In recent times, considerable focus has been on the march towards some form of official UAP disclosure. Throughout that period, momentum has been arising from congressional attempts to surface information in light of intelligence gathered within various branches of the military and the intelligence community; that is to say, based on data and assessments from within “the government” itself.

Based on this government-centric approach, one might come to the illusory conclusion that this is the only real source of information available; the main repository or “raw data”, if you will. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. While many assume the only way ufology will gain traction in the mainstream is if and when government makes some sort of official acknowledgement of the data they have amassed over the decades, myriad compelling and dara-rich reports already exist in the public at large.

A key – but often underrepresented and under-discussed – component of that data available within the public domain, arises from people of indigenous descent. These peoples, often also referred to as First Nations, or more colloquially, within the United States, as “American Indians”, have a remarkably deep and diverse lore pertaining to these matters. And this lore not only touches on a plethora of encounters with non-human and non-conventionally human intelligences, over many generations, but it also speaks to a self-understanding of origins, related to these very so-called “star people”.

Part of the challenge in having these reports considered as part of our ongoing data gathering efforts has been that these peoples, so often marginalized in the mainstream, have been reticent to share their accounts with the public at large. This is where Dr. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke’s legacy comes in. She is both a university professor and herself of Cherokee/Choctaw descent. And this has provided her unique access to these underrepresented peoples. Furthermore, Clarke has dedicated years of her life to visiting these various tribes, in both North and South America, and diligently recording their accounts for posterity’s sake.

What’s fascinating about Clarke’s work is not just how vast a body of data it is, but also how incredibly diverse it is. Her work, perhaps more than any other researcher of recent memory, uncovers just how many different forms of non-human and – just as importantly – non-conventionally-human intelligences appear to be in our midst; even teasing the possibility that some of those non-conventional life forms have relationships (and perhaps even genetic links) with particular ethnicities amongst the present Earth population. And these are precisely the fascinating and consequential matters we’ll seek to engage with in this, the 109th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

As our society begins to host dinner-table conversations around the reality of non-human intelligences co-occupying our space here on and around planet Earth, certain assumptions are inevitably being applied before even a single word is spoken. On previous episodes of this podcast we’ve discussed how the notion that these beings are extraterrestrials, that is to say – “space aliens” – has been one of the most frequent assumptions applied.

Even today, that continues to be the case, because the other origin hypotheses that had been floated; namely interdimensional, extradimensional/celestial, cryptoterrestrial, ultraterrestrial, extratempestrial, etc, are really only being bandied about within the dedicated ufological community. We (those who are part of that community, that is) know, of course, that it is the data themselves that lead people to these other possibilities; but Joe and Jane Public just are not there yet. They’re still parsing along the lines of the headline grabbing: “we’re not alone, and they’re here!”

As it turns out, though, that pre-assigned notion as to origins is just one of a whole host of assumptions regularly being applied to this matter of the UFO Phenomenon. And again, for those of us intimately familiar with this topic, we know full well that the many of the other assumptions being applied are equally as either questionable, or fully outdated, in light of the decades–and many would argue, even centuries or even millennia-long–data at our disposal.

While those who’ve been in this field the longest–the true “lifers”–if you will, are no doubt cheering the entrance of mainstream academia into the mix in recent years, I would caution that this segment of our society is bringing its own set of pre-existing assumptions to the table as well.

And, again, some of those assumptions just don’t play well with this data. And in our race for conventional recognition, we should be careful to not sell the process short, because academia, too, will have its understanding stretched (to say the very least) by the nature of this data.

This same is true for religious adherents of one form or another. The fact that this data does seem to include what we might call “spiritual overtones” often leads this religiously-affiliated segment of our civilization to the conclusion that this puts the UFO Phenomenon data firmly in their worldview camp, leading them to gleefully proclaim that this shows that they’ve been “right all along”. In both these cases (for those academically and/or religiously inclined), the problem arises in their assumption that the interpretive grid they have at their disposal is generally sufficient to make sense of this anomalous data, and that all they need to do now is slot various data points into various categories of pre-agreed meaning.

Simply put, that will not work. I tend to agree with Peter Levenda’s contention here, suggesting that what this data really asks us to do is consider our reality models from the perspective of the Phenomenon, and not the other way around. The question then becomes: as we do this, just how far afield will this take us? And what elements of our various pre-existing conceptual models will be left standing when we’re done?

And what alternatives might we tentatively put in their place? And these are precisely the issues we’ll seek to engage with in this, the 108th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

As we speak, both within ufology and within the segments of the political and public spheres that are beginning to wrestle with this enigmatic topic, we are seeing ongoing debate about how much the intelligences behind what we colloquially refer to as “the Phenomenon” should be framed as a threat–or at least a “potential threat”–or not. Some argue “better safe than sorry”, in lobbying for an approach that assumes this is a threat until proven otherwise.

As we delved into in the last episode of Point of Convergence, much of that particular argument leans on the notion that we have pretty much zero understanding as to the intent of these non-conventional others. But, as I pointed out in that episode, the wealth of experiencer testimony at our disposal would suggest otherwise, for within that extensive body of data we see consistent messages provided by these non-human others to the human beings who have interacted with them.

But even beyond this particular matter, which is already controversial because it ventures into questions around what kind of data should be considered “legitimate” and “trustworthy” or not, the lore we just referenced goes well beyond offering potential answers to the question of whether or not this amounts to a threat or not, even touching on ultimate matters such as the nature of reality, and even an alternate history regarding human origins.

What is perhaps most challenging of all to our secular, and still largely physicalist (that is to say reductionistic materialist) Western civilization, is notions that arise in the experiencer data that speak to what might best be called “spirituality”. This challenges our typical conceptions because most see this entire matter as involving technology and a potential clash of space-faring civilizations, not one delving into ultimate meaning and the evolution of souls. And yet, that is indeed where this body of data goes, which perhaps only adds fuel to the fire, in terms of why this lore is not taken as legitimate by the powers-that-be.

If experiencer lore stretches our expectations regarding what the UFO Phenomenon is even ultimately about, in what precise ways does it do so? And how do these elements in particular make our contemporary meaning-making machine uncomfortable? And how might the ignoring of those elements, simply because they are unexpected and inconvenient, potentially create a scenario where we miss the forest for the proverbial trees? These are precisely the issues we’ll seek to gain clarity around in this, the 107th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

While modern ufology has been a component of our cultural zeitgeist for decades and decades now, during much of that time it has generally been seen as a matter for astrophysicists and aviation experts. While ground-breaking researchers such as Jacques Vallee, John Keel and J. Allen Hynek, as early as the 1970s, suggested the anomalous and highly strange nature of the data takes us well beyond that kind of conventional inquiry, even today, the mainstream still tends to think of UFOs (now monikered as UAP) and NHI – the fancy new name for what we use to call “aliens”, as involving interstellar travelers arriving at Earth in sophisticated spacecraft.

For many, especially in still physicalist-centric Western civilization, this kind of enterprise represents, at least in potentia, a new kind of contact, and a new possibility for communication that takes us beyond what we’ve been limited to amongst our own species over the milenia. But, here again, the data – when one actually looks squarely into them – take us well beyond that notion. And that’s because – contact – and specifically contact with apparently non-human and non-conventionally human intelligences – has supposedly already been happening. The varieties of contact technologies or modalities that have meditated this non-ordinary kind of communication include mediumship/channeling, shamanic journeying, CE-5/HICE, dreams, psychedelics, and even fever states.

In other words, the issue seems to be not one of needing to wait for interstellar travelers to arrive to finally give us this opportunity, for it’s been available to us all along, with some cultures and people groups being more privy to this fact than others. Interestingly, these various modalities of contact and communication also seem to be possible regardless of what would seem to be the expected language and even species-specific differences. And that’s because mind-to-mind communication, known in parapsychological circles as telepathy, seems to be the general rule rather than the exception in these endeavors, thus bypassing the need for translation of written and spoken languages altogether.

But of course, these startling revelations raise further questions: if the issue is not one of needing to wait for interstellar travelers to arrive via superliminal (that is, faster than light) travel, then how exactly is this contact and communication happening? Have they been here – in our so-called “physical” space – all along? Or does the nature of this contact suggest space, and for that matter, time, is simply not what we’ve long assumed? How is it that these various contact technologies are able to connect us with alternative forms of sophisticated sentience, and what do they have in common that makes them effective? These are the captivating and consequential matters we’ll seek to engage with in this, the 105th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Beginning with the revelations that arose in a now famous 2017 New York Times article titled “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program”, and further brought to light with the allegations made by former military insiders like Luis Elizondo and David Grusch, the general public is being slowly acclimated to a reality that those of us who are part of this community have long known to be the case: non-human intelligences and their technological marvels have been (and continue to be) in our very midst.

Still, for those of us who regularly dive deep into these murky (but often exhilarating) waters, we know that these revelations – as startling as they are to the average Joe and Jane on the street – are really just the beginning. And that’s because, simply put, there are numerous elements of human experience that simply don’t play well with the prevailing paradigm that rules in Western civilization – at least at present. These elements include out of body experiences, near death experiences, psi phenomena, synchronicity, contact with supposed deceased loved ones, and time slippages. And that’s just for starters.

Not only do these elements that have historically been forced to the fringes of polite conversation stretch the mainstream’s understanding of what’s possible, they also call into question the very maps we’ve so confidently crafted to make sense of what’s real altogether. For instance, when it comes to the matter of dealing with sophisticated, apparently non-human intelligences (ie. aliens), not only do we have the matter of the DoD allegedly housing the recovered craft and even the cadavers of non-human life forms – life forms that are decidedly biological, just like us – also on the table are the credible accounts of a host of other kind of non-conventional encounters.

Truth be told, there is a considerable body of data pointing to encounters with beings that are better described as ethereal, though – importantly – no less “real”. These beings are described by people from different walks of life in such consistent ways that they seem to claim just as much “real” and independent existence as we do. Other life forms that people encounter are perhaps better described as quasi-physical, and still others seem to navigate between these different domains like we might move between different rooms of a house.

Furthermore, human beings sometimes find themselves acting outside of their own bodies – and even outside of this 3D “physical” construct altogether – interacting with alien beings of various sorts and sometimes even with their own supposedly deceased loved ones in the process. The beings encountered also seem capable of moving human consciousness in ways that sometimes include the physical body, and other times do not. In short, what’s being highlighted here is the untenable nature of the physicalist paradigm altogether.

But all this being the case, how are we to proceed? If our modern maps have been exposed as – at best – approximations reflecting only one tiny corner of a much more expansive territory, how are we to make our way forward? And how can we reconcile the seemingly illusory boundaries between the living and the dead, sleep and waking states, and physical and ethereal realms? This all amounts to some pretty ambitious inquiry. But these are exactly the matters that we’ll seek to engage with in this the 104th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Seeing the matter of UAP, or, as they have more traditionally been named: UFOs, unidentified flying objects, move through the halls of Congress, apparently towards some kind of official government disclosure, one might assume that what we’re dealing with is the rather clear cut matter of alien beings arising from elsewhere in our vast galaxy, visiting us in their sophisticated nuts and bolts spacecraft. Many assume this is the logical starting point based on what we think we know of the frontiers that are yet to be explored by our modern species.

However, if one pays close attention one notices the peculiar matter of the fact that these beings are referred to in official government documentation, specifically the so-called Schumer amendment, as “non-human intelligence”. No mention of the term “extraterrestrial” or “alien” can be found. Many have speculated that this is because the nature of these beings is perhaps more exotic than our sci-fi tropes would have us believe.

In truth, the exotic nature of this matter of the UFO Phenomenon goes far beyond simply the origin of the beings themselves. For if one spends any amount of time studying the nuances of this Phenomenon, it becomes clear that some very peculiar goings-on are seemingly baked-in to the entire enterprise. The term “high strangeness” has been coined to encapsulate the many aspects that are peculiar, mind-bending, and sometimes even apparently absurd.

In fact, the ways experiences with this Phenomenon tend to stretch – in cognitively uncomfortable ways – our very notions of what we think even can happen in a rational universe, are so frequent, and so seemingly impossible, that many have wondered if this is telling us that our conventional model of reality is, simply put, just wrong altogether. If these incidents of high strangeness are “real”, then how can our model be sufficient to account for what can arise in our material universe?

And to that point, in light of the bizarre nature of these experiences, is it even accurate to see the stage we traipse upon as a “material universe”, at all? In other words, does the very mind-bending nature of these experiences suggest that perhaps this is exactly where we should look for the locus of reality itself: in mind? And are these events arising from the machinations of our individual minds, a collective mind, or some combination of the two? These are the matters we’ll seek to explore in this, the 102nd episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

In our modern, technologically sophisticated world, it is something of a wonder that a medium such as the podcast continues to thrive. When podcasts first began to emerge in the new era of mini audio devices known as iPods (which speaks, of course, to the origin of the name), many saw them as a nostalgic throwback to the era of radio plays, before even the advent of television. The fact that the podcast medium continues to hold its own, even well into the 2020s, suggests there is something deeply enduring about the experience of tuning into real human voices, in order to feel an authentic human connection.

For me personally, it has been a profoundly rewarding experience to build that connection with a dedicated podcast audience that feels very much like a kind of extended family; a tribe, if you will. And as we make note of this, the 100th episode of Point of Convergence, I think it bears pausing for a moment to celebrate not only this milestone in the life of the podcast, but also the human journey we all share, one that draws each of us to this mysterious collection of topics centered around anomalous – and therefore extraordinary – experience.

Truth be told, what you have primarily witnessed over these many episodes is my own indulgence of curiosity. For it is primarily questions, rather than answers, that have driven this quest; one centered around both hard and incontrovertible data, but also an intuitive sense that the world we are all a part of is made up of so much more than what we’ve been led to believe in our conventional, reductionistically materialist society.

To mark this turning over into the triple digits, I plan to make this episode partly a retrospective of sorts, one in which I take some time to look back at the meandering – but also synchronistically orchestrated – path that has brought us here to episode 100. What lessons have been learned along the way in exploring the so-called UFO Phenomenon and related topics? And how might some additional but associated notions – such as that of a hologram, or a “holomovement”, which we’ll delve into today – help shed further light not just on the anomalous, but also on the ultimate nature of reality itself? These are the particular questions we’ll seek to indulge in this, the 100th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Those familiar with ufological lore, and especially how it ties into our deep religious history, will tell you that UFOs have been around for as long as we have, and perhaps even longer. Indeed, it has long been acknowledged that the assumed non-human intelligences behind these manifestations may be responsible not only for the inspiration and direction of our most foundational meaning-making models – that is to say, our religious traditions – but also for our very origin as a species.

That being the case, some might find it a stretch to believe that the times we find ourselves in now are somehow unique when it comes to this enigmatic topic: Yes, they’re here, but they always have been, directing affairs mostly in shadow – à la something like Jacques Vallee’s control system hypothesis – so what would be different about now? – or so the thinking goes.

While that’s an understandable perspective to have, and while we should always be on the lookout for bias in our contemporary reading of history, there is indeed compelling evidence to suggest that what we’re seeing with this Phenomenon since the turn of the millennium – and especially over the last few years or so – is indeed worthy of note, suggesting that we may very well be heading towards some crescendo point, where our very relationship to this Phenomenon, and, for that matter, to reality itself, fundamentally changes.

The evidence for this notion arises not just in the increased activity of alien intelligences in our midst – though we have indeed seen a rise in reported accounts of sightings and engagements with the craft apparently piloted by these so-called NHI of late – but also via reports from experiencers, those uniquely tuned into these various alien groups, who have seen visions of imminent changes that speak to the coming of a foundationally different world.

While even these two data points – the increased sightings/interactions and sense from experiencers that something is coming – might not be enough to convince many, these are not the only elements we need to reckon with here. Just as important in this equation is the rising tide of challenges our civilization is presently facing; challenges so daunting that they threaten our very existence.

These matters include climate change, geopolitical conflict rife with ever more catastrophic weapons of mass destruction, and the sudden rise of artificial intelligence. All three of these are particularly troublesome because they are being met by a center of gravity of consciousness still driven by fear, scarcity and what our most ancient and enduring spiritual traditions – not to mention many of these Others – call “the illusion of separation”.

Those familiar with ufological lore will also know that the trajectory we’re presently on as a human, earth-based civilization, is precisely the one that these various non-human (and non-conventionally-human) intelligences have long warned us about. Their historic concern about our ever more technological focus, unmoored from an accompanying increase in our level of consciousness, is central to the messages delivered to humankind via the experiencers we’ve already discussed. Suddenly those warnings and prognostications, going back decades, seem strikingly prescient.

That said, we know that timing is particularly challenging to predict and parse out when it comes to these otherworldly admonitions. And thus, the question still remains: just how pressing are these issues, and just how close are we to some fundamental transformation of life as we have thus far known it? Furthermore, how might the very real march towards official disclosure we’ve seen of late be informed by all of this? These are the very thorny – yet crucial – matters we’ll seek to gain clarity around in this, the 98th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Over the last several episodes of this podcast we’ve been exploring the overlap between religious history, Shamanism and the UFO Phenomenon. In today’s episode we’ll be continuing this line of inquiry by zeroing in on the mystical and transformative aspects of encounters had as part of the modern UFO Phenomenon. Specifically we’ll be considering how the nature of these encounters, had in a seemingly alternate realm or alternate state of consciousness, prompt remarkably consistent and long-lasting worldview changes amongst those who’ve had the experiences.

While some will argue that the ontological shock experienced in interactions with alien beings that are not supposed to exist according to the dictates of conventional thinking is simply that – the result of paradigm-shattering experiences had with often frightening, “bug-like” creatures – a more thoughtful approach might suggest that, to the contrary, the “reality rewrite” that experiencers undergo is not just an unintended side-effect, but a chief aim of the entire enterprise.

Put another way, one can very clearly make the argument that a central mission of these mysterious Others interacting with human beings over time is to “wake us up” to who we truly are, and to how we’re connected to everything and everyone else around us, including myriad beings we have not even yet begun to map onto our collective awareness. Ultimately that “waking up” process is not only about expanding our conceptual categories, but more centrally about cracking open human perception and potential – allowing us to more fully step into our true birthright as powerful, multidimensional beings that are fractal representations of Source consciousness itself.

In the latter part of the 20th century, John Mack, a well-respected professor of psychiatry and head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School was thrust full-on into these confusing and controversial matters when he began to be sought out by the people who’d had these discombobulating encounters. In taking these accounts seriously, determining that – contrary to mainstream thinking of the time – these accounts were not the result of delusional, damaged minds, Mack played a central role in mainstreaming our culture’s engagement with these challenging issues.

In today’s episode we’ll be considering the observations made by Mack in his ground-breaking book Passport to the Cosmos: Human Transformation and Alien Encounters. By the time Mack penned this book, he was a decade or more into the matter of apparent alien abduction and hybridization, and, having had first-hand exposure not only to Western experiencers, but also to Shamans and those of various indigenous traditions from around the world, he was in a unique position to draw overarching insights from his immersive investigations. In what directions did these investigations take his thinking, and why were his tentative conclusions so utterly unpalatable for conventional, Western society? These are the matters we’ll seek to explore in this, the 97th 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.