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.

Much of the world has only recently begun to come to grips with the growing evidence emerging in the public sphere suggesting that sophisticated, non-human intelligences are apparently in our midst, buzzing in and around our skies both day and night. This revelation takes the notion that aliens might exist – out there – in the great beyond of outer space, and brings the idea much closer to home. For some, it’s simply too close to home. Truth be told, many people just aren’t prepared to deal with the idea that extra-terrestrial or inter-dimensional beings are not only already here, but may have indeed been here as long – or longer – than we have.

Of course, for those of us more aware of the extensive body of data regarding the UFO Phenomenon, it’s clear that, not only are these intelligences piloting sophisticated craft in the skies above our heads, but they’re are also interacting directly – face to face and up close and personal – with human beings. And we’re not speaking simply of these Others once in a while introducing themselves in the broad light of day. No, they – some of them, anyway – are also conducting apparently clandestine missions to enter people’s homes, passing through solid walls like we might pass through a fine morning mist, and taking people back to their sophisticated craft, or elsewhere, such as some mysterious matrix-like reality that defies easy categorization based on our current understanding of reality.

Notice that I just said “some of them” are conducting these kinds of covert missions, often – it’s important to point out – without the apparent permission or often even knowledge of the people they are taking. I say “some of them” because, truth be told, not only is sophisticated non-human (i.e. alien) intelligence here, but it is here in the plural. And here I’m not referring simply to numbers of the same alien species. No, I’m referring to different alien species altogether. There are so many in fact that one quickly becomes overwhelmed by the sheer variety of alien types apparently in our midst: the short and tall greys, reptilians, mantids, human-like species such as the so-called Nordics and Tall Whites, and many more.

And it’s not just the variety of alien species that can be overwhelming. The kinds of experiences people have with these various Others also vary. Some people have decidedly positive, even spiritually transformative encounters with these Others, from the get-go, while other people have much more traumatic, frightening, and discombobulating experiences. Truth be told, even the positive encounters are usually disorienting in the extreme at first blush. One simply cannot overstate the degree of ontological shock that is involved here, as John Mack made clear in his research with alien contactees/abductees.

Even more complication arises in this already complex, convoluted discussion, when one takes into account how many people eventually grow to see their experiences differently once the initial ontological shock has – to some degree – worn off. Even more confusing, many abductees/contactees find that, at some point during an encounter with these Others, they realize they actually recognize these beings.

Sometimes this recognition tracks back to early childhood, meaning that, for some, these encounters have been ongoing for decades, often without the individual having any conscious memory of this contact. Even more discombobulatingly, for those of us trying to make sense of the contact totality, it becomes clear that some people find that they recognize these beings from some deep sense of a larger, multi-dimensional self that may even track over multiple lifetimes.

Clearly this is a complicated discussion; one that, arguably, cannot be even fully addressed without asking as many questions about who we truly are as who they truly are. Still, with all of this complexity in mind, what can we make of the jungle that is the territory of these Others? This is exactly what we’ll explore in this, the 33rd episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.