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.

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.