopizzi Harris:

Because of all the conspiratorial silliness connected with exopolitics, Harris has since distanced herself from the field:

Stephen Bassett specifically links exopolitics with the disclosure movement:

Next, here is how exopolitics is understood by Ed Komarek:

Steven Greer has advocated a nonxenophobic, unprejudicial approach to exopolitics:

The disclosure movement is, by definition, gnōstic. However, love and unity are, I feel, more important than knowledge. Love should precede knowledge, not the other way around. Many disclosure and exopolitics enthusiasts have utilized psychicism to willfully or deliberately contact alleged intermediate angels. Various forms of ESP (extrasensory perception) have been adopted, including remote viewing (systematic clairvoyance), channeling nonterrestrial entities, and astral projection (out-of-body experiences or OBEs). For instance, according to James Gilliland of Enlightened Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (ECETI):

The following prediction, allegedly channeled through Gilliland, was never fulfilled:

Another proponent of disclosure, “Montalk,” has discussed channeling, as well:

Intentional contact enthusiast Wilbur Allen is involved with the disclosure and exopolitics movements (MP4 video). In this screen shot from an MP4 video near Area 51 in Nevada, followed by a description, Allen allegedly requested and received telepathic commands from apparent chalices of pure light:

Finally, Steven Greer is a former teacher of the allegedly “Vedic” Transcendental Meditation® (TM®). He also has mystical or esoteric interests. Imagine anyone informing a close friend that, using a Vedic system of remote viewing, she had just boarded an extraterrestrial spacecraft and conversed with its occupants. Now imagine that the person who organized this paid event was a medical doctor. Aside from the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, there are no traditional Vedic systems of remote viewing (systematic clairvoyance), such an imaginative scenario would, at least to me, certainly be difficult to comprehend.

In attempting to contact intelligent angelic beings, Greer and his followers, through CSETI (Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and ET Contact Now, have cultivated certain siddhayaḥ (Sanskrit plural of siddhi, supernatural Hindū kuṇḍalinī accomplishment or ability). That is to say, they have developed psychic powers, including astral projection or out-of-body experience (OBE) and remote viewing. Although the allegedly Vedic Transcendental Meditation Sidhi® program is, as far as I know, unrelated to Greer’s current activities in the disclosure and exopolitics movements, both structurally and substantively, these are two brief descriptions:

The following two diagrams of the TM-Sidhi system are taken from a PDF file:

Many or most of the CSETI contacts, if they possess any legitimacy whatsoever and are not merely the products of hypnotic suggestibility, could be encounters with chalices of pure light or other ghostly entities, not with extraterrestrials. Greer describes his Vedic contact protocol (more information provided in this MP3 audio file), or “siddhis,” below:

1. Advanced training in mantra meditation, and a very advanced course in the ancient Sanskrit Vedas
2. Advanced techniques of Remote Viewing [systematic clairvoyance], Precognition [psychically predicting the future] and the Science of Consciousness
3. The Effects of the Sanskrit Puja [pūjā, adoration] as we make sacred the place for Contact using this ancient Vedic Ceremony
4. An update on world-wide Disclosure Project developments by Dr. Greer and the progress being made with leaders around the world
5. An in depth review of New Energy technologies, including free energy from the zero point field, anti-gravity and how the World can be transformed with these new sciences
6. A deep understanding of the next great cycle on Earth: One of Universal Peace, Free Energy, Abundance and Enlightenment through higher states of Consciousness
7. How to set up your own Contact Team in your local area to continue to make Contact with ET visitors to Earth!
8. Steven M. Greer, M.D., Ambassador to the Universe & Consciousness Trainings/Expeditions. CSETI: Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence. December 28, 2010. Retrieved on December 9, 2012.

No one, Greer said, has ever been harmed by his Vedic siddhis or protocols:

Therefore, Greer’s siddhis essentially mimic the TM-Sidhi Program only in some of its terminology. On the other hand, as pointed out by one of my previous online correspondents in June, 2013, these contact protocols are reminiscent of the method developed by George Adamski:

As displayed below, an alleged 4-5 feet (1.2-1.5 meters) tall humanoid-shaped pictograph of light or, perhaps, the ghostly apparition of a chalice-bearer of pure light, in a photograph taken on November 17, 2009, may have shapeshifted from the orb-like entity shown on the top right. The same apparent specter is presented as a cutout on the bottom right. The pictures were taken at a CSETI (Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence) contact event, overseen by Greer, in Southern California’s Joshua Tree National Park. The three images of this hypothetical being, are followed by a description:

Finally, Robert Bingham claims to have developed a multistage process for contacting or “summoning” angelic spacecraft and intermediate angels (MP4 video file):

1. Keep an open heart and good intentions.
2. Focus intensely on a spot in the sky.
3. Mentally transmit, “Please Come, Thank You.”
4. Observe the sky.

To my understanding, chalices of pure light or psychic fields have been created as communication and transportation vehicles for departed souls, not for souls in this world. Therefore, paranormal or parapsychological activities, in which the focus is on acquiring knowledge or gnōsis rather than on cultivating love and unity, may result in extreme mental suggestibility. Once placed into a self-hypnotized psychic state, individuals can talk themselves into almost anything. Their thoughts and understandings may become untrustworthy, misguided, and, in certain cases, paranoid or delusional.

That is to say, the majority of individuals involved with psychicism are, according to Shoghi Effendi, deeply disturbed on a psychological level:

In my opinion, utilizing our psychic fields in this world might, perhaps inevitably, result in imaginary ideas and illusions. We will be walking around in the dark. No Prophetic guidance has been provided for psychic phenomena. If, however, we choose to develop these powers on our own, our perceptions, communications, and spiritual frequencies may, as I see it, literally become distorted when we arrive in the next world. Hopefully, this problem will, through the grace of God, be eventually corrected. Nevertheless, individuals may, if my personal intuitions are correct, initially experience considerable confusion.

Insight, or inner vision, is developed through love and meditation. The psychic field, however, is intended for the next world. So it would appear, these two faculties of the soul are not the same. As Shoghi Effendi wrote through his secretary:

Further, the subtle mental manipulation which results from engaging in psychic phenomena is reinforced by associating with like-minded esoteric individuals:

More broadly, ʿAbduʾl-Bahá wrote:

Based upon my understanding of the above passage, if certainty or conviction were a sufficient proof for truth, knowledge would be many points, not just one. According to the Best Beloved:

Truly, life in this world is not long enough to waste one’s time by pondering the imponderable and imagining the fanciful. I am reminded of:

Prayer and meditation are, in my opinion, safer, and considerably more reliable, than psychic activity. To my understanding, each of us can lovingly draw close to other beings and, over time, even acquire knowledge of, or from, them. In a spirit of sacred fellowship, we can tune into the hearts of other souls. Take it for what it’s worth, but because of my growing awareness of the angelic spiritual connections discussed in this book, I sometimes pray to, or inwardly commune with, our blessed planetary guardians. As a result, some of them have, I feel, become my own inner angels, too:

During a meditation on April 28, 2013, at about 5:00 PM, I reached the understanding that, through the spirit of faith (spiritual attributes, especially love), many of the functions performed by individual psychic fields in the next world might be made available, perhaps in some future Dispensation, within the collective rational faculty, rational soul, or human spirit:

In my opinion, these quotations reveal much safer, and considerably more reliable, angelic contact protocols. Prayers can be offered to souls whether living or departed:

I frequently pray to souls who have departed from this world, including my physical and spiritual parents and my beautiful guardian angel, and to the beloved Universal House of Justice. Dear Shoghi Effendi prayed to ʿAbduʾl-Bahá’s sister, the Greatest Holy Leaf (al-Waraqiy al-ʿUlyā or in Persianized Arabic, Varaqiy-i ʿUlyā):

Furthermore, contact protocols are unnecessary. Chalices of pure light, from the Supreme Concourse, and the blessings of intermediate angels will descend upon servants of the Cause or Command of God (al-ʿabīd al-Amr Allāh) in this world:

Simply put, I almost entirely reject the notion of malevolent visitors. Vast scientific, without spiritual, progress is, in my opinion, an oxymoron. There is no empirical evidence that anyone has been killed by intermediate angels. Claims to the contrary are, I believe, either outright disinformation or socially alienated, disunified paranoia. Discussions of evil reptilians serve the function of stigmatizing serious researchers as wierd or even insane. Evil, which is a relative concept, depends upon of one’s epistemology or perspective. Any seeming negativity might simply reflect our own human limitations.

Furthermore, any lapses in judgment by members of a particular species would, I presume, be addressed through collective security. In my opinion, we earthly humans do not need to worry about this very hypothetical issue:

Unfortunately, in each age, the leaders of humanity have turned against the Holy Prophets and Their chosen ones:

The demireality of prejudice, hate, and fear is an inappropriate response to the dear intermediate angels. I am also not about to test angels. Logically, if advanced civilizations, and their technologies, posed any threat to the people of this planet, the Earth’s population would have been decimated by now. Evaluating the motivations of these highly developed beings, using our comparatively primitive standpoints, will likely result in tremendous misunderstanding and confusion:

For many Illuminati conspiracists, political and cultural elites, or members of other powerful organizations, are believed to possess a higher level of spiritual gnōsis than the masses. In my opinion, this assumption of an inner knowledge, stolen from humanity by a few ancient bloodlines, is unjustifiable. (Politics, I suspect, are irrelevant to angels.) When we judge our visitors, or anyone else, using historically or culturally limited standards, we miss the point of the universal oneness of existence. On the other hand, by trusting only in God and relying upon His guidance, our hearts become open to the divine attributes in all the worlds of being.

Although the conspiracy movement is filled with fraud and insanity, I would never call everyone a liar. While I remain hugely skeptical of direct or indirect human encounters with unfriendly aliens, I am not closed to the possibility of seemingly hostile interactions. Since, however, I am not a libertarian or a nationalist, my interpretations of these events might differ. Events or associations which could, to a person on the far right, appear offensive or threatening, I might view as either compassionate or defensive. Indeed, I am far more persuaded that earthly governments have been antagonistic towards intermediate angels than the other way around.

When certain elites successfully establish themselves as the standards of truth, while perhaps releasing Illuminati disinformation, knowledge is reduced to the affairs of state, and wild speculations proliferate. Indeed, one of the major problems with conversations on unidentified flying objects and intermediate angels has been a tendency toward a statist epistemology (or knowledge) along with political reductionism and the fallacy of authority. Rather than focusing upon the recorded and oral histories of eyewitness observers, the emphasis has sometimes been placed upon government revelations and alleged military whitewashes.

In any event, reductionism, or focusing upon a particular set of variables, is necessary to study any subject properly, fairly, and comprehensively. Unfortunately, the popular and scientific definitions of reductionism are frequently not the same. In a scientific context, reductionism is specific to a particular hypothesis. Other reductionisms, with different hypotheses, are not excluded. Holism, while sometimes appropriate on the theoretical or explanatory level, is problemetic from a methodological perspective. Methodologically, holism muddies the waters and confuses the subject under consideration.

Further, some writers have claimed that many so-called UFO groups have been infiltrated, even founded, by members of government agencies. There have even been allegations that, in order to promote conspiratorial disinformation, ufology itself has largely been a psychological operation (psyop), dominated by military and intelligence types, and turned into junk science and paranoia:

The next quotation, from retired Command Sergeant Major and ufologist Robert Dean (born, 1929), associates the alleged “secret space program” with the widely discounted views of Zecharia Sitchin. In my opinion, that fact alone makes the following comments somewhat questionable. On the other hand, since this hypothetical space program is, admittedly, secret, I really have no basis for drawing any empirical conclusions. The subject of clandestine space activities, whether involving other planets or Earth’s moon, should, in my opinion, be left to the historians of the future.

In 2009, Paul LaViolette, Ph.D., a physicist and systems scientist, repeatedly hung up on the Internet radio program, Veritas Radio (a weekly unintentional dark comedy or satire), but he placed the blame on intelligence operatives. Meanwhile, he fed the host, Mel Fabregas, conspiracy theories on interstellar space travel, 9/11 “truth,” and other subjects. The fact that the guest, not the host, was always on the disconnecting end never even raised suspicions. (You can listen to the first hour.) Intriguingly, many, if not most, ufologists, including Robert Dean, are current and former members of military, intelligence, and research agencies.

There has never been, I would suggest, a conspiracy to cover up secret knowledge of intermediate angels. Instead, the opposite appears to be true. Governments have either avoided directly addressing the issue, in an apparent campaign of silence, or they have explained it away, since they have neither fully understood nor successfully resolved it:

Consequently, through conspiracy theory trickery and hoaxing, infiltrating ufology groups and posing undercover as ufologists, making threats against whistleblowers, and marginalizing serious researchers, the issue of angelic entities and their spacecraft has been handled much like a psychological intelligence operation or psychological warfare. As a ventriloquist, I have practiced, by throwing my voice, the art of “magical” misdirection. “Whatever works,” I suppose:

Many psychological operations also utilize conversational hypnosis and the empirically questionable neuro-linguistic programming (NLP):

William Lyne agrees that ufology is dominated by official trolls:

Secrecy should also not be confused with conspiracies to do harm. Angelic beings may well be an open secret, but confidentiality is often driven by fear. To individuals of a certain mindset, these beings are likely terrifying. They cannot be controlled. For that matter, spy agencies will, as required by their trade, keep their confidences and intelligence conspiracies from other governments and the general public. Information is provided on a need-to-know basis. Some corporations, in maintaining a competitive edge, have engaged in surreptitious activities. Children are often threatened by their parents, or by others, not to publicly reveal abusive relationships.

Terror is immobilizing. It can discourage an individual from speaking emancipatory truth to power. In other words, panic, through disinformation and intimidation, works to the benefit of global capitalism and other disunifying systems and practices. Disinformation is, of course, also sometimes planted. When governments, corporations, or, in some cases, pranksters feed paranoids disinformation, on almost any subject, a fanatically fearful feeding frenzy frequently follows. Suggestible and gullible people are, by definition, quite easy to control, manipulate, misdirect, or propagandize.

The subject of intermediate angels and their spacecraft could be viewed by certain special interest groups in the military-industrial complex, or by military and corporate partnerships, in some or in many countries as a national (homeland) or global security issue. Through the outpouring of official disinformation, a popular lack of social scientific knowledge regarding progaganda techniques, and an apparent failure to study good critical thinking processes, the subject of angelic contact has been clouded. Getting to the bottom of certain specific issues, or solving the puzzle in its entirety, has been rendered nearly impossible.

Another alleged fear concerns provoking widespread public unrest – much like the panic which ensued during the 1938 radio broadcast, The War of the Worlds (MP3 audio file). In addition, some individuals or agencies might have altruistically wrestled with the dangers of civil unrest after upsetting or busting the paradigms of some traditional religious organizations.

Nick Pope worked, from 1985-2006, for the British Ministry of Defence (MoD). One of his responsibilities was operating the UK government’s “UFO” project. Pope has openly admitted his role as a “disinformation agent,” especially when it came to the interests of some members of the Royal Family in UFO phenomena:

Personally, I am unconcerned about the information revealed by goverment agencies or their surrogates. I do, however, pray that, under divine guidance, the intermediate angels decide, in the near future, to visibly intervene in world affairs or, in some other way, to make their presence indisputable. Governments are, generally speaking, notoriously conservative and protective of the status quo or established order. They are frequently patronizing and paternalistic. This is a brief excerpt from sociologist and economist Max Weber’s definition of traditional authority:

To be clear, I have nothing against any government or military agency. The current world order consists of sovereign, and quasi-sovereign, nation states. These entities have been imperialistically pursuing the means to defeat any potential adversaries. I can certainly understand, from the perspective of certain bureaucrats, the predicament faced by any military-industrial complex. Weaponization and mistrust, played out on a global stage, can be a deadly combination. Perhaps as a last resort, extreme measures have, according to some individuals, occasionally been taken:

Following a pair of concepts from criminology, one need not use specific deterrence. General deterrence, or frightening and intimidating many people into silence by harassing only a few, is often sufficient:

The extent to which U.S. citizens have been the victims of targeted killings by the federal government is unknown, but it certainly has been an issue of concern for some legislators:

The next quotation combines, in my opinion, unverifiable information, concerning Philip Schneider’s alleged murder, with clever disinformation or trickery. That is to say, apart from the question of homicide, the information provided on Christian persecution might have been designed to appeal to a sympathetic target audience. For what it’s worth, the accounts of an alleged Dulce underground base raise considerable objections, in my mind, to the naïve ethnocentric proposition of ongoing technological cooperation between intermediate angels and, for the most part, Americans.

The following passages provide some explanations:

Earlier, Philip Scheider claimed to have discovered an underground alien base (Dulce, New Mexico). He began shooting. Schneider was then, he stated, wounded by the angelic entities. Even if the report happened to be partially accurate, which is obviously doubtful, these alleged alien beings were apparently acting in their own defense:

Some people have speculated that Scheider’s stroke was a murder:

Schneider was, arguably, a conspiracy theorist. Such paranoia can have deadly consequences. If a radical libertarian or neofascist believes that the Illuminati, or whatever bogeymen, are out to get him, his life may become, almost literally, a ticking time bomb. When confronting their imaginary persecutors, paranoids can make lots of enemies. Eventually, their fears may even become a self-fulfilling prophecy. They have been murdered by civilians and, in some cases, killed by law enforcement officers. Unfortunately, many people did not seem to learn the lesson about marginalizing, “othering,“ fear, and and hate following the devastating events of World War II.

This writer suggests some other possibilities:

Many popular ufologists and alleged eyewitnesses, including Schneider, have been associated with the patriot movement:

Aside from the Branch Davidians (1993), the most well-known examples of radical libertarianism in the United States, and what I call “the rednecking of America,” were the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, domestic terrorist bombing (1995), which involved Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh, and the domestic terrorist massacre (2012), at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek (metropolitan Milwaukee), Wisconsin, by “white power” musician Wade Michael Page:

Similar, perhaps, to the incident regarding the supposed blacklisting of Christians, by intermediate angels, from negotiation meetings, a presidential “briefing document” was allegedly shown to journalist Linda Moulton Howe by special agent Richard Doty (Air Force Office of Special Investigations). If the account is accurate, she might have been subjected to disinformation or just a practical joke. Not many Christians, I suspect, would take angelic visition seriously if they associated the issue with Jesus as a space alien. Needless to say, Howe comes from a Christian background:

The propaganda industries, such as public relations and marketing or advertising, have been highly successful in promoting materialistic consumption and in furthering governmental objectives, including selling wars and political candidates. The cultivation of propaganda, whether as art or as social science, has been significantly influenced by Sigmund Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays. He was the principal founder of the field, frequently taught in journalism schools, of public relations. In describing propaganda, Bernays used the metaphor of an “invisible government.” I just call it demireality, disunity, or evil.

These same industries have, it appears to me, been utilized to debunk the issue of angelic visitation. When alleged government and public figures comment on the spaceship issue, I am always skeptical. Since I do not assume that politicians or other bureaucrats have special or inside knowledge, my first thought is that the person could be playing games. In any event, I am a sociologist, and an independent thinker, not a mind reader. I have no desire to speculate upon, or to criticize, the understandings or intentions of politicians and civil service workers. Indeed, there may have been an official attempt to debunk, through trickery, angelic spaceship claims:

Official disinformation, often through ridicule, has, apparently worked. The subject of intermediate angels and their spaceships is rarely taken seriously in the mainstream media. First, many ufologists are, perhaps by temperament, paranoid or, at least, highly suspicious. Second, others eventually become frustrated by the lack of “official” revelations, and the repeated disinformation, and will believe almost anything – no matter how bizarre or extravagant. Given both the high level of disinformation and its effect upon the public consciousness, the best policy, in my opinion, is to be skeptical about any assertions concerning intermediate angels.

As a sociologist of religion, I have studied many alternative belief systems. Although I do not agree with most of them, I respect them, with few exceptions, nonetheless. Since, however, people believe in all sorts of unconventional and esoteric ideas, a healthy dose of skepticism is always justified. In my opinion, the question of angelic visitation needs to be separated from the abundance of viral silliness one can readily find on the web. Furthermore, some extremists, in various social movements, could also have “fusion paranoia” or certain clinical psychological disorders.

Thus, alliances between nations and human decisions in general are usually influenced by multiple interests, not just one. Rather than engaging in social scientific research and investigative journalism, related to specifically observable events, fusion paranoia is the fabrication of simplistic and overarching unified conspiracy theories, superconspiracies, metanarratives, big-picture claims, or connecting the dots (lowbrow rationalism). However, arguments, no matter how well formed, do not in themselves count as evidence. Even winning an argument, especially a conspiratorial one, is largely irrelevant.

For example, the following statement is a logical syllogism: All mice are elephants. Tiny is a mouse. Therefore, Tiny is an elephant. It is logical but wrong. Whereas syllogisms can be proven or disproven, scientific hypotheses can only be supported or rejected. Syllogisms are logical. Hypotheses are empirical. The various scientific methods are founded on empiricism, not rationalism. A good critical thinker applies an empirically-grounded rationalism. No wonder that conspiracy theories generally focus on logic, or connecting the dots, not on evidence. When evidence is presented, it is generally both highly selective and used to support predetermined conclusions.

As an example of fusion paranoia in Western popular culture, some people have combined the idea of an imaginary planet “Nibiru,” based upon Zecharia Sitchin’s apparent misinterpretation of Ancient Sumerian (Sumerian, eme-ĝir, native tongue) texts, with a prediction from different sources that an alleged Planet X would collide with Earth on May 27, 2003. The fact that this event never transpired has, at least so far, not killed off the urban legend:

I am also, to be honest, highly dubious regarding the frequent claims of direct, ongoing, and interpersonal relationships or arrangements between earthly humans and interplanetary, or coplanetary, alien entities. However, I am not closed minded on the subject. If certain dealings with governments, along with the technological and other knowledge gained from aliens, are not yet revealed to the public, the intermediate angels might have legitimate reasons. Nevertheless, my reaction to this unanticipated announcement would, I imagine, be amazement or, more accurately, confusion.

However, according to a message allegedly conveyed to contactee Jim Sparks, the agreements were broken by earthly governments, not by the intermediate angels:

Perhaps, from a angelic standpoint, earthly humans are simply not yet ready for widespread direct contact:

In my admitted doubtfulness, I have sometimes wondered why any advanced angelic beings would intentionally provide earthly governments with sophisticated technological capabilities. Frankly speaking, I find that proposal to be counterintuitive. Anyone, with even a superficial grasp of human history, would, it seems to me, realize that working with governments would be the last way to assist humanity. Yet, at the same time, I will acknowledge that my failure to appreciate the wisdom in this alleged transfer of technology could simply be a limitation on my own part.

Clearly, as I see it, if Earth’s governments were really acquainted with the intermediate angels, or appreciated their providential mission, countries throughout the globe would, for the most part, be cooperating by now. The nations of the world would not be mindlessly accelerating towards a seemingly imminent head-on collision. If anything, I suspect that the meme of inter-species collaboration is itself propaganda or disinformation. Therefore, I largely agree with Mack Maloney on the unliklihood that planetary governments have been working, behind the scenes, with intermediate angels.

On the other hand, God’s Will is frequently inscrutable to us:

Nevertheless, even leaving aside the validity of particular close encounters, any relative human interpretations, especially without any terrestrial points of reference, will be deeply flawed. Delusion is inevitable. Moreover, seemingly miraculous events and tales, even if they demonstrate something, would, at most, be a proof for the bystander only:

Some writers have made the claim, obviously unsubstantiated, that one of the developments out of the powerful corporatocracy, or military-industrial complex, might be a “classified” or secret space program. It is, allegedly, operated as an undislosed project (so-called black operations or black ops). Aside from the clandestine space activities of the U.S. Department of Defense and other military agencies, I personally doubt the accuracy of this proposition. In my opinion, it might even be, instrumentally, disinformation or misdirection. Nevertheless, here are a few relevant quotations:

These are some of the criteria used by Richard Boylan, Ph.D., to evaluate disinformation:

I have observed a curious phenomenon when studying various thought systems. True believers might agree on most issues. Since, however, they generally care a great deal about the subject, they hammer each other over seemingly small points of difference. Thus, accusations of disinformation are even found even between fellow believers in the conspiracy or cabal. Thrive, for example, is an an anti-“Illuminati,” pro-libertarian capitalist, or anarcho-capitalist film. Even so, some other Illuminati conspiracists have claimed that its producer, Foster Gamble (a member of the old-monied Gamble family), is an Illuminati disinformation agent:

Clearly, the corporatocracy and its political appeasers do not constitute a grand conspiracy. On the other hand, certain presidents, since the end of World War II, may have taken an interest in the issue of angelic presence. Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower (1890-1960), a five-star general during World War II, became the thirty-fourth President of the United States. He was also, some writers have alleged, informed about the spaceship issue:

If various unsubstantiated reports are accurate, President Eisenhower was concerned about the improper utilization of “extraterrestrial” technologies (MP4 video). They had supposedly, either before or during his administration, been placed under the jurisdiction of an apparent conglomerate or monopoly which he designated, “the military-industrial complex.” At the end of his term in office, he warned Americans about the dangers of this public-and-private entity. In light of revelations, by whistleblowers, on the worldwide expansion of the American surveillance state, his cautions are understandable.

According to certain accounts, Eisenhower was not alone in his misgivings:

Once again, there is, literally, no secret government. However, President Bill Clinton (born, 1946), in his frustration at not being able to get to the bottom of the angelic subject, allegedly referred to the bureaucratized and institutionalized military-industrial complex as “a secret government within the government.” Whether he was being serious or speaking mostly in jest, to humor the reporter, is unknown:

Possibly inspired by the “hollow earth” legend and The War of the Worlds panic, there has been an allegation that a “war” against angelic beings has been, or continues to be, staged in the vicinity of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. Quite honestly, the images of the purported “UFOs” look to me, as a layman, more like balloons than spaceships. If long-term military exercises of this type were being conducted, on any significant scale, I assume that they would have become obvious, or been leaked, by now. Although I am always open-minded to empirical evidence, I remain extremely skeptical.

On September 19th, I read Gordon Duff’s September 18th story (radio interview), similar to the one above, which was originally published in the military and foreign affairs journal, Veterans Today (discussed in this MP4 video). Obviously, I cannot read Duff’s mind, and I am not going to judge his intentions. However, the idea of extended warfare between Earth’s relatively primitive technology and a angelic race is, on face value, absurd:

Duff, the Chairman of the Board for Veterans Today, identifies with the conspiratorial 9/11 truth movement. If a highly placed government or military informant wished to publicize as important an issue as inter-species warfare in the Pacific basin, why would she not turn, for instance, to a mainstream journalist or an academic? Certainly, such a person could maximize the account’s credibility, visibility, and sphere of influence. In addition, when I checked the Live Ships Map at MarineTraffic.com, I could find no unusual maritime activity off the West Coast of the U.S.

Furthermore, as Duff wrote, one of the original sources was Kerry Cassidy. She is a well-known conspiracy theorist, one of several fringe talk show hosts on American Freedom Radio, and a founder (along with Bill Ryan) of Project Camelot.

Understandably, this reference to Cassidy has since been surgically removed from the story on the Veterans Today website:

Duff has also said:

Regarding the previously mentioned Majestic Twelve documents:

On the other hand, according to U.S. Army Major Edward “Ed” Dames (retired):

I also tend to sympathize with these two writers:

A contrary perspective to Duff’s interspecies warfare, but similarly unverifiable, was written in the article’s comments section by “archaeologist, theologian, and author” Ian Ross Vayro:

Personally, I find such claims of intermediate angels firing upon humans to be preposterous. Angels are not adversaries. My personal advice, for whatever it might be worth, is to forget the hateful fear-mongering. By heartfully loving the dear intermediate angels, one will, I suspect, quickly discover that the conspiratorial approach is misguided. Prayerfully thank the angels for their service to the Lord and to humans on the Earth. At some point in time, perhaps through the interventions of the Prophets and Their celestial angels, the old world order will, God willing, be brought down. One can only reflect and surmise.

Still, the silliness of interspecies wargames aside, a useful lesson can be learned. If spacecraft were to openly land on the planet, or on the proverbial White House lawn, many of the most powerful military agencies would shoot at them. Presumably, the intermediate angels could defend themselves. Yet, in the midst of a disintegrating world order, there would be no dialogue or conversation. Nothing would come of open visitation except hostility and fear. In some religious quarters, these angelic souls would even be characterized as demons or fallen angels. The time is not right. Our species needs to grow up.

In a fascinating angelic spin on neocolonialism and Western imperialism, ʿIrāq’s weapons of mass destruction referred, allegedly, to a storehouse of Babylonian artifacts, possibly even including ancient weapons of mass destruction. To my knowledge, these claims, which I obviously cannot substantiate, were first made by mythologist William Henry:

Other writers have imaginatively woven their own colorful tapestries on the theme of ancient and modern angelic ʿIrāqī technologies, including an alleged stargate:

Finally, according to Jim Marrs:

Once placed into a social scientific context, the modern-day conspiratorial belief in an Illuminati of reptilian-human hybrids could, I believe, be fairly described as a collective obsession, collective behavior, mass hysteria, or mass behavior:

One should also, in my view, recognize the danger of succumbing to confirmation bias:

Popular paranoia is fueled by a populist fear of multiculturalism, globalization, social change. Long before the advent of the Internet and its cyberspace, communications philosopher Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) described humanity’s acoustic space in a televised global village:

Indeed, the world has been brought closer together through the mass media, especially the Internet. Even as the modern era has achieved a huge degree of technological interconnectedness, it remains simultaneously entangled in a volatile demireality, disunity, or social atomization. Maniacal memes and copycat crimes are now played out on a planetary stage. As I previously wrote:

At least from my own observations, when people buy into massive global conspiracies, they often become, over time, increasingly gullible and uncritical. They are easy targets for hoaxers, money-making opportunists, and attention seekers, and jokers looking for a good laugh. Credibility is associated with the spectacular and the bizarre. They can be readily duped or conned. Eventually, these self-deluded individuals might believe in almost anything. While skeptical of common views, they accept wild conspiracies based upon flimsy evidence and coincidence. Others, whether leaders or followers, may participate in their delusion and, perhaps inevitably, in the disillusionment.

In other words, all of these persons will be collectively experiencing cognitive dissonance:

One of the dangers of conspiracy theorizing is believing in whatever they puts the alleged powers that be in a bad light. Therefore, an acceptance of conspiracy theories may say more about the conspiracy theorists themselves, and their convoluted usage of logic, than anything else. Their critical thinking is summarily tossed out of the window. The best policy, in my opinion, is to question any claims, especially autobiographical ones, made by a conspiracy theorist. According to studies conducted by Dr. Karen Douglas and Dr. Robbie Sutton:

Distortions of extraterrestrial issues by the media, while possibly indicating bias, do not necessarily support a conspiracy:

The rise of conspiracy theories, at the present time, might also be attributed to culture lag. In time of rapidly moving social change, there is sometimes a delay between new circumstances and adaptations to them. Sociologist William Ogburn (1886-1959) wrote:

Author and futurist Alvin Toffler (born, 1928) popularized Ogburn’s theory as future shock. He wrote:

Toffler turned culture lag from a sociological theory into a futuristic medical and psychiatric model. He defined it in this way:

The lack of attention given to intermediate angels, Sasquatch, giants, and some of the other subjects and ideas considered in this book, assuming that they have any merit, could, I feel, be better explained by American philosopher of science Thomas Samuel Kuhn’s (1922-1996) concept of normal science than by conspiracies. From Kuhn’s dialectical perspective, the “considerable cost” of defending the anomalies or contradictions presented by the data leads, over time, to scientific revolutions. Maintaining the status quo is easier and less threatening to both established professions and entrenched public bureaucracies.

Likewise, French philosopher and literary theorist Jean-François Lyotard (1924-1998) noted that life in the postmodern world has involved a disenchantment with metanarratives or universal stories. Conspiracy theories, in my view, are signs of disenchantment, social alienation, and distrust concerning the metanarratives of political, economic, and cultural leaders. In place of these discarded metanarratives, whatever their evidentiary support, the conspiracists have constructed extravagant and fanciful ones. In the midst of this estrangement or disaffection, Lyotard then posed the question of where any legitimacy might now be found:

Once again, according to sociologist Max Weber:

Presumably as a response to these and other academic descriptions of disenchantment, with their scientific materialism and rejection of metaphysical speculation, Roy Bhaskar proposed a re-enchantment with nature, including an appreciation for the elegance of science:

Using Bhaskar’s terminology, the Illuminati conspiracists, and similar purveyors of hate, are dominated by the imaginary demireality of fear and divisiveness:

Similarly, perhaps, Shoghi Effendi wrote:

Moreover, the subject matter of the far-right libertarian conspiracies can, in my view, be more keenly and fully comprehended, by applying the sociology of knowledge, through Kuhn’s sophisticated, and nuanced, notion of epistemic (knowing) paradigms. Whether due to political demands, maintaining existing structures of power dominance, or simply having a common educational background, they defend, sometimes using intellectual dishonesty, the dominant paradigm or worldview. Therefore, while NASA, the military, other government agencies, and private researchers do not represent some large conspiracy, turf battles are common in many fields.

The conspiratorial counterculture is also a paradigm, and conspiracy theories, like their scientific and empirical cousins (many times removed), are puzzle-solving mechanisms. The assumptions of the Illuminati paradigms, grounded on beliefs in a superstitious synchronicity, illustrate the processes of rationally constructing, interrelating, and reporting upon the concurrence of commonplace, everyday activities. However, claims for conspiracies and coverups require hard empirical evidence, not magical coincidences and esoteric interpretations of alleged symbols.

As John Alexander, Ph.D., eloquently observed:

Larry Peter’s (1919-1990) perspective is pessimistic but, perhaps, more sociologically realistic, as well. In many hierarchical or bureaucratic organizations, there is an unfortunate assumption that, if a person performs one job well, she will do as well, or reasonably so, in other positions. Obviously, that conclusion is not always justified. Such an unfounded expectation is unfair to the worker, to the company, and to the public they jointly serve. The employee will probably not be a candidate for future promotions, but she might not get fired either. As a result, one finds a great deal of incompetence in bureaucracies.

The omnivorous data collection, or supposed surveillance, by the U.S. National Security Agency, in order to find just a few really bad people, provides an excellent illustration of the principle. Any justification for worrying about this unfortunate bureaucratic incompetence, which might be partially an intimidating bluff, eludes me. Certainly, imperialism, Pax Americana, and the Monroe doctrine are nothing new. They have simply been adapted to the twenty-first century. Similarly, one might point to the reliance by some governments and police departments upon superstitious psychic phenomena.

Conspiracy theories, however, impose purpose and symbolic meaning on mere circumstance. Say, however, someone asked me whether I believed that the events of 9/11 or the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy (1917-1993) were grandly conspiratorial. Honestly, I do not give these leaders that much credit. To me, for instance, the failure by intelligence agencies to uncover the 9/11 plot demonstrates the problems with bureaucracy. Likewise, any possible factual errors by the Warren Commission might be explained by individual agendas, small-scale conspiracies, and the Peter principle.

When someone recently accused me of being brainwashed or “conditioned,” I responded in the affirmative. Yes, I said, I am conditioned. The process was a very expensive, too. I did not finish paying off my student loans until I was well into my 40s. In addition, I pointed out that the brainwashing or thought-reform model has not been widely used in my field, the sociology of religion, since the middle of the twentieth century. This same fellow, who amazingly claimed to be a skeptic, also thought that trying to prove a negative referred to being pessimistic. According to one writer:

Significantly at odds with the cabalistic mindset, while illustrating the Peter principle, many bureaucracies have demonstrated, at face value, a pretty ineffectual track record. Rather than fixing anything, they frequently seem considerably better at confounding old problems and, in the process, generating new ones. These entrenched social structures may be overshadowed by the demireality of disunity as the absence or opposite of the cosmic envelope or unity:

Similarly, these bureaucratic structures are riddled with dysfunctions or failures to function properly:

Also in support of the Peter principle, secrecy, where it can be found, is frequently an indication of bureaucratic incompetence. Committees and task forces are created at the drop of a hat. They are often just as quickly forgotten. Any jobs assigned to one or more individuals become, by the next meeting, “old business.” They are frequently pushed down or off the agenda to make room for new business items. As activities are pigeon-holed, one office may literally have no idea of what the people next door are doing. Even if emails are sent out, many people become overwhelmed and do not get past the subject lines.

Discussions of imaginary secret governments reflect, from a sociological perspective, popular frustrations with bureaucracies and so-called “bureaucratic red tape.” Fresh crises can result in the creation new hierarchies. Yet, even after the initial reasons for starting a bureaucracy have long been forgotten, bureaucracies, once started and institutionalized (formally established), tend to be persistent. They are difficult to dissolve. Bureaucracies, over time, also frequently become nested within other bureaucracies. Thus, we find bureaucracies within bureaucracies within other bureaucracies.

Some corporations have tried to move themselves away from bureaucratic systems. Others have even built models of participatory management into their guidelines. However, when the rubber hits the road, the old bureaucratic, oligarchic (top-heavy) system seems to kick in. The basic concept of bureaucracy was brilliantly examined by sociologist and economist Max Weber:

Broad-based social changes are the results of coalition-building among bureaucracies, or agencies, and governments. They may have overlapping immediate objectives but different, even contradictory, purposes or intentions. For example, although one of several reasons for U.S. interest in the Middle East may be maintaining the petrodollar, Israel might be more concerned over issues of national security. Through shared interests, in one or more areas, deals are made. Policies are then executed. This type of political pragmatism, not imaginary conspiracy theories, is at the heart of of governmental corruption. It is sometimes called Realpolitik or political realism.

According to Columbia University sociologist C. (Charles) Wright Mills (1916-1962), the activities of bureaucratic “power elites” are neither hidden nor publicized. He wisely rejected the proposition of an omnipotent elite. Perhaps this basic scenario can be observed with the issue of intermediate angels. Official concern over spaceships is, at least from my perspective, right in front of our eyes. However, due to the popular association between so-called UFOs and the lunatic fringe, along with a pattern of disinformation, the subject is almost never taken seriously by the media. Similarly, it is very rarely pursued by serious researchers.

On face value, I am skeptical of the concept, no matter how defined, the power elite. Reducing the social contradictions found with the highly individualistic capitalist world order to a power elite is, in my opinion, simplistic and even somewhat conspiratorial. Members of the upper classes are not sufficiently unified in their objectives, or class conscious, to constitute an elite. Power is better approached, in my view, by distinguishing between the cosmic envelope (nonduality), expressed as a spiritual socialism, and the demireality (dualism and illusion) of corporate capitalism. Nevertheless, here is Mills’ presentation:

Far-reaching conspiracies require political power. However, according to dear Baháʾuʾlláh, it has been taken away. The power elite is a social fiction:

Although class-conscious dominators or oppressors have political and economic class interests, and often possess the means to enforce them, they are, like the rest of us, exceptionally ordinary. Power does not turn a mortal being into an omnipotent shaper of grand historical design. Instead, elites, acting in their own vested interests, benefit from popular ignorance, regarding public affairs, and ordinary trust. Some of them are well intentioned. Others might be less than compassionate. In that sense, they are, like all of us, regular, fallible human beings. When things go wrong, as we see today, they become easy targets.

Recalling the old Hasbro board game, Monopoly, the dynamics of power are continually shifting rather than concentrated in certain game players or bloodlines (an historically far-right obsession with genocidal consequences). The ulterior motives of individuals, countries, and corporations are frequently competitive and conflicting. They are disunified, not unified. A singular, huge conspiracy requires a degree of unity, cooperation, or even a limited class consciousness which is largely absent from this world. In the present-day context of disunity, leaks and whistleblowers on huge, complex conspiracies will, especially through the Internet, be inevitable and rampant.

Admittedly, I find the proposition of single, globalized Corporation X to be another absurd extension of the Illuminati conspiracy. Here, however, is a brief discussion of this simplistic view of bureaucracies:

Additionally, the conspiratorial literature offers a scientistic bonanza. Scientism refers to the common materialist view that scientific methodologies are the best, even the only, way to acquire knowledge or evaluate truth. As science and technology are exaggerated in importance, they are turned into idols. Scientism can also become utopian, such as believing that a small number of people are withholding technology which, if revealed, would solve most or all of our problems. This perspective is clearly contradicted by the historical record. Technological, without a corresponding spiritual, development can be extremely dangerous.

The farfetched conclusions of American historian Richard Dolan (born, 1962) are substantially at odds with the usual social scientific approach to cumulative knowledge, innovation, and cultural diffusion. His perspective is a conspiracy theory, not a scientific theory. He argues that an actual “breakaway civilization,” one which has pursued undisclosed military research on angelic spacecraft, functions, internationally, within the classified world:

Believing in such a super-technological elite, one which has progressed far beyond conventional levels of scientific achievement, reflects an insufficient understanding of the sociology of knowledge. That is to say, knowledge is a social and societal, not an individual, product:

The reality of the military-industrial complex is, I think, much more obvious and intuitive. Various military, intelligence, homeland security, and other governmental agencies pursue complex relationships with the engines of global capitalism, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, private defense contractors, banks, stock brokers, and additional financiers. Other powerful individuals consult in think tanks, such as the Clinton Global Initiative, the Bilderberg Meetings, and the The Club of Rome. They try, with varying degrees of success, to influence the process through policy recommendations.

There is a difference between secrecy and confidentiality. If high-profile people are not guaranteed confidentiality, in any situation, they will generally not be candid. Similarly, the reasons for security around the Bildergerg meetings and similar think tanks are straightforward and uncomplicated:

1. The presence of well-known attendees.
2. The fearmongering, and potentially dangerous mass behavior, from conspiracy theorists.

When my students bring up the Bilderbergers, my standard response is something like, “If you do not like one think tank, then start your own. You can invite whom you please.” The fact that a think tank is private does not make it conspiratorial. Groups will inevitably pursue their own interests. Of course, not all think tanks and proponents of global order, governance, or government share the neoliberal (neoclassical), or global capitalist, approach, such as:

• Organise political education and disseminate knowledge about social relations in a globalized, unjust and hostile world
• Provide a venue for critical analysis of current capitalism;  act as a hub for programmatic discussions about a modern democratic socialism, act as a socialistic think-tank for political alternatives
• Be a forum in Germany and internationally that supports dialogue between left-socialistic powers, socialistic movements and organisations, left-minded intellectuals and non-governmental organisations
• Grant funding to young scholars via undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships
• Give impulses to self-defining socialistic political activities and support commitment to peace and international understanding for a socially just and solidary union
• Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. Retrieved on August 5, 2012.

In the quotation below, United States Senator Daniel Inouye (born, 1924) might have referred to this military-industrial complex. Inouye’s comments also need to be taken in context. As a Democrat, opposed to the covert policies of a Republican White House, he was specifically addressing the intelligence and military assistance which was given to the Nicaraguan Contras. Their guerrilla warfare sought to overturn the socialist Sandinista government. At the time, President Ronald Reagan’s administration feared the spread of Cuban-style communism in Latin America.

Shadowly, or undisclosed, operations are not, literally, a government, under the radar or otherwise. Corporations, instead, commonly compete over some defense contracts and military technologies. On the other hand, when mutually advantageous, many of these same businesses will cooperate in other areas. Monopolies may exist in certain national or regional markets, but they are rarely global. Speculatively, reverse-engineered spaceship technology could be actively utilized, in various projects, by such a corporatocracy or mechanism of corporate dominance.

Many government officials, like other bureaucrats, are concerned about order and predictability. Perhaps some leaders take their assigned jobs too far, but I am not going to judge them. Political decision-making is their world. Truthfully, the activities, alleged secrets, and confidences of politicians are none of my business. Unity is my objective, not partisanship and division, such as conspiratorial, unidentified, connecting-the-dots “ingroup” vs. “outgroup,” “us” vs. “them,” “the public” vs. “the elite”, and “one’s own country” vs. “the enemy.” The issue involves far more than semantics. Demireality or disunity is, in itself, a level of reality albeit quite a negative one. I do not wish to live in that world.

There is no monolithic elite – no reified 1% versus 99%. Instead, in the capitalist world order and its demireality, the relations of power are highly complex and multifaceted. An individual occupying an oppressive status in one situation might occupy the status of an oppressor in yet another. Patricia Hill Collins (born, 1948) is a contemporary feminist sociologist. In 2009, she became the first African American female president of the American Sociological Association. Similar, perhaps, to demireality or disunity, Hill Collins describes power relations using the social constructionist theory of intersectionality and a related conceptual model, the matrix of domination.

Domination, from an intersectional standpoint, is situational and relative:

Intersectionality emerged out of the postmodern third-wave or revisionality feminism, as some writers attempted to grapple with the interlocking dominations of gender, race, class, and so forth. I have taken intersectionality out of social constructionism and developed it, as a descriptive framework of demireality, within Critical Realism. In other words, most intersectional theorists have generally treated reality as entirely socially constructed, dialogic, or conversational. However, to critical realists, influenced by Roy Bhaskar, social reality exists somewhat independently of our collective constructions.

An Emancipation from demireality is, by my definition, an emancipation from intersectionality. However, in addition to Hill Collins, other writers have utilized intersectionality. For instance, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza’s notion of kyrarchy is, like the matrix of domination, a descriptive model developed out of intersectionality or intersectional theory:

To Sharon Doetsch-Kidder, intersectionality is an emancipatory spiritual activism:

In my opinion, intersectionality provides a superior description of demireality and power, in the capitalist world order, to Mills’ dualistic ordinary versus extraordinary people. Yet, the matrix of domination, by itself, is misleading. Groups and societies cannot, like Play-Doh, be simply twisted and remodeled according to linguistic structures of social justice. Instead, intersectionality needs to be lifted from the context of social constructionism and placed into metaReality. Although we do not create the Real, we regularly interact with it. Throughout this process of interaction, we can choose whether to develop social systems in the matrix of demireality or in the cosmic envelope.

From an emancipatory standpoint, mega-conspiracies are also dead ends. They are disempowering. If a faceless cabal directs world events, human rights projects are, at long last, hopeless causes. Instead of a single, broad-based, secret, and sinister plot, there are numerous brutally competitive, agenda-driven political and corporate leaderss. Members of this class conscious military-industrial complex operate, in their own interests, as: an oligarchy or a political rulership by the few, an oligopoly or a market controlled by the most privileged, and a corporatocracy or corporate dominance.

As demonstrated in the Civil Rights, Women’s Liberation, and other social movements, community building and community organizing have been repeatedly successful in promoting significant change:

Edward Smart, inspired by the nine-month abduction of his daughter (then fourteen-year-old Elizabeth), successfully promoted, with his family, the federal adoption of an Amber Alert system for missing children in the United States:

The key to emancipation from the demireality of disunity is the cosmic envelope of unity:

In addition, unethical business practices are a persistent feature of the global capitalist system. In a sense, they define the materialistic methodologies or tactics of modern capitalism. However, while corporations and other entities may attempt to cover their tracks, the underlying motivations, including the profit motive, are, generally speaking, in plain sight. They are not hidden from any careful observer. Malfeasance is not, in itself, proof of some massive conspiracy. Yet, these events also provide, in my view, evidence for why the capitalist system should be replaced with an order which is more accountable and democratic.

Yet, a common meme on the far right is to identify mainstream “liberals” or “progressives,” on the middle left, as “socialists” or even “communists.” Aside from simply disagreeing, I have, as a democratic socialist, reflected upon this popular construction. In short, I have concluded that a person who regards a Keynesian (“welfare state”) capitalist as a socialist may be a reflexive neo-fascist or at least be influenced by quasi-fascistic perspectives on some issues. Sadly, I have noticed, an angry populism is much more widespread, especially in the U.S., than I once believed. On the other hand, I would never attack or specifically judge another person.

I am not denying, however, that powerful members of “the establishment” have engaged in crimes or coverups, duped others, and framed the innocent. Rogue individuals might even have conspired to assassinate people, to provoke disasters, to subvert governments, and to conduct false-flag operations. Watergate, the payoffs and lies in the tobacco industry, and the pharmaceutical lobby against herbal remedies are widely known. Whether specific acts of terrorism or assassination and certain limits on technology involved conspiracies are matters for criminologists, historians, and other careful researchers, after critically evaluating the evidence, to examine.

Let us suppose, on face value, that a few of the specific claims made by the conspiracists are valid. The nagging problem, in my opinion, is with the Illuminati narrative itself. Deductively piecing together data to support a strongly held conspiratorial belief system contradicts the basic rules of evidence. In an academic content, any good investigator will bracket, or set aside, her personal assumptions. Hypothesis by hypothesis, or prediction by prediction, she then applies Ockham’s razor (parsimony or economy) to whatever data are collected and analyzed during the research process. Although no one is perfect, and mistakes are inevitable, bias is carefully avoided.

Believing in conspiracy theories can quickly make one unteachable and, consequently, biased to any future data. In my opinion, once the conspiratorial woo on angelic visitation is rejected, the issue begins to make sense. The Illuminati conspiracies magically twist and distort the reported data into a genre resembling, even though unintentionally, the worst pulp science fiction novels, comic books, and tabloid scandal sheets. Superwomen and supermen are, of course, imaginary creatures. Realistically, we are all, without exception, just ordinary human beings.

Deductive, or first-principle, conspiracy theories are different from inductively uncovering conspiracies. Collusion by banks and other profit-oriented entities is not a massive historical conspiracy. It it capitalism. Even if some particular conspiracies have taken place, and I am personally open to considering any available evidence on a case-by-case basis, they are not equivalent to a grand conspiracy meme such as this one:

Possibly the single most important factor, one which the conspiratorial echo chamber appears not to have recognized, is that the corporate New World Order (NWO) they fear, attack, and inaccurately characterize as a cabal dominated by “extraterrestrials” or banksters is not, in fact, a secret conspiracy at all. However, any entirely free market is, perhaps by definition, oppressive. The alliances between corporations, including banks, and governments represent an advanced, a late, form of the capitalist, imperialist system which, on a smaller scale, these same conspiracy theorists often support.

Ultimately, as a social scientist, my honest response, therefore, to any questions regarding any individual conspiracies would be an agnostic one:

Furthermore, evil, a term variously defined and sometimes measured, and conspiratorial are not synonymous. The hideous acts and coverups perpetrated by the few do not implicate bureaucracies themselves in conspiracy theories. Obviously, although people, including criminal gangs, have done hideous things, but crime is not exclusive to one class or another. Many offenders get away with murder, while others are convicted of relatively petty crimes. Offenders run the gamut. They are rich, poor, and in between. Innocents, especially the impoverished and destitute, have been imprisoned unjustly, as well. Truth be told, this world is unfair.

If one expects humanity from much of humanity, one will end up disappointed. As a whistleblower, U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning was threatened with life imprisonment:

As seen in Project Paperclip, political pragmatism or Realpolitik, which I discussed earlier, has sometimes determined official policies:

The ubiquitousness of secrecy, security, hypervigilance, and “knee-jerk” nationalistic authoritarianism, while unfortunate, is not conspiratorial. Rather, as the dangers in the world order have continued to ramp up, some governments have imposed, or attempted to impose, increasingly Draconian laws and regulations. When considered prudent by leaders, high-risk operations have been mandated and conducted. On the other hand, according to the conspiratorial fantasy, born out of a culture of fear, secrecy demonstrates that important knowledge is concealed, behind the wizard’s curtain, which some alleged “they” do not want “us” to “have.”

There is no ambigous “they” or “the other.” One of my regular suggestions is, “If a person cannot attach the word ‘they’ to a concrete group of individuals, she should use ‘we’ instead”:

Factually, however, lying, deceit, coverups, and even specified conspiracies perform social functions and have been used by ill-intentioned individuals. Fictionally, there is a private, master conspiracy to take over the world. Logically, the more people who perpetrate a questionable activity, the harder it is to sweep under the rug. Especially in the age of the Internet, carrying out a large-scale complicated conspiracy, of the type discussed below, and successfully keeping it secret for a long time, would require the super-human organizational capabilities of an illusory devil or demigod:

The term, secret societies, one of the bogeyman of the populist far right, is a reification. It turns a category of historically unrelated organizations into a real thing or, in a manner of speaking, a fictional essence. Certain secret societies, the Bohemian Grove, and other ritualistic activities stroke the egos of elites and reinforce a collective illusion of intellectual and moral superiority. Even outside the centers of global dominance, however, the Society for Creative Anachronism, Renaissance festivals, certain secret societies, and the initiations practiced by Greek organizations, sororities and fraternities, often serve similar esoteric functions.

The allure of mystery within the halls of power, while hardly new, does not support an Illuminati conspiracy. Instead, ritual, including participating in religious ceremonies, can make people feel as if they are somehow special. It builds a sense of community and maintains social boundaries. Such ingroup activities promote social solidarity or class consciousness, escapism, and, at times, clubbishness. Indeed, social exclusiveness and partisanship appear to be precisely the reasons why Baháʾís are not permitted to join Freemasonry and other secret organizations.

Even so, to be class conscious is not synonymous with being a dangerous, conspiratorial psychopath or sociopath:

Capitalism is not a conspiracy. Factually, however, in many so-called free-market systems, the owners of the means of production will generally pay relatively little taxes. The libertarian conspiracists are oddly nostalgic for a historically fictitious utopian capitalism:

Growing pains are growing pains. The libertarian hostility toward a new world order is mirrored, in many parts of the world, by a tribal hostility toward nations:

For example, anyone who has taken even a basic economic course knows how the U.S. Federal Reserve System (“the Fed”) works. It is not a conspiracy or a Ponzi scheme. The “Federal Reserve” is exactly what the term sounds like. It is a private network of banks which is reserved for use by the federal government. Good or bad, the Federal Reserve System has kept banking in private hands. The alternative would have been for the federal government to run a public banking system. Personally, I would like to see a public banking system, but I doubt whether many people in the U.S. would agree with me.

In other words, many far-right libertarians oppose the privately owned Federal Reserve System. Since, however, banks are the lifeblood of corporate capitalism, these conspiracists are, perhaps unwittingly, attacking the privatization or capitalization of the international monetary establishment. By and large, these same libertarians also reject socialism:

The Zeitgeist Movement was started, in 2008, by musician Peter Joseph (born, Peter Joseph Merola, 1978), a producer of the religious conspiratorial film, Zeitgeist. Although the movement itself has, in my opinion, moved in the direction of a non-conspiratorial form of libertarian socialism, the focus, as with libertarian capitalism, is placed upon the problems associated with the monetary system, including the U.S. Federal Reserve. On the other hand, unlike libertarian capitalists, the Zeitgeisters are, by and large, consistent. They reject both market capitalism and its corporate engine, the monetary system.

By the same token, I sometimes wonder whether, like Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), certain libertarian writers would actually prefer an agrarian society over the present-day industrial or postindustrial (service-oriented) civilization:

According to the French sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858-1917), an exaggerated desire for liberty, manifested as anomie or a lack of relevant social norms (rules), can never be satisfied:

Finally, for this chapter, the following document raised some red flags among many Illuminati conspiracists:

Scenarios, however, are not reality. The 2012 London Summer Olympics, of course, came and went without incident. Hopefully, the conspiracists will take a lesson from the experience. The Rockefeller Foundation was laying out some hypothetical events in order to assist with preparedness training. Obviously, this foundation is neither a cadre of violent extremists nor a trance channelling organization. When Ockham’s razor (parsimony or economy) is applied to the document, it becomes, in my view, more benevolent than malevolent in design.

Realistically, here is the explanation provided by Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin (born, 1944):

Many people, myself included, use the term new world order. The usual reference is to the world as it has currently developed, not to some possible world government. Now, by the same token, folks like me would like to see the new world order evolve into a socialistic form of world governance or government. Although that idea continues to be debated among intellectuals and others, it is not a secret conspiracy. Those who recognize the challenges of the world, including sustainability, and the need to move political and economic institutions into the twenty-first century, are very open about it.

My speculative assumptions have been unconventional and, hopefully, provocative. However, my suppositions on the angelic presence have not been conspiratorial. Indeed, if there is a global conspiracy, it appears to me, by looking at the world, to be a silliness conspiracy. We are all participants in that cabal. While, as C. Wright Mills noted, there might well be isolated conspiracies, and specific evil deeds, by small-scale elements of a bureaucratized upper class, the grand conspiracy model is inconsistent with a finely tuned sociological imagination. That term was coined by Mills:

The term, sociological imagination, was coined by Mills The term That term was coined by Mills:

1. What is the structure of this particular society as a whole? What are its essential components, and how are they related to one another? How does it differ from other varieties of social order? Within it, what is the meaning of any particular feature for its continuance and for its change?
2. Where does this society stand in human history? What are the mechanics by which it is changing? What is its place within and its meaning for the development of humanity as a whole? How does any particular feature we are examining affect, and how is it affected by, the historical period in which it moves? And this period—what are its essential features? How does it differ from other periods? What are its characteristic ways of history-making?
3. What varieties of men and women now prevail in this society and in this period? And what varieties are coming to prevail? In what ways are they selected and formed, liberated and repressed, made sensitive and blunted? What kinds of “human nature” are revealed in the conduct and character we observe in this society in this period? And what is the meaning for “human nature” of each and every feature of the society we are examining?
4. C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press. 2000. Pages 6-7.

On the other hand, the designation, “therapeutic culture,” expresses a sociological criticism of many modern Western societies. Social problems become psychological ones. Psychiatric treatment manuals, however well intentioned by serious researchers and clinicians, are broadened. These manuals now encompass, as extensions of the increasing rational authority of professionals and as signs of the breakdown of families and local communities, huge segments of contemporary publics. Ordinary human difficulties, like debt and overeating, become addictions with their own 12-step groups. The opposite of a therapeutic culture is a sociological imagination.

Due to a lack of sociological imagination, social disorganization, one of the hallmarks of the twenty-first-century capitalist world order, is misinterpreted, psychologically or psychiatrically, as a conspiracy of psychopaths. However, the contemporary state of global affairs cannot be explained by a personality disorder. No one runs the world. Instead, the individualism, greed, and demireality of capitalism and partisan positioning have prevented significant cooperation and collaboration. Meanwhile, through dominant modes of international relations, much like American politics, conversations are reduced to venomous name-calling, poker, and brinkmanship.

As those of you who have kindly and patiently read through this volume are aware, I complete reject conspiracy theories. Instead, I applied my personal understandings of the teachings of the Baháʾí Faith, along with some sociological and historical analyses, to issues which other writers have regarded as conspiratorial. By examining, frequently with immense speculation, the topics of human origins and angelic visitation, including on extraterrestrial vehicles (ETVs) or spacecraft, with my own eyes, I hopefully demonstrated a degree of fair-mindedness, or individual justice, in this book.

In addition, I have tried, while applying critical thinking and avoiding logical fallacies, to maintain a balance between faith and skepticism. Spiritually, I reject the militarization of angels as UFOs. They are souls. Earthly governments and spy agencies have nothing to do with them. Long before the era of nation states, these beings seemingly monitored our species. On the other hand, analytically, I dismiss the majority of conspiracies as over-simplifications. They violate the basic rules of social scientific evidence. The wisest approach, in my opinion, is to primarily ignore what most present and former government officials have to say about angelic spacecraft.

It should also be clear by now that I do not question most fashionable accounts of so-called “alien” activity because certain leaders have alleged inside or conspiratorial knowledge. The cultivation of terrifying delusions, such as imaginary schemes to turn Earth’s humans into slaves, are, I strongly feel, smoke and mirrors or artful misdirection. To the contrary, I am highly skeptical precisely because I believe that these politicians and bureaucrats have clearly not appreciated the spiritual implications of visitation. Fear, reticence, and denial are, it seems to me, conspicuously unenlightened responses to a loving servitude by angels.

In other words, my suggestion is not to worry about what certain governments may or may not know. Examine the subject, lovingly, for oneself:

Perhaps taking a page from the previously mentioned radio program, The War of the Worlds, the Illuminati urban legend, while not originating within the ranks of officialdom, may have been shrewdly utilized, as well-scripted stage magic or sleight of hand, to promote public anxiety and helplessness in the face of a fanciful almighty military-industrial complex or Corporation X. This centuries-old grand conspiracy theory has, in its various modern incarnations, socially reinforced the superstitious paranoia that all events are secretly orchestrated. Nothing, echo many true believers, happens merely by chance.

To summarize then, given the thesis of this book, I personally oppose so-called disclosure. Official “secrets” are not necessary conspiratorial. However, the following list briefly describes the primary justifications, as I have surmised them, for the disinformation, and magical misdirection, concerning the subject of the heavenly hosts among us. These eight items, if they have any merit, could establish why this understandable, even reasonable and admirable, pattern of confidentiality will, given the current balance of power and the present state of social disorganization, likely continue for the indefinite future:

1. Significantly, admitting weakness or vulnerability is never politically expedient, and panic might ensue if individuals occupying positions of responsibility were forced to acknowledge: a long-term and largely unsuccessful militarily containment campaign against intermediate angels, the numerous intelligent species possibly present on the planet, an inability to yield to public pressure in hindering angelic activities, and a failure by public officials, as with most people, to understand the full implications.
2. Likewise, if spacecraft, ancient artifacts, direct neural interfaces, and so forth have been successfully reverse engineered or imitated, various governments, or DARPA and other pigeonholed bureaucracies in the military-industrial complex, whether public or private, might wish to maintain their monopolies over certain proprietary technologies and, possibly, to protect the vested interests of any number of powerful corporations.
3. Of conceivable importance, even if exaggerated by some “ufologists” and other government sources, certain high-level bureaucrats may be concerned over the social, political, economic, and religious consequences of debunking powerfully dominant religious and scientific paradigms, which are grounded in bureaucratic rationality and traditional authority (legitimate power), or over angelic visitation being perceived as an alien (H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds) or even a demonic invasion.
4. Furthermore, following the logic of Julius Robert Oppenheimer, Ph.D., who developed the atomic bomb, many people could become alarmed with the knowledge that the ancient, possibly interplanetary, pyramid-building civilization might have annihilated itself using similar nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction to the ones found in the world today.
5. In addition, bureaucracies generally favor rationality, order, and consistency. Many busy public officials simply do not want to be harassed over the unresolved issue of angelic visitation. These individuals are, for all intents and purposes, as clueless about the phenomena as anyone else. If, suddenly, they were bombarded, day in and day out, with detailed questions, their ability to perform their jobs efficiently would be seriously compromised.
6. Apparently, a positive, even enthusiastic, view toward the angelic visitors is held, at the present time, by many people. These individuals may be shocked and angered to learn that certain governments have repeatedly fired at the very beings who have repeatedly prevented us from annihilating ourselves, and members of many animal species along with us, using weapons of mass destruction. If we identify ourselves as cosmic citizens, governments might fear losing control.
7. The invincibility of both the angelic visitors, who may possess advanced technologies and sometimes pass as earthly humans, and the pervasive chalices of pure light (“orbs”) may well be feared to present enormous threats to personal privacy, global security, nuclear weaponry, and national sovereignty, including their postulated contributions to ending the Cold War, which could be complicated by the fowl play, sources, methods, and lies adopted to maintain government secrecy.
8. Similarly, and perhaps principally, certain angelic species might have unsuccessfully cautioned governments and, through interpersonal engagement or engagement, warned emancipees or contactees concerning natural or humanly caused disasters. We rejected them. If these global catastrophes are impending, and at least partially unavoidable, then high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats might legitimately fear the consequences of provoking widespread panic, chaos, and, especially, anger.

Therefore, the major reason for secrecy concerning intermediate angels may be one which is rarely mentioned: Why are they here? Dramatic Earth changes could be right around the corner, and we have been notified. In addition to disabling atomic missiles, warnings have been given, through contactees (emancipees) and angelic pictographs (including crop circles), concerning Earth changes and the runaway nuclear proliferation of a world trapped in fear. Meanwhile, governments have been digging themselves underground. In the U.S., this activity coupled with enhanced homeland security and other factors are collectively known by the euphemism, continuity of government.

As I see it, the question of extraterrestrial visitation is inseparable from the issue of catastrophic planetary events:

The disinformation campaign has been sustained by a human desire for predictability and order. Most people assume, or perhaps wish to assume, that their governments will protect them from alleged harm. Furthermore, political leaders, many presuppose, must know more about most subjects than the average citizen. Believing to the contrary, especially when it comes to perceived national security issues, is mentally unsettling. No one wants to be mocked as wearing a tin-foil hat. Consequently, pushing the subject of angelic visitation under the rug has been quite successful. Misdirecting people from spaceships has been easy.

These rational accountable actions by some governments have been, using sociologist Harold Garfinkel’s term, a practical accomplishment. I doubt that much will change until political leaders and bureaucrats better understand, and can more effectively explain, the subject without panicking anyone:

Needless to say, many different interpretations have been made of the appearances by our beautiful planetary guardians. These wonderful beings love us very much. If, on the other hand, certain races of intermediate angels are maneuvering to take over the planet and establish a new world order, as some conspiracists have claimed, I would welcome these angelic entities with open arms! Ever since I was a young teenager, I have yearned for a non-corporate world order. This alarmist supposition, which has been spun by certain conspiracists into a violation of human freedom and national sovereignty, honestly feels to me like spiritual benevolence or, in a sense, salvation.

Visitors Online