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. 

A slightly different perspective

Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans. I don't know how many times I've heard that saying, but whenever I hear it, it seems that the Universe is about to show me the true meaning of the saying. This last two month stretch has been no exception.

Christmas was great. I got the chance to meet family that I don't get to see that often. We had a fun time and I got a chance to unwind after a very busy fall of doing hypnotherapy healing sessions. All in all it was a relaxing time - and then, everything changed. 

January 1st, Gwyn's cousin died - completely unexpectedly. It was a bolt out of the blue. While I wasn't all that close to that side of Gwyn's family, the fact that her cousin was about the same age as I am gave me a real pause for reflection - a real "nearer my God to thee" moment. 

Dropping everything, we flew out to Denver, CO and spent time with them - welcoming even if, unfortunately, it was for a funeral. Somewhere in there, I caught a bad head cold. That turned into a sinus infection, then a severe cough. My voice dropped out for over a week - complete disability for a hypnotist. That lasted nearly a month, during which I was nearly unable to see clients. Somewhere in there, my car died as well. Then my back and shoulder went out (probably from the severe cough). So, all in all, life was very "entertaining" during the six weeks from Jan 1 through mid February. 

So why would I be writing all of this poor-me stuff in a blog about hypnotherapy and UFOs and close encounter research? Very simply, having life close in on you gives you a tremendous feel for the things that are important in life - the importance of the other stuff that makes up the human experience. The UFO/CE4 phenomenon is probably the biggest mystery we have in our present day. Yet even while we explore this tremendous question, life goes on. UFO researchers have to live life just like everybody else.  Just because we're exploring fascinating mysteries, doing important work, etc., life doesn't change. 

In talking with several experiencers during this time period, I rediscovered one apparent truth behind the phenomenon. It seems to gravitate to times of strong emotion in the person's life. Raymond Fowler first pointed this out in his book, The Watchers - and after reading that, I kept my eyes open for this in the lives of encounter experiencers. 

Now, in the news on Facebook, and other social media forums where I often dialog with other healers, researchers and experiencers, I find that several have found this same thing to be true. One whose story I've followed closely in recent years, has been accused of some pretty ugly stuff. I know very little of the story behind this, but the ordeal seems consistent with what other experiencers describe - that at some point, the "world" seems to try to kick them in the chops. And my bet is that it will correspond closely with renewed attention from "Them".

The world kicks a lot of us in the chops at various times, as well. And during that time, during a time of strong emotion and personal pain, the phenomenon seems to make itself known in especially strong - and unwelcome - ways. In The Watchers, Betty Luca had a number of close encounter experiences, just as she was experiencing severe family trauma - namely the death of two of her sons. Another friend of mine who is undergoing significant health issues, has suddenly described indications of possible renewed encounter activity. And these are just the ones I can think of at this instant. There are lots more, both in my files from the past, and a few others presently in personal correspondence as my ear gets bent in multiple ways. 

The relationship between the phenomenal interaction and such high-energy points in life is not at all clear. And to intrude as a scientific investigator at such moments in a person's life would certainly not be very kind. The best I can do is to send thoughts, love and caring to those in such situations. I find my ear getting bent a lot, and in the last month or so of challenges I have found myself bending a lot of ears, myself. Later, when the dust settles, perhaps I will learn a whole lot more about the relationship between life challenge and phenomenal interaction.

It's been a challenging month - a time that reminds us of the importance of life, in general. Even while we continue to ask questions at the core of reality, itself, life doesn't let up. Some times events force us to step back and look at both the questions we are exploring, and at our lives overall, with a slightly different perspective.

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it - beliefs and our responses to the phenomenon

Draft of this month's article for The CE4 Corner

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In correspondence with experiencers as part of the abduction response team, I hear a lot of different perspectives. There are a lot of beliefs among experiencers. Some believe that the visitors are evil, diabolical, or similar. Others believe that "They" - whoever they are - are here for our benefit, benevolent, altruistic, etc. There are many variations on these themes, but at the core of each is pure belief.

Belief can be a coping mechanism - a way to rationalize events in life that would otherwise be incomprehensible. Throughout history, we have attributed the random forces of nature - weather, earthquakes and volcanoes, etc. - to the will of the gods. We form beliefs in many other ways to help us understand a reality beyond our own control. Beliefs are one way we make sense of the world. They help us cope with the world around us. And what's most important, they work.

Like other areas in life, we see the belief process used to cope with the visitor experience, as well. Why would beings from a realm beyond our own swoop in and divert a person's life. Why would they subject the experiencer to the reality shattering experience of the close encounter? What is going on, and how does one come to terms with such an experience? In many cases, the answer is to form (or adopt) some form of belief. And just as in other times in our history, beliefs do help to cope with that shattered reality.

In short, beliefs work. But they bring with them their own price. They constrain a person's view of the world, potentially reducing one's understanding of that world. When dealing with the close encounter phenomenon, especially, the comfort of belief comes at a very high price - it limits potential understanding of the phenomenon. It restricts our view of the phenomenon to a limited range of possibilities.

In recent correspondence of the MUFON Abduction Response Team with one experiencer, I found members of the research community coming under criticism for advancing their own beliefs about the phenomenon. The gist of the criticism was that each researcher was somehow coloring their research on the phenomenon with their own beliefs. The person was very critical of the work of Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs (the aliens are evil), John Mack (the aliens are benevolent), etc. Among them, I also received criticism that I have focused a lot on fear management - implying that fear is an important element of the phenomenal interaction. Thus, like the other distinguished company on his list, I too am bringing my own agenda to the phenomenon.

Perhaps, in a way, I am. I am human and I have beliefs just like everybody else. Specifically, in the last ten to fifteen years, I have become progressively more active as a healer. And I believe that the hypnotherapist needs to be a healer first - a researcher second. 

Each person's life is unique. One person may simply be curious - wanting to understand that strange event that happened as a child on the way to grandma's house. Another person may be badly traumatized - afraid to look up at the sky, and yet unable to understand why that is the case. Still another may be experiencing unexpected and unexplained gifts in life - psychic or spiritual awakening somehow traceable to phenomenal interactions. Each case is unique, each person has their own needs, and for each, the approach needs to be different.

Yet people rarely come to see a hypnotherapist because their life is too wonderful. Usually, there is a degree of pain, fear or similar issue in a person's life. This tends to be true regardless of whether the person is seeing the hypnotherapist to help them quit smoking, to relieve a phobia or a mind-body illness, or whether they want to better understand some unexplained events some time in the past. 

Where fear, pain or trauma management is needed, I believe it must come first for the wellbeing of the experiencer. Yet when this is not present - and in some cases this is truly the case - I certainly do not believe trying to fix what isn't broke. There are many fear management tools in the hypnotherapy tool box but if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it. 

Is the phenomenon good or evil? To me, that depends upon the perspective of the person asking the question. Lying naked on an alien examining table, looking up at a pair of big black eyes, with their owner holding some type of ugly-looking surgical instrument, "evil" might be a good description - at least for that moment. Yet years later, that same experiencer may end up with a deep spiritual awakening - directly traceable to the phenomenon - something that they would definitely classify as "good." Many describe the phenomenon as being a mixed bag, different things in different ways at different times.

If I hold any particular belief about the phenomenon, it is that we simply do not understand it. It appears to transcend our understanding at the present time. I do not believe I am qualified to judge it beyond that. Yet I do believe that each person deserves to be treated with the dignity and respect due any conscious being. As a friend of mine once said, we are sentient beings in a free-will universe. We each have the right to self-determination and sovereignty over our own life. In that respect, I believe that each experiencer has the right to determine what relationship with the phenomenon they would like to have. And yet, each client is unique, so as a hypnotherapist I need to temper whatever belief or agenda I might have and adopt a fully client-centered perspective.

All I can do is try to understand each person's interactions through their own eyes. What relationship do they have with "Them" at present? What relationship do they want to have with "Them"? How can the experiencer come to terms with what is happening in their life? And what does that question even mean in the context of that person's life?

For each experiencer, the questions appear to be different. For some, the relationship is negative, fear-based, exploitive, etc. For others it is positive. It is at least acceptable to them. And in that case, as the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it..."

Synchronicity about synchronicity

I just started reading the book, The Synchronicity Key, by David Wilcox.
I'm only about 1/10 th of the way into it, but already it is pushing some fascinating buttons in my own awareness. To begin with, the very fact that I am reading it now is multiply-synchronistic.

Yesterday, while I was sitting at a MN MUFON meeting, I briefly thought about synchronicity. There was a mention of it by the person who was speaking at that moment, I think. Any way, I got to thinking a bit more about it when I saw the person sitting next to me holding and talking about a the book, The Synchronicity Key.

Kaboom!!!! Talk about a kick in the keester... :-)

In addition, I had also been thinking about my book, The Fifth Key, which I am still (somewhat half-heartedly) attempting to get published. I have been considering whether or not to self-publish it on my Lulu.com site - the same place I have The Cosmic Bridge published. As I was thinking this, the very name, The Synchronicity Key just jumped out in my face. It didn't tell me the answer, but it did tell me that the question is still pertinent. Perhaps it means that I should still be looking for a publisher - or perhaps that means I should quit screwing around, and get the story out there by self-publishing it. I can only trust that the answer to that question will appear in its own good time.

Synchronicity is one of those fascinating little elements of life, those mysteries that show up at completely unexpected times. I have always been told that they synchronicities are indicators that you are on the right path. They are in some way, God acknowledging your path, and encouraging you to continue that path.

According to David Wilcox, they are actually a little bit more than that. They are echoes or acknowledgements of your present thoughts, either conscious or subconscious. They are encouragement that you are attuned to - well, to whatever... According to him, they carry meaning, but that meaning will most likely be hidden at that immediate moment.

I have usually found that they carry a deeply metaphorical meaing, symbolically reflecting what I am thinking and speaking to me in dream-like or archetypal symbolism. Many of the things going on in my life at the moment have a lot of metaphorical coherence with eachother. I am curently dealing with the (very long) trailing edge of a head and chest cold. It has manifest itself as a nagging cough, just enough to disrupt speaking, deep breating, singing, etc. I can only wonder if it is a message to me that I need to speak less and listen more. I suspect it is also a reflection of deeper inner questions I am wrestling with at the moment - real meaning-of-life type stuff.

Recently, I have had a lot of rather deep existential questions about where I am going with my business, what focus to take in my hypnotherapy practice, etc. It had reached a point, for a week or two, where I had developed a bit of a confidence crisis. And at about that time, I came down with this head/chest cold. For several days, I lost my voice, followed by several weeks during which a long, lingering cough set in. I'm still in the process of getting rid of that cough as I write this.

Meanwhile, in the last week or so, I spent a lot of time pouring through the Edgar Cayce Foundation life purpose workshop. I also spent a lot of time in deep meditation and prayer. Only time will tell if the answer will truly manifest, but the I thing the result has been a little more clarity - at least I think so, anyway. (hmmmm, ambiguous clarity, what a wonderful contradiciton interms...)

Part of the anwer was that I have been on the right track most of the time, and often haven't realized it. It's easy to lose sight of the big picture, getting lost in the maze, losing the forest for the trees (feel free to use whatever other cliche you want).

The key has always been balance - balancing healing work with close encounter research, balancing hypnotherapy with writing and research, balaincing heart-centered work with the business of business, balaincing work with family time, and so on. And in my casting about for an answer, for which path to take, the more I endeavor to resolve one path or another, the more I find that at least for me and at least for now, the answer seems to be a balance between paths.

In physics-geek terms, it feels like a quantum superposition of answers, like I am unable to collapse the potentialities into actuality. The answer to my quest for resolution is that, at least for now, there is no resolution. There is only ambiguity, and with it a continuingly wonderful chain of synchronicity - including a fascinating moment of synchronicity about synchronicity, itself...

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A wonderful winter moment... :-)

Spent the evening trying to change a tire on the shoulder of a side street just off of Hwy 252. Not the way I had envisioned spending the evening. it's amazing how everything has a tendency go wrong in the worst possible way when it's ten below.

Really late, I was driving home from work - well after dark. The temp was a cool and refreshing 10 below, I think. I had just been feeling really good about having gotten a problem fixed with my storefront - so that now hypnosis-storefront.com was working again - (but that's another story). And that's when i heard my left front tire go bang - followed by thump thump thump.....

I limped off the freeway and onto a sidestreet, then onto a side-sidestreet. I found a roadside, just off the Main Street (80th Ave, off of Humboldt Ave N) that looked out of the way enough. Turned out that just about everybody else had the same idea. I think I had about ten cars behind me as I slowed down and looked for a spot to pull to the side.

I pulled off in front of a house there and was about to get out of the car. It turned out that the place I had pulled off was actually pretty heavily travelled. And that was going around a curve so I was quite a bit less visible than I had hoped. I wasn't going to find anything better so I just hoped I wouldn't get hit as I got out to change my tire. Lots of blue language could be heard as I got my fill of dark and 10 below. It's amazing how these things never seem to happen in the warm and the light.

I got the crap out of the back end of my wagon - all that stuff that had seemed so useful at some time in the past - and excavated the spare tire, jack, etc. I started winching away and felt the front lift up just fine. It quickly got to where I could start to remove the wheel. And that was when I discovered that my lug nuts wouldn't budge. 

I found the lug nuts solidly frozen in place. They weren't going to move, not with the tire wrench I had, no way jose. 

I didn't want to screw around with this so as soon as I realized that this wasn't going to be a simple tire change (are things like that ever simple?), I got on the phone with AAA emergency. After about twenty minutes of listening to beautiful music (in the ten below), the operator/dispatcher came on. I told her my situation and she said a truck would be there - sometime in the next two hours. 

Since my car was up on my jack, it wasn't a good idea for me to get back into it - so I was starting to get reeeeealy cold. 

Then I called Gwyn. At that time I was shivering and beginning to feel really chilled. Just as I was doing that, another person pulled over to help, an electrical contractor, probably on his way home from a job. He asked if he could help and I said that if I could just get in and warm up for a few moments I'd be OK.

A short time later, Gwyn got there with a better flashlight and a cup of warm soup (bless her heart). It looked like I'd be OK, so she went back home and the guy in the electrical truck headed on his way - with many thanks from me. My car was running just fine. So once i got the car back down off the tire jack, I just sat in there and waited for help to show up. 

AAA was actually there pretty quickly. The guy managed to get the lug nuts off and the tire changed in only a couple of minutes - what would have taken me over an hour in the 10 below. I'm amazed as how someone who knows what the hell they're doing, and has tools with the horsepower to do it, can get something like that done in moments. Me, it would have taken - well, I don't want to think about it... :-)

The spare was one of those "balloons" that is only good for about 50 miles or so - at 50 or less miles per hour. And at that, the spare tire looked low. So I drove a few blocks (on the freeway at about 50 MPH with my flashers going) to the Holiday station on 85th and 252. 

Guess what. Their air pump wasn't working. 

I asked the guy there if there was another gas station around. He said he had no idea. He lived in south Minneapolis.
Great...

He thought there was one several miles away on Humboldt (the one a couple of blocks from my house, it turns out). So I just limped home with a low spare and my real tire blown out - or something like that.

So tomorrow morning, instead of going to work, it will be time to go get a tire fixed or replaced. More fun in the twenty below - more wonderful winter moments.