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.

When it comes to the history of the UFO Phenomenon, there are a few key players who have shaped the nature of the conversation. Of those individuals, those considered – at least initially, anyway – the most controversial, are the ones who suggested an alternative to the popular, and in many ways ubiquitous, extraterrestrial hypothesis: the notion that alien species had traveled to us by traversing vast distances of interstellar space.

That initial controversy fell by the wayside, in many ways, as evidence mounted over the decades suggesting the ETH really was either, if not wrong, then woefully incomplete, in terms of explaining the depth and breadth of the UFO Phenomenon; a phenomenon that seemed, upon closer inspection, to have much in common with tales of encounters with otherworldly entities from distant human lore.

Of course, Jacques Vallee stands out as perhaps the most influential in this regard. But standing right alongside him, in terms of positing an alternate origin hypothesis to explain the apparently non-human entities visiting and interacting with us throughout recorded history, is the figure of John Keel. Keel, ever a trailblazer, sought from the outset to study this subject in an objective way, unprejudiced by the prominent theories of his day.

And as he studied this subject in depth, Keel began to notice peculiar – though, to him, unmistakable – commonalities behind the appearance and behavior of phenomena such as UFOs and alien beings, and tales from occult literature going back deep into the depth of recorded human history. The crossover elements were so overwhelming in scope, in fact, that this recognition ultimately led Keel to conclude that a common origin was responsible for all interactions with supposedly otherworldly entities – whether they be supposed aliens from distant planets, or goblins arising from the underworld.

Keel suggested that these beings were not so much distant travelers from elsewhere in the fabric of our own spacetime, as interdimensional sojourners, emerging from some alternate plane that exists right alongside our own. He termed this vast “otherplace”, the superspectrum. And he termed the visitors coming from this parallel plane the “ultraterrestrials”.

Keel believed – even though that term “belief” was loathsome to him in many ways – that the vastly different entities we’ve experienced over time, including the craft supposedly traversing our skies, were all manifestations arising from this alternate plane of existence. Indeed he even wondered if perhaps one central and decidedly superior intelligence was responsible for all of these manifestations; manifestations that influenced the origins of our ancient religions as well as much more recent fields of interest and inquiry, such as the UFO Phenomenon.

What was the historical evidence, and direct personal experience, that led Keel in this peculiar – and, at first glance, perhaps counterintuitive – direction? These are the very matters we’ll seek to engage with, in this, the 37th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Ever since the release of videos showing images of strangely behaving vehicles officially classified as “unidentified aerial phenomena” entered the public sphere in 2017, there has been a rising tide of public and even government interest in what have more commonly and historically been referred to as UFOs – unidentified flying objects. This rise in interest crescendoed in a DoD report delivered to Congress recently, which has resulted in further speculation here in the United States, and right around the world. Not surprisingly, the speculation tends to revolve around the nature and origin of these vehicles.

As I and others predicted, the final UAPTF report delivered to the public – i.e., the unclassified version – is nebulous enough to, at times, seemingly talk out of both sides of it’s proverbial mouth. And, because of that deliberate, meticulously crafted nebulousness, conversation near and far does still touch on the possibility of these craft being those of foreign adversaries, though no one “in the know” in the government really believes that anymore, because the leap in technology is simply too great. That said, because the extraterrestrial possibly was not excluded from consideration in the report, even those who have historically steered away from speculation about non-human “visitation”, are now bridging that conversation, all across the globe.

That is in itself something to celebrate. This marks a turning point never before seen in the history of our civilization. And we really should take a moment to recognize and revel in that new reality, even if most of us who’ve been looking at the data for years, if not decades, will argue that this is of course, well overdue. But a win is a win, and we’ll take it. The conversation – which those of us really immersed in this topic know is mystifying and multifaceted – is just beginning for much of the general public, and even for many of our elected officials. But it is beginning. And again, that’s worth celebrating. One can’t finish what one hasn’t begun.

That said, when one pays close attention to the conversations that are being had, all around the world, one thing becomes clear, when the “non-human origin” possibility is breached, it is almost solely in the form of so-called extra-terrestrial visitors – i.e. physical beings who’ve travelled here from some far-flung star system in sophisticated spacecraft. In this sense, the conversation quickly jumps into the well-grooved category of “space aliens” which has been served up time and time again via our society’s entertainment industry. The “space alien” notion in media is so ubiquitous now, in fact, that most people can’t even consciously separate fact from fiction in their mind’s eye anymore – as Diana Pasulka argued in her book American Cosmic.

But those of us who’ve studied the UFO Phenomenon in a dedicated and granular way have long realized that this familiar category – namely that of “space aliens” – may only represent one small piece of a much larger puzzle. Indeed, the revelations that inevitably arise from a close study of this phenomenon seemingly give birth to a whole new set of questions for every one that it – often only tentatively – answers.

Knowing that is the case, we might ask: is the general public ready for these revelations? Can they “handle the truth” – as complex and convoluted as it apparently is? And can they stomach entering into a conversation that has not yet served up clear, unequivocal answers, even after decades of underground study? Do they even have the attention-span to do so? Unlikely, I would argue, for vast swaths of the population, anyway.

Modern human societies are simply not accustomed to this degree of unclarity about the nature of reality. And make no mistake, that’s exactly where these revelations lead – to questions about the very fabric of all that exists, and to how it is all connected. The current models of reality will not only have to be revised as a result, but they will need to be re-categorized as understandings that only apply to micro-environments, seen at a certain, local level. That, in light of the totality of all that is, these notions are almost trite and simplistic.

These are vast issues, giving way to bewildering, discombobulating questions the likes of which our civilization has never yet had to deal with in a direct way. How will this be handled? What will the process look like as it rolls out in the months and years ahead? These are the thorny – and yet, fascinating – topics we’ll endeavor to address in this, the 28th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

For anyone who’s spent any degree of time and energy researching the collective enigma known as the UFO Phenomenon one thing is clear, this topic is as elusive – almost absurdly so – as it is obsessively fascinating. Not only do the manifestations of these phenomena, in and of themselves, tantalize, mesmerize and bewilder anyone who’s paying close attention to the bizarre array of feats performed by the apparently non-humanly crafted aerial vehicles coined “UFOs” or “UAP”, but the way the intelligences behind this phenomenon are able to manipulate human perception and/or experience, only further complicates this already murky – if astonishing and invigorating – subject matter.

Regardless of how someone enters this conversation – whether that be as a result of a personal “nuts n’ bolts” interest in next-gen technology and/or an interaction with an intelligent, non-human biological species, or via a profoundly spiritual personal encounter with entities that are perceived as so superior and “otherworldly” that an expression like “celestial being” seems more appropriate than a blunt and crude term like “alien”, this subject matter quickly expands into a wide-reaching and profound mystery; one that inevitably leads to questions about the very nature of reality itself.

With decades of data now behind us, there have been no shortage of hypotheses put forth to try to explain the nature, meaning, and origin of this phenomenon. Of course, sometimes a particular hypothesis put forward will say as much about the worldview of the group proposing it, as it does the nature of the encounters themselves. And this is of course because – regardless of how discombobulating these experiences can be for witnesses and contactees/abductees – at the end of the day, as with anything, we have to try to make sense of them by slotting them into pre-ordained possibilities dictated by our reality paradigm.

Even when a researcher tries to focus on a singular aspect of the data, often an honest, thorough assessment of reports will quickly lead the inquiry into another area altogether. And that often creates understandable confusion. For instance, oftentimes these events are so complex that one is left wondering if the psychological aspect somehow manifests the apparent physicality, or vice versa.

By way of example, when physical phenomena are observed – that supposedly violate our very notions of physics – of how we assume the world works – we’re left wondering: does this mean our perception is being played with somehow, or that our very understanding of reality is being exposed as woefully incomplete – if not almost wholly misguided?

As mentioned already, over the last several decades a wide variety of hypotheses have been advanced to try to make sense of the UFO Phenomenon. So many possible explanations have emerged, in fact, that any attempt to keep track of the plethora of proposed explanations can in itself be dizzying. That said, one way one can organize these various hypotheses into a digestible and comprehensible whole is to view them from three different “high altitude” perspectives: the psychic, the physical and the transphysical. And that’s exactly the approach we’ll employ to make sense of this enigmatic topic in this, the 25th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Since early in the 20th century people’s imaginations have been captured by the notion of visitors from the Great Beyond visiting our blue pearl of a planet. And of course, for the vast majority of people, and for decades and decades, this “Great Beyond” was assumed to be outer space: the vast array of galaxies, star systems and planets populating the immense expanse of the Cosmos.

When sightings of soon-to-be-branded “flying saucers” were first reported in the 1940s, it was taken as a given that these fast-moving flying vehicles, which were apparently unlikely to be the technology of terrestrial civilization, were examples of these visitors from outer-space finally arrived to make our acquaintance. Immediately the media was saturated with images of “little green men” from nearby planets like Mars, as our imaginations filled in the gaps as to who was piloting these advanced craft.

This view which suggested that these visitors were from outer-space held sway for decades more — even though the potential originating planet for these extra-terrestrials was pushed farther and farther away, as we began to understand more and more about the apparent lifelessness of the neighboring planets within our own solar system.

However, by the time the 1960s rolled around, and gaining steam ever since then, competing hypotheses emerged to explain the source of these apparent Others. And some of these hypotheses even began to question the assumption that these Others were actually really “Visitors” at all.

Researchers likes Jacques Vallee and John Keel, who had examined thousands of cases each, and who tended to be much more familiar with the totality of the data as compared with armchair enthusiasts, began to take note of data-points that suggested perhaps these “aliens” weren’t visiting from far-flung star systems after all. The way these Others seemed to blink in and out of existence, for instance, led some of these more nuanced researchers to wonder if perhaps these Others were popping in and out of different dimensions, almost instantaneously. And if that were true then they weren’t necessarily really coming from far away at all. In fact, they may be dropping in from a mirror universe; perhaps even from an alternate Earth, thus giving birth to what’s often referred to as the Interdimensional Hypothesis.

When researchers like the aforementioned Vallee and Keel considered the long history of the so-called UFO Phenomenon, they wondered if perhaps stories buried in the lore of distant history – here we speak of elves, goblins, the fae, etc., may actually be instances of contact with the same beings who are piloting the craft we see buzzing around our skies today, and who are interacting with modern human beings in consistently – and similarly – confoundingly mysterious ways.

There are various forms that new hypotheses take to account for all of the data we’ve described above, but a common term that’s arisen to describe these not necessarily extraterrestrial Others, is “ultraterrestrial”. This term is seen to capture the sense that perhaps these Others are native to the Earth after all, and may indeed have been here longer than us. But it also allows for the sense that they either: don’t seem to be necessarily tied only to the earth, in our experience of it anyway, and/or that they exist in a bandwidth of reality that only sometimes brings them into direct contact with us – or at least, into a kind of direct contact that we can actually perceive. Perhaps they can see us all the time, but we only seem to be able to “see” them when certain, as of now unknown, conditions are met.

The notion of these ultraterrestrial others is the topic of this, the 24th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.