Cowboys And Aliens

Putting Cowboys and Aliens together as the title of a film is an unlikely combination and from all the information gathered from the previews, there was a moderate chance that the film starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford would be cheesy, but the end product was not. In the early production days of Season 3 of Ancient Aliens, it became clear that the season’s start would coincide with the release of the movie, and hence, that same combination, of ancient aliens and cowboys, was explored in the first episode of the new season. The era of the cowboys is not necessarily ancient, but the era does define a rawness of mankind, an era of survival in a harsh often hostile quite often alien environment.

The Aurora Crash of 1897 is somewhat within the bailiwick of cowboys, but during the interviews for the show, what became apparent to me, was how the New World and its inhabitants was literally an alien landscape for the Western explorers. Here were people speaking a language no-one could understand, in a landscape that often looked otherworldly – imagine the first explorers walking into the Grand Canyon or Monument Valley. If we ever need to imagine how we would feel if we were to discover an extra-terrestrial civilization somewhere in the universe, the mindset of these explorers as they pushed west across America is one of the most touchable historic examples.

When it comes to areas of New Mexico (where the movie is set) or Arizona (or so many other states), you are confronted with Native American lore about thunderbirds and other gods that were once said to have lived amongst the local population, before they disappeared from interacting with these people. And it are such stories that make Cowboys & Aliens come to life. Here is a story of otherworldly beings, including magical other-dimensional beings that can rise from the dead. But let us turn the perspective around and it becomes apparent that the arrival of the Europeans in the New World caused tremendous devastation. We were the alien invaders. Here were people with magical weapons that fired, which killed at an instant. They spoke an alien language which no-one could understand. Everywhere they went, they left disaster – often totally undesired, because of the various diseases to which Europeans were immune, but which wreaked havoc amongst the native population. If we weren’t the people conquering America, what would we have made of the fantastical accounts left behind by these Native Americans? Would it not have sounded utterly fantastical? The very stuff of myths and legends? I think the answer is a likely yes.

Director Jon Favreau was aware of the classic ancient alien discussion point, which is that the party with the highest technology has a distinct advantage. At no point in Cowboys and Aliens, however, are they mistaken for gods. But this stand-off between a low and high technology culture also means that the cowboys and the Native
Americans come together in the hope of defeating the technologically superior culture. It is also often reported, in UFOlogical circles, that if Mankind was faced with a common, extraterrestrial enemy, the nations of the world would quickly unite. And this is on display in the movie.

Though the movie is largely there for entertainment purposes only and does not have any profound message for its viewers, below the surface, the big themes of the alien debate are present, worked into the framework of the movie, rather than in most visible layer of it.

Atlantis and Crete: An Unhappy Marriage

The number one hate of archaeology has to be Atlantis. The attempts to explain it away or park it somewhere safe remain a favourite kneejerk reaction from the armchair scientists. For them, the veracity of the Atlantis account as written by Plato simply cannot be, for scientists “know” a civilization cannot have existed 9600 BC in the Atlantic Ocean.

Though Plato wrote about Atlantis in a book on history, some “clever” historians have argued that it is nevertheless not a real civilization, but an “idealized state”. And they assume they can get away with it, by adding the word “philosopher” in front of Plato’s name. Others, like historian Alan Cameron, state: “It is only in modern times that people have taken the Atlantis story seriously; no one did so in antiquity.” No, Mr. Cameron; this is simply not true. Though many Greeks were
indeed sceptical of the Atlantis story when they heard it for the first time, the story in its telling and context was Egyptian in origin, introduced to the Greeks by Plato, who recorded what he had learned from Solon, the man who had heard the story in Egypt. We could classify it as second-hand evidence or hearsay, but unlike today, the few enterprising sceptical Greeks actually went to Egypt to disprove Plato’s account. When they returned home, they confirmed that Plato had indeed written the truth: the Egyptians had an account that spoke of a lost civilization, known as Atlantis. They had seen the story written on the walls of the Egyptian temples themselves.

Whereas several scientists argue that Atlantis is an idealized state, a more common trend, in vogue in recent decades within the archaeological community, is to park Atlantis on the island of Thera/Santorini, an island just north of Crete. In the middle of the first millennium BC, the volcano that is Santorini had a violent eruption that destroyed some of the urban settlements on the island, like Akrotiri, though it had a far more nefarious effect on the Minoan civilization that reigned over the Mediterranean waters from Crete to the south.
               

In his Atlantis account, Plato wrote how “there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island.” It is the favourite passage from Plato that archaeologists and historians like to quote when it comes to the Thera=Atlantis solution, for of course Santorini was a sudden, violent event, which heralded the demise of the Minoan civilization. On the North coast of Crete, you can still see the various geological layers that testify of this event.

But what about all the other evidence, related by Plato, which does not fit with Thera and the Minoan civilization as being Atlantis? First of all, its location. Plato describes it as outside of the Pillars of Hercules, which today is better known as Gibraltar, the rocky outcrop that defines the southern tip of Spain. Thera is located inside the Mediterranean Sea, not outside the Mediterranean Sea. What about age? The volcano erupted in ca. 1500 BC, while Atlantis was destroyed nine thousand years before Plato. But most importantly: what about size? Plato gives an extremely detailed description of the dimensions of the walls of Atlantis, making it clear that the island was several hundred miles wide and long, with the “walls” of Atlantis itself roughly two hundred miles from the sea itself. This size is simply impossible to fit either on Santorini as well as on the far larger island of Crete.

When we take the three ingredients together, it shows that Thera or Crete simply could not have been Atlantis. For Thera to work as Atlantis, a tremendous redux has to occur of all the information Plato offered about this civilization. This pick and mix approach is highly unscientific, but when it comes to explaining inconvenient legends like Atlantis away, the scientific approach is the first to be thrown out. The question is: how often are we going to see science – and television stations, the BBC chiefly amongst them – regurgitate this fallacy? Atlantis is not Crete.

Roswell: The USSR Hoax?

My opinion on UFOs is that there is a genuine phenomenon, but that most of what we believe – from Roswell, via MJ-12 and “the conspiracy” – is deliberate government misinformation. My series of articles on this topic, collectively called UFOgate, are amongst the least requested articles by magazines for inclusion in their pages, suggesting not many alternative researchers want to hear this opinion.

I am therefore extremely happy that a book is tackling Roswell in an innovative way. The person responsible is Annie Jacobsen, a Los Angeles based journalist, who in her bestselling and high profile book on Area 51, has claimed that the truth about Roswell can be found with Joseph Stalin sending a Horten-disk equipped ship, manned by children, to the heartland of America’s atomic development, in an effort to frighten the US government.

The UFO researchers who maintain Roswell is all about ET have pointed out that “all” we have for this is an anonymous source – an engineer who worked at the site in 1978 – that spoke to Jacobsen, or that she herself might be part of a disinformation campaign to deny the “alien truth”. Some UFO researchers like Dick Farley have expressed their dissatisfaction with their colleagues who refuse to look at the evidence, or read the book, because that might make their fragile house of cards collapse.

Since the publication of the book, the anonymous source has been identified as 89 year old former EG&G Rotron scientist Alfred O'Donnell. When contacted by UFO researcher Anthony Braglia, O’Donnell confirmed he knew Annie Jacobsen, but he would not state outright that he was her source for the Roswell story, though he did not deny it either.

Jacobsen, relying on a single source, may not be totally correct, but is no doubt very close to the truth. The nuance is in some of the interpretation. I am not totally convinced it was meant to be an act of intimidation on behalf of Stalin. And engineers in Area 51 or the CIA would not have known the motivation as to why Stalin did what did. All we know, is that a Horten disk, apparently remotely controlled, with genetically manipulated children inside, crashed during a thunderstorm near Roswell, which at the time – before Area 51 existed – was at the heart of America’s nuclear program; Roswell was the only base where planes with nuclear bombs were stationed. In the days before satellites, Stalin must have done his utmost to get information from that facility, and the Roswell crash may have been an accident, as the craft did crash during a thunderstorm.

A Horten disk is one of those machines you read about in “free energy” books, for it was developed by the Nazis using “new” technology and then disappeared into oblivion, apparently into Russian hands. That Roswell was a Horten disk, is actually supported by better evidence than the words of one anonymous source. And whereas one might argue that the source was told a lie and that the craft was not Russian but alien, the following papers make it apparent that is not the case. In 1994, the US government responded to a Freedom of Information Act request by UFO researcher Timothy Cooper, releasing details about “Operation Harass”. This turned out to be papers showing that in 1947-8, the CIA were in a terrible hurry and tried their utmost to locate the Horten brothers, who somehow had not been rounded up by either the Soviets or Americans. The CIA eventually located them. Why did the CIA all of a sudden want to speak to them so urgently? The answer comes from a journalist who contacted Reimar Horten in Argentina. Horten agreed to be interviewed, but said he did not want to speak about the CIA. Why? Horten said that the CIA once came to him with questions as he had allegedly designed a flying saucer! This is very intriguing evidence that what crashed at Roswell, was indeed a Horten disk, and that subsequently the CIA went in search of the Horten brothers, to find out more details.

The question is whether the Horten disk was meant to spy on US nuclear facilities and whether its crash was intentional or accidental. Jacobsen believes the crash was on purpose and that Stalin hoped that the news would cause panic in the US, on par with what occurred following Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938. Until we find papers from Stalin’s era, I would argue a straightforward accident is the likeliest scenario.

So what about its occupants? They were believed to have been the result of scientific experiments performed on humans by Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. I think it is likely these occupants themselves were there as part of a test. Nazi Germany had a track record of experimenting with human beings. The basic idea was that the human body could be adjusted in certain ways as to better cope with high altitude and zero gravity. The Nazis had a inhumane approach to resolving the problem, but in the 1990s, it was discovered that the US government had used human test subjects too. It is logical to assume the Soviets would not have been left out.

So what Jacobsen’s book presents, is a new perspective on Roswell. It is no doubt very close to the truth, though may not be the final truth. For that, papers from 1947 will need to be released, especially the old archives of the USSR need to be located, for the truth about Roswell seems to reside there. But until that time, we can only hope that some people within the UFO field will take the opportunity to seriously look at Jacobsen’s and related material, and begin to redefine “Roswell”.

Tudor Pole's Message For Our Time

Two years ago, we bought a CD in Glastonbury: “A Message for the Coming Time”, a recording made in 1963 by Wellesley Tudor Pole. He was one of the instigators of preserving Glastonbury’s Chalice Well, but on this CD, you can hear the man’s spiritual vision. In “2012, Science or Fiction?”, I list non-Mayan prophecies for our times, and in that line, I could have added
Tudor Pole as one of those who saw our current era as one of great change.

In this lecture in 1963, he uttered his conviction that fifty years ago, a century had begun, which would culminate in fifty years – 2013 – and which would be a decisive moment: either we would move on to a higher spiritual plane, or Mankind would fall back to its most basest of living conditions. So from 1913 onwards – the year before the First World War – until 2013, Earth was at a crossroads. He believed that in this time, Mankind was guided by intelligences from beyond this plane of existence, and specifically mentioned the archangel Michael as the person who would make sure that light would conquer the forces of chaos, darkness. How? Tudor Pole was convinced that for this to happen, light merely had to shine. And when it shined, joy and happiness would be. And if we could live in love, joy and happiness, the forces of chaos would have no hold over us.

For this, the forces of good had apparently created a “Blended Ray”, which had blended the Energy of Love with the Energy of Wisdom. This Blended Ray was there to “bless and inspire Mankind as well as all life on Earth.” To put it in 1963 posh-English speak: “this Blended Ray has manifested in a particularly potent manner to inspire and prepare the way for the Dawn of a new Dispensation for the Human Race, an era of Goodwill, Brotherhood and Peace.”

So long before the Mayan Calendar became popular, or even before the Age of Aquarius reached its peak in the late 1960s, Tudor Pole was already emphasising our times as a time of great change – the end of one era, and the beginning of a new one. Instrumental in this change was the macrocosmos and the microcosmos. He speaks with great emphasis on the division of the atom that led to the atomic bomb, arguing that we needed to properly harness this energy, as otherwise, it could lead to serious repercussions. When we look at the historical record, it is clear that we have an imperfect score. Mankind did manage not to blow itself into annihilation, to which we came closest during the Cold War, and specifically the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. But the “peaceful” exploration of the atom, especially for energy, has clearly soiled the earth greatly: Chernobyl in 1986 and the recent disasters in Japan stand out. And I find it interesting that Tudor Pole specifically warned for this peaceful usage of the atom – an unusual warning to be heard at the depths of the Cold War, and one which Mankind did not take then; it seems Japan 2011 needed to occur before several nations in this world began to seriously reconsider their atomic energy policy.

He also used the separation of the atom as an analogy for how in modern Man, the intellect and the heart had become detached and how this separation had lead to some of the greatest atrocities ever witnessed on the earth – and 48 years on, this is still the case. Living by the intellect, we have abandoned our soul. We live in a world of scientific reductionism, in which death, spirit, the soul and all things paranormal are “out of bounds”, however much our heart, when used, feels and knows those topics are the only true sciences worth studying. Indeed, the separation of the mind and soul seems to be so omnipresent with most of us, for there is no real cry of outrage that science should give the exploration of the “paranormal” total precedence. Or maybe it is because we perfectly know the attitude the mass of scientists would take if this challenge were placed in front of them?

Give Peace A Chance

In 1991, when President George Bush – now referenced as Senior – decided to attack Iraq because of its invasion of Kuwait, a group of musicians labelled themselves “The Peace Choir” and re-recorded “Give Peace a Chance”, originally released by John Lennon. The British BBC decided not to air the song either on radio or television, for it was felt that the song was too controversial. Of course, by 1991, the two decades old
song was already world famous, hummed and whistled on a daily basis. But it was, together with “War Is Over” and “Imagine” part of a trilogy of songs written by Lennon that sent out a powerful message of peace, a message which the leaders of those and our times did not want to hear.

War, rather than peace, is the ambition of politicians, even though they declare that wars are instigated to protect “our freedom”, even though our freedom is condensed more and more by those same politicians, “for our protection”. Of course. Logical. Not?

The 20th century knew three fervent promoters of the Message of Peace: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lennon. All three were assassinated. Two were politically active, but Lennon was a musician. But he understood better than anyone that the entire world was his stage, due to the popularity of The Beatles. “The Summer of 1968” was in part Lennon’s creation, for an entire young generation listened to Lennon as one of their potential social leaders.

Personally, Lennon hoped that this new generation did not need or listened to leaders. He was convinced that everyone suffered from a “father problem”. He himself had grown up without the presence of his dad, but that was not the key problem: once an adult, Lennon believed, everyone looked towards politicians and religious leaders as substitute-dads and this was one of the primary problems of society. And though he preached a revolution, he felt that protest marches were not the right way to bring about change. Rallies were always abused by the authorities and the larger they were, the more death or destruction seemed to accompany them.

So how was the Revolution of Peace to come about? It was a subject that Lennon had pondered from the early days of his fame. Once a phenomenon, Lennon realized that everything he said, would not only be scrutinized, but also became headline news the world over. One somewhat loose remark about Jesus made him a most controversial figure in the United States and even resulted in a series of death threats. When he was asked about the war in Vietnam, he bit his tongue for many years, until he could no longer suppress his opinion. By that time, the world had come around to his point of view. He realized that people looked to him as a prophet. But as he realized that the entire world listened to what he had to say, and sometimes went ballistic over it, he realized that there were two distinct methods on how he could, if not should, manage the rest of his life.

He knew that his words could unleash commotion if not a revolt with an entire generation, if he so wanted to. He could become a demagogue. But if he were to, he would become a substitute father himself and that is not what he wanted to accomplish. Instead, he felt that the Revolution of Peace had to occur inside each of us. That he had to meditate and had to live in peace and harmony with himself. Internal peace had to be established and from this core, the world would change, if everyone could embrace this basic message. That was the Peace Message that Lennon wanted to send into the world and music was his initial vehicle.
               

And why was he murdered? Of course, the standard version is that it was a coincidence, but look beyond the official line and it is obvious that many authorities considered Lennon to be a lose cannon – a man who greatly upset the standard social status quo. He was world famous, had the ear of millions if not billions, and preached a message of peace at a time of war. Once The Beatles dissolved and he was married to Yoko Ono, the message of peace became coupled with a message of love. United, Lennon and Ono began to organize specific campaigns so that the world heard the message of peace and love time after time. It had become his mantra. But it was a mantra that was the opposite of the Message of the (Cold) War that the substitute dads preached. And thus Lennon was “accidentally” killed by a lone gunman. But thirty years onwards, his message remains present in the collective unconscious and hopefully continues to inspire more than just one generation of us.

Sitchin, Aliens and Gods

As someone who appears frequently on The History Channel’s series “Ancient Aliens”, one of the more frequent questions or objections I receive is whether ET killed God. My answer is a definitive no, and let me explain why.

There are various types of ancient alien hypotheses and the more literal they are, the more often I find they are erroneous, especially if they are riding on the tail of a “mega-theory”. Take the most famous example of the field: Zecharia Sitchin introduced the notion of the existence of a twelfth planet into our solar system, arguing that this was knowledge possessed by the ancient Sumerians and that the race that lived on this planet, named Nibiru, had colonised Earth and genetically modified our ancestors into us. Only he could correctly translate the Sumerian language, he claimed, and though he maintained so for four decades, we know he read the Sumerian language – at best – poorly.
               
According to Sitchin, the planet Nibiru had an elliptical orbit, which according to astronomers – and common logic – is unlikely to be possible, especially if that planet would also be comfortable in sustaining life along its 3600 year orbit through our solar system. But the less evidence there is for Nibiru’s existence, the more fundamentalist some people come in their promotion and belief of it.

With the arrival of the 2012-phenomenon, Sitchin-fans decided that maybe it was a good idea to link 2012 with the idea that this was the return of Nibiru. But fact of the matter is that if this were the case, this planet would now be clearly visible in our skies, even if there was a massive scientific cover-up in place to “deny the truth”, as some would have it. But it does underline the all too common notion that if two unexplained mysteries are coupled, that somehow this is proof that both are right!

Sitchin’s fan argue that astronomers have noted an unusual pattern in the influx of comets as they enter our solar system, suggestive that maybe there is a planet far out there, in the so-called Oort Cloud. The anomalies could be explained if there was a planet one to four times the mass of Jupiter. Indeed, “some” astronomers argue that indeed, but there is no evidence for this planet, even though it should be easily detectable, especially
if it were to be due for arrival near Earth next year. So, in short, the promoters of “Planet X” – as the planet is commonly referred to – have no evidence.

You might wonder why Sitchin or his theories are not more prominently part of the “Ancient Aliens” series. The answer is quite simple: Sitchin had theories and tried to make the evidence fit his theories. So, yes, whereas Sitchin states that “ET was here”, it is in the detail that his theory is lost. And I would go as far as to say that he did the entire field a disservice, for he was both vociferous and cantankerous in the defence of his theories. Sitchin mistranslated, but specifically misinterpreted. Misunderstood.

If Nibiru is anything, it is indeed a place of crossing: the crossing of one world to another. But not of planet Earth to planet Nibiru, but from the earthly realm to the land of the dead, and the gods. This is a metaphysical explanation, and yes, I do take the explanation of the soul crossing over literally. Not literally in a physical sense, but literally in a metaphysical sense. For I am convinced that there is more to this universe than the mere physical universe; that there are both extra-terrestrial and otherworldly beings… both of whom are definitely alien to our civilization but when you study such topics as the fairy faith of the ancient Celts, it is clear that these ancient civilizations were far more familiar with these creatures than we are.

So, once again, we live in an “and universe”: a universe with room for otherworldly and extra-terrestrial creatures. For we not only have one topic that science needs to explore, but several which it has shied and continues to shy away from. We not merely need to ask the question whether or not we were alone, but also ask questions about other dimensions. History and reality are far more complex than the neat theories of science, or Sitchin. Reality is complex. So is history. But that makes it all the more beautiful.

The Adjustment Bureau

In George Nolfi’s adjustment of Philip K Dick’s short story, “The Adjustment Bureau” is an organisation that makes sure “The Plan” is executed. Congressman David Norris accidentally sees hat-wearing “case officers” adjusting the fate of himself and his entourage, after running into his soul mate – a woman he is not supposed to see as “the Chairman” of the Adjustment Bureau believes that if they find love, “The Plan” he has outlined for the world will not come to fruition.

The paradigm of the movie is that free will and chance are antagonists, with the Bureau making sure that free will does not result in holocausts and world wars, but that it is instead curtailed – which is why there is a Plan. However, the key message is that The Plan is only that: a plan. And on occasion, things like true love – for Love Conquers All – are not only allowed to occur, but seem to be pushed so powerfully that it will change the course of planned history. But also that “Free will is a gift that you only use when you have to fight for it.”

The story therefore captures the beautiful dichotomy of destiny and free will. The dichotomy is most famous when it comes to astrology, whereby the story goes that we are moved by the planets – or at least that at the moment of birth, there is a cosmic imprint made upon us, which is our destiny. This is what will happen to us, unless we use our free will properly. It was one of the greatest astrologers and minds of all times, the Renaissance scholar Marsilio Ficino, who said that the true magus ruled his stars, rather than being ruled by the stars.

When we delve into accounts of people who have accessed past lives and life in between lives –Michael Newton has catalogued his research in a number of books – we hear consistent accounts that before our birth, we do agree to a plan: a map of as to how our life will unfold, with milestones planned in, very much like a project plan; that we want to see certain important things accomplished by certain dates/ages. Newton and others make it clear that this plan will guide a person’s development – his destiny – though adjustments to the plan can be made at any moment in time (though it rarely happens).

Take this idea out of the imaginal, otherworldly realm, and you end up with The Adjustment Bureau, in which angels are case officers and magical powers are only acquired if one wears a hat. What the movie perfectly illustrates, too, is that the Chairman really is God; that They have created a dichotomy which is at its core, an illusion, so that we would really press hard for the rights of free will and use it to meet our true destiny. And this is where The Adjustment Bureau echoes Hermetic material, as the possibility to use Free Will is vey much like a Grail Quest: it is placed at our disposal, but David Norris needs to fight hard for it, and enter the Bureau Headquarters, to win the right – very much like the Grail knight needs to enter the Grail Castle and prove his worth.

Of course, in Newton’s and Hermetic thought, there is no real stand-off between destiny and free will. And this is why the Hermetic tradition also provides a path not mentioned in the movie, which is the path of surrender, in which the seeker entrusts the path in the hands of God. This Plan is the unity of free will and destiny, in which total faith and trust in God is given over to the Chairman – it is maybe what makes you an Adjuster.