In the recent move towards a more mainstream consideration of the enigma colloquially known as the UFO Phenomenon, we are seeing increasing discussion around the alleged technology recovered. We are also seeing robust conversation arising around whether or not this anomalous technology may have made its way into the top-secret craft being developed and operated by the military industrial complex, by way of successful reverse engineering.

While such a move is a welcome sign for ufologists and those who are merely enthused about the topic alike, this development leaves out one absolutely fundamental component of the entire matter: that of the nature and intentions of the intelligences responsible for such technology. The fact that this obvious implication is not being discussed in the mainstream, perhaps hints at a deep, subconscious nervousness around what this may mean for our civilization’s own self-understanding.

When one adds to the mix the fact that, perhaps, all along, the reality of these various others – these NHI, as they are now referred to in official circles – has been staring us in the face, in the form of the very religious traditions we’ve embraced as our meaning-making models of the world, only adds to this strange sense that there’s something we as a modern civilization have almost willingly turned our gaze away from.

In today’s podcast we’ve going to take a deep dive into the surprisingly compelling notion that the beings, sometimes referred to as “gods”, and sometimes conflated as a single deity in monotheistic traditions, points almost squarely towards the very non-human intelligences said to be responsible for the mysteriously daunting behavior being increasingly recorded in our modern day.

What do our most revered spiritual traditions – when read in the correct context – say of these beings and their role in the seeding and subsequent development of humankind? And what might this mean for what’s happening even now, and where we are headed as a supposedly sophisticated, modern civilization? These are the most consequential matters we’ll seek to engage with in this, the 99th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

While the notion of extraterrestrial life has long captivated the public imagination, certain expectations regarding how such life might interact with us have also proven problematic. Primarily that’s because, being the stubborn species we are, when data doesn’t conform to our expectations, we tend to either ignore it, explain it away, or assume it has been gathered incorrectly, or is even the result of fraudulent reporting. This issue has been paramount in the matter of the modern UFO Phenomenon, because many elements of the reports that have arisen from eye-witness testimony contain elements that stretch our expectations – often to the breaking point and beyond.

A term that has been put forward to explain the various elements that stretch our expectations of how sophisticated non-terrestrial intelligence would interact with us – even to the point of defying rational understanding altogether – is “high strangeness”. Here we see crossover into another domain, that of general paranormality. Now while we modern Westerners would like to keep these bodies of data completely separate – after all, why would extraterrestrials act in ways that are reminiscent of apparitions and poltergeist phenomena, or so the conventional thinking goes — the reality is that these two kinds of data seem to regularly co-arise in people’s experience. And that being the case, it would be unwise to let our pre-existing biases prevent us from seeing linkages that clearly exist in the raw data itself.

Speaking of crossover between domains that tend to be kept distinct in our modern notions of how reality works, we also see startling parallels between the UFO Phenomenon and humanity’s most ancient expressions of religion – collectively referred to as “Shamanism”. The most glaring similarities arise in the experience of reality people report in both Shamanistic journeys, and encounters with supposed “aliens” during contact experiences reported as part of the modern UFO Phenomenon. In both cases people report experiencing the encounter in a seemingly alternate realm or non-ordinary state of consciousness. The question then emerges, pertaining to the UFO Phenomenon, if these really are “space aliens” – that is, physical beings arising from some distant star system – then why would the encounters involve so much overlap with the visionquest encounters reported in Shamanism?

While one can certainly attempt to explain away these parallels in the bodies of data, a more open-minded, objective, and sincere perspective might very well land on the notion that these clues are telling us something fundamental about the nature of reality itself; something that seems to inevitably lead towards a reframing of what it means to be a sentient life form living in a supposedly “physical” universe, as defined under the dictates of scientific materialism. But what precisely is the nature of the overlap between domains/topics such as Shamanism and experiences that fall within the modern UFO Phenomenon, and where might the implications of these alignments lead us? These are the mind-stretching and paradigm-collapsing matters we’ll seek to delve more deeply into, in this, the 96th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Over the last 12 months or so, those associated with ufology have seen their excitement level around the matter of official disclosure reach a fevered pitch. Much of the optimism has been tied to the remarkable specificity of the language included in the Schumer amendment, which makes clear not only that sophisticated, non-human intelligences in our midst exist, but that various elements of the military industrial complex have constructed elaborate schemes to study this phenomenon while shielding this consequential reality not just from the American people, but also from Congress and the rest of government.

While much of that amendment was eventually gutted before being passed into law, in many ways the proverbial train has nevertheless left the station. There is just too much momentum heading into 2024 for this progress to reverse course. It may take longer than some within ufology would prefer, but this march towards an official acknowledgement of the reality of this phenomenon – and the various unconventional intelligences behind it – seems unstoppable at this point.

While this particular matter of when disclosure will actually happen has been front and center in the ufological dialogue over the last year, what has been discussed much less regularly is the matter of what will actually be disclosed. Many of us obsessed with this topic have been so focused on crossing this one particular threshold — yes, this is real, and yes, so are they – that we’ve spent far less time pondering what might be disclosed, or commented upon, beyond this initial civilization-changing acknowledgement.

Truth be told, this is precisely where the challenge really arises for the powers that be. And, frankly, that’s because they really have no clear understanding of where this all leads. Yes, it’s real. Yes, it’s been present in our midst – even if in stealthy manner – for perhaps as long as we’ve been around as a species. But as to its ultimate nature, and how it changes our understanding of fundamental reality, that’s a matter of ongoing contention and confusion – even for the insiders who’ve spent decades studying this, with the highest security clearances available.

For those who take the most overarching view – considering not just the more contemporary manifestation and interpretation of this Phenomenon, but also ways that deep human history seems to point to interactions stretching back millenia – even if described in terms and frames much less familiar and comfortable to modern ears – it’s clear that these other intelligences have not only been with us all along, likely shaping our development across time in the process, but likely were responsible for our very seeding upon this blue pearl of a planet to begin with.

In today’s episode we’ll be taking a deep dive into the ways one can make a very solid case for the notion that ancient encounters with so-called “gods” were ultimately part of the very same enterprise as the more modern UFO/UAP and alien abduction/hybridization enigma. How has framing, and a poor understanding of the different cultural contexts that have tried to make sense of these phenomena over time, obscured the underlying truth of these reality-shaking revelations? These are the very daring, daunting, and highly disruptive matters we’ll be exploring in this, the 95th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Over the course of the 80 or so years that make up what is colloquially known as the modern UFO Phenomenon, various hypotheses have been generated to make sense of not only the remarkably sophisticated craft that seem to be leagues beyond the technology of any modern nation-state present on the planet, but also of the apparently non-human beings who occupy them, and of the high strangeness that seems so often to be part and parcel with these anomalous encounters.

Because mainstream Western civilization has been firmly in the clutches of reductionistic physicalism as a model of reality for the entire duration of the modern UFO Phenomenon, the vast majority of the hypotheses generated thus far have been based on this underlying materialist framework. What’s strange about this though is that physicalism has been dead in the water for quite some time now. Not only is it misguided in some of its claims, but it is demonstrably untenable based on modern research findings.

Bernardo Kastrup is a renowned contemporary philosopher who is one of the most vocal voices in the world today calling physicalism’s bluff. He counters the materialist delusion with a model he calls analytic idealism; arguing that reality is fundamentally a mental construct, a process of mentation, and we – along with all other sentient beings in the cosmos – are what he deems alters of Original Mind, or what others might call Source consciousness.

In this the second of my two-part interview with Bernardo, we cover a variety of topics, engaging with how idealism might present some very interesting and encouraging possibilities for further research. The issues addressed from the perspective of idealism include high strangeness and the peculiarly humanoid – almost neo-human – body type of many of the anomalous beings encountered across history.

While the UFO Phenomenon has undoubtedly proven to be one of, if not THE most enigmatic of modern topics, in this discussion we consider the insights that a metaphysical model like idealism might open up in our process of inquiry, in this, the 92nd episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Without question, 2023 has been a banner year in the decades-long endeavor to bring disclosure about the reality of the so-called UFO Phenomenon to public awareness. Ever since the mid 20th century there has been a dedicated push by a relatively small but growing contingent of die-hards to finally get the U.S. government to admit what it knows about these beings from “elsewhere”; beings who have apparently been at work in our civilization in very substantive albeit clandestine ways. Based on the political machinations that began churning soon after the dawn of the startling allegations brought forward by a former insider named David Grusch, that push seemed to finally be paying dividends.

That said, of late the startling progress seen earlier in the summer seems to have slowed. So much so, in fact, that some have begun to wonder aloud, with chagrin, if perhaps the historic secrecy/disinformation machine – which has been pushing back in its own dedicated way ever since these revelations came to light – might once again be about to turn this apparently irreversible progress into yet another mirage.

While on the one hand, such a feat seems more like wizardry – after all, how could these revelations not at the very least lead to a deep and broad congressional investigation? – it does indeed seem as if our society is carrying on with the same old, same old, in regards to what tends to garner public attention. Now that we’re just over a year away from a hotly contested federal election, perhaps not surprisingly the vast majority of public and media focus has turned to that epic showdown; one being seeded by near civil-war like stratifications within the national fabric.

The question now arising is this: can this push for disclosure hope to gain enough steam, and make enough noise, to be heard amongst this rising national clamor leading up to an historic moment in late 2024? At least, that’s the question some are asking; chiefly those concerned this might all come down to a monumental run of bad luck around timing.

From another point of view, however – one that I personally think is more robustly informed by the full scope of the matters in play here – these issues are not separable; and certainly not coincidental. I would argue that the what, when, and how of these matters again comes down – at least in part – to the clandestine actions of those mysterious actors; ones who seem to be both everywhere and everywhen, except for when you expressly go looking for them.

Is this seeming overarching orchestration humbling to our collective sense of agency, and even to our species’ perspective on planetary sovereignty? Certainly. Does it suggest that disclosure – however one defines that term – simply isn’t something that humanity alone can muster up enough momentum to bring to bear – at least, not at our current stage of development? Yes, without question. I think history makes this matter crystal clear.

Truth be told, I would argue that it is only by opening the aperture to its widest setting possible; and by taking the proverbial 30,000 foot view, that we have any hope of wrapping our understanding around the sheer scope and scale of this civilization-shaping and civilization-shaking topic. For these intelligences are not new on the block. Nor are they merely visiting tourists from a neighboring star system. Rather, they are the very puppet-masters who have shaped the very course – and perhaps even origin – of our species. With that perspective in mind, one realizes it is almost preposterous to talk about disclosure happening now, or later, without the express intent, or, at the very least, the acquiescence, of these archetypal archons.

Questions we should be asking include the following: What do they want in the midst of all of this? What is their overarching agenda? Is it singular or plural? Are they singular or plural? If they’ve shaped our history – to one degree or another – what do they intend for our future? And what role are they playing as the figures on the chessboard seemingly move about of their own volition? Considering the subject of disclosure from this much more panoptic vantage point is exactly the approach we will be taking in this particular discussion, as we aim to make sense of these intriguing yet imposing matters, in this, the 89th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

The modern so-called UFO Phenomenon stretches back to the mid-20th century. That means we have 75+ years of lore to draw from when reflecting on the subject matter in question. Of course, for the vast majority of that time this topic, colloquially referred to as “ufology”, has remained a somewhat “fringe” enterprise, discussed ad nauseam by enthusiasts of the notion of extraterrestrial intelligences visiting earth in sophisticated machines, but never gaining a truly legitimate foothold amongst the mainstream.

That is, of course, up until recently. Since the advent of the revelations/allegations brought forward by a former insider named David Grusch, this topic has gained traction in the mainstream; at least, it has begun to. At this point, while decades-long ufologists have been shocked to see the kind of attention this topic has recently garnered in political circles, it’s still not truly penetrated the formidable iron gates of legacy mainstream media.

Nevertheless, there are signs that this wall of impenetrability is perhaps beginning to crack and crumble. And without doubt, as more hearings are held, and more evidence is presented, along with a secondary wave of whistleblowers prepared to follow in David Grusch’s wake, that traction in the mainstream will eventually prove undeniable. And that will mark an inflection point for our civilization, as the conversation around this new reality we are collectively grappling with turns from “could it be?” to “how now shall we respond?”

All that said, as we’ve watched this topic, and the questions it inevitably begs, begin to become a noticeable “something” for those who’ve long ignored it, there is an aspect of the conversation that is still largely missing from the society-wide dialogue. Here I speak of the aims/intentions/agendas of the beings in question. It’s as if we’re talking about them either in the past tense, or as a force that is unconscious, like water running down a mountain towards the ocean.

But, of course, they are not just another aspect of nature running its course like water returning to the ocean via the impartial force of gravity. They are a parallel intelligence; walking beside us, with their own history, species-specific norms, and collective aims to bring to the mix. And only a much, much smaller subset of the community are asking the relevant questions that arise from this aspect of the situation. Questions such as: who are they, and what are their aims?

Some throw their hands in the air here, assuming that the intentions and, for that matter, even basic nature of a non-human intelligence would be impenetrable to homo sapien sapiens. But of course, a long history of interaction between these others and a subset of humanity known as experiencers casts serious doubt on such assumptions. That history suggests not only that we can engage in open contact with these other beings, but that that communication often involves very specific details about their aims amongst us, and their intentions towards us. How consistent are these messages? And to what degree should we trust them? Many see these as waters too murky to navigate. But that’s precisely what we’ll endeavor to do in this, the 88th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Throughout the history of humankind we’ve been pushing the boundaries of exploration, determined to map and – often eventually, populate – every nook and cranny of physical space we come across. This has meant we’ve ventured into every corner of the earth, even those sporting the most inhospitable of environmental conditions.

When the modern-day UFO Phenomenon first exploded into public consciousness around the era of the 1940s through, not one, but a series of remarkable events, that orientation around frontier consciousness led almost everyone of the time – once it was clear these strange objects seen – designated UFOs – unidentified flying objects – were very unlikely to be of prosaic origin – to assume that these apparently intelligently controlled vehicles must be coming from the last of the frontiers we had yet to explore; namely: outer space – they greater expanse of the surrounding cosmos.

This of course suggested the existence of extraterrestrials; beings who had evolved on entirely different planets in entirely different star systems in far flung corners of the Milky Way Galaxy or beyond. This sparked our imagination, leading us to imagine what they might look like, and how they might behave. Would they look anything like us? Would they follow our behavior patterns? Would they want to conquer and colonize us the same way we’d done with each other?

As the 20th century marched on, many people around the planet began to report encounters with the very beings supposedly piloting these sophisticated vehicles. Interestingly, while modern science had long leaned towards extraterrestrial beings likely looking decidedly unlike us – because of their origin being tied to completely different evolutionary pressures in completely different home planet contexts, the reports arising from these encounters with “other-worldly beings” spoke to a remarkably humanoid form; and indeed on regular occasion, even a seemingly fully human form.

Furthermore, even the types less human in appearance still matched the general morphology of other forms of life from Earth: including reptilian and insectoid, including mantis beings – bearing a striking resemblance to 9 foot tall praying mantis insects found right here on our home planet.

Of course, this raises an obvious question: why? Why were these encountered forms flying in the face of our expectations around what extraterrestrial beings would likely look like – and, more importantly, what they would NOT look like? I would suggest to you that perhaps the issue lies in one of our earlier assumptions: that the next frontier to be explored is always spatial in nature. But what if these others were not coming from elsewhere, but from some as yet poorly understood non-spatial dimension?

On that note, the notion of a multiverse opened up the interdimensional hypothesis to popular consideration. And that’s still in the running, suggesting these beings are arriving from planes of existence sitting in parallel to our physical existence. But there is another possibility that has long escaped the mainstream of our collective imagination around these beings; namely: time travel. In other words, what if these beings are not so much coming from somewhere else, but rather some when else?

When one stops to consider this possibility, not only does it hold its own – in terms of serving as a potential theoretical explanatory mechanism – but it also fits remarkably well with key components of the historical data, not just around the appearance and behavior of these various beings, but also with other key elements arising from the historical experiencer literature. This possibility that time is a key variable in the overarching phenomenon is a fascinating one, one that will be our focus in this, the 86th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Ever since the dawn of the modern UFO Phenomenon, a wide variety of terms have been used to describe people’s reactions to it. People have been fascinated, frustrated, shocked, perplexed, bewildered, frightened and inspired. And, because of the enigmatic nature of encounters with the beings associated with this Phenomenon, often several of these descriptors can and do apply for any given situation.

As has been pointed out numerous times on this podcast and elsewhere, when one widens the historical scope, it is not a stretch to wonder – even postulate – if beings from more distant folklore may be part and parcel of this same enterprise. And this is true not just because these events that come to us from the depth of recorded human history involve encounters with apparently non-human entities, but also because the nature of the encounters often involve similar elements.

That said, one could also argue that this might be an example of a brush simply applied too broadly. In other words, perhaps because of the very fact that these encounters across time do involve similar elements, we might be tempted to prematurely draw precise parallels where they perhaps do not exist. Were the creatures of faery lore the very same as our modern-day prototypical grey aliens? Or do we simply leap to this conclusion because they neither fit neatly within our tidy conventional zoological models?

In the 20th century, reaching a fevered pitch sometime in the 1990s, word of human abductions by these supposed grey aliens slowly became part of our cultural zeitgeist. The narrative around these more recent encounters involved apparent genetic experimentation and even full-on hybridization programs. Again though, if we widen the scope once more, one could postulate that some of the apparently anomalous leaps in our species’ cognitive capacity throughout hominin history were also the fruit of similar genetic intervention and augmentation programs.

People have also wondered aloud if the UFO Phenomenon marks the beginning of a new religious trend? Many postulated in the 20th century that visits by the space brothers – bearing an uncanny resemblance to ourselves – marked the beginning of a new frontier in spiritual discovery. But again, if we step back, adopting the 30,000 foot view, one can logically question if the very seed of religious belief and practice for our species, from our very earliest creeds on, were also the fruit, either directly or indirectly, of encounters with these same anomalous beings.

Which leads us to some pressing questions: are these beings the same groups of entities interacting and shaping us over time? Or is our imagination simply so limited that we have inappropriately drawn parallels where they simply don’t exist – opening up the possibility that perhaps our ontological landscape is simply much more complex and diverse than we’ve yet been able to really fathom, let alone truly reckon with.

While the history of anomalous encounters seemingly goes right back to the dawn of our civilization, more recent events raise a particularly pressing question: Does the apparent increase in our species’ interaction with some of these non-conventional beings in recent history – paired with what one could argue is a seeming march towards a cataclysmic collapse of our own making – suggest that, while interactions with non-conventional entities have existed across the breadth of human history, that they are now nearing some kind of culmination point – where, as some of the experiencer narrative would suggest -this results in a situation where everything and everyone is left completely different afterwards? And furthermore, is this coming apex inflection point terminal, or transformational for our civilization, and perhaps even both? These are the daunting, challenging and awe-inspiring matters we’ll seek to engage with in this, the 84th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

The enigma known as the UFO Phenomenon is compelling for numerous reasons. One of those reasons is that this phenomenon has been attested to by witnesses and experiencers over long periods of modern history. And, furthermore, once you get past the surface veneer of the way people have categorized/interpreted these phenomena differently over time because of different cultural expectations, one can make a convincing argument – as Jacques Vallee and others have in fact done – that this phenomenon has been with us since the beginning of time; sometimes interpreted as gods come down from the heavens to parade in front of we mere mortals, and more recently as advanced technological civilizations visiting us far from far flung destinations such as Zeta Reticuli and Alpha Centauri on scientific expeditions and the like.

Another of the key elements of data lending credence to the notion that this Phenomenon is as real as green grass in the spring and plasma erupting from the sun is that it is attested to across the world, even in cultures significantly divorced from the typical modernist and physicalist conceptions found in Western civilization. And whenever we can show cross-cultural support for this phenomenon we can more confidently conclude that this is not simply a construct based on the expectations of any particular people group. Indeed, the fact that the interpretation of sightings and interactions with “the Others” have differed somewhat in different parts of the world over time actually lends credence to the notion that, underlyingly, beyond that surface veneer of categorization/interpretation, something is really there; legitimately being encountered and interacted with.

Armchair skeptics will at times argue that this is simply a North American and European phenomenon; implying it really is merely a cultural construct after all; the imaginative fruit of the consumption of too many x-files episodes and the like. Now, while it is statistically true that we have more data from these locations, it’s important to point out that much of this can likely be attributed to the fact that the some data-gathering efforts haven’t happened to the same degree in other places, and that even the cultural expectations of some of those other continents are such that what is a paradigm-shaking moment for a modern North American or European might not be for someone from an indigenous population. After all, why make a big deal of an event that has been normalized in a particular culture for generations? And one can make the argument that this is indeed the case in various indigenous populations.

As I mentioned, some of the discrepancy in the regularity of reports from different parts of the globe can be reduced to the fact that the search simply hasn’t been conducted with equal dedication around the world. Furthermore, cultural differences and language issues have added to this challenge. Thankfully, we do have pioneering researchers working to address this challenge. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke is one such pioneer. As a Professor Emeritus at Montana State University and former Director of the Center for Bilingual/Multicultural Education, Clarke, who is Cherokee/Choctaw herself, has dedicated decades of her life to investigating sightings of UFOs and interactions with various forms of alien and non-conventionally human beings in parts of the globe long neglected.

In today’s episode we’re going to consider the astounding reports Clarke was able to gather during her trips through Mesoamerica; a region comprising the modern day countries of northern Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, and central to southern Mexico. Not only do the accounts Clarke gathered make clear the fact that UFO sightings and interactions with actual beings are every much as common – perhaps even more so – there, as compared to here, but they also raise very interesting possibilities regarding the very origins of some of these people groups, and specifically the Maya. Could the Maya themselves not only be the recipients of the traditions of a so-called “ancient alien” civilization, but perhaps even their very descendants? These are the fascinating matters we’ll endeavor to engage with, head on, in this, the 82nd episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

When people are first introduced to the enigmatic topic known as the UFO Phenomenon, the working assumption is that this is a matter of determining whether or not aliens, i.e. extraterrestrials from some likely extrasolar source, have traversed the immense distances of outer space, to arrive at our blue pearl planet either to, A.) from a more positive view, study us, as in a scientific expedition, or, B.) from a less positive view, scope out our capabilities prior to some kind of invasion.

Perhaps it should not be surprising that this is where the conversation begins for people; including those who’ve flocked to this topic since 2017, when the revelations of a now famous New York Times article first entered the public sphere, suggesting to many that, despite decades of scoff and ridicule and X-Files jokes, perhaps there really was a there there.

Speaking of decades of scoff and ridicule, the decades leading up to the present one filled people’s minds with the very scenarios I just mentioned: that either these visitors from beyond are here as part of a scientific expedition, as in Star Trek, or as a prelude to a full-on invasion of our planet, as in War of the Worlds or Independence Day. These are familiar tropes in science fiction, and so it should not surprise us that this has worked its way into our cultural zeitgeist.

But those initial, rather tame and predictable questions about what the so-called UFO Phenomenon represents are quickly supplanted by much more profound, far-reaching, and, for some, disturbing questions, once newcomers really begin to start poking around and considering the plethora of reports made by credible witnesses, going back decades and decades – and perhaps even millennia – discussing in-person encounters with the intelligences supposedly responsible for the piloting of these sophisticated aerial vehicles known as UFOs or UAP.

Because, as I just mentioned, these encounters trace back deep into human history, and likely even pre-history, one could argue that these more recent “sci-fi” encounters are really in the same overarching category as what we might deem “religious” encounters from yester-millennia, the questions around what this all means suddenly become much more broadly sweeping and all-encompassing.