When it comes to the matter of informing a naive general public about the reality of the UFO Phenomenon, many more familiar with the topic will argue that the way to introduce this topic to the broader population is to begin by focusing on what are – in some ways – the most relatable, or at least the least objectionable aspects, of the entire enterprise. And for most that means focusing on the fact that we have documented evidence, going back decades, of sophisticated aerial vehicles being intelligently controlled in the skies above our heads.

While the topic clearly goes much deeper than that, it’s understandable that many would want to focus on this angle. They would argue: let’s inform a general public that’s been existing in a state of ignorance up until now that advanced craft performing death-defying – and at least based on our current understanding of physics – often physics-defying maneuvers, have been legitimately and repeatedly observed and recorded in and around the atmosphere of our planet. Once that’s been established we can move onto the more paradigm-shaking aspects of the phenomenon.

Of course, front and center when it comes to those more paradigm-shaking aspects of this phenomenon involves these apparently non-human intelligences interacting – face to face and up close and personal – with a surprisingly large segment of the human population. Here we’re speaking of so-called “abductions”, shocking events that involve these apparent “aliens” entering people’s homes and often taking people back to the sophisticated craft that have been observed in our skies.

Robert Hastings is a long-time, well-informed UFO enthusiast who long argued for just such an approach. He’s been known throughout ufology as a nose-to-the-ground, nuts and bolts, show-me-the-data, ultra-pragmatic and hyper-rational researcher, and was much respected for it. Many saw him as exactly the kind of science-based researcher this field – long seen by some as too full of “woo” to be taken seriously – needed in order to establish this topic as a credible field of inquiry amongst academia and the broader general public.

Hastings’ specific focus, spanning over decades, was on the documenting and evidence-based recording of shocking events involving UFOs making incursions into highly secure and ultra-sensitive nuclear weapons facilities across the United States and elsewhere. Hastings’ has been driven by an uncannily singular focus to bring this matter to the attention of the general public, despite what he saw as clear and long-standing efforts by the U.S. government to cover-up such events.

As I say, so-called “nuts & bolts” researchers, those who focus on the technology and presence of these apparently non-humanly engineered craft in our skies, long respected Hastings for his pragmatic, evidence-based approach. However, that perception of Hastings took a turn in a surprising direction just a few short years ago when Hastings, along with co-author Bob Jacobs, published Confession: Our Hidden Alien Encounters Revealed. This book, which sent shockwaves throughout the field of ufology, detailed lifelong personal encounters between Hastings and these apparent aliens. Yes, indeed, to many people’s shock and no doubt horror, Hastings had emerged from the shadows to publicly identify himself as a contactee/abductee.

Not only was this in itself a surprising turn of events, but it of course raised all sorts of questions regarding the steely, singular focus of Hastings’ to bring the topic of what he called “UFOs and Nukes” to the public’s attention. After realizing he’d been interacting with these beings for decades, going back indeed to childhood, Hastings couldn’t help but wonder if, underlyingly, his life-long mission was actually one encouraged and even sub-consciously implanted by these non-human “others”.

The questions and implications that arise as a result of Hastings’ revelations of contact are profound and far-reaching. And these are the very matters we’ll endeavor to unravel in this, the 30th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Dr. John Mack was a one-of-a-kind individual, who’s pursuits and interests were as varied as the kinds of responses he garnered from various elements of both the public and institutional academia. His “day jobs” included that of a psychiatrist, a writer, and a professor. Most famously Mack was the head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

As destiny would have it, Mack stumbled across one of the greatest secrets of our time – if not of the entire history of humanity: namely: the UFO Phenomenon, and specifically, the apparent “abduction” of thousands, if not millions, of people across the world, evidently by a clandestine alien intelligence. Mack, never one to turn down the pursuit of an intriguing mystery, soon began investigating this phenomenon first hand, counseling clients who claimed to have had these very experiences, doing his very best to help them feel heard and understood in the process.

It was these endeavors, chronicled in his 1994 book “Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens” that would eventually run him a-fowl him of his overseers at Harvard, culminating in a near Inquisition-style proceeding that sought to undermine his academic freedoms because he had dared to commit the heresy of questioning the dominant, reductionistic paradigm of scientific materialism.

John Mack’s investigatory efforts into what he initially termed the “Abduction Syndrome” eventually branched out into what he came to see as undeniably related categories, including life after death, reincarnation, soul identity, and the very nature of ultimate reality. This man’s fascinating journey is chronicled in Ralph Blumenthal’s compelling new biography, titled: “The Believer: Alien Encounters, Hard Science, and the Passion of John Mack”.

Those of us deeply investigated in this, the greatest mystery of our time — and, it could be argued, of all human history —  owe a great debt of gratitude to the trailblazer John Mack, who, at great risk to himself, sought to bring the topic of ufology & contact with non-human intelligence into the mainstream, as a verifiably legitimate arena of study, even as the academic establishment around him did its damnedest to crucify him for the effort.

The life and legacy of Dr. John E. Mack, chronicled in Ralph Blumenthal’s excellent new biography, is the topic of this, the 11th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.