Hello world.....
I haven't written for quite a few weeks for a number of reasons. One of them is that my personal life has been - shall we say - entertaining at best. In the next few months, hopefully we will see the dust settle, and hopefully, Explore with Hypnosis and The Cosmic Bridge can get back to business. But what a last couple of months it has been. I won't go into the gory details save to say that my personal life has turned upside down as my marriage of 30 years is coming to an end. I hope that for all, this becomes a new beginning. For in this world there are no endings; there are only beginnings.
And I'm not the only one who has had a rough few months. I try and avoid the national news as much as possible but it's hard to avoid the rancor and divisiveness that we have seen on the national scene. This has echoed through my own life on social media and in private conversation. As most of you know, I have very definite views on the current state of the executive branch of our government (how's that for a euphemism) - while a few others I have been in conversation with have some diametrically opposing views. This has made for some interesting exchanges over blogs, e-mail, Facebook, etc. And in spite of my desire to be a healer and a peacemaker, I have often found myself drawn in to the fray as much as anyone else. It reminds me of just how easily one can get caught up in the emotions of the moment - especially when principals are involved that are fundamental to one's world view. But enough of that, at least for now...
The other bit of rancor I have seen in the last week or so has been in the realm of MUFON, the Mutual UFO Network. In the last week or two, some very good people have left the organization for a variety of reasons. But the biggest reason is their anger at some very poorly worded and in my view, ill thought out postings by a member who is (or was) highly placed in the organization. My understanding (and hope) is that he has now been relieved of those positions - at least I hope so.
On the plus side, this has shown me that there is a powerful force for good, for reasonableness and for justice in the cyber world, and within the UFO-research community. Yet it also shows me that one little remark can send an organization into crisis. So many were outraged by these racist comments that several key MUFON members quit, while others threatened to do so. Yet this tells me that while most MUFON members are here to seek greater understanding of the UFO phenomenon, they also have a powerful sense of justice.
Unfortunately, on the negative side, this controversy has eaten up a lot of the emotional bandwidth of many of the members. Time, energy and resources that might normally have been applied to investigations or other productive pursuits have been instead focused on cleaning our organization's dirty laundry. It has cost us a lot of time, talent and money - not to mention the continuing participation of some key members who would otherwise be involved in aggressive research into the UFO phenomenon.
At the last MUFON conference, I heard some excellent reports of projects in the works: projects by the ERT, the STAR team, etc. Most encouraging, at least to me, has been the rising of at least two potential electronic UFO detection and tracking technologies. One of them, the UFOTOG2 project run by Mark D'Antonio, et.al., seems to offer great promise as a technological assistance to get some hard data about the UFO phenomenon in our back yards. I look forward to our state team being one of the early groups to deploy this system when it is ready.
But then the excrement hit the fan. As I was travelling for that several days, I had been largely away from my e-mail for a while. I was surprised to suddenly hear some key notables in the MUFON field organization, in the experiencer research world, etc. all threatening to resign. Indeed some of those I most respect in the MUFON world have departed. Reading only a little bit more brought home the reason why this was so. And I can't say as I blame them. Yet one more thing comes to mind - because something is wrong with an apple in the bushel, do we need to throw the whole bushel out? Another cliche is that we need to avoid "throwing the baby out with the bathwater."
MUFON is in the process of doing some excellent work. Sure there are issues, but so far, I believe they are surmountable. Sure we've had some turkeys say some things that have given us a big PR black eye. Things don't always work as they should. But each time, we've weathered the storm and perhaps even come out of it a better organization. To me, the key point is that we need to keep our eyes on the prize. MUFON is in business, as its mission statement states, for "The scientific study of UFOs for the benefit of humanity". So let's keep our eyes on the prize, quit the quibbling, set aside the egos, and get back to work.
Saturday, June 3, 2017
Friday, March 10, 2017
Evaluating GPS watch for tracking close encounter events
For a long time, I have been looking for and experimenting with possible ways to track the location and altitude of close encounter experiencers. The intent is to detect unusual movement possibly associated with the experience (such as being taken aboard a UFO?). As a result, I decided to experiment with some smaller GPS devices that would be able to track an experiencer's location 24/7. I looked at a number of possibilities and lately I have been experimenting with this Garmin Fenix 2 GPS Watch.
I began this experiment a week or so before the International UFO Conference (mid February) and have been running it for approximately six weeks. I have found that the Garmin Fenix 2 seems to meet my requirements (ability to track location and altitude, and be wearable all the time). However, it has a number of inconveniences and rough edges that make it not so simple to use.
Unfortunately the GPS didn't have altitude built into it so it couldn't conclusively establish that he had been 'picked up' in some way. But as a result, I have been increasingly interested in using GPS with altimeter to track possible anomalous movements of experiencers - perhaps associated with their abduction or contact events.
I have been waiting for the price to come down (I'm a cheap engineer at heart). To date the smaller trackers haven't been easily kept on the body 24/7. For some time I've been using the GPSTracks app on my iPhone with excellent result. However it is an iPhone app and it isn't easy to keep an iPhone attached to the body all night (at least without annoying a significant other).
So now that the price of GPS watches had come down, I have been testing the Garmin Fenix 2. This looked like the closest match to what I needed - GPS capability, altitude tracking, reasonably long battery life, ability to wear it 24/7, and data retrievable to a computer. Of these, the Fenix 2 appeared to most closely match my requirements. It was reasonably priced, as well as being oriented toward general purpose use.
One of the biggest issues is the battery life while the GPS is running. I have found it to be about a half day to a full day or so - it seems pretty variable. So the user needs to remember to recharge it about twice a day. I found it works best to plug it into the computer in the evening at about 9PM, while I am on the computer, and in the morning after waking up. You will want it to have a full charge each night when you go to bed. You will also want to make sure the device is turned on and the keys are locked (more on that later).
I found the device often lost satellite lock when inside a building. I also noted that it is easy to accidentally turn it off. I found on several occasions, the device became deactivated during the night. I noticed the GPS was off and when I pressed the on button, the 'Resume' option came up. It wasn't clear how long the recorder was off or how it got deactivated, but most likely it was due to my accidentally pressing the start/stop button sometime during the night. The start/stop button is in the upper right hand corner, easily accessible. Unfortunately, that makes it easy to accidentally bump it and turn off the tracker as well. However there is also a button lock function, so you can lock out the buttons and prevent yourself from turning off the device during the night. I found it pretty easy to make a mistake and accidentally lose or not record a night's worth of data.
I subjectively noted some of these mysterious 'off' times occurred when something unusual might have been going on. One time was while I was at the International UFO Congress. I woke up that morning feeling very groggy and recalled a number of rather unusual dreams. In addition, my roommate had a large geometric bruise-like mark on his abdomen. Several other people at the conference described possible unusual events during that 24 to 48 hour time period. Coincidence? Perhaps. But if the GPS device had been running the entire time, it would have been easier to rule out my having "gone somewhere" during the night.
Another issue is the nonstandard way the device records data. I haven't yet found an easy way to save the data from the Garmin software into a standard format like CSV. That makes it hard to save the data in a way that other programs can analyze it. In addition, the accompanying PC software has been pretty temperamental. It requires use of their website to sync with the watch and download data. This is an inconvenience, although the site actually works pretty well. Furthermore, it won't display (at least not very rapidly) while the device is syncing with the computer. Note: I am using an old dinosaur of a laptop to run the software, so that goes some way toward explaining the lack of speed.
.
I began this experiment a week or so before the International UFO Conference (mid February) and have been running it for approximately six weeks. I have found that the Garmin Fenix 2 seems to meet my requirements (ability to track location and altitude, and be wearable all the time). However, it has a number of inconveniences and rough edges that make it not so simple to use.
Background
I got the idea after working on "The Case of the Flying Fisherman" about 10 years ago. In that case, the witness/experiencer had a fisherman's GPS device attached to the side of his boat. He used it to record the locations of fishing spots, etc. However he also had missing time experiences. On several occasions he noticed a discontinuity in his conscious experience, finding himself and his boat in a different location. The memories faded until he later noticed unusual GPS traces that seemed to correspond with the time and location of his experiences. Each time, a trace diverged from the point where his missing time began and ended in an arc - frequently passing over land. The trace would resume some time later in an arc that ended at the point where his memory resumed.Unfortunately the GPS didn't have altitude built into it so it couldn't conclusively establish that he had been 'picked up' in some way. But as a result, I have been increasingly interested in using GPS with altimeter to track possible anomalous movements of experiencers - perhaps associated with their abduction or contact events.
I have been waiting for the price to come down (I'm a cheap engineer at heart). To date the smaller trackers haven't been easily kept on the body 24/7. For some time I've been using the GPSTracks app on my iPhone with excellent result. However it is an iPhone app and it isn't easy to keep an iPhone attached to the body all night (at least without annoying a significant other).
So now that the price of GPS watches had come down, I have been testing the Garmin Fenix 2. This looked like the closest match to what I needed - GPS capability, altitude tracking, reasonably long battery life, ability to wear it 24/7, and data retrievable to a computer. Of these, the Fenix 2 appeared to most closely match my requirements. It was reasonably priced, as well as being oriented toward general purpose use.
Evaluation
I bought the Fenix 2 device a couple of months ago, refurbished through Amazon, for approximately $125 (very rough estimate). This is in a price range many experiencers could conceivable afford so I decided to evaluate it for possible use as a CE4 tracking tool. So far the device has been pretty reliable, although it definitely has its limitations.One of the biggest issues is the battery life while the GPS is running. I have found it to be about a half day to a full day or so - it seems pretty variable. So the user needs to remember to recharge it about twice a day. I found it works best to plug it into the computer in the evening at about 9PM, while I am on the computer, and in the morning after waking up. You will want it to have a full charge each night when you go to bed. You will also want to make sure the device is turned on and the keys are locked (more on that later).
I found the device often lost satellite lock when inside a building. I also noted that it is easy to accidentally turn it off. I found on several occasions, the device became deactivated during the night. I noticed the GPS was off and when I pressed the on button, the 'Resume' option came up. It wasn't clear how long the recorder was off or how it got deactivated, but most likely it was due to my accidentally pressing the start/stop button sometime during the night. The start/stop button is in the upper right hand corner, easily accessible. Unfortunately, that makes it easy to accidentally bump it and turn off the tracker as well. However there is also a button lock function, so you can lock out the buttons and prevent yourself from turning off the device during the night. I found it pretty easy to make a mistake and accidentally lose or not record a night's worth of data.
I subjectively noted some of these mysterious 'off' times occurred when something unusual might have been going on. One time was while I was at the International UFO Congress. I woke up that morning feeling very groggy and recalled a number of rather unusual dreams. In addition, my roommate had a large geometric bruise-like mark on his abdomen. Several other people at the conference described possible unusual events during that 24 to 48 hour time period. Coincidence? Perhaps. But if the GPS device had been running the entire time, it would have been easier to rule out my having "gone somewhere" during the night.
Another issue is the nonstandard way the device records data. I haven't yet found an easy way to save the data from the Garmin software into a standard format like CSV. That makes it hard to save the data in a way that other programs can analyze it. In addition, the accompanying PC software has been pretty temperamental. It requires use of their website to sync with the watch and download data. This is an inconvenience, although the site actually works pretty well. Furthermore, it won't display (at least not very rapidly) while the device is syncing with the computer. Note: I am using an old dinosaur of a laptop to run the software, so that goes some way toward explaining the lack of speed.
Conclusions
The difficulty of retrieving data could be a major issue. Garmin needs to address this in future releases of their software. The other disadvantages are mostly inconveniences and in each case there are likely workarounds for them. If one is careful and makes sure the settings are correct, it is likely to work just fine. The device recorded data quite reliably and did its job well in spite of these annoyances. However, the issues combine to suggest that while it would work for the purposes of experiencer and anomaly tracking, it looks like this device isn't quite there yet for general use.Alternatives
The best app I've found so far remains the GPSTracks app on my iPhone 6S Plus. I have found it records nearly flawlessly, often when the Garmin Fenix 2 loses satellite lock. It also saves data in CSV format, easy to analyze with other software. I also notice that the GPSTracks app now has a stand-alone version that runs on the Apple watch, series 2. The Apple watch is rather expensive (approximately $400) so I have not jumped on that bandwagon. However the Series 2 has an on-board GPS, so I think it might be time to try that as another technology alternative for possible anomaly tracking..
Friday, May 20, 2016
The candidates and UFOs
I recently got an e-mail asking me what I knew about the positions of the presidential candidates on UFOs, UFO secrecy and possible disclosure. A quick Google search yielded some pretty definitive answers. Here is my response to his question:
================================================
Hi [name withheld],
Thanks for your note and your question. It's an
interesting one.
I do not believe that the Sanders campaign has made any
serious statements on UFOs, ET contact or disclosure.
Several of the disclosure advocates have posed that
question to both the Clinton and the Sanders and Trump campaigns. The Clinton
Campaign did respond in a rather hopeful way. I believe the Sanders and Trump
campaigns have blown off the question.
Here are a few links on the topic from a quick Google
search:
On Bernie:
On Hillary:
Ranking candidates overall on UFO-friendliness:
It will be interesting to see what the result is when the
candidate gets into office.
Once they have their first national security briefing,
the tune might change.
On the other hand, Hillary already is pretty familiar
with that, having already been first lady and secretary of state. So she
probably has the ability to stick to her promise.
It is vital to note what she actually promised, however.
I don't believe she promised to release info about Area
51, UFOs, etc. All she really said was they needed to get to the bottom
of this and if it doesn't affect national security, to get the information out.
In that sense, she has a lot of wiggle room.
Thanks again
Regards,
Craig
Craig R. Lang, Certified Hypnotherapist
Researcher, Writer,
Speaker
State Director, MN MUFON
612-888-4976 or 763-257-7334
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Notes on GPS app experiment to monitor CE4 Experiencer location
Ever since investigating and conducting hypnotic work on the "Flying Fisherman" close encounter case, I've been intrigued by the possibility of recording an experiencer's location during an abduction event. In this case, occurring in the late 1990s, the experiencer was in his fishing boat, which had a GPS tracker mounted on it. On several occasions, the tracker showed some anomalous readings - very anomalous - at the time the a missing time event occurred. (See case report at
http://www.explorewithhypnosis.com/FlyingFishermanCase.pdf). Unfortunately his GPS did not have an altitude measurement on it so it was never able to establish if or how the boat was taken from the lake surface. Regardless of the final result of this case, the concept of GPS tracking of a possible UFO abduction has intriguing possibilities.
If experiencers could continuously run an active GPS device on their mobile phone, perhaps we could get similar results to the flying fisherman case but under more controlled conditions. In most phone GPS apps, the altitude is also recorded so we could establish whether an ascent and return took place. With such a tool, perhaps we could capture detailed data during an actual UFO abduction event. At the very least, this possibility now bears deeper exploration.
Since a person's phone is usually in their proximity during most of their waking hours, it seems likely that it could record at least some unusual movement in the event. Thus I have been experimenting with various GPS tracking apps for the iPhone (and presumably Android). The goal is to determine feasibility of running an app on an experiencer's phone throughout the day.
I would estimate the constraints on such an app to be as follows:
1) the app would have to run in the background reliably and without intervention.
2) the app would need to have minimal battery drain on the phone, allowing the phone to run for an entire day without recharging. I would suggest less than 25% drain over a day of use on an iPhone 6s.
3) the app would have to record latitude, longitude and altitude to tight precision. As a rough estimate it would be best to track the experiencer's location to within approximately 20 feet horizontally and approximately 20 feet altitude, with a measurement on the order of once every minute.
These would likely be able to catch the events of a UFO abduction with sufficient precision to reliably catch any unexplained movements during the period of missing time.
Previously, with my iPhone 4s, the battery capacity wasn't sufficient to run a precision GPS tracker app for an entire day. So I needed to wait until I had upgraded my iPhone. Now using the iPhone 6s, along with a battery reserve in the case I can run my phone in normal operation for most of the day with almost negligible effect on the battery. (Not including calls, GPS, music or extensive texting).
With this in mind I have tried several different GPS apps. For this experiment I chose the GPS Tracks app version 2.9.2. For the initial tests I set the app to track in high precision mode with all of the advanced features disabled. This included disabling sleep and auto-pause modes.
I ran the app throughout the day for approximately 11 hours 45 minutes in the background. I found that after this test period the battery was drained down to below 25% over the test period. The Battery indicators on the iOS settings screen showed GPS Tracker took about 37% of the battery usage during that time. Thus these initial settings are probably still too much of a battery drain. (Note: I also spent considerable time using the music and messenger apps, which made up about 15% and 11% of the battery load throughout the day).
The phone listed the measurement accuracy to within approximately +/-15 ft and altitude to within approximately +/-10
ft with a measurement every 10 seconds. The app user manual states that
this should result in about 4 hours battery life (note: phone model and
therefore battery capacity for this spec is not clear).
Medium precision takes a measurement once each 20 seconds, while low precision does so once per minute. In the case of a car traveling 60mph, this would result in data point once each 1/3 mile and once per mile respectively. Either should be enough to capture the essential elements of an auto-stop UFO abduction.
I plan to update my blog with results of later tests. Stay tuned...
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Balance
This is a draft of my March/April 2016 CE4 Corner article.
Please feel free to make any comments, or to sign up for my newsletter News from the Bridge. This article appears on my newsletter and in the Minnesota MUFON Journal. For details, checkout the MN MUFON website.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Life
is a tightrope. Some days are dominated by the right brain, as
hypnotherapy clients sit in my studio and pour out their life story. They spend
two hours in deep trance seeking the center of some problem in their life. Like
a detective, or like a programmer debugging computer software, we track the
problem down to the cause. Then we bring healing to that center. It is the
ultimate combination of right brain - emotional healing and left brain problem
solving, emotional debugging. In addition, other aspects of my life have
been filled with mathematics, physics, computers and electronics as I
experiment with new technology ideas. They form the balancing act of all
balancing acts, a world of spirit and technology.
In
the last few weeks, I have been putting together a class for my church on
science and religion. How do two of the great pursuits that make us human
interact. Do they conflict? Are they simply two ways of seeing the truth? Or do
they even have anything to do with each-other. I was again struck by that
delicate balance between two apparently-opposing forces.
At
the last MUFON conference I was struck by just how much UFO studies - and their
accompanying healing work - fits into that same balancing act. As I
was sitting in a lecture on UFO physics, the speaker (Robert Schroeder) was
describing how we could use the mathematics of Maxwell's equations along with
Einstein's general relativity and a unifying concept called Kaluza Klein
theory, to understand the physics behind UFOs.
Some
time later, I attended a talk on the spiritual aspects of UFO encounters. The
dichotomy the between physics/engineering and spirituality continued to drive
the question - is the phenomenon physical? Rather, are UFOs and close
encounters in some way, spiritual and/or (para)psychological? Whatever the case
may be (and they are probably at least a little of all of these), they have a
powerful impact on the lives of anyone the phenomenon touches. And as I was
sitting in that lecture, the stage was being set for me to once again see just
how real that effect was.
As
I sat in that lecture on UFO physics, I got a text from an experiencer in MUFON,
a woman who was at the same conference. She had begun to remember events that
had apparently occurred the night before. (I described this encounter in the an
earlier CE4 Corner, The Mystery Gets Real). I left the lecture hall and
went up to the room of the experiencer. It turns out that she and her roommate
were talking and both realized something extraordinary had occurred the
previous night. She remembered being outside the hotel (on the roof, actually),
then in a UFO, and then back in her room. At the same time, she recalled her
roommate being “worked on” by - well, by whoever they are. Events escalated and
the next few weeks turned out to be devastating to her as her life turned
upside down. In that time, I would again see just how far down the rabbit
hole the extraordinary encounter phenomenon can take us.
So
many other experiencers have had similar turning points in life. As they begin
to recall memories of events occurring in the phenomenal realm (aboard the UFO,
or wherever they go when they go "there") the impact on their
personal reality can be devastating. On a field visit I made to another state,
their state director and I visited the remote farm home of one experiencer. He
and his family had had a harrowing close encounter experience a few months
before. We interviewed the entire family, and then conducted an in-depth
hypnotic regression.
This
person was an excellent hypnotic subject and quickly went into deep trance. At
one point, he found himself reliving a time when he was the subject of an alien
"download" of telepathic visual imagery. As is so often the case in
abduction events, this imagery was of disasters, suffering and chaos in the
human and natural worlds. He suddenly burst into tears, yelling at the top
of his lungs "we're screwed". He emerged abruptly from trance and I
could feel the panic in his voice. He had just seen the apocalypse unfold in
front of him. We had a lot of healing work to do.
Many
experiencers have described being shown similar scenarios of tragedy and
apocalypse. This has apparently been going on for many years. In many cases the
predicted time has come and gone, We still appear to be here. In addition, the
predictions of some experiencers are even mutually exclusive with the
predictions of others – for example, one shows the world dying of drought and
turning to lifeless desert versus another showing floods innundating everything.
So whatever reason "They" have for this apocalyptic video fest, it
does not appear to be a literal prediction of effects. Thus, any information on
these should be treated with extreme discernment.
As
this particular experiencer returned from a between-sessions bio break, I
quickly re-induced trance and invited him to observe another time, a time in
which he had been told something that was clearly not true. He had had a
difficult life and had gained a lot of street wisdom in his years of rough and
tumble experience. This included the ability to recognize BS when he saw it. So
I invited him to use those same skills to observe the alien apocalypse
predictions. He paused for a moment and then said "It's all bull @#$%".
In
his mind, he stared the alien in the face. "I know you. You guys are
full of..."
(Note:
the reader can use their imagination for the rest of the dialog. I endeavor to
keep this column family friendly). He leered at the imaginary alien in front of
him, asserting his right to his own life, his own path and his own discernment. While
I believe we don't really know what the phenomenon is, in his mind, the aliens
(for lack of a better word) now have somewhat less power over him. It was a
moment of emotional and psychic healing of pain from a physical event - the
spiritual and the concrete working in a delicate interplay. It was that same
balancing act that I later came to realize as I sat in that audience hall at
the MUFON conference.
This
summer, as we hopefully get projects such as UFOTOG2 (a new UFO tracking, photography
and analysis initiative by MUFON), and begin to improve our skills in field
investigation of physical evidence cases, we will be focusing a lot on the
physical aspects of the phenomenon. Similarly, in recent months as I sit at my
computer I find myself absorbed in work on my own technology projects. Computer
screens of equations, diagrams and code sit in front of me. Yet the next day
might find an experiencer or other hypnotherapy client in my studio in deep trance,
journeying to the core of his/her personal issue(s). Both are vital elements of
healing work, delicately balanced ends of the teeter-totter.
Right
brained and left brained, spirit and science, mind and body, metaphysical and
technological. We push the boundaries of knowledge and see that neither can
completely provide the answers. Our endeavors are often a mixture of opposites
- two ends of the teeter-totter. They form that delicate balance between
sometimes-opposing forces in this realm we call life.
UFOs and Life
Life is full of changes, pitfalls and opportunities, and sudden shifts in direction. A door closes, a door opens, a door you thought was open doesn't remain open long enough to pass through. For a long time, an aspect of life may seem to be continuous, reliable and steady. Then all of a sudden everything changes. The last few months have been one of those times.
To begin with, my father passed away a month or two ago. Readers of my blog may recall my writing about him. Raymond Lang was probably the defining influence of my life. While we didn't see eye to eye on many things, more than anyone else in life, he made me the person I am today. His passing was a loss to our entire family. Yet one result of his illness and passing was that our family has come closer together. In all of my adventures with UFOs, close encounters, the phenomenal realm, etc., I realized how vital it was to take time out to enjoy the love of those around you. Life is fragile and temporary.
A few other milestones loom over this writer's life path - one of those being an upcoming 60th birthday. Just like seeing my father laying Ill and then dying, my upcoming entry into the golden years reminds me how temporary and fragile life really Is. As a few people I know have passed away, and as my business, UFO research endeavors and other possible aspects of life shift in subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) ways, I realize again just how vital it is to put things like UFO research into the greater perspective. We need to ask what is truly important in life.
I have watched peoples' lives change as a result of their interactions with "Them, out there". In many ways, the phenomenon takes you by the scruff of the neck, shakes you up side down, then dumps you into a world different from any you thought you knew before. If you had told me back in 1996 when I first began to get involved in MUFON work, how it would so totally change my life, I would never have believed you. Yet now, twenty years later it has transformed my life completely - for better or for worse.
In the words of a dear friend of mine, "It is what it is". I cannot change the past, nor would I want to. And I certainly could never see the future. My all-consuming interest in UFOs perhaps even derailed a career in corporate America, while sending me on a path of inquiry and adventure leading I know not where. Yet it has led me to launch my hypnosis practice and any number of other ventures. I suspect it has a few other big surprises in store for me down the road. In the end, they will all be positive, but probably with a lot of bumps along the way.
Where is all of this going? I don't know. But in one way or another, God is showing me how, in the midst of a life of dizzying change, we need to hold on to those things and people we hold dear, such as family, friends, beliefs and spirit. If you love someone, hold them and tell them. Whatever is on your bucket list - do it while you can. Don't put it off until tomorrow. In a few cases I've seen recently, life may not be there tomorrow.
The mysteries of UFO research can be all consuming. They turn life upside down and at times we can almost forget nearly every other aspect of life. Yet the events of the last few months have taught me one vital thing. In the midst of the vast unknown, we need to remember to live life. Be here now.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Raymond
My Dad passed away early this morning. I had not been all that close to him in recent years . Now, in the last few days as I sat holding his hand in the nursing home, I realized again how much of my life he was, still is and always will be. He and I had drifted apart over the years. And yet I have always realized how his blood flows through my veins. In so many ways, he and I are one.
An amusing moment happened a number of years ago. At that time, he was heavily into playing clarinet in the Shrine band in Madison, WI. They played in a lot of parades, fairs and other festivities. This apparently included the circus and in those years, he became very interested in the circus world. Like me, when he got interested in something, he took a swan dive into the topic. More than a few times he joked about running away with the circus - at least that's the way Mom would paraphrase it. One time this topic came up in the presence of Gwyn and I. Afterwards, Gwyn looked at me, smiled and said, "now I see where you're coming from..."
He didn't "run away with the circus" but he did do a great job of making a business run. He played with the shrine band for many years. He was active in the Masons, and he always held that deep interest in the circus - or in something like that. He was a man of dreams and plans and if the dream was the right one, he was one who got it done.
Raymond Lang was a strong, determined man. His stubbornness became my stubbornness. His determination became my determination. His unwillingness to give up became my unwillingness to give up. And his ability to get things done was a life lesson that went far toward making me the person I am today. He inspired me to pursue a career in engineering. Even as he taught me to never give up, he also taught me to look beyond the present - to "join the circus" and pursue your dreams. He taught me to look beyond life's present-day difficulties to what might be in the future.
Ray was a tinkerer and a builder and I shared this with him all my life. That blood flows in my veins now as I work on new business ventures, develop software, healing technology, conduct anomaly research, and many other pursuits. He was by my side all through childhood as I experimented with rockets, telescopes, microscopes, ham radio, and the list goes on. Yet he was always the realistic one. While, as one dear friend of mine stated, I got my 'altitude' from my mother, my father held me to Earth. He kept me anchored as I delved deeply into my interests in science, space, science fiction, and ultimately spirituality, UFOs and ET contact.
I always marveled at how he could lovingly tell me to get my head out of the clouds. Even in later years, he thought my book on alien abduction "was BS". Indeed, he was often critical yet always supporting. Whether he agreed with me or not, he stood by me through all of life's adventures, always behind me, or beside me. He loved and nurtured me in ways that it has taken me a lifetime to appreciate. He was my father, and I was his son.
Raymond H Lang Jr. was the one who taught me to get things done, to carry out the business of life. Later, when my road has gotten tough, in college, in my career and now in my business, his lessons, his savvy and his stubbornness has carried me through. During college, one of my engineering professors uttered words that have rung in my ears ever since, "you'll never make it". That memory has always stuck with me and annoyed me to no end. If I ever thought of quitting something, the voice of professor Greenfield would sound in my ear. Then pure stubbornness would take over. Now as I look back on it, one of the best decisions I ever made was to continue in engineering school. His blood flows in my veins and his stubbornness and determination run through my temperament. It has guided me to success in so many areas of my life
While strong, savvy and stubborn, he was always a gentle, loving man. Many of my earliest childhood memories revolve around sitting on his lap in the evenings as he read to me - probably from the same children's book for the millionth time. I can still smell the shaving lotion he wore. I can still hear his voice as he read something like Dr. Seuss to me, again and again. His deep gentle voice gave me what every child needs, safety, security and wonder - and the absolute certainty that I was deeply and truly loved. This man was my father.
He loved Mom dearly. A few years ago, less than a year before Mom passed away, Gwyn and I saw the two of them walking hand in hand on a summer night. This was a couple who had been completely in love for over fifty years. It was an inspiration to us, a lesson in how to make a marriage work. Even when the going gets rough, it reminds me how love, understanding, and sometimes determination are needed to keep marriage on track. And watching the two of them holding hands on that evening, I realized more than I ever have, what life-long love really was.
He was a savvy business leader, a practical engineer and a loving family man. He was the man whose blood flows in my veins. He is the man who led me to become who I am today. A big part of my life passed away early this morning. His name was Raymond Lang and he was my father.
.
An amusing moment happened a number of years ago. At that time, he was heavily into playing clarinet in the Shrine band in Madison, WI. They played in a lot of parades, fairs and other festivities. This apparently included the circus and in those years, he became very interested in the circus world. Like me, when he got interested in something, he took a swan dive into the topic. More than a few times he joked about running away with the circus - at least that's the way Mom would paraphrase it. One time this topic came up in the presence of Gwyn and I. Afterwards, Gwyn looked at me, smiled and said, "now I see where you're coming from..."
He didn't "run away with the circus" but he did do a great job of making a business run. He played with the shrine band for many years. He was active in the Masons, and he always held that deep interest in the circus - or in something like that. He was a man of dreams and plans and if the dream was the right one, he was one who got it done.
Raymond Lang was a strong, determined man. His stubbornness became my stubbornness. His determination became my determination. His unwillingness to give up became my unwillingness to give up. And his ability to get things done was a life lesson that went far toward making me the person I am today. He inspired me to pursue a career in engineering. Even as he taught me to never give up, he also taught me to look beyond the present - to "join the circus" and pursue your dreams. He taught me to look beyond life's present-day difficulties to what might be in the future.
Ray was a tinkerer and a builder and I shared this with him all my life. That blood flows in my veins now as I work on new business ventures, develop software, healing technology, conduct anomaly research, and many other pursuits. He was by my side all through childhood as I experimented with rockets, telescopes, microscopes, ham radio, and the list goes on. Yet he was always the realistic one. While, as one dear friend of mine stated, I got my 'altitude' from my mother, my father held me to Earth. He kept me anchored as I delved deeply into my interests in science, space, science fiction, and ultimately spirituality, UFOs and ET contact.
I always marveled at how he could lovingly tell me to get my head out of the clouds. Even in later years, he thought my book on alien abduction "was BS". Indeed, he was often critical yet always supporting. Whether he agreed with me or not, he stood by me through all of life's adventures, always behind me, or beside me. He loved and nurtured me in ways that it has taken me a lifetime to appreciate. He was my father, and I was his son.
Raymond H Lang Jr. was the one who taught me to get things done, to carry out the business of life. Later, when my road has gotten tough, in college, in my career and now in my business, his lessons, his savvy and his stubbornness has carried me through. During college, one of my engineering professors uttered words that have rung in my ears ever since, "you'll never make it". That memory has always stuck with me and annoyed me to no end. If I ever thought of quitting something, the voice of professor Greenfield would sound in my ear. Then pure stubbornness would take over. Now as I look back on it, one of the best decisions I ever made was to continue in engineering school. His blood flows in my veins and his stubbornness and determination run through my temperament. It has guided me to success in so many areas of my life
While strong, savvy and stubborn, he was always a gentle, loving man. Many of my earliest childhood memories revolve around sitting on his lap in the evenings as he read to me - probably from the same children's book for the millionth time. I can still smell the shaving lotion he wore. I can still hear his voice as he read something like Dr. Seuss to me, again and again. His deep gentle voice gave me what every child needs, safety, security and wonder - and the absolute certainty that I was deeply and truly loved. This man was my father.
He loved Mom dearly. A few years ago, less than a year before Mom passed away, Gwyn and I saw the two of them walking hand in hand on a summer night. This was a couple who had been completely in love for over fifty years. It was an inspiration to us, a lesson in how to make a marriage work. Even when the going gets rough, it reminds me how love, understanding, and sometimes determination are needed to keep marriage on track. And watching the two of them holding hands on that evening, I realized more than I ever have, what life-long love really was.
He was a savvy business leader, a practical engineer and a loving family man. He was the man whose blood flows in my veins. He is the man who led me to become who I am today. A big part of my life passed away early this morning. His name was Raymond Lang and he was my father.
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)