Finding the Answers Anyway...

"science advances one funeral at a time"
- Max Planck


I noted some encouraging news in the last couple of weeks, especially regarding the ongoing social and scientific paradigm shifts. One of these primarily involved learning of new research endeavors that are going on out there. People are taking action in the right direction. Specifically, I learned of a couple of efforts now underway - not publicized yet as the organization is still in its early stages - to do some very solid Atlantis research. I won't say any more because this is so preliminary, and so tentative. Not sure how much those involved would want me to say, but the thoughts were intriguing - and very encouraging.

Another idea is not part of the expedition proposal I heard about, but I have often wondered what we would find if we could take a sidescan sonar profile of the continental shelves off the east coast of the USA, at about 350 to 400 foot depth. If we followed that depth contour, especially focusing on locations that would have been natural harbors and estuaries about 12,000 years ago. That was the time at the close of the last ice age, and just before the Younger Dryas, a time of environmental catastrophe associated with sudden sea level rise, radical climate change and according to many, the close of the Atlantean age. If one could put together a privately-funded expedition, with absolute scientific rigor, to survey the ancient coastline, my bet is that some amazing paleo-archaeological finds would result.

Ultimately, I think some of the current work will converge on this. More and more tantalizing clues will emerge of things to be discovered, a vast underwater treasury of knowledge just under the surface of the sea. Eventually, the idea will become acceptable to conduct a thorough survey of the continental shelves in the hunt for our own distant, forgotten past.

I also was encouraged by what I read in other areas of science. Some of this was about organizations like the 100 Year Starship, the Tau-Zero foundation and other similar efforts. It tells me that there is serious and credible work being done on the idea of interstellar travel. When I heard Eric Davis speak at the MUFON conference last year on this topic, I was quite encouraged. Again, while we're not there yet by any means, people are doing things to move us in the right direction.

The biggest take-away from this, and other endeavors in physics, complimentary/alternative medicine (CAM), parapsychology, UFO/CE4 studies, etc., are that people are doing serious scientific research in spite of the official poo-poo'ing. There is solid research being conducted that is not part of, and therefore not controlled by, the scientific mainstream.

I suspect that the old guard of scientists in particular disciplines will ultimately be overcome by an end run around their field. In this case, Frank Joseph had a lot of non-positive things to say about the modern-day archaeological community in the USA. Specifically, the arch-conservatism of the field prevents any meaningful research into pre-columbian archaeology - as if somehow life began in 1492. Agree with this - otherwise you lose your tenure... (a rough paraphrase of Frank Joseph's words).

A lot of researchers outside of the field - including "amateurs" that have nothing to lose from the academic inquisition - might be the ones to make headway. The necessary caveat, of course, is that we need to maintain the solid scientific rigor to make sure the results are valid.

At the vanguard of this was Dr. Roger Leir, who unfortunately passed away this week. He was just beginning to do some fascinating work on alien implants - or, more conservatively worded, medical extraction of anomalous foreign bodies. I think we need to keep our own conclusions very conservative, and several researchers objected to his conclusion that some of the material was 'extraterrestrial' in origin. Yet he did build a good case for that conclusion.

Whether his conclusions turn out to be right remains to be seen. Unfortunately, he died suddenly and unexpectedly, just as he was beginning a new phase of his research.

Where will this go? Will there be breakthroughs in the study of paleo-archaeology, medically anomalous foreign bodies, threshold physics, etc.? I certainly don't know. In many cases, work may lead nowhere - at least at first. But the end result can only be an increase in knowledge, the true aim of science. In spite of the resistance of the conservative old guard, people are doing something to find the answers anyway.

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Thinking green - the other green

“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these."
Luke 12:27 [NIV]

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A couple of days ago, as I was doing my books in preparation for our annual visit to our tax accountant, I realized once again how much of the healer's time and energy is spent around running a business. Then, the next day, a student in one of the new college-level complimentary/alternative medicine programs interviewed me about what it was like to be in the healing world. One of his questions was quite telling - if you could change one thing about that world, what would it be?

Curious, I asked him what kind of answers he got. He replied that many of the healers simply wished that money never existed. For someone trained and nurtured as an intuitive, a healer, heart-centered, etc., it is hard to think in terms of money. To grossly misquote a famous puppet, it ain't easy being green - especially the other green. It isn't easy to think in terms of business and money.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could all just practice our craft? What if you could just be a healer? What if you could simply do your thing and you didn't have to care where the money came from? Wouldn't it be nice if we could all do what it is we love - work our passions without having to sell it to others? This is one of the comments I get from many healers, and I sometimes feel it myself. Yet it is also one of the biggest fallacies of the professional world - that the process of marketing and the work you are marketing are separate things.

One thing I discovered a couple of years ago, as I was setting out into this brave new world, was that marketing and networking were really quite enjoyable. I got to meet people from all walks of life - professionals of many stripes, in health and wellness, business, technology, and so much more. I found it a wonderful opportunity to get my message across. And even more, I got to learn about people in aspects of life I had never known much about. The world is a fascinating place, and now I got to see more of it. And at the same time, I get to share the message, share my own passion with others in the world around me.

One common theme among entrepreneurs - and especially among healers - is the polarity between abundance/prosperity consciousness and the feeling of lack and vulnerability. It's hard to motivate yourself to practice your craft when you feel pressed to make enough money to keep the lights on. Believe me, I understand that feeling. Yet I have also seen the opposite...

The parable of the Lilies of the Field (Luke 12:27) holds special meaning at times like this. The message is that if you act out your faith, then somehow God will extend a hand to support you. More than one personal and/or business coach has told me (with varying degrees of success) to simply relax, to "let go, let God." Rather than trying to make it happen, just let it happen. 

In the midst of marketing, updating my website with new content and search engine optimization (SEO), the lesson has been - send out the right prayers. Put out the right intentions to the Universe. See yourself being successful. Yet that advice nearly always feels counter-intuitive. It's hard to trust that the hand of God is there. Yet when I listen to that little piece of advice, I find it works every time (though often in ways I wouldn't have expected).

Yes, even if you send out your affirmations to the universe, you still have to do your marketing. Even if you meditate and visualize success, you still need to advertize, go to networking events, trade shows, etc. Yes, it would be awfully nice if we could just be healers and the right clients would somehow find their way to our doors. Yet perhaps the paradox is the message - life is a balance between intentions and actions. For something to happen, we often need do something to make it happen.

Sometimes as healers, we do indeed need to think green - the other green.

The far side of the hangar

Last night, I spent a few hours watching some of the latest UFO and alien encounter documentaries. Some were pretty campy, others were pretty good. So far, after seeing the first episode, I'm pretty impressed with Hangar 1 - the MUFON official-line documentary about the UFO phenomenon. I'm not privy to the inner workings of how the show was made, yet I did get a good feel for it just from seeing the show. It looked like much of the show was simply good legwork. A lot of care went into keeping it objective and professional. They build some pretty convincing cases about the history of the UFO coverup, etc. In short it looks like they did their homework.

While I was very impressed, there were also a few things that left me a bit cold. The biggest of these was the presentation of a secretive, dark hangar. They portrayed the MUFON sighting and investigation reports as being housed in this super secret repository called Hangar 1. They went to great pains to stress that MUFON is not a governmental organization. Yet then they turned around and drew the image of a dark, forbidding secretive repository of knowledge. They pointed out that few have been able to see this repository until now. Now, as they open the hangar to us, we can see it for the first time (or something like that). As a field investigator who has been working on these sighting investigations for nearly 20 years, that image left me a bit cold.

The show portrayed an old hangar, looking like something from the movie Roswell, or maybe some place deep within Wright Patterson AFB or Area 51. They portrayed MUFON cases as being boxes on dusty shelves from deep within these archives. It was a fascinating way to portray old cases but it had one disadvantage - it makes the organization look like part of the very coverup it is trying to unmask. Instead of a researcher studying cases, I half expected to see a man in black, wearing a suit and dark glasses, demanding to see my security clearance. 

Much of the correspondence I've heard in the last few weeks tells me how this show is the official line of MUFON. They have been working on this show for years, with many hundreds of hours of painstaking research and documentation. Indeed, the show does a good job of keeping the discussion focused on science, evidence, and rational/skeptical stufy of the unexplained. While I generally echo that official line, I also have to ask - do we really want to have an official line at all? Isn't this an organization based upon open, discerning inquiry?

While I was quite impressed with the first episode, I think we need to be careful about how we project the image of our organization. We are working to be part of the search for truth, to unmask the secrets behind UFOs and close encounters. We need to be careful not to look like someone hiding those same dark secrets somewhere on the far side of the hangar.