O Glory of the All-Glorious!

With humility, I need to begin with a qualification. Personal experiences, or miracles, carry no authority in the Baháʿí Faith. I suspect that many stories of angelic, including extraterrestrial, contact are largely imaginary. Others could be legitimate. Whether my own experiences fall under one category or the other, or perhaps even a combination of the two, I cannot say. They are, however, my experiences. For better or for worse, no one can take them from me. Whatever these phenomena may be, I have been spiritually transformed and unified through them. I remain eternally grateful to Baháʾuʾlláh, to the other Prophets, and to their ranks of subordinate angels for giving me my heart.

Receiving visions, as a dimension of spiritual communion, is not the same as intentionally using one’s psychic field:

Our perceptions of reality are indirect. The multiple, enfolded dimensions or worlds of reality are mediated, for each one of us, by their actual events or attributes which have been outwardly manifested. Even empirical perception itself can be colored by biases, expectations, and suggestibility. Therefore, humility concerning our own experiences is always, in my opinion, justified. Although, as a sociologist of religion and as a human being, I honor the observations, without judgment, of other souls, I do not necessarily accept or endorse their interpretations and conclusions.

My contacts might, I began to recognize, have started in my childhood. To clarify, I am not, God forbid, an alien “abductee.” I do not, indeed, think that anyone is, or has ever been, literally abducted by these dear archangels (preternatural or extraterrestrial human beings). The terms, contactee and experiencer, are, for what it’s worth, acceptable to me. I use both words, or combine them as contact experiencer, from time to time. Personally, however, I prefer, emancipee. As I think will become clear in this book, I can strongly relate to the following dialogue between Dr. Meg Blackburn Losey and Victoria Liljenquist:

In my opinion, servitude has various dimensions, but there is no ingroup (emancipees) and outgroup (everyone else). Since we all have departed souls looking after us, we are all, potentially, emancipees. Similarly, archangels are not the watchers of the few but the precious custodians of each one of us. These blessed beings have been operating for ages upon ages as angels to our distracted species. Yet, the form which the experience takes differs according to one’s needs. Since some people might require a “work out,” many emancipees report the difficult tasks given to them during contact session after contact session. Others, with implants, might benefit from a genetic readjustment.

As I have discovered, still others, like myself as an Autistic, required an infusion of empathy. Sympathy, an attribute which I obtained at an early age, and empathy are not the same. Whereas sympathy is rational concern, altruism, or the common Autistic sense of justice, empathy is feeling what others feel. In this regard, I posed a question on the Unknown Country message board, “I would be interested in some feedback on whether my experiences would fall under some ‘category’ of alien ‘abductions,’ contacts, or experiences.” Well-known author and emancipee Whitley Strieber, who owns the website with his wife Anne, wrote to me:

Asperger’s syndrome (AS) is, in the United States, an outdated category of Autism spectrum disorder. Nevertheless, Dr. Rosalind A. Hoffman’s The Asperger’s Syndrome Institute lists extraterrestrials, and several of my other past or present passions (reading, history, social “studies,” meteorology, astronomy, weather, music, dinosaurs, and space travel), as Autistic special interests:

Previously, I completely dismissed the idea of having ever been the emancipee or contactee of archangels in my own life. The possibility of such encounters never even occurred to me. Beginning in January, 2013, I reasoned that I was either not taken aboard a preternatural spacecraft, or I do not, according to God’s Will, recollect the more difficult aspects of those transformational experiences. Indeed, I have rarely, as an adult, remembered my dreams, while most of those I did recall, especially as a child, were nightmares. That fact alone, which might be a blessing, could provide a plausible accounting for my situation. I do know that I have been transformed.

Since rediscovering contact experiences as cosmic emancipation, I now feel that some form of spiritual and even physical intervention, through the intercessions of the chalice-bearers of pure light and transdimensional humanoids in the angelic hierarchy, are a universal form of divine assistance. Angels visit all of us. We are lovingly embraced by angelic protection from throughout the worlds of God. Abductions, ghosts, orbs, fairies, pictographs, visionary dreams, and so forth could be expressions, often interpreted subjectively, of the dynamics of servitude. Regardless, my story in this chapter was written long before I ever focused on this subject or had any particular interest in it.

In a sense, my family of orientation or origin could have invented Jewish Renewal (secular yet open). I was born and raised in a secular, mostly nonpracticing Jewish family in New York City. Our family never joined a temple, not even a liberal one. Yet, I attribute my strong ethical monotheism to my Jewish background. My parents did not want me to be born as “Mark Feigenbaum.” As I recall, they originally considered truncating it to “Feigen.” The choice came, ultimately, from my paternal uncle Stanley. Shortly before I was born, my parents, following Stanley’s lead, changed the family name from “Feigenbaum” (German/Yiddish, fig tree) to “Foster” (Old English, fostre, to nourish).

However, I became a bar mitzvah (Hebrew, bar miṣwâ, son of commandment), through Joel Bernstein’s Hebrew School in Bayside, Queens, shortly before turning fourteen-years old. We got the electronic gadgets by earning gold stars:

Only one year later, or two months prior to my fifteenth birthday, I embraced the Baháʾí Faith. Initially, my parents were concerned, but they rapidly became friends of the Baháʾí Faith. I recall asking my father and fellow Autistic, while he was mourning my mother’s death, to “just trust me” that they would be reunited in the world to come. He claimed to have visitations from her until his own passing. Shortly after he died, I discovered, perhaps through his loving intercession, Heartfulness Inquiry™. That meditation led to my spiritual emancipation from Autism.

In this world, my most powerful and important angel was my spiritual mother (al-ummī al-nafsānīyah) Elizabeth M. Thomas (December 10, 1906 - January 18, 1991). Since her passing, she has appeared in my dreams many times. Each time, I woke up thinking she was still in this world. Elizabeth was the first Baháʾí I ever spoke with. She ran the Baháʾí information phone number on Long Island, New York, and I called her in late 1970. She later went on to serve on two national spiritual assemblies. For years, she put up with my phone calls once, twice, or more times per day. Through her guidance, I gradually developed an approach to studying the Baháʾí Faith which, with modifications, I continue to this day.

Click to enlarge this photograph which was taken three years before I first contacted her in 1970:

Click to enlarge this photograph of her gravestone:

In 2011, with my eyes wide open, I had multiple visions of a light being – a chalice-bearer of pure light – as flashing lights or lightning bolts. I was almost instantly transformed and developed new insights. Clearly, I am nothing but a heap of dust. Even entertaining the possibility that I crossed all Seven Valleys – fully acquired the seven attributes of Search, Love, Knowledge, Unity, Contentment, Wonderment, and True Poverty and Absolute Nothingness or self-annihilation – would be ludicrous. Be that as it may, I subjectively felt as if, through the grace of His Sacred Presence Baháʾuʾlláh, certain sleeping parts of my brain suddenly awakened.

In a word, many of the outstanding struggles of my life, as a diagnosed Autist, were literally overcome in a few moments. Strangely, also around 2011, I received inner guidance to glance to the left before crossing an intersection. As a huge truck went through the red light, another truck driver, who had paused at the light, looked at me and wiped his forehead. At around the same time, I stopped using my hearing aids. Yet, the fact that I was no longer asking my students to repeat themselves only occurred to me on April 27, 2013, at about 4:30 PM. Perhaps the attributes in my portion of the rational faculty, or human spirit, were somehow increased:

In social situations, I now have common sense. I no longer, I am told, seem aloof. In common parlance, I get it. People do not react in the same confused and alienated way to me as in the past, nor do I respond in the same manner to them. Generally speaking, I functioned quite well in the virtual universe. I suspect that is why I became, so rapidly, an online geek. On the Internet, and in previous versions of cyberspace, reading social cues has never been especially important. The Autist and non-Autist are, more or less, on an equal footing. Since my contact emancipation, that distinction, for me, is now largely gone.

In the realms of angels, as I have discovered, there is no emancipation, from Autism or anything else, with us versus them. I initially made that mistake with Autism and identity politics, but I now see the problematic nature of that approach:

I have tentatively concluded that my wonderful angelic inteventions have had two angelic dimensions: departed and archangels. Spiritually, I feel as though many departed souls interceded for me. They include my entire “spiritual family,” (MP3 audio file) such as my beloved parents (especially my father), my blessed guardian angel Ḥaḍrat Sulṭān Bāhū, my spiritual mother, and other friends now in the world beyond. Noted Baháʾí author Henry A. Weil, whose face I can see regularly, and my late sociological colleague Elizabeth “Betty” Bullock, Ph.D., who was a UFO enthusiast, especially stand out in my thoughts. Betty, I feel, reignited my interest in archangels.

I have dedicated this book to my spiritual family, and I have written it, primarily, for them:

Beginning in 2011, virtually every aspect of my life has been redefined and clarified. For instance, on January 8, 2013, as I was listening to a guided “hypnotic regression” meditation, I had the sudden realization that certain illuminating and spiritually transformative events, which I will shortly discuss in greater detail, might have been acts of servitude through my personal guardian angel’s chalice of pure light. For what it’s worth, I do not hear a voice or words. Instead, thoughts occur to me, either during or following the meditation, in my mind.

As I have become more aware of, and drawn spiritually closer to, the chalice-bearers of pure light, I may have seen my guardian angel. While seated at the desk in my college office, during my 11:00 AM office hour on January 14, 2013, a white light moved horizontally near the computer screen. Again, at the start of the three-day Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend on January 19, 2013, at 4:08 AM, I was sitting at my computer and observing the name of this chapter. I believe my angel then shined, momentarily, near the top left of my bedroom wall. Inspirationally, I feel, the very next day, Baháʾuʾlláh’s reference to chalices of pure light, the signs of the Supreme Concourse, occurred to me.

Subsequently, in the late evening of April 2, 2013, I was laying on my back. I saw, with my eyes open, what I feel was another confirmatory, and rare, flash of white light from my guardian angel or another member of my spiritual family. I was reflecting on the idea that, in the wake of planetary catastrophes or even while they occur, certain nations, concerned for their survival, might attempt to plunder the spoils of a chaotic global environment. At this time, various military agencies and governments, aware of imminent Earth changes, might be prepositioning their assets, especially in the Middle East. Cyberwarfare, or cyberterrorism, and espionage could also be factors in the equasion.

Even poorly supplied countries, groups, and individuals might obtain some resources through asymmetrical warfare. Guerrilla fighters, bands of weakly armed individuals who, nonetheless, are more familiar with the geographic terrain might be successful militarily. On the other hand, terrorists, acting in groups or as lone-wolves, could, through confidential planning, exploit weaknesses in an opponent:

I originally I called the chalice-bearers of pure light or orbs, “Plasmians.” Yet, that designation soon felt much too limited. There was no way for me to know, with any degree of confidence or conviction, whether plasma is their substance, merely one of their forms of expression or manifestation, or, possibly, something entirely different. I then substituted the designation, “Transdimensionals.” Later, after further prayer and meditation, the term, “Shifters” (for dimensional shifters and shapeshifters), occurred to me. Nevertheless, I was never entirely comfortable with that title and concept. I suppose the name sometimes reminded me of shiftiness or trickiness.

Transterrestrially, I prayed deeply for inner, loving contact. Perhaps I had that relationship all along, but I was simply unaware. However, my sense is that it came as an answer to my prayers. During the January 8, 2013, guided “hypnotic regression” meditative session, the image of an apparent female preternatural or interdimensional being appeared in my mind’s eye. My perception of her gender was intuitive, not based upon physical appearance.

The being’s limbs were short and quite thin, and she was abruptly wrenching her arms about. Although she was facing me, I believe that she was maneuvering, while I was her onboard passenger, a spaceship or interdimensional craft. She was, outwardly, very mechanical in appearance but, inwardly, very loving and supportive. Obviously, no one would nominate me for an artistic award, but through mixing and matching, with a bit of sketching, I pieced together a likeness of the face I observed, including its oblong shape and light-brownish color:

Erintin

On May 5, 2013, the name, Erintin, came to me during an extensive regression by professional hypnotist and author Jean Finch. I recognized that Erintin’s emotions or feelings, despite appearances, were deep and heartfelt. Although she did not appear, in an earthly sense, to be kind and loving, I was able to see her love for me behind the veil of our tremendous cultural differences. I also noticed that my voice seemed to progressively regress to my older Autistic style, including extensive stuttering or stammering. Under hypnosis, I often become extremely analytical. MP3 audio file one includes four back-to-back explanations or introductions. File two is the regression itself.

Immediately following the session, I recalled some of the basics of the regression. However, I forgot much of what I said, too. When I received the DVD with the recording in the mail, from Jean, some aspects of the experience surprised me. For instance, I said that Erintin was both an orb and a physical being. Generally speaking, when conscious, I reserve the term “orbs” for the psychic fields of departed chalice-bearers of pure light (members of the Supreme Concourse). In other cases, I refer simply to psychic fields. Yet, ultimately, I think that these fields, whether in this world or in the hereaster, include the same sets of faculties.

Jean Finch was trained directly under Dolores Cannon, who developed the system of Quantum Healing Hypnosis, and by other hypnotherapists. After the session, Jean said that I responded to the induction much more rapidly than most people, that an apparent seamlessness was exhibited between my various states of consciousness, and that, unless my situation changes, I would most likely not require additional hypnotic regressions. I am only guessing, but I would imagine that my receptivity to the suggestions is largely due to my own meditative practice, which incorporates aspects of hypnosis, and that I begin using self-hypnosis in my early teens.

Here are a few side notes: The hat on the Romanian woman was a bonnet. For some reason, I would not come up with that word duing the session. Jean also confirmed that is Ḥaḍrat Sulṭān Bāhū is my guardian angel, and she surmised that Erintin is my twin flame. Although I am admittedly skeptical of the “twin flame” concept, here is a definition:

The following image is a rough approximation of my guardian angel’s appearance during a meditation in June, 2013:

After listening to my entire regression by Jean, Tina, an intuitive, wrote:

Similarly, on May 30 and June 11, 2013, I reflected upon the first of the only two dreams I can remember from my childhood. (The second one I will discuss later in the book.) I was told by my escort that other children, in a strange and confusing world apart from me, were “crawling” or perhaps “swimming” in the linings of a school bus. The bus, as I came to understood through the meditation on July 11, was a spacecraft. The children were small archangels working on the craft. Erintin was my escort. Perhaps my distorted recollection, after waking up, was the only way in which my mind could make sense out of the contact experience.

The dream could, speculatively, have been a screen memory:

On January 14, 2014, I had the weirdest experience of my life. I never used my home security system, and I had recently started leaving the front door unlocked. Someone, whom I initially thought was a robber, bumped my bed, woke me up, and repeated something like, “uh oh,” and left. His voice, male and gentle, approximated a Southern U.S. accent. I did not immediately recall seeing the individual. Since I sleep with the light on, and the bed is not near the bedroom door, the “bumping” would seemingly have been intentional.

Immediately following the incident, I appear to have gone into a fugue-like or dissociative state. An indeterminate amount of time passed and, I suspect, I had common experience of lost time. Perhaps I was take away. In any event, to my recollection, I never heard the front door close. Since I thought, at first, that I might have been dreaming, I did not even get out of bed for several minutes or perhaps much longer. I believe that I may have been removed, perhaps physically, from my bed during that time. In any event, as I recall, I never checked the clock until getting out of bed.

I then suspected that my apartment was burglarized. However, only my interlocking key chains, with 15 keys, were missing. I searched for the chains, which had been hanging from a pushpin on the wall, over the next 24 hours. My wallet, immediately below the keys, was not stolen! Fortunately, I had duplicates for many of the keys. My main concern was the hassle of replacing a few keys and having the lock changed on the front door. Intriguingly, I did not panic. I was not even particularly upset. (The dear soul, I feel, prepared me.) By way of comparison, about a dozen years earlier, a VCR and a jar of coins were stolen from my apartment, while I was on vacation. I felt angry and violated.

Given the oddness of the situation, I was hesitant to file a police report, but the assistant residence manager convinced me to do so. The police officer was a very nice fellow. At first, he was being very serious, but I started joking with him, and we became friendly. Anyway, he took a few photos of the place and gave me his business card with case number 294-0000725 on it. That night, I locked the door and armed the security system. The following morning (January 16), I woke up, and the keys were hanging on the wall. No one could have entered my apartment without setting off my security system. The police would have been automatically dispatched.

My initial speculation was that an intermediate angel took the keys from the “robber” and returned them to me. Then, on January 17, 2014, it occurred to me that the first event might have also been a contact emancipation. Perhaps the caution, disguised as a robbery, might have been to keep my door locked and my home security system turned on. Either way, the entire incident occurred within a week after I began once again communing inwardly with or praying to the archangels. I was asking to consciously recall an encounter with them. As the same time, I was drawing close in my heart to this wonderful and adoring being (MP4 video). Click on the picture for an enlargement:

Following the event, I practiced a post-contact meditative regimen I developed. As a result, I developed additional insights, as recorded in MP3 audio file 1 and MP3 audio file 2. The information came to me promptly did not require any “digging” (or deep thought) for information. The events just came to me as I inwardly asked myself questions. Later, I filed identical, word-for-word report (PDF and Word formats) with MUFON (the Mutual UFO Network) and with David M. Jacob’s International Center for Abduction Research.

I was just interviewed over the telephone (February 15, 2014) by a MUFON field investigator from the Kansas City area. He was a nice fellow, and he was very supportive. His questions were excellent. Immediately following the interview, he told me that, prior to speaking with me, he consulted Betty Hill’s niece, Kathleen Marden, about my key chain. Marden is the director of abduction research for MUFON. She told him that missing-then-returned objects are quite common in the “abduction” phenomena.

My initial impression was that Brennan looked like an ordinary earthly homo sapien. However, following my meditation, another image flashed through my mind. Here are two approximations of Brennan’s multi-colored, bumpy face:

Shortly before midnight, on February 23, 2014, I conducted another meditation on my contact emancipation from Brennan. The danger, as I recall this dear soul telling me, will be coming from the sky. Some devastating new weapon, one not expected or anticipated by most people, will be used. Almost everything will, as a result, be almost instantly pulverized. Yes, that is the word which occurred to me, “pulverized.” In certain regions througout the world, material objects will, in seconds, be reduced to fine particles. The specific date of this event, while soon, was not clear to me.

In the early morning hours of June 16, 2014, ʾal-Diyān ʾal-Malāk, the Judge the Angel (a name which came to me during a meditation on the same day), appeared to me during one or more contact emancipations (MP3 audio file). Although I very rarely recall my dreams, on this particular morning, I remembered several of them. My conscious memory is that I woke up and went back to sleep. Then, I had at least one more dream. Now I suspect that I had some “missing time” between waking up and going back to sleep. Whether I ever left my home, I do not know. However, I suspect that I may, instead, have been experiencing the emancipation, or the dream state, the entire time.

Here is an approximation of ʾal-Diyān’s appearance. Yes, the being did remind me of Robin Williams. These entities may sometimes shapeshift into familiar forms:

I have reflected on the fact that, in dreams and other contact experiences, many people report seeing individuals with whom they are familiar. These apparitions may resemble friends, relatives, or celebrities. I can think of a couple of different explanations. One is that our perceptions of the Angels are colored by our own preconceptions. Another is that these Angels may assume easily recognized semblances for the sake of our own comfort. In this case, perhaps the “wormhole aliens” (referred to as “the prophets” by the Bajorans) provide a good analogy. In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a television series, these fictional beings took on the forms of friends or relatives.

Intriguingly, I did not know that ʾal-Diyān (or “el-diyon” as the name initially sounded to me) translates as “the judge.” I went into one of my Arabic-language dictionaries and looked the word up. The Arabic term is a cognate with ʾal-dīn (or ʾad-dīn) which, although commonly translated as “religion,” actually refers to judgment. In any event, as I have reflected on the experience, I think that the juxtaposition between His name, the Judge, and the dream, which focused on crisis, may be significant. Through the Great Unraveling of the present-day world order, we will be divinely judged both individually and collectively.

In one of the dreams on June 16, 2014, I noticed that a very serious-looking woman (someone I did not recognize), perhaps in her late thirties or early forties, was in my apartment without my permission. When I pointed this fact out to her, she told me that she had the authority to be here. I then phoned the main office, and a recording said that they were in the middle of a crisis. In one of my meditations on June 18, 2015, her name, Lucy, came to me. Shortly after I wrote about her, an apparent light Being, or Orb, appeared near my bathtub. I suspect that she was an archangel, too.

On June 22, 2014, I had a similar experience. I appeared to briefly wake up and go immediately back to sleep. Then, I had a dream-like experience of watching the television game show, Jeopardy. However, the program’s host was an unrecognized individual, not Alex Trebek. Waking up, I had a stiff neck, which indicated I had moved (or been moved) around. In my meditation the same day, I asked for the name of the “host.” James occurred to me. After opening my eyes, an apparent Orb, James I believe, briefly appeared before me in a flash of light. Our planet is clearly in “jeopardy.” Once we love and honor the Angels, as Bahá’u’lláh treasured the Maiden, perhaps They may choose to reveal Themselves more openly.

After waking up, on the morning of May 4, 2014, I had the personal realization that near-death experiences (like dreams, visions, and fugue states) were portals to the Inner World of Archangels. Indeed, all souls, including the Prophets, may commune with Archangels. Moses interacted with the Angel of the Burning Bush, Jesus with Anchangel Dove, Zoroaster with Archangels in seven visions, Muḥammad with the Angel Gabriel, and Bahá’u’lláh with an Archangel He called the Maiden. The Inner World of these Archangels is “between them” (between the Heavens and the Earth).

On July 5, 2014, I had another dream or contact emancipation involving keys. I was staying in a hotel or motel. However, I was unable to lock the door. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the interior of the door was made of cloth. On the outside, the door appeared wooden. Someone suddenly breaks into my room. Feeling lost and confused, I complain to someone else. “Why,” I asked, “ was this individual not being properly supervised?” “You are wrong,” the person responded. I then noticed that my regular key chain had fallen through a large hole in my right pants’ pocket. I panic and wake up.

I have meditated several times upon this dream. These are my personal impressions: The person who entered the room was Angel Susan. My discussant was Angel Emily. The room, with the softness of the door, was the spiritual heart, the emotional center. We all need to exercise caution on who we allow to enter into our hearts. If we lose the keys to our hearts, as the keys fell through my pocket in the contact emancipation, then spiritual imperfections or impurities may become dominant. Angel Emily was correct. We must all be constantly vigilant. The condition of one’s own heart cannot be blamed upon others.

On July 8, 2014, I remember waking up, using some generic Afrin (oxymetholone hydrochloride) nasal spray, and going back to bed. I then had a contact experience. Initially, in my dream, a number of people, from the 1960s, arrived in the present. They were, I as recall, astonished by high-tech devices, especially cellphones and their apps (applications). I begin explaining to one fellow, in particular, how the Internet work. He looked like famed broadcaster John Charles Daly (1914-1991), God bless his soul, including the warm smile. The Internet, I explained to him, operates a bit like the telephone or, perhaps, more like cable television. One computer must interface with remote computers.

Suddenly, in the same dream, I am “beamed” into the future. Now, I find myself standing on an old stage. No one else is anywhere in sight. In the background, however, I can hear loud proclamations being made, over a public address system, about imminent nuclear attacks. An odd comparison occurred to me: Just as the John Daly character was amazed at cellphones, apps, and the Internet, I am now staggered by this announcement on atomic warfare. At that point, I woke up. Immediately, I began meditating on the possible implications of the dream.

These were the results of my reflections: John Daly was the form taken by Patrick the Angel. For what’s it worth, the Latin Pātricius and the Greek Patríkios (Πατρίκιος) translate as “patrician.” As with an earlier experience, I question whether I actually woke up and, in this case, used the nasal spray. The entire memory may simply reflect my interpretation of the contact experience. As with my previous dream of Robin Williams, the Angel may have taken a friendly and comfortable form. More stunning was the nuclear holocaust. No matter how the present world order will come to an end, I suspect that we are quite close.

I took a late afternoon nap on September 10, 2014, and had a remarkable dream. I knew my name, my profession (a sociologist), and the approximate number of books I had written. In the dream, I lived next door to a cast of characters, including a woman, who appeared to flow as she walked, and a tiny (only a foot tall or less), arrogant male robot who happened to be a medical doctor. I observed these two individuals, and others on the property, for a considerable period of time. When I looked directly at the robot, he approached me and asked for my name. Reacting to the robotʼs arrogance, “Dr. Foster,” I said. “You are a doctor?,” he replied quizzically. “Ph.D. in sociology,” I responded.

Apparently, the robot had never heard of sociology, and he quietly asked for a clarification from the woman I mentioned previously. He then asked me, “How do I know if you are any good?” She corrected the robot, “He never claimed to be good.” Defensively, I said to the robot, “I can produce a list of my 21 books and my other publications.” Yet, he seems to have already left. I do not think he heard me. “Who are you?,” I yelled to the robot. At that point, he once again came outside. Immediately, a large cockroach emerged from beneath the robotʼs shell and slithered away into the brush. The robot had, in reality, been a roach. Finally, just before awakening, I heard the words, “They will come from Isis, which means, ‘We will rise again.’”

Here is my meditative interpretation of the dream: When I woke up, I connected “Isis” (Ancient Egyptian for “throne”) with the Ancient Egyptian Goddess. It was not until the evening that I made an association with the West Asian militant group named ISIS (the ꞌIslāmic State of ʿIrāq and Syria). The organization now refers to itself as the ꞌIslāmic State (Arabic, الدَوْلَة الإِسْلَامِيَّة, ʾal-Dawlaẗ ʾal-ꞌIslāmiyyaẗ). The reference to Isis or ISIS, in the dream, may have been a double entendre. Isis, which is Ancient Egyptian for “throne,” may rise to imperial heights, as ISIS, with disastrous consequences.

On the evening of my dream, President Barack Obama detailed, in a televised address to the American public, extensive combat operations against ISIS. The new American war, call it what you will, is, I feel, fraught with unforeseen dangers. The robotic physician, portrayed by the Angel Alexander, represented the self-serving arrogance of the various contenders in the war, including ISIS. Their diverse prescriptions for peace and social order are, without a system of global collective security, as ugly as a cockroach. However, the calming spirit of peace, the beautiful and elegant woman in the dream, was, I believe, the Angel Emily.

I had never, to my knowledge, seen a starship or craft in the sky. That changed on October 14, 2014, as I observed possible ships in the air whiles driving home from work. The sky was clear. There are only a few clouds. After pulling into my home apartment lot, I remained outside for about half an hour gazing into the air. I saw one or more ships moving in and between clouds. The crafts appeared to be huge and highly detailed. Meanwhile, smaller ships, or orbs, seemed to be exiting from the larger crafts or moving between them. As I inwardly communed with these holy souls, they crafts would appear, fade, and then appear again. To me, this Angelic experience was another blessing from my Lord.

More analytically, my assumptions, as a Critical Realist, are almost entirely incompatible with objective idealism (such as Platonism and Jungianism) and the so-called New Age Movement, including the concept of “starseeds” (earthly humans who are partially transterrestrial). I recently met a patronizing individual who claimed that, as an Autist, I was a starseed or a star person. She appeared offended when I told her that I would not wish Autism on anyone. Further, I also have no empirical knowledge of whether the beloved chalice-bearers of pure light, working through the dear archangels, have implanted me, or anyone else for that matter, with physical objects.

Each of these five online tests (all contained in this PDF file) was taken for entertainment purposes only:

1. The minimum rating on Dr. Richard Boylan’s Star Seed Identification Questionaire for being a Star Seed Adult (or Child) is 12. On December 25, 2012, I scored 14. Supposedly, this means that, although I have two earthly parents, my origins are partially extraterrestrial through: gene splicing, advanced biomedical technology (of extraterrestrials), from a “walk-in” (in which my soul was replaced with the soul of an extraterrestrial visitor), through sharing my consciousness with an extraterrestrial, or (most commonly) as a chosen earth missionary (emissary). These individuals do not necessarily know that they are Star Seed People. One of the questions, to which I responded affirmatively, asked me about being an Asperger’s Autist.
2. On January 8, 2013, I qualified as a “walk-in” and starperson, based on Doreen Virtue’s quiz.
3. Based on another test, taken on January 9, 2013, there is a 53% chance that I was “abducted” by aliens.
4. From another test, also taken on January 9, 2013, “Your score indicates a suspicious number of events in your background commonly experienced by other abductees. You may want to explore the abduction possibility further.”
5. After taking an “alien implant” test, on January 9, 2013, there is a 65% chance that one was placed, presumably, in my middle right back. The elevated blemish, which has never gone away, first appeared at approximately the same time as my experiences started.

In any event, using common terms from the Vedas (Sanskrit, Vedāḥ, body of knowledge) in Hindūism or Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit for Eternal Support or Sustenance), I have moved from a very jṅāna (Sanskrit for knowledge) approach to life to a much more bhaktī (Sanskrit for engagement, allocation, apportionment, or devotion) one. I am extraordinarily blessed. The following account from September, 2011, describes, so to speak, my personal resurrection:

Fortunately, by enjoying a disciplined life of prayer and meditation, we can work on ourselves and develop our hearts. If we fail to engage in these practices, any personality defects will, over time, be exaggerated. I can sense Great Unravelings deep within human hearts. People I have known over the years are either better or worse, in certain respects, than they were in the past. Cultural meltdowns will, hopefully, move us forwards, but we can also move backwards. With all the social decay around us, souls unprepared, both for this life and for the everlasting one to come, appear to be falling to pieces, or unraveling, inwardly.

Even though the Great Unraveling of the old world order is universal, it is not necessarily a bad thing. Beginning in 2010, after starting my meditations, I began to unravel. I have witnessed my inner being as lower than the sands. Piece by piece, my self and my ways of looking at the world have continued to be torn apart. Most of my points of view, including on the Baháʾí Faith, which I had professed and discussed openly for years were somehow lifted from my awareness. These humbling experiences intensified during a period of reflection over the three-day 2011 Labor Day weekend here in the United States.

The changes began with my Marxist sociology. That perspective is not at all uncommon among sociology professors. On the first days of classes, I introduced myself as a Marxist or neo-Marxist. The two textbooks for my Social Problems course, I told my students, are also Marxist. Academically, I remain on the non-political, neo-Marxian far left. However, in no more than a second, on the afternoon of September 4, 2011, there was a flash. As my eyes remained wide open, the limitations of Marxist materialism were suddenly clear to me. This experience would be, as I later discovered, only the first in a series of visionary lightning bolts or angelic white lights during that weekend.

Instantly, I somehow recognized, within the depths of my heart, that, by accepting Autistic identity politics – like the cultural corrosion resulting from disability, national, racial, or religious identity politics – I had made an awful mistake. The Marxian dialectic, or contradiction, of oppression was immediately resolved, perhaps surpassed as a trans-Marxism, through an inner connectedness with higher unities. There has been no mourning for the loss, and I never looked back. Indeed, it is just one example, in my own life, of what some legends of demonic exorcism might have described.

By leaving idealist critical theory and embracing critical realism, as an emancipatory spirituality, I moved even further toward the intellectual left. As a critical theorist, I naïvely believed that, by developing social solidarity (class consciousness), oppressed or marginalized peoples could, to some degree, be politically emancipated. However, the leaders of the world order, supported by many average individuals, have, I feel, taken us too far down the highway of destruction. By and large, humanity has failed to accept the Promised One of all ages. Without His Prophetic guidance, the path to liberation, it seems to me, includes an accelerated global disintegration.

Furthermore, I have now recognized that identity politics is, in its methodology, Machiavellian, not unifying and consultative:

Saul Alinsky, the founder of the community organizing movement, reconfigured Machiavellianism into a new non-Marxist left. In effect, he turned Machiavelli upside down on his head. The word “Realistic,” from his book’s subtitle, refers to political realism (or pragmatism). It is a theory in political philosophy which focuses upon the strategic pursuit of power. With Alinksy, any power acquired by oppressed peoples is used to advance their emancipation and human rights struggles:

Although issues of power should not, in my view, be disregarded, community building is, overall, a better foundation for development than community organizing:

Significantly, to my understanding, the dear Universal House of Justice, in the following letter, referred to community building, not to community organizing:

On the afternoon of the next day, five minutes after a telephone call with a good friend, which I took as a sign, I decided to change this website from an informal, non-Muslim Ṣūfī path (Arabic★, ṭarīqa), the mysticism of the heart, to Unities of All Things. I started practicing a Ṣūfī-type meditation, more than a year earlier, while working on the resource, Ṣūfī Information Central™. Being very grateful for my personal encounters with Ṣūfism, I began an informal, online Ṣūfī contemplative activity, The Asma Path (al-Ṭarīqa al-Asmāʾ, the Path of Names). Now, however, I am thankful only to the Divine Physician, Baháʾuʾlláh.

Late in the morning of the following day, I rejected nominalism, a view of human knowledge and its limitations. To nominalists, universals, such as “people,” are nothing more than convenient names or categories. There is no underlying essence connecting individual beings or things. Then, in the afternoon, I rejected much of social constructionism, a sociological approach which considers social realities, such as groups, to be completely willful and situational phenomena. Nominalism and constructionism, had, I now recognized, been an eight-year detour from Critical Realism. Similar to my earlier experience concerning Marxism, each of these intuitions was clear and immediate.

In retrospect, I rejected my own self-contradictions. For several years, I was comfortable identifying myself as a Marxist materialist, with respect to sociology, but, simulaneously, as a non-materialist, as a Baháʾí. Without an deep, heartfelt understanding of the unifying attributes of humanity, the rational faculty or human spirit, and the unifying attributes of the universal higher nature, the spirit of faith, I was trapped in the world of nominalism, dualism, disunity, or demireality:

On the day that I recognized the inadequances of nominalism and social constructionism, two related perspectives, I returned to my previous framework, Critical Realism. Enriched through experience, my Critical Realism has been modified by aspects of the other two approaches. Fortunately, I no longer need to tactically maneuver around the ever-present essentialism which I would constantly observe within many Baháʾí Sacred Texts. Since the heart matters most, however, I am not, God forbid, trivilalizing or, worse, condemning the sincerely held viewpoints of others, but for me, personally, each of these experiences felt like inspired acts of repentance.

Somehow, I have also found, I am now able to see into the hearts of people. Much as one might distinguish a pen from a crayon, I can, often rather quickly, discern attributes in souls. Although others might consider this proficiency to be unremarkable, my entire universe, as an Autistic man, has been transformed. With my new perceptiveness, I am more assertive and socially adept. When people attempt to push me around, I will not allow it, or I go away. When they push others around, I calmly push back. There was, however, some resistance to these quiet revolutions. Long-term friendships evaporated. As throughout my childhood, I became the target of intense bullying.

In Charles Dickens’ 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge dreamed of three ghosts: the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. He then abandoned his cynical and miserly ways and, as if he were resurrected, became a new altruistic man. In effect, he repudiated capitalism. Similarly, I realized, following my visionary experiences, that I had rejected many of the fundamental elements of Western civilization. All of a sudden, the concept of resurrection had significant personal relevance.

My view, as a critical realist, is that there is a great cosmic envelope (Roy Bhaskar’s term) incorporates all beings and things at the ground state of their existences. It is a station which many Hindus call advaita (nonduality) and which many Ṣūfīs refer to as ʾal-waḥdat ʾal-wuǧūd (the unity of existence). On the level of the cosmic envelope, of copresence, and of nonduality there is no separation or division between anyone or anything. Existence is, in its totality, an expression of the same spiritual “stuff.” I think that the phenomenon of contact emancipation can be understood as a demonstration of the pervasiveness of the cosmic envelope.

My personal prototype, or ideal type, for devotion is the Bhakṭī or Bhakṭī-Ṣūfī movement of South Asia, including the Indus Valley. I briefly discuss that historical movement’s spiritual impact in two Internet radio broadcasts (MP3 audio file 1 and MP3 audio file 2). The movement’ influence upon South Asia, and even in the Western world, has endured to the present time. Moreover, this stirring deep within the copresence of the heart (al-qalb) was formalized in the Sikhism of Gurū Nānak (1469-1539) and in other lumpenproletarian (from German and Latin, ragged “baby-factories”), or underclass, communities from South Asia.

al-ʾAndalus (الأندلس‎), a word with a disputed etymology, was a medieval Muslim state (roughly, 711-1492 A.D.) which included modern Portugal, Andorra, Spain, and a portion of South France. The Muslim inhabitants of that region have been popularly called the “Moors.” Moreover, according to Shoghi Effendi, the Golden Age of Islām began, partially, in the “outlying territories” of Europe:

In my humble opinion, the devotional center, or flowering, of that Golden Age can be found in the heart-centered Bhakṭī-Ṣūfī movement. Heartfulness Inquiry™, The Unicentric Paradigm™, and Unities of All Things™ in general are devotionally anchored in that South Asian confluence of two spiritual streams. Adopting a critical and postcolonial academic perspective to the movement, both Bhakṭī and Ṣūfī reverential associations in India arose largely from within subaltern (subordinate, oppressed, dominated, or hegemonized) peasant populations, including women, lower-caste Hindūs, and Muslims:

Some insight into the spiritual stature of Gurū Nānak was provided in a letter by the National Spiritual Assembly (NSA) of the Baháʾís of India, dated July 7, 1986, to the State Baháʾí Council of Punjab. That NSA received a letter from the Universal House of Justice, dated October 27, 1985. According to the House of Justice, Gurū Nānak was endowed with a “saintly character.” Moreover, he “was inspired to reconcile the religions of Hinduism and Islam, the followers of which religions had been in violent conflict.” Therefore, the House of Justice blessed Gurū Nānak as a “saint of the highest order”, or, perhaps, a walī Allāh (friend of God).

Additionally, in Hindūism, the Acintyabhedaābheda (Sanskrit for inconceivable oneness and difference) bhaktī tradition originated in Gauḍīyā Vaiṣṇava (Sanskrit for Viṣṇu or Vishnu worship in the Gauḍa territory of modern-day Bangladesh and Bengal, India). It was founded by Caitanya Mahāprabhu (1486–1534 A.D.) and more recently popularized, in the West, by A.C. Bhakṭivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Bhakṭīvedānta Svāmī Prabhupāda, 1896-1977 A.D.). Caitanya’s teaching, in the Bhakṭī-Ṣūfī movement, was uncomplicated. Many later leaders complicated it.

The following is a complete translation of the only known text authored by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam (Sanskrit for an instruction in eight stanzas):

Čištī (Hindūstānī and Persian) was, and continues to be, one of the largest Ṣūfī branches, now divided into numerous orders (al-ṭuruq), in South Asia. Widely known for their openness and tolerance, this branch was an important part of the Bhakṭī-Ṣūfī movement. The founder of Universal Ṣūfism (1914), the Indian-born Hazrat Inayat Khan (Ḥaḍrat ʿInāyat H̱‎an), 1882-1927, identified most closely with the Čištī branch, but his lineage, or chains (al-salāsil) of descent, also passed through the al-Qādirīyah, al-Suḥrawardīyah, and al-Naqšbandīyah branches. He and some of his successors have promoted a generic, as contrasted with a “brand-name,” Islām.

In a sense, Universal Ṣūfism has been a modern revival of the Bhakṭī-Ṣūfī movement:

Ḥaḍrat Sulṭān Bāhū, as a Ṣūfī from the South Asian subcontinent, was another beautiful exemplar of that traditionally commingled, or interfaith, devotional experience. Like Gurū Nānak and Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Bāhū became a brilliant luminary of the Bhakṭī-Ṣūfī movement (approximately 800-1700 A.D.):

I have been a Baháʾí since 1970. I am not a Muslim. Nevertheless, I have been inspired by the deep Ṣūfism (Arabic, Taṣawwuf) of the heart in the poetry and prose of Sulṭān Bāhū. While a mystic by temperament, Bāhū also emphasized the importance of faithfulness to al-Šarʿī’a (Arabic for the Prescription or legal code) within the beautiful religion of Islām. In my view, al-walī Allāh (the friend of God or saint), Sulṭān Bāhū, is among the finest fruits of the religion of Islām. He has been accurately designated, al-Sulṭān al-ʿArifīn (the king or chief of mystic knowers or gnōstics). I have lovingly and sincerely cherished his blessed soul during my inner communions with him.

Acting from the world beyond, beloved Bāhū, peace and blessings be upon him, believe he was among the spiritual sources of the visionary flashing white lights, lightning bolts, or chalices of pure light. Through Bāhū, the discovery of Ṣūfī meditation, and Ṣūfism (Taṣawwuf) more broadly, became, to my understanding, the Blessed Beauty’s chosen instrument of healing from my heart-based deficits as an Autist. Indeed, although I only recognized the eminent Bāhū’s influence upon me in 2011, he may have been with me, guiding me, for my entire life.

The Blessed Perfection led me to Himself, I believe, through a Ṣūfī-type meditation. When I began practicing it in 2010, dear Bāhū, a Muslim during the Islāmic Dispensation, entered my heart and, I strongly feel, showed me the way to my Lord, Bahāʾ. For some inexplicable reason of the heart, I was drawn, above all else, to beloved Bāhū while studying Ṣūfism. My first sensations of empathy, as an Autist, revolved around, first, the pure soul of Bāhū and, second, my adoration for the Blessed Seal Muḥammad as the Source of Ṣūfism. He has been the Object of such misunderstanding. By turning to this man of the heart, I got my own. As Bāhū wrote in one of his inspiring treatises:

Once Bāhū rejected disunity or dualism for unity or nonduality, he was emancipated:

Since I was a child, I have been passionate about both Islāmicate, or Islāmically contextualized, thought and Indian traditions, including Hindūism or Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit for eternal support), Sikhism, and Sūrat Śābda Yoga. Following a meditation on August 17, 2013, I realized that my lifelong inner connection with dear Bāhū might have kindled these twofold interests. Current illustrations include Ṣūfī Information Central™ and Heartfulness Inquiry™, my love for British phliosopher Roy Bhaskar’s philosophy of metaReality. This latest version of his Critical Realism was significantly influenced by a journey toward rediscovering his own Hindū heritage, including bhaktī yoga.

Specifically, I have been attracted to the Bhakṭī-Ṣūfī movement throughout my life. Before I became a Baháʾí, I seriously considered becoming a Sikh. I was deeply disappointed after discovering, through mail correspondence with the Sikh Temple in Stockton, CA, that baptized Sikhs needed to carry a sword and to wear both a turban and long underwear draped around the knees. Since I was already being bullied as an Autist, such unusual accoutrements, especially in the gym locker room, would have only made matters worse. I was not told that not all Sikhs follow those conventions. Perhaps dear Bāhū was protecting me for Baháʾuʾlláh.

Although I was unsuccessful at astral projection or out-of-body experiences, I did come close to joining the neo-Sikh Eckankar organization. It incorporates a similar practice to astral projection. This Americanized branch of the highly schismatic Sūrat Śābda Yoga (Arabized Sanskrit for union through attention to the word) was founded by John “Paul” Twitchell (1909-1971) in 1965. As I recall, only a minor postal miscommunication between me, at around thirteen-years old, and the headquarters (then in Las Vegas, NV), possibly through Bāhū’s intercession, prevented me from becoming a member. Their return letter may have dampened my enthusiasm, but I had already lost interest.

Yet, in my continuing search for angelic contact, I was initiated, after becoming a Baháʾí, into three other Sūrat Śābda Yoga “divisions” or groups: Sri Sri Thakur Anukulchandra Satsang (Śrī Śrī Ṭhakura Anukulācandra Satsaṅga, named for the founder of the organization, 1888-1969), Sant Mat (Sanskrit, Saṅt Mata, the realized one’s doctrine or path), and Spiritual Freedom Satsang (an offshoot of Twitchell’s Eckankar). Any movement, like Sūrat Śābda Yoga, which promotes a primary reliance upon subjective knowledge, or gnōsis, of alleged beings, locations, lights, and sounds in supposedly higher dimensions of existence can rapidly factionalize.

As a matter of record, his angelic presence Sulṭān Bāhū, a Punjābī, was born in Angāh (in the present-day Pākistānī Punjāb), around 1628 A.D., and he died about 1691. His mausoleum is located in Gaṛh Mahārāja (Hindūstānī or “Hindī-Urdū” for Fort of the Great King, which is now in Pākistān). Etymologically, bā is the Fārsī/Persian preposition for “with,” while hū is the Arabic pronoun for “he” (referring here to God). Therefore, Bāhū, which was Sulṭān Bāhū’s given name (from his mother, Bībī Rāstī, Persian for madam truth), can be translated as “with God.” His name came to define his noble character. As Bāhū wrote, in one of his poems, referring to the modest spelling differences between two letters:

Bāhū is regarded as al-imām (Arabic for the pathfinder or founder) of the Sārvarī Qādirīyah Ṣūfī Ṭarīqat (Persianized Arabic for order). Although he would not designate an heir, much as Rebbe Naḥman (1772-1810) of Bratslav Ḥasidic Judaism refused to establish a dynasty (Hebrew, hā-ṣadiqîm, the righteous ones), each has had one or more claimants to succession. Qādirīyah is named after the traditional founder of the original order, ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Gīlānī. Al-Qādir (the capable or competent one) is one of the ninety-nine names of Allāh. Sārvarī (Persian, Hindī, and Urdū for chiefship) refers here to the ʿUwaysī transmission, under the sovereignty of the Blessed Muḥammad, to Bāhū.

Briefly, the word, “ʿUwaysī,” was adopted from the reported case of His Blessed Presence Muḥammad’s contemporary, ʿUways al-Qaranī. According to traditional accounts, he swore or, literally, “sold” (bayʿah), with a metaphorical handshake (more precisely, a handclasp), his allegiance to the Prophet of Islām wholly in the world of spirits (al-ʿālam al-arwāḥ). The two men never met physically. Although the circumstances surrounding the life of ʿUways al-Qaranī may be legendary, or partially so, he has inspired individuals to claim inner spiritual direction, and sometimes even authority over Ṣūfī orders, as a result of similar experiences.

In an ʿUwaysī transmission, authorization (al-iǧāza) is allegedly conveyed, entirely within the heavenly realms, by an outwardly unrelated entity (living, deceased, or even mythological). They have included the dear Prophet Muḥammad, the legendary al-Hiḍr (the Green One), and departed Ṣūfī shaykhs (al-šuyuh, elders), such as the founders of orders (al-ayimma or “imāms,” pathfinders). Soul to soul, sometimes within the otherworldly states of inspired dreams (al-manāmāt) and visions (al-ruʾan), vows of Ṣūfī loyalty, like the oaths of fealty owed to a European feudal lord in the Middle Ages, will be pledged one to another.

Ḥaḍrat Sulṭān Bāhū, God bless his soul, formulated taṣavvur-i ism-i ḏāt (Persianized Arabic for conceptualizing the personal name of God) or, in Arabic, al-taṣawwur al-ism al-ḏāt. The discipline involves visualizing the word, ﷲ (Allāh), being inscribed upon one’s own heart (Arabic, al-qalb). When, through the intercession of the exalted Bāhū, I was inspired, resurrected, and lovingly emancipated as an Autist, I incorporated my own revised version of the exercise into the methodology of Heartfulness Inquiry™. That spiritual application remains the devotional center of Unities of All Things™.

Intriguingly, before I was even consciously aware of beloved Bāhū, I sought out and received personal instruction from an authorized disciple of Gohar Shahi (Persian and Urdū, Guhar Šāhī, Jewel Imperial). He represented the U.S.-based organization, the American Ṣūfī Institute (Devil’s Lake, ND). It has since been renamed as al-Markāz-i Rūḥānī Qādrī, the Spiritual Center of Qādrī (al-Qādirīyah Ṣūfism). This group, presently located in the Jamshoro District (Urdū, Ḏilā-i Ǧāmšūrū) of Sindh, Pākistān, regards Gohar Shahi as a Sunnī Muslim, not as a mahdī or messiah, who welcomed people from all religions.

Gohar Shahi taught various meditative practices, including a type of taṣavvur-i ism-i ḏāt. As I discovered much later, Shahi, after claiming to have an inward, mystical experience with Bāhū, founded a similarly ʿUwaysī branch of Sārvarī Qādirīyah Ṣūfī Ṭarīqa, al-Qādirīyah al-Muntahī (the Qādirīyah order of the Adept), and he developed a set of teachings and meditative practice called the Religion of God (in Urdūized, as well as Persianized, Arabic, Dīn-i Ilāhī). He was, I feel, my personal gate to Ḥaḍrat Sulṭān Bāhū. Born in 1941, and now arguably deceased (2001 or 2003), Shahi is, I believe, my fellow traveller under Bāhū’s watchful eye:

On September 8, 2013, during a reflection, I realized that Bāhū reached out, though Gohar Shahi, and connected more deeply with me. Shahi was, at the time, still in this world:

Furthermore, as a child, I referred to a ventriloquial team, with myself and my younger sibling, as The Karachis. At the time, I was unaware of the origin of the term, but I must have heard it mentioned somewhere. In retrospect, I do not know why I did not call us, simply, The Fosters. Karāčī or Karachi (Urdū, کراچی), a bustling metropolis, is the most populous city in Pākistān and the third largest in the world. Then, on October 6, 2013, it occurred to me, during another reflection, that Ḥaḍrat Sulṭān Bāhū, who lived in modern-day Pākistān, was drawing me close to him.

Modern India has changed. Beloved Shoghi Effendi quoted from His divine Presence Baháʾuʾlláh and described secularism as a menace:

Each of us, I suspect, has multiple guardian angel. During a meditation on August 17, 2013, I had the intuition that one’s guardian angels stay with the individual and guides her to the other members of her spiritual family, souls who share an affinity, in both this world and the world to come. According to the divine Manifestations Baháʾuʾlláh and Muḥammad, peace be upon Them:

Please bear in mind that I do not approach the subjects considered in this book as a social scientist. I keep my empirical work, as an academic sociologist, at arm’s length from my speculations and personal impressions. Basically, these discoveries represent, to me, my spiritual unfolding since becoming “emancipated” from much of my Autism. According to my understanding, as we turn to particular sources of information, regardless of their sources, divine guidance might, God willing, be provided to us. In other words, I do not think that one can legitimately place limitations on God’s loving counsel.

When seeking guidance, through reflection, on my contact experiences, or any other subject, I practice Heartfulness Inquity™. That is to say, as it occurred to me during a meditation on June 5, 2013, I often place myself, self-hypnotically, into a heartful or spiritually receptive state. After directing questions to my heart, I pause to listen for any possible answers. Frequently, thoughts will occur to me at that point in time or in the future. Sometimes I also reflect on the words or concepts in my reflections and dreams. I then repeatedly reflect on the reflections. Layer upon layer, or over and over again, I go deeper and deeper.

The words of the angel to the Prophet Elijah, counseling Him to listen to the “still small voice,” may be similar:

Likewise, according to the founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) George Fox (1624-1692):

Similarly, two other Quakers, William Penn (1644-1718) and Parker Palmer (born, 1939), wrote:

Many people, coming from various perspectives, had premonitions about various Earth-changing events beginning in 2012. My personal intuition is that 2012, or perhaps even its December solstice, marked the end of a respite – an era with mere foreshadowings of unravelling. 2013 through 2021, the nine-year period following the 2012 centenary of the Master’s journeys in the West, will climax on the centenary of the Ascension of ʿAbduʾl-Bahá with the inception of the Formative Age of the Baháʾí Dispensation, and, possibly, the termination of Western global hegemony and the establishment of a world commonwealth.

During the years immediately following 2012, the masses of humanity may actually wish, in retrospect, that popularized interpretations of Mayan astrology, whether catastrophes or elevations of consciousness, were correct. At least in the short term, 2012 might, paradoxically, become a year of nostalgia. However, in the midst of Earth-shaking tribulations or oppressions, the receptiveness to discussions of 2012, no matter the superstitious source, appears to have indicated that many folks are, by future shock, experiencing a planetary neighborhood which, through continuously shifting global relationships, is rapidly changing:

I will now go way out on a limb to detail certain speculations on possible scenarios of events which, if my hunches are corrrect, may play out, globally, over the time period ending in 2021. Needless to say, any or all of the details I shall provide might be wrong. The time frame could also be inaccurate. I am clearly not a seer, and I have no training in the widely disputed discipline of futurism. On the other hand, both seers and futurists have made many mistakes. The sources of my conjectures on the Great Unraveling include the predictions of others, my own intuitions, and dreams I had in 2012 and 2013. Truthfully, I hope and pray that I am wrong.

In my humble opinion, it is impossible for ordinary individuals, though certainly not for the Prophets and God’s chosen ones, to reliably predict the future. People try and try again. New apocalyptic proclamations are being made from day to day. None have panned out. Indeed, many prognosticators have been embarrassed by repeated failures. Good luck or fortune can only take an individual so far. The reasons can, I think, largely be attributed to the well-known gambler’s fallacy. Namely, winning streaks and losing streaks are, statistically, nothing more than chance. Predictions, moreover, can be made for populations, not for individuals.

Perhaps the law of probability will be irrelevant in the great realms to come. In this world, however, all that exists in the future, from a linear human perspective, is a sea of probabilities (and possibilities). We are confronted, throughout our earthly journeys, with tides of options and events. The waves issuing from a single decision can alter everything. Indeed, any change in flow, no matter how slight, might result in an entirely different outcome. Even if foretelling the future is sometimes plausible, the accuracy of the prediction will, I would suggest, generally decrease as the lead time increases.

In addition, many emancipees, individuals who have had contact experiences, have allegedly received, collectively, a twofold message containing dire warnings (MP3 audio file) about coming Earth changes, including treasuring the environment and possible nuclear annihilation. Perhaps, however, perhaps the devastation is simply being subjectively interpreted differently. If these global catastrophes are impending, and at least partially unavoidable, then high-ranking politicians and bureaucrats might legitimately fear the social, political, and economic consequences of provoking widespread panic and chaos.

Therefore, the major reason for secrecy concerning archangels 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 and 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 is 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.

Similarly:

As I already noted, dreams and visions may be simple imagination. However, I might have been given a visionary warning concerning catastrophic Earth changes. Although I have rarely recalled my dreams, in the early morning hours of September 5, 2012, I saw, while asleep, a rapid series of meteors, asteroids, or comets descending all around me. As I stood in a parking lot, a few yards or meters from an automobile, I observed these celestial entities as rocky, fiery meteorites or other objects on the ground. My emotional state in the dream (al-manām), perhaps as a memorable lesson for the future, was, as I recall, bewilderment, not fear.

Parenthetically, on May 7, 2013, a videographer, named Manny, photographed (MP4 video) what may be an asteroid, or another celestial body, approaching the earth:

On March 6, 2013, Slate V, a digital product from Washington Post Newsweek Interactive, dubbed 2013 as the “year of the asteroid”:

Meanwhile, on March 7, 2013, Space.com called 2013 the “year of the comet”:

From NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

DA14 and the Russian asteroid appear to have merely been the spearhead for celestial objects or Earth changes to come. Furthermore, journalist Ben Leach discussed the asteroids and the comet from the week of February 10, 2013, while WSVN-TV (Miami and Fort Lauderdale) reported a fireball sighting in Miami on February 17, 2013, and KNBC-TV (Los Angeles) wrote about yet another fireball on February 21, 2013:

As reported by Bloomberg Businessweek:

Then, at approximately 7:00 AM on April 14, 2013, I awoke suddenly after another possibly precognitive contact dream (MP4 file). As explained in two intelligence briefings, with the second spokesperson confirming the first, the U.S. was making emergency preparations for a limited nuclear attack. Unfortunately, the expectation that the source of these operations was North Korea could be a diversion or misdirection. Instead, that country’s military and political ally Īrān, acting through domestic terrorist cells, might, successfully or not, be the actual protagonist. Although I saw, in the vision, a brown, spherical bomb, the term, suitcase nuke, occurred to me.

On the next day, April 15, 2013, the first major domestic terrorist attack, since September 11, 2001, occurred in the United States (MP4 file). I learned about it by visiting the CNN website. This sad event devastated the Boston Marathon:

I was questioning whether, in fact, I was having contact experiences. Since this subject matter is so speculative, doubt is healthy. Nevertheless, on August 3, 2013, I may have received a confirmation. I suddenly woke up, after about ten hours, following yet another conceivable contact dream. I have not slept that long in years. Among my first thoughts, later in the day, was, “Where was I? Did I have ‘missing time’?” According to David Jacobs, Lyssa Royal-Holt, and Keith Priest:

Cognitively, after becoming somewhat conscious of my surroundings, I was confused, startled, and disoriented. Struggling against physical and mental inertia, I convinced myself, reluctantly, to get out of bed and write down the hypothetical contact experience. I knew, based on past occurrences of this nature, that if I did not immediately record the event, I would forgot all or most of the seeming encounter within just a minute or two. After rapidly scribbling a few handwritten notes, I layed down once again, and, amazingly, I went back to sleep for another ninety minutes.

Here is what I remember, including the possible shapeshifting. A Mideast war, involving Īrān and perhaps other countries, was imminent. I observed two military planners. (One of them reminded me of a personal acquaintance from my college employer). Although these individuals were deeply concerned over the anticipated event, they also appeared to be naïve, ignorant, and even incompetent. Their sense of urgency made no sense to me. I began interrupting and challenging them. “Tensions have been worse in the past. Why now?,” I questioned. “You do not understand what is going on. The situation is very grave,” one replied.

The issue of shapeshifting is addressed in the following three quotations:

More than most presidents in recent memory, U.S. President Barack Obama appears to have aged considerably in his first term (2009-2013). Given the current state of political and, perhaps especially, geological and astronomical affairs, the stresses of his job must be unimaginable. Presuming that the president’s 2012 Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, was fully briefed on current emergency preparedness, the following statement might make sense:

If my impressions are correct, the tightening, in numerous countries, of national security, government surveillance, and penalties against whistleblowers is a rational response to impending natural disasters and the related threats of inconceivable social disorganization, political and economic collapse, and anarchy. Any rational political actor, no matter her party affiliation, would be adopting similar measures. Two major factors appear to be involved: First, the collapse of global capitalism has emboldened many developing societies, such as North Korea. Second, the earth has been disequilibriated through lack of governmental action and profit-driven environmental degradation.

Intensive military planning might also now be taking place. Nations are already competing over dwindling natural resources. However, in the wake of earth changes, or while they occur, certain nations, concerned for their survival, might attempt to plunder the spoils of a chaotic global environment. Many individuals, hungry and thirsty, could behave in much the same way:

Drawing upon information from two different sources, 2013 has been predicted to contain the most significant rate of seismic activity during the peak 2013-2015 period. That hypothesis appears, so far, to have been supported. Eventually, unparalleled devastation was anticipated:

Even relatively poor or weak countries, including North Korea and Syria, might obtain some resources through asymmetrical warfare:

North Korea and other nations, empowered by social disorganization, are flexing their muscles. Throughout the world, military and governmental prepositioning, including cyberwarfare, espionage, and counterespionage, might be occurring right now:

Strange sounds, possibly indicating a rapid intensification of worldwide geomagnetic instability and Earth changes, have been reportedly associated with military monitoring:

In the forty-eight contiguous states of the United States, 2012 became the warmest year on record, but the spring of 2013 brought record-breaking cold and snow:

When making contingency preparations, one of the potentially destabilizing concerns relates to the consequences of climate change:

Getting Americans, across the political spectrum, all stirred up over the gun-control issue, as a cause of imminent civil unrest or even revolution, might simply be a meme of applied stage magic or misdirection, through psychological operations (psyops), from the drastic earth changes, or planetary remodelling, and the resulting warfare possibly anticipated in the imminent future:

As demanded by deteriorating world affairs, the official contingency plan could be to declare martial law in the U.S., out of necessity, in ecologically devastated areas. Speculatively, I doubt whether most military and other government personnel were informed of the sober reasoning behind their orders. Although some transparency, in my view, is generally beneficial, too much of it can be counterproductive and even dangerous. According to radio and YouTube talk-show personality John “J.R.” Moore:

If, by chance, foreign troops are in the U.S., I suspect that their purpose is to reinforce crisis management, not, as some fear, to deprive Americans of certain alleged personal liberties. In the aftermath of extraordinary natural disasters, I would be grateful for anyone’s assistance. Anarchy is over-rated. Additionally, Moore contends, in the next quotation, that the government hopes for a violent response from members of the “gun culture.” That response, he argues, would provide officials with a convenient excuse to disarm the public. Here is Moore’s apparent interpretation of some of the information he was given:

Similarly, according to Dave Hodges:

Who are the visitors? We are, I think, among the new arrivals on the cosmic block. No one owns a planet. The term “visitors” would, in my opinion, be more accurately applied to earthly homo sapien sapiens than to the Archangels of the Inner World. I think that the best approaches to these contact experiences with these preternatural archangels are phenomenological (the subjective understandings of phenomena), not empirical. In other words, I think that the best we can usually do is to rely upon personal reports, including the effect of the experiences on the experiencers.

A more recent emancipation by angels involves a personal, subjective discovery of reincarnation or return (Sanskrit, punar janma, rebirth or, literally, again born). Before discussing the experiences themselves, I will begin with my own understandings of the processes of return and connection. Indeed, all human beings, throughout the univese and in all the worlds of God, are connected to one another. None are truly separate. Collectively, they form the great chain of being, including chains of lifetimes in this world or the unifying essences of human existence:

Certain affinites between beings and things may be divinely ordained. To my understanding, these relationships conform to an order or return not unlike the progressive Revelation of God’s Prophets. For instance, the Prophets, while particular Entities, universally manifest the Holy Spirit or divine Attributes through progressive Revelation They occupy the Stations of both Unity and Distinction. Similarly, rational attributes return to this world, time and time again, as different human beings. Perhaps their shared mission or spiritual connections with one another, sometimes as guardian angels, appear in the thoughts of certain individuals as reincarnation.

Inquisitively, the doctrine of reincarnation might have been a misinterpretation of certain Indic (Hindū, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jain) concepts of dharma (Sanskrit, foundational principle, support, or, more precisely, upholding). From this perspective, some souls may share a common dharma with others both past and future:

According to my speculative view of guardian angelhood, once a true servant of humanity crosses over into the realms beyond, that heavenly being serves a great chain of souls in this world. They become the return or reincarnation of the guardian angel’s spirit, attributes, or life mission. The memories of predecessors have, reportedly, sometimes surfaced during the dream state, through meditation, under hypnosis (MP4 file), or sometimes even automatically. The individuality, however, does not reincarnate. It moves on to other worlds of God and, ultimately, reaches the divine Presence or Will.

For particular individuals, there is no personal saṃsāra (Sanskrit for cycle of births and deaths or, literally, running altogether). Instead, saṃsāra may involve multiple souls, with deep affinities for one another, which manifest the same returning dharmic unifying essence or unity:

Peter Novak discussed an apparently similar idea as the binary soul doctrine:

The first experience occurred while undergoing the professional hypnotic regression on May 5, 2013. A realization came to me that the spirit, attributes, or mission in my own spiritual lineage, the souls with a similar mission or set of attributes who both preceded and will follow me in this world, is a dialectic of unity through isolation. During the session, I related that mission to being, at least in this earthly life, an Autist. Fortunately, diversity is a God-ordained result of the individualization of the human spirit, rational faculty, rational soul, or intellect.

The unity is apparent. It is the divine Message of Baháʾuʾlláh, may peace and blessings be upon Him, and the spirit of the age. I frequently find myself alone in speaking out, in righteous indignation, against the demireality of disunity and conspiratorial, populist bigotry. Yet, I often intentionally put myself into these challenging situations. So be it. Silence on domination is never golden. Although human beings do not approach the Unities of All Things from the same direction, we are, like the flowers of a garden, united in our beautiful differences.

Apparently incomprehensible to some people, I genuinely enjoy being alone. I usually keep the sound off on my cellphone. My isolation and strong sense of social justice has been experienced by my own soul, throughout my life, as Autism:

The second experience might explain the love for dogs which comforted me as an Autistic child. During a March 31, 2013, meditation on my affection for a neighbor’s dog, I had the vivid recollection of living, as a man in my forties, in a prehistoric, or early modern, tribe. My face was fairly rugged. My hair was blonde and moderately long. I had a slight, natural grin and a warm expression. Wild dogs were, in this village among others, being domesticated for the first time. Initially, the hungry canines gathered around the tribal settlement, barking and growling, as if they were on the verge of attacking the community. Blessedly, a wise member of the tribe pacified them by tossing out some animal meat.

As the dogs consumed the food, they panted, wagged their tails, and gradually warmed up to the tribe. Over time, following several similar feedings, they began to live amongst the inhabitants of the settlement. What’s more, the dogs protected the people from the warriors of other tribes, bands of foragers, and wild animals. The dogs also helped the tribal hunters in locating and killing game. As a reward, the dogs were always provided with a portion of the animal. Meanwhile, the youngsters of the tribe treated the dogs, especially the puppies, as well-loved pets. While watching the children gently stroke these creatures on their heads, I smiled.

In the third experience, on May 30 and June 11, 2013, I reflected upon the second of two dreams, perhaps also a screen memory, which I remember from my childhood. I found myself alone in an alien-looking world. A desert stretched out, in all directions, over my apparent horizon. I was lost, abandoned, frightened, and confused. Suddenly, a man, wearing a reddish striped or checkered suit and brandishing a cane, approached me. He looked like an old-fashioned, perhaps stereotypical, carnival barker. These four edited images approximate the costume he wore:

When I asked the unusually attired man, ”Who are you?,” he replied, “Well, I’ve been around for a while.” He told me not to worry. My parents, he assured me, would soon return. The dream ended, or I awakened, without my parents having arrived. Based upon my meditations, I had a loving encounter or contact, with, for lack of a better term, the Archangel Barker. For me, that realm, at the center of my heart, was once literally alien or alienated from me. I became aware of it, and the existence of various Archangels, through dear Bāhū.

In other words, my wonderful contact experience with the Archangel Barker’s inner-dimensional home world, could have been an early communication, or more precisely communion, regarding my possible dharmic mission, unity in isolation. After having remained with me, stored in my distant memories, over these many years, I now find the the dream so comforting. In my oddities, angels have always been with me. For me, these angels include the dear chalice-bearing members of my spiritual family in the heavenly world beyond, some saintly souls on the Earth, and Erintin in the preternatural realms between Heaven and Earth.

As a child, I understandably regarded that dream as a terrifying nightmare. Yet, whether to consider a narrative of the heart as a night terror is, ultimately, a dreamer’s bias. Many of the powerful visions witnessed by St. John, in the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation, might, even now, appear as nightmares to some:

Angels watch over everyone. Others have also connected the angelic light orbs or chalices of pure light, perhaps belonging to souls in this world and the world to come, with preternatural contact experiences:

My Autism has resulted in numerous dialectical contradictions. For instance, Autistic special interests, including my devotion to supernatural and arcane subjects, are a bit like hobbies, but they are really all-consuming passions. I have spent a lifetime searching for celestial contact, but reading books and attending workshops only filled my brain with titillating trivia. Paradoxically for me, many spiritual and religious experiences are governed by feeling and empathy. Relating to God is a social skill. Although I am obviously not an atheist, I can understand the attraction of religiously skeptical positions for many Autists. I thank my Lord and my entire spiritual family for my heart.

Similar to many contact emancipees, I developed, beginning at eleven years old, a strong interest in the paranormal, including palmistry, astrology, numerology, and ufology. As I recall, I also considered myself to be quite good at telepathy, psychometry (connecting with individuals through material objects), and pendulum dowsing. After being attracted to spiritualism or mediumship, I perusaded my family to conduct regular séances using a homemade ouija board or planchette (an upside-down champagne glass). The entity we supposedly channeled called herself “Elizabeth.” Sometimes the glass did appear to move on its own, but suggestibility and wishful thinking can be very persuasive.

Way back in 1968, when I was twelve years old, I developed a framework, using my imaginative intuition, which I hoped, at the time, would, when I reached adulthood, become the new religion of Soulology. I remember writing down my thoughts, while sitting in my seventh-grade classes at Wisdom Lane Junior High School (now, Wisdom Lane Middle School), on scraps of paper. (I have actually continued that practice in my office and while dining in restaurants.) Some of those reflections eventually made their way into the book, Introduction to Soulology. In retrospect, many of my interdimensional proposals were unintentionally hilarious.

That said, my explorations of the issue of parallel dimensions, in Soulology, may indicate an early awareness, perhaps through contact emancipation, of the subject, extradimensionality, which I have one again returned to. Here is one example:

In addition to my extensive library on parapsychology (about 150 books), as a child, three of the ufology books I purchased with my weekly allowance, and loved, were Flying Saucers: Serious Business by Frank Edwards, Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Daniken (the father of the ancient astonauts movement), and The Interupted Journey by John G. Fuller. The last volume dealt with the alleged alien abductions of Betty and Barney Hill. In other words, angelic communication, through all the methods I have described, absorbed my life. Contact, for me, was commonplace yet hidden.

In the early 1970s, I also used to bicycle regularly to the late Anthony J. Fisichella’s The New Age Center in Hicksville, NY. He later moved to Florida and, in 2004, started The Higher Ground Foundation. The Website is now operated by his son Douglas Fisichella. As an Autist, I have often expressed my views rather bluntly. Tony and I rarely agreed on anything. Since I was quite outspoken, he eventually asked me, politely, to stop attending. At the time, I was disappointed and angry. However, I now recognize, in retrospect, that source of the the difficulties was my directness and tactlessnes. Well, I was still a kid.

My mother developed her own paranormal interests, especially creative visualization and, in general, the new age movement. As I recall, her personal conversations with me along with the séances which I initiated were her original influences. (My interests also led another member of my family into two different trance channeling movements). After moving into a gated retirement community, with my father, she developed an interest in Reiki (Japanese energetic healing). In addition, my mother studied Kriyā Yoga (Sanskrit for union through action or effort), which resembles Sūrat Śābda Yoga, under a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda (Parāmʾhaṃsa Yogaānanda). In 1920, Yogananda founded the Self-Realization Fellowship. It continues to this day.

According to my sister, my mother uttered the following words while relating a dream about her own mother:

Regrettably, I know next to nothing about my father’s spiritual life. After I was diagnosed as an Autist, I arranged for a psychiatrist to visit my father. He was displaying some disturbing behaviors, and he was on the verge of being expelled from an assisted living facility. The psychiatrist confirmed to me that my father had the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease coupled with Autism. Although in my father’s later years, we became quite close, we did not, Autist to Autist, have a long-term history of high-quality communication. I deeply love my father. Neither he nor I was to blame, in my view, but our relationship, living in New York City and later on Long Island, was quite dysfunctional.

Prior to developing Alzheimer’s disease, I do know, through my sister, that my father claimed to be in contact with my departed mother, In context, after my mother’s death, my father was having a difficult time managing his activities, including paying the bills. Truth be told, he had never lived on his own before. My sister recalled his words:

Finally, I have compared my experiences with those of others. For instance, according to hypnotherapist Craig Lang:

I also apparently satisfy these criteria for contact experiences, including an interest in science fiction and humming or buzzing:

On June 1, 2013, I reflected on a possible connection between my contacts and my interests in science fiction. I, like my father, was passionate about the subject. Although he preferred reading novels, I enjoyed movies and television series. In my childhood, I was drawn to Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, The Outer Limits, and especially The Adventures of Superman. As an adult, my interests shifted to the Star Trek franchise (particularly, Deep Space Nine), Babylon Five, and Stargate SG1. Perhaps I now understand the major reason I have, at different stages of my life, been so intensely drawn to spiritual, mystical, and esoteric subjects and to science fiction. They were more than curiosities.