Late night thoughts on a day of trance and geekdom

This was one of those days that would make any physical fitness trainer cringe.... :-)

I spent the day at work, putting in some OT with my keester firmly planted in the chair in front of my computer. My objective was to try to get some more of my after-hours "science project" going. This is a project to develop some extra tools associated with some of the gizmos that our group has developed over the years. It is purely an after-hours experiment. The beauty of it is that for me, it's pure creativity and it's teaching me a bunch of new stuff. And I got it running - almost - I think....

It's totally extracurricular and thus, little or no time exists on-hours to work on it. Since I am at a rather interesting point in the project, and at a point where the work could actually do some good, I thought I'd go in and work on it some today. I went in late morning and sat at my computer at work until nearly 5PM. At that point, the bowl of cereal I had had for breakfast had long since gone and I suddenly realized that I was horrendously hungry.

Enough was enough... :-)

I guess many of us have our geeky phases, and recently I have been one of them. When I got home, after eating a rather hearty supper, I pulled out my laptop and remoted into work. I spent several more hours finishing up the work I had been so deeply entranced in all afternoon. As I watched various rather lousy TV shows, I sat there in my living room with my nose in my laptop, programming until only a couple of hours ago. But the bottom line is that this next phase of my science project now works.

I realized how out of touch I had been with the world outside when I suddenly realized that it was pouring out there. It was a powerful, but straight-down rain - something we have needed for weeks. And at the same time, the sun was out, low in the western sky and shining under the clouds. The result was a beautiful golden hue to the world, something I would have completely missed if Gwyn hadn't called my attention to it. I pulled myself out of my laptop and looked outside. It was gorgeous.

A few hours later, as I finished up the programming work (it worked!!!), I put aside my laptop and got ready to take the pups for a walk. Again, I realized how I had pretty much ignored the world around me, as it was now pitch black outside. The Moon was setting, a sliver in the west, and the sky was cloudless - full of stars (well, as full of stars as it gets, here in the city). After several days of hot, there was now a chilly north breeze - heavenly.
And I could easily have missed it all.... :-)

One thing I notice when I have spent quite a few hours at the computer, either writing or programming. Your emotions are somewhat ajar. I won't call it depression, but it feels almost as if there's something missing. There is a sense of being in trance, being deeply absorbed while actually doing the work. But then when putting it aside, it feels just like coming out of trance too fast - slightly disorienting. I noted that on some occasions at work, when I have been intensely into a programming project, I sometimes feel slightly down after putting it aside - say, for lunch or at the end of the day. I think it's that same rapid emergence from trance, a sudden, involuntary switch of ego states.

Becoming absorbed in something like computer work or in reading a good book occasionally seems to take one into as deep a trance as any self-hypnotic induction. Indeed, all trance really is is a selective focus and a suspension of disbelief, which was defintely the case this afternoon as my mind focused in on one programming problem after another.

It's time to pack it in - the end of a long day of waking trance and focused geekdom.

Not as simple as it seems - one mystery becomes another

CL Note: This article is a draft of this month's The CE4 Corner article

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When is an extraordinary event not an extraordinary event? - and then - when does it become yet another mystery?

One of the most common descriptions of close encounters is the late-night intrusion. In the most typical scenario, the abductee is lying in bed. Suddenly he/she (most often, she) finds herself unable to move. A sudden wave of fear sweeps through her, accompanied by a sense of presence. The entity may touch the experincer, then attempting to float her out of the bed and through the wall or closed window and up to a waiting UFO. At that point the abduction experience has begun in full. In total, the opening events of the abduction scenario is often given the label "sleep paralysis."

In most cases of hypnotic regression, this bedroom intrusion is the beginning of yet another encounter between the experiencer and her visitors - most of the time, but not always. Occasionally, once into trance, the experiencer describes the onset of sleep paralysis. I can see the confusion and fear in her face as she relives the paralysis, the fear and the appearance of the - whatever... I usually respond with "please continue" - often adding hypnotic deepening instructions to take the exepriencer further into trance and into the experience. Often the experience deepens and the UFO encounter begins. But sometimes - nothing...

Most often, the best way to develop detail during a regression is by repetition, moving through the events repeatedly, developing detail each pass through. We repeated this several times, and once again - nothing. Increasing detail emerged about the sleep paralysis events, the experiencer's dreams, and the surrounding events of the evening. But nothing further appeared indicating an alien encounter scenario. We repeated the narrative multiple times, looking for detail. We developed the scene as much as possible; then it was not ethical to push any further. And so we left it at that. Was there an alien abduction? We may never know. As far as we can tell, there was only the experience of sleep paralysis. The result at first seems simple, but then again, things are not always as simple as they seem...

In a few cases, even when no event was found, the experiencer may have describeed physical marks on her body. There may be physical evidence or medical side effects. Early this year, in one such case, an experiencer described major scratches on her body, along with the residual fear and other classic overt signs of possible close encounters in her life. This happened multiple times in the previous two years, scratches on her body having no apparent prosaic cause. What was taking place? Again, we don't know...

In this particular case, the experiencer described a presence. While in deep trance, she described a being unlike anything in my case files (or to my knowledge, in the literature). She described the feeling of being scratched, feeling some type of instrument rubbing against her skin and then - again, nothing...

What did this person experience? I don't know - to me this case remains a mystery. It takes its place in my case files as an ambiguous cross between the dream realm and the physical realm, an overlay of realities so often seen in encounter cases. This event doesn't appear to be UFO-related, but what was it? I suspect this will remain unexplained.

Not a UFO abduction, was it something else? Was it a dream? Was it a phyisical intrusion? Or was it something else we do not understand? One mystery has become another. Whatever happened, the truth is not as simple as it seems...

"The Christian view is..." - Thoughts on Religion and Hypnosis

Luke 17:19 Then Jesus said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

John 8:32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

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The last few weeks have seen some interesting interactions with folks I don't normally hear from - conservative Christians. The first was at the wedding reception of a friend of mine who belongs to a conservative congregation. Then came interactions with a coworker who has conservative religious views. Finally, it involved several hypnosis clients - all of them close encounter experiencers. Of these, one recent event brought home to me the sometimes-bone-jarring discord between narrowly-defined religion (any religion, Christianity, Islam, Rationalism, New Age, etc...) and the quest to determine the nature of the world around us.

In this case, occuring a few weeks ago (the case detals are obfuscated to maintain confidentiality), a client approached me for a regression to understand some unexplained events that had happened to her. A MUFON investigator had previously interviewed this witness and subsequently, I arranged to do a regression with her. We confirmed the appointment and all seemed well...

A few hours before the session, I got a call from her. It turned out that her husband was a fundamentalist Christian and was extremely upset about her going to see a hypnotist. In his view, hypnosis was part of the occult and thus evil. I talked with her over the phone and assured her that hypnosis is not a religious practice and is fully compatible with the client's religious beliefs. I told her that I had worked with clients of very deep Christian faith and that the result had only been a deepening of that faith. In the background, I could hear the husband, increasingly angry, telling her that I was corrupting her, and so on.

Later, as the wife was driving in from outstate to see me, I got a call from the husband, lambasting me for being unChristian, doing evil and corrupting the faithful. I thanked him for sharing his views with me and tried to explain again that hypnosis was actually an everday phenomenon, not having anything to do with the occult. Before I could say anything, however, I was met with a dial tone.

Each of us has our own views of the world. Depending upon how secure one is in their beliefs, those views can be rigid and forceful, or they can be part of an inquisitive search for ever-greater understanding of God's Universe. Furthermore, each of us has a vast repertoire of healing tools available to us. The powers of the subconscious mind, for good or ill, are tremendous. The mind can heal us or it can make us ill. Beliefs can bring us harmony or discord, war or peace. In this case, I was met by the anger of the husband, and then - when the client actually arrived - by a very self-assured, understanding peace.

Was the client's husband threatened by the prospect of discovery? Did the idea that we might learn something counter to his own beliefs frighten him? I'll never know. He wouldn't even talk to me.

I did some exploring on-line and found the website which (I think) was the source of his beliefs: a fundamentalist website, http://www.gotquestions.org/. In this case, the article was entitiled Should a Christian ever get involved with hypnosis?. The answer in the article was, of course, "no." To summarize the article's arguments, hypnosis opens the mind to suggestion. This allows the possibility of evil to creep in; the devil prowls around the periphery and could influence the faithful at any opportunity. It also claims that hypnosis requires the relinquishing of control to the hypnotist. Furthermore, it states that hypnosis shares techniques with other "occult practices" such as Transcedental Meditation and Yoga, both associated with "spiritual darkness."

To me, this dramatizes the lack of understanding of hypnosis by the author. Often, when faced something counter to our beliefs, something we don't understand, the result if fear. Thus, let me address the fears of Fundamentalists, sheding light on the darkness and rigid thinking that causes such fear.

1) Hypnosis requires the client to yield control to the hypnotist, rendering them vulnerable

This argument presupposes that the client has yielded control, which is incorrect: Hypnosis has nothing to do with control. While in a hypnotic state, the client has full control of his/her own thoughts and beliefs. God gave us the power of the human mind for this exact reason.

Rather than control, hypnosis is based upon focus. While one can focus on alot of different things, in hypnotherapy this particular focus is on healing. In any state of hypnotic consciousness, be it the full waking state or the deep trance state, the client has full self control and can choose to exit hypnosis or to reject a suggestion at any time.

2) Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness which renders the client suggestible, allowing the devil to corrupt the beliefs of the faithful.

Hypnosis is a normal state of consciousness. If you have ever had a daydream, you have been in hypnosis. If you have ever become absorbed in a good book (yes, even The Good Book), you have been hypnotized. Each of us spends a brief period of time in spontaneous hypnosis during each cycle of conscousness (the ultradian biorhythm is about 90 minutes on length). Thus, far from being an altered state of consciousness, hypnosis is a part of our normal every-day state of being.

The human mind is by-nature critical. Each of us has a powerful God-given ability to discern true from false. In hypnotic parlance, this is called the Critical Faculty, and during the hypnotic process, this ability is intact. As stated earlier, no suggestion that goes against the client's own beliefs will pass through this critical barrier. Furthermore no ethical hypnotherapist (or minister, for that matter) will ever ask you to act in a way that is counter to your own moral standards.

3) Hypnotism emphasizes focus within us, rather than a focus on Jesus.

This argument uses the words of the hypnotist, but misunderstands their meaning. Focus is indeed a core of hypnosis. However, the fundamentalist argument misunderstands what is meant by "within us." In most systems of religious belief, including Christianity, what is within and what is beyond are deeply intertwined. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6:19, states "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own." The idea of hypnotic healing from within is simply another way of describing this focus on God within us. By allowing God to work with and through us, we can allow Spirit to bring us healing, according to whatever religious beliefs we hold.

4) The techniques of hypnosis are similar to those of other occult beliefs. Indeed, the founders of hypnosis practiced "occult" practices. Practices such as Yoga and Transcendental Meditation are descendents of such occult practices and use techniques similar to those of hypnosis.

This argument takes out of context some ideas which have a grain of truth to them. Hypnosis is indeed a set of tools and techniques which can be used for varying purposes. Such techniques are used by many religions, including Christianity. Furthermore, symbols and activities within Christianity, such as chants and hymns in consciousness-altering tones, stained glass windows and similar visual effects, bells, and even prayer itself - all could be seen in terms of the hypnotic process, allowing the faithful to be more open to a spiritual message.

Ultimately, once the rational arguments have been made, we still need to ask, "what does the Christian have to fear from hypnosis?" The key word in this question is "fear." It is fear of the unknown, fear of that which fundamentalism can not control, and fear of that which may challenge a rigid and yet insecure view of the world. For those who are secure in their world view and religious faith, I suggest that there is nothing to fear and everything to gain from spiritual exploration. In exploration, we gain understanding. From understanding, we find truth - and in the words of Jesus, the truth will set us free.

So what is the "Christian view" of hypnosis? In this Christian's view, the answer is that hypnosis is a wonderful gift from God, a normal part of human existence and a powerful tool for healing.

Flickers of understanding in a distant sky

It's flickering outside. Off to the south, there is a big thunderstorm going on. There are severe weather warnings and even a tornado somewhere off to the west-southwest. It's been that sort of day - stormy with flickers of light...

"I love the sky, deep and blue by day, dark and infinite by night..."
These are the first words in The Cosmic Bridge. They begin a long train of thought about mystery, and possibly even understanding of something brand new. But one thing that the words don't speak of - that time when the sky is neither blue nor starry - when it is stormy, rainy and full of lightning and thunder. And the last few days have been like that.

I think I have learned a lot in the last few days. Some of it has been technical - learning more about my new project at work (the day job) and realizing how much more I have to learn before I feel confident in that new environment. Another thing I have learned has been political - gaining more insight into the politics of large-corporate-America, the place I lovingly call CubeWorld. I realize that, regardless of how well I do at my job, I will always be "merely" a technical contributor. And as a senior staffer in my current company this will always be a handicap. I'm just not political enough. Yet, while that may be a handicap in CubeWorld, I believe that in my overall role in life, that is a good thing.

Today I got a couple of interesting nibbles at the possibility of a different day job (hope my boss never reads this). It turns out that the req was from a smaller company (the headhunter wouldn't say who, of course) and was for a junior engineer. I was a bit too senior for them, like about twenty years too senior. Yet it got me to thinking - in another company, would I do better? Getting away from the hierarchical CubeWorld-esque politics of my present company, would I do just fine as a project lead and architect? About 10 years ago, I really loved engineering, including being a lead. Is it possible that, with the right cube in CubeWorld, I could do so again? Or has my life path so completely changed direction that the a job higher up in the hierarchy (where I'm supposed to be in my present company) is simply no longer 'me'? I'm not sure, but in doubt, there is also understanding - a flicker of lightning in a distant sky...

I like where I am at the present time. Thus, much of my kvetching is really about the overall culture of CubeWorld, especially in my old role (yeah, the one in my old blog, where I got the excremental review a few months back). What I have mostly disliked is the sense of always being judged, of needing to look better than your peers when "calibration" time comes. Each moment, in whatever you do, you have to think of how that would look on your next review. There is the right thing to do, and the career-expedient thing to do. And as I've found out, the two are sometimes very different indeed.

Still, I have enjoyed my new role, developing and maintaining software for tools in our group. I like rolling up my sleeves and getting into the nuts and bolts of the software (and now, of the electronics). I am an engineer at heart, but I am also a healer. I would dearly love to be able to combine the two in a way in which I could learn alot, create and develop new ideas, and be at peace (and in synergy) with the organization where I work. I think about that each time the phone rings, and each time I understand a little more. It is one of those flickers of light in the storm clouds - I love the sky.

In the last couple of weeks, I have also had some interesting breakthroughs in the hypnotherapy world. I'm sure I could use some sales training (another major but sobering realization), but as a hypnotherapist - once again, as a technical expert getting things done - I dare say that I excel. And the last two weeks have brought me affirming and heart-warming reinforcement for that notion.

In a nano-interview with a radio station last week the DJ asked me what I most loved about being a hypnotist. My response was the feeling when I observe (and experience) healing take place. And several recent cases have truly reminded me of exactly this point - of just why I do hypnotic healing work.

In each case, I pursued the multiphased "path" methodologies of hypnotherapy, developed by the Banyan Hypnosis Center. Initially, this involves taking a client back in regression to the initial sensitizing event (the ISE), and then inviting them to reframe the experience. Often we reframe through a process called "Child in the heart". This involves the person's "inner child" (the piece of consciousness build around their childhood experiences). In each case, this little child, who had felt alone and unloved, a bundle of pain at the very core of the person's heart, was emotionally held tight against the adult client's heart and soul. Often this is described to me like being held by the mother they never had, and in each case, the resulting outpouring of love and understanding was a heart-wrenchingly beautiful thing to behold.

Next came forgiveness-of-others (or FOO, in "path" lingo). The result, again, was what one client referred to as one of the most profound things he had ever experienced. Like the other clients of recent days, this man suddenly realized just what motivated the person who had mistreated him early in life. He felt a sudden flash of insight, a quantum hyperjump of forgiveness in his heart and soul.

Whenever I see this forgiveness occur, it looks as if someone lifted a 50 pound weight off the person's shoulders. When one person got out of the chair at the close of the session, I could clearly see that he stood taller. Often the person feels lighter and more agile - and above all, feels free. And all of this is because of that little flicker of lunderstanding, like a glimpse of distant lightning in the clouds.

Both in hypnotic healing work and in just about any other endeavor or life challenge, a moment comes when we realize the joy that comes when the long journey has finally reached a turning point. For some, that turning point may be the whole purpose. For others, it is merely the accidental discovery that the journey through darkness had a reason, and that reason can be forgiven. Sometimes that flicker of understanding is enough. It allows one to cast aside the weight of anger and shame that bears down the shoulders and burdens the heart. We cast aside the burden and are free.

The distant lightning is beautiful. This evening I loved watching the storm in the distance, seeing how the flickers of light frame the clouds. It shows how the billowy clouds of the storm have a beauty all their own - even as they may bring drenching rain and perhaps even destruction to those beneath them. They have their purpose and their role in God's creation.
It is a beautiful flicker of understanding in a distant sky, an understanding of just how much I have learned, and how far I have to go. I love the sky...

Notes from the 6/13/09 MUFON Meeting: some fascinating glimpses and some disturbing questions

This afternoon, the monthly Minnesota MUFON meeting held some interesting glimpses into aspects of the UFO phenomenon that I don't normally focus upon.

The first half of the meeting was a talk by Tom Tulien, a principal in the Project Sign Historical Group. Tom is a historical researcher, documentary film-maker and consumate investigator. He talked about some of his digging into the nooks and crannies of vital cases from the 1940s through the 1960s. These included extensive digging through archives and old documents. But foremost, it has involved tracking down and interviewing primary witnesses to the original events, first-hand accounts of UFO history.

Tulien's work has included investigations into sightings at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota - especially the 1956 Radar/Visual Incident involving a confrontation between a B52 and a UFO. He also discusses the evolution of projects such as Sign, Grudge and Bluebook. Of these, he states that only Project Sign was a serious effort, during the 1950s to investigate this anomalous presence in our skies. After the Estimate of the Situation in 1949 and the convening of the Robertson Panel in 1952. Estimate of the Situation concluded that they were probably extraterrestrial in nature. While a concern in many ways, they did not appear to threaten us. Thus, the conclusion was that UFOs were not a national security concern. At that point, UFOs became more of a public relations problem than a research endeavor for the USAF.

Tulien also talked a little bit about his views on various other aspects of the UFO phenomenon. He indicated that he doesn't think the question of the origin of UFOs is answerable (or at least verifiable). He said he focuses on historical research because, in his view, it is tagible. We can document interviews, locate and publish documents, sequence and interrelate historical events, etc. In short, his goal is to bring to light past evidence of an extraordinary phenomenon in our skies. He especially calls abduction research subjective and says that he is more concerned about the objects themselves, sighting events that are more easily documented.

The second half of the meeting was a talk by Michael Schratt, an aerospace historian who specializes in research into black projects. Schratt talked at length about various deep black projects that have since come to light. He looked extensively at the early aircraft development projects at the Lockheed Skunk Works. Then he looked at the more recent developments, such as the F117 fighter, the B2 bomber, the Joint Strike Fighter, etc. He discussed several probable current projects such as Aurora, the F19(?), the TR3b and several additional black budget projects.

He discussed some other topics such as the increase in the black budget since the start of the Reagan administration. The deep black budget mushroomed from about one billion dollars to over 9 billion [CL Note: need to verify these figures]. It has since continued to increase, even under the Obama administration.

Schratt included discussion of some probable current leading-edge aerospace projects, such as an in-depth look into the TR3b, the alleged triangular craft that uses electrogravitics for propulsion. He developed the case that the B2 uses similar technology, oppositely charging the leading edge and the exhaust to exploit the Beifeld-Brown effect - a gravitational assist that allegedly allows the B2 to travel far and wide in the world with minimum fuel consumption.

Finally, Schratt touched upon some possible ultra-advanced projects. He suggests that there are possible space-worthy electrogravitic craft, ready and perhaps already being used. Do we truly have a secret space program already in action? Is our rocketry-based civilian space program actually little more than a shell? While I remain quite skeptical of these assertions, the questions are intriguing.

If the answer to any of these questions turns out to be affirmative, then it means that there is a lot of extra-constitutional activity being conducted by those whose job is supposed to be to uphold and defend that very constitution. Schratt touched upon the clause in Article 2, section 9 of the constitution which states, "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriationsmade by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts andExpenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time."

This mandates a public accounting of expenditures from the public treasury. However Schratt pointed out that an examination of the 1994 military budget revealed that a discrepancy of several [didn't get the exact number] billion dollars existed between the itemized project lines and the bottom line. This can only mean that other endeavors - deep black projects - are consuming the remainder. What are these? We can only guess, but Schratt had some suggestions - and those suggestions were amazing indeed.

Especially if the allegations are true that we have a secret space program, then we are already in the heavens, carrying our military agenda with us. In The Cosmic Bridge, I develop the idea that our cosmic neighbors would probably take a dim view of we warlike barbarians carrying our nukes and death-rays out into the interstellar realm. Indeed, would this be allowed? I tend to doubt it. Yet I have no way of knowing for sure.

Ultimately, if this is true, that we have a secret military space program, then it constitutes a tremendous unauthorized expenditure of money. It implies that the military-industrial complex and the deep-black world is harboring advanced technology that could advance humanity by years. This is the claim of organizations such as the Disclosure Project and the Paradigm Research Group, as well as others working to lift the lid off the secret world.

I've always been skeptical about most ultra-advanced-technology deep-black-project claims. Furthermore, I have put them off as a different area from my own focus - alien abduction. Yet all aspects of the phenomenon are related and so this could somehow feed into areas of interest to my own research. How, I don't know - but crosstalk between specialty areas is common.

In the mean time, in the world of deep black, the endless flow of dollars goes on. And from the work of people like Tom Tulien and Michael Schratt, we discover that there are indeed a lot of questions - and some of them may have some disturbing answers.

The wonder of magic

Just got home from work, the day job that is, after about a 12 hour day. The day ended with my Linux machine dying - at least the network connection within it, which is like rendering the machine deaf and dumb. So I got ahold of the maintenance technician, who gave me a new Ethernet card. Plugged it in - no joy... So it wasn't the card - that meant it was something else more fundamental. I took the machine down to the repair shop and left it with the tech there. He called me a few hours later and told me that they didn't maintain machines that old. So - now what... And that's how my workday ended.

I thought I'd come home and write for a few hours, and I still might. But for the moment, I decided to turn on the TV and veg out for a cwhile. I found a movie on the ABC Family Channel - Eragon. It's playing as I write this, a delightful story of dragons, magic, swordplay, battle and courage. It is also the story of good and evil, and how the two are often hard to distinguish from eachother.

There are days when I wonder what it would be like to be a mythical healer. I wonder what it woudl be like to live in a world where one could use like magic and wizardry for healing, exploration and prophecy. I've been told on several occasions that I'm quite intuitive - one reader once told me that that's where my future is. And today, that seems really appealing.

I guess that, in our society, a hypnotist is something close. In many ways, it is the application of right-brained spiritual work to healing, exploration, etc. - using my superpowers for good, of course. :-) Not sure about the prophecy part, but LBL regressions/progressions probably come close. Also, playing with Peter Sanders' book You are Psychic has been a lot of fun, as have been RV exercises we did in the NCN Psi room a few years ago.

The contrast is impressive. Some times the left brain calls, some times the right brain calls. At times, I love being a programmer and an engineer, working on healing technology (that is, if my Linux box doesn't die on me). It's the closest we can come to being a wizard in this society.
On the other hand, probably the greatest passion in my life is research and healing using the sub/superconscous. And in our society, maybe that's the closest we come to the wonder of magic.

The Other Craig's List - Publisher hunting for The Fifth Key

It's time to start working on the list - the other "Craig's List"... :-)
That list is very different from the Craig's List everybody is familiar with. And it is also much more limited in scope. Specifically, it is a list of publishers and literary agents for your's truly to send my manuscript to. Yes - my project, The Fifth Key has gotten to that point.

I first started the process of publisher hunting when I was getting ready to release The Cosmic Bridge. I started the process of finding an agent and had several solid nibbles. I sent my manuscript off to one of them and got a significant response back - just not the one I had hoped for... :-)

I ultimately decided that getting "Bridge" published the traditional way would take too long, and the message needed to get to the right ears as soon as I could get it there. So I decided to self-publish it on my storefront on lulu.com, arguably one of the biggest self-pub houses, and to my way of thinking, the most convenient of the POD publishers. But enough about The Cosmic Bridge. Now it's time to focus on The Fifth Key...

The Fifth Key ("5K" for short) is a novel about in-depth alien contact - initially at the close of the last civilization over 12K years ago (the prolog) and then in the present day. Why are they here? In my novel, this remains a mystery. We only know that there are two opposing parties, the Pleiadeans and The Reptillians. Each want different futures for Humanity. And caught in the middle of the conflict are Kip and Susan, two abductees and "Children of the Stars." The result is a tale of anomalies, alien contact, government intrigue and paranormal suspense. And I sincerely hope the reader loves it.

So now it's time to get it out there, time to shop "5K" to agents and publishers. Meanwhile, I am beginning to write the next book in the series, Children of the Stars (both the series name and the sequel name). It took me long enough to write 5K - hopefully Children of the Stars will go considerably faster. Yet like The Fifth Key, "Children" is a work of organic fiction, grown out of the experiences of many people around me - Abductees, contactees, Indigo children, the psychically awakened, men in black, law enforcement, government agents and those who have encountered them - just to name a few.

So here's to the next step - the next line on "the other Craig's list"...

Software Testing Karma... :-)

Had a lot of interesting experiences with software in the last day or two:

• At the day job, a piece of code that I work with extensively suddenly decided to quit working. Somebody out there in the net environment apparently changed something - a link probably - that the code relied upon.
• While I was trying to fix that, I got a couple of calls from people in other departments. It seems they invented some new ways to make the software I have been working on fail.
• Tried to add a guest book and link to this blog on my website. Found that the Bravenet.com guestbook doesn't quite work as advertized. It provides an editor to update the header of the blog, etc. When I placed the cursor over the save button of the editor, the bar at the bottom of the browser displayed the message "error on page". This was also the case when I tried to enter a test posting from the my website (page I was building, not published yet). So I guess no guestbook yet.
• I also tried to create a blog using Bravenet. I had hoped that it would be possible to use RSS to import the blog posts from this blog into my site. No such luck... :-(
• Meanwhile, back at the day job, running tests on another project, today, I found that both the tester and the software under test were thoroughly hosed.

I take my job as a software tester quite seriously. Sometimes, the karma must build up, though, the karma of a software tester. Since I break software for a living, the Universe must now be reciprocating, reflecting my karma back to me. It is now breaking software for me, as well... :-)

Things getting done...

It's late at night (early in the morning, actually), and I should be going to bed. Got a full day tomorrow. But still - I feel like celebrating a bit...

I just got a whole bunch-o-stuff done, culminating in finally (after WAY too long a delay) getting my edits done to The Fifth Key. At long long long last, it's finally ready to shop out to agents, publishers and the like. The fun stuff is done, I guess... :-)
I've also heard that as you're starting to shop your manuscript out for publication, it's best to start working on your next book. Otherwise, you go nuts - if you're entire focus is on dealing with rejection slips - but my book is going to sell quickly, so I won't have to deal with many of those rejection slips - right? - :-)

I also have the essentials done on my website - www.craigrlang.com. So for a couple of days I can relax. Then it will be time to get back at it.
New items to check out:
- A guest book
- Adding this blog to my website to replace my old Yahoo360 feed

I also want to look into adding a poll of some sort. I'm really interested in learning more about the relationship between Indigos and Experiencers. Is one group a sub/superset of the other? Or is there only a partial overlap? So I think I will start with something like SurveyMonkey.com or similar, and start playing with surveys....

All for now. Sack time...

Dead Presidents and Spiritual Teachings

Today, an e-mail appeared on a hypnosis e-mail list that did some major saber rattling about copyright infrigement of some very effective spiritual teachings. In several of my recent advanced hypnosis certification classes, we have studied a number of healing modalities - extremely effective ones - that use these specific spiritual/metaphysical concepts. The actual material used is held proprietary by its author, and is very jealously guarded - so much so that, according to the e-mail, one hypnotist who misused it lost his National Guild of Hypnotists certification.

This particular material is quite powerful, but is certainly not unique. To me, the beauty of it is that the material is standard between any of the hypnotists who studied at that particular school. However, the material being so jealously copyrighted has tended to reduce some of its effectiveness. So the question arises - how do you mix money and spirituality?

Where is that line between the need of the practitioner (hypnotist, teacher, etc.) to earn a fair living and the spiritual material manifest for the betterment of Humanity? To me, it is a delicate balance. Yet in a way, witholding spiritual revelatory material, such as is being done in this particular case, seems to me to be a misuse of that material. Is this the case?

In my view, the author has the right to dictate - and enforce - his publication rights to the material. Yet does material that powerful require special consideration? Would Jesus copyright the Sermon on the Mount if it were given today? Would Mohammed copyright the Koran? Would John of Patmos copyright the book of Revelation? - and so on... If material is truly spiritual or scriptural in nature, should it be copyrighted, or should it be public domain, perhaps with some way of ensuring the respect it deserves.

I have often wondered; were I to manifest some deeper spiritual truth, would I do the same? Would I copyright it prior to publication, then limit its replication and charge people for it's use? Or would I follow the ultimate path of devotion and put the material in the public domain for all to learn from? Is there a point between these two ends of the spectrum?

In short, do we owe our allegiance to dead presidents - e.g. to money? Or do we owe it to Source/God/The-Universe, the source of such teachings, and to Humanity, their ultimate benificiary? What is the truly ethical thing to do in this case? And what would you do?

Another view of alien encounters - the numbers and the purpose of alien abduction

I just got done reading an article in the Seattle Exopolitics Examiner indicating that there were up to a billion abductees in our present-day population. The title of the article, Up to 1 billion humans are abducted by hyperdimensional ETs, and humans are in cognitive dissonance, says it all. The author of the article is Alfred Lambremont Webre, one of the wheels in the Exopolitics community - those concerned with human-Visitor political relations(?).

In the article, Webre cites a recent interview with Joe Montaldo, the head of ICAR (International Community for Alien Research), in which he talks about new research indicating many more extraordinary encounters than previously believed. This contrasts with the 2002 Roper poll of unexplained experiences, which states that about 1.4% of Americans (about 2.9 Million) have met all five of the experiential criteria to be considered an experiencer [my paraphrase, CL]. However, Joe Montaldo says his research indicates that about 14% of the population has had abduction experiences.

I am not yet familiar with his research methodology, so I can't make any claims about his results. In my view, we have to reserve judgement on his results until we know more. Still, he claims that the data comes from abductees, themselves. However, we do not yet know how this information was obtained, how it was compiled, what the sampling criteria were, etc. Thus, for the moment, I have to take his numbers with a grain of salt.

In my article, The Logistics of UFO Abduction, I apply some mathematical tests to the idea of nuts and bolts alien abduction. I plug in some numbers from various researchers and conclude that if a physical abduction phenomenon is going on, it must be on the scale of the Allied war effort during World War II. Thus, a Visitor civilization must put a very high priority on the success of such a program. However, it also means that the skies of our planet must be chock full of UFOs at any moment, more UFOs than we apparently see. Thus, I call this the "Air Traffic Cotrol Problem."

In my article, I state that several possible resolutions to this paradox exist:

1. Each abductee has far fewer experiences than Dr. Jacobs claims.
   
2. The number of abductees is far less than the assumed two percent.


3. UFOs are able escape detection except on very rare occasions. This would imply that they had some visual and radar evasion technology, not an unreasonable supposition given our present stealth technology.


4. A large fraction of abductions are nonphysical, thus not requiring a physical UFO visit. This would argue (at least in part) against a physical nuts-and-bolts nature of UFO abduction, and would imply that it is in some way less material.

Item 4 (and possibly 3) appear to be compatible with Joe Montaldo's findings. If his results are borne out, then the first two possibilities are negated and the air traffic control problem is far worse than I had earlier imagined. In this case, it would strongly favor a metaphysical (paranormal, hyperdimensional, etc.) model inherent in item 4.

The article goes on to state that the agents behind abduction are primarily Reptilian and Gray aliens. These, he says, are advancing a negative agenda. Indeed, he states that if there is not some sort of intervention, a holocaust-level catastrophe will occur, wiping out the majority of humanity. He states that this information is synthesized from about 20 to 50 recurring abductees, and was derived by directly asking the aliens what their purpose and intentions are.

Budd Hopkins has stated on more than one occasion that "aliens lie." In my own hypnotic work with abductees, I have also heard many things that the aliens have supposedly said. But rather than consistently describing a coherent agenda (positive or negative), the results are very inconsistent, and sometimes pure nonsense. They have made several predictions to me, which have not come true. Thus, I wonder - can we really believe what we hear by "asking the aliens?"

Again, I would need to learn much more about Joe Montaldo's methodology before I could concur or disagree with his results. His results and mine are quite different. Mine seem to suggest a considerably less coherent alien nature and agenda, though his sample size appears to be considerably larger.

Just as David Jacobs states in his book, The Threat, Joe Montaldo's research suggests a massive, negative alien agenda. Furthermore, he suggests that the human population (even UFO researchers) are in denial of the danger humanity faces. While Jacobs favors a nuts-and-bolts nature of alien presence, Montaldo says that they are more interdimensional or metaphysical in nature. For all I know, either or both could be right. However, given the agenda that both Jaobs and Montaldo describe, I truly hope they are both wrong.

Until I can examine his study findings more thoroughly, I will simply have to concur that Joe Montaldo has provided another important hypothesis of alien encounters. With it, he offers a different numbers and a different conclusion on the alien agenda from most researchers. He brings us a new and fascinating perspective, another piece in the ever-deepening mystery that is the UFO encounter phenomenon. And once again I state that I truly hope he's wrong...

Intentions and outcomes - more on the challenges of the healer's doorway...

The last couple of days have been interesting - both successful and challenging.

I have booked several new clients and done some rewarding healing work. I have also had a couple of inquiries that for one reason or another, didn't turn into client bookings. Specifically, one woman who clearly needed to do hypnotic work finally begged off with the "I need to talk with my husband and get back to you..." I have found that this usually means "I don't have the authority/willingness to say yes..." So the question is, what is the difference? What are the reasons that someone who wants and needs healing work suddenly decides to back off from the opportunity to receive it? Is there something I could have done - perhaps better salesmanship - to help her step through the healer's doorway into my studio?

I put that question out to the 5-PATH list on Yahoo groups and got several good answers back. The most interesting response was from one member of the hypnosis community who had extensive sales training and experience. Basically she said that to become a healing client (or a customer of any kind) a person must meet the following criteria:

• They must see a true need for healing - an immediate one.
• They must be committed to the process of healing
• They must be able/willing to pay for the work
• They must believe they have the authority to make the commitment

In the case of the caller I had talked with most recently, the "must consult my husband..." suggested that she either didn't have the immediacy or did not feel she had the authority to make the commitment. Either way, she found a way to avoid commiting to the challenge of the healer's doorway.

The respondent on the list suggested that, since I (presumably) explained the process of hypnosis and established what the healing work would entail and what her benefits would be (and indeed I did), I ultimately did my best. My intention was to offer healing in return for fair compensation and all I can control are my own intentions. Only God/the-Universe can determine the outcomes.

What will transpire with the inquiring parties, I may never know. Often we are the bearers of gifts we don't even know of. And in that, I pray that any verbal help, questions, observations, etc. may have offered her a stepping stone on the way to resolution of the issues in question.

In short, in order to achieve a healing goal, whatever it may be, a person must have the determination. They must also believe that they have the authority/ability to achieve that goal. In short, they must arise to the challenge of the healer's doorway.

Test post #2

Testing to see if they have fixed the bug - blogspot did not feed to Plaxo.
Re-creating blog post on 2009-06-03 at 1253 CDT.
Let's see what happens now... :-)

Website Updates: online booking and lots of new articles

Announcing my updated website: http://www.craigrlang.com

The biggest change has been the addition of on-line booking through genbook.com.
My scheduling and rates page is located at the Book-a-Session page on craigrlang.com. Clients can now schedule hypnosis sessions on-line directly, or by contacting me and arranging a session - which I can add to the schedule using the same utility.
Just click on the Book-Now button on the top button bar of my site and follow the directions on the book-a-session page.
I hope people enjoy the convenience of being able to schedule on-line.

I have also removed my blog page from my site - hopefully temporarily. Unfortunately, the host for my blog, Yahoo 360, is closing down, so my blog is now on a new location. I invite people to check out my previous postings on profiles.yahoo.com/craigrlang2002a. I plan to add new postings are on thecosmicbridge.blogspot.com, which will (hopefully) appear on my Plaxo page as well.

I invite readers to check out The CE4 Corner section on my site The Cosmic Bridge for the latest articles on close encounters with the unexplained - my continuing series, The CE4 Corner.

On my UFOs and Encounters page, I also have added a number of new articles over the last several months:

1. Star travel sooner than we thought? (are we closer than we thought to the development of warp drive, faster than light travel and other wonders?)


2. Intrusive Doses of Reality: (are events accellerating toward a singularity, or is life just going at its usual brisk pace?)


3. Book Review: Beyond UFOs by Jeffery Bennett


4. Prophecy and Prediction, What are the lessons of 10/14? (what do the myriad of "the aliens are coming" false-alarms teach us?)

These are just a few of the new articles on my site. They are a regular part of my bi-monthly newsletter, News from the Bridge. Feel free to click on the link and sign up for News from the Bridge.

Lots more to come:
In the next few months, I plan to take a lot of new steps my as I grow hypnotherapy practice - all of this in preparation for eventually ramping up to full-time. These include adding the ability to accept credit cards, addition of more time slots, completion of my next books: The Fifth Key, and a followup to The Cosmic Bridge, and the addition of several new self-hypnosis CDs.

In the mean time, I invite you to Check out the updates on my site and let me know what you think...