The CE4 Corner
The Cosmic Bridge, Close Encounters and Human Destiny
by Craig R. Lang, Certified Hypnotherapist
Hypnotic Growth, Exploration and Healing for Mind, Body, Spirit and Beyond
Brooklyn Center, MN 763-257-7334 e-mail: craig@craigrlang.com
January/February, 2006: A Strategy for Contact?
©2005-2006 by Craig R. Lang MS, CHt
Picture in your imagination a cosmic civilization with a vast spectrum of member species and cultures. Imagine that it is governed in some enlightened way, maintaining order in the cosmos over many thousands of years - an evolved, ancient, stable federation of worlds. Now imagine that at the periphery of this realm is a new world with an up-and-coming civilization. On this distant blue planet, the beings are both civilized and warlike, poets and killers, saints and thieves. They are diverse and quarrelsome but they hold promise. They could bring a new creative spark but could also bring danger.
Is such a scenario reasonable? Might a vast cosmic civilization exist out there? Could we actually be pending newcomers to a cosmic community, of which we presently know nothing? Might there, in fact, be a civilization of Watchers keeping an eye on us? Ultimately, could they be preparing us for contact?
In the previous edition of The CE4 Corner, we suggested that the result of open contact between human and cosmic societies would likely be negative. How could Visitors from elsewhere might safely open the door to contact with humanity without severely damaging our society? Let's examine some possible ways by which the Visitors might close the gap between "them" and "us". We can then ask whether an alien civilization, who or whatever it may be, might actually be initiating contact - and suggest some possible reasons they might have for doing so.
Are the Visitors actually conducting such a program of orchestrated contact? If so, then what might be their overall strategy? Could the close encounter phenomenon be an early stage of such a plan, one in which contact is conducted one individual at a time? Let's begin asking these questions by examining the big-picture of how the Visitors might conduct a program of contact, an E.T. strategy for Earth.
The Deardorff Model -
A "Possible E.T. Strategy for Earth"
Let's assume to be accurate, warnings of the dangers of open contact with extraterrestrial beings. How could an E.T. civilization initiate contact, yet avoid these perils? In his article, "A Possible Extraterrestrial Strategy for Earth"[i] Dr. James Deardorff postulates just such a model of contact, a slow, gradual progression of carefully managed steps. The article begins with one of the biggest questions posed, perhaps the biggest problem with the traditional contact paradigm. This is the lack of confirmed ET intelligence (ETI) detections to date. According to several possible interpretations of the Drake equation there should be a significant number of civilizations detectable to our radio ears. Thus, according to the SETI paradigm, we should have heard something by now. Furthermore, the reasoning goes that if "they" have space travel capability, they should currently be visiting our skies, and should thus be visible to us. In short, in the words of the physicist, Enrico Fermi, "Where are they?"[ii]
Probabilistic arguments alone suggest that a large number of worlds in our region of the galaxy could be home to intelligent races of beings. On at least some of these worlds, the inhabitants should have developed a technological civilization, and potentially an interest in humanity. Thus, any model of intelligent life in the universe must allow understanding of the statistical ubiquity of E.T. intelligence (ETI), while at the same time explaining this apparent lack of detection or open contact to date.
The Deardorff model suggests a way to explain the apparent lack of contact with E.T. by the scientific community. Yet at the same time, it hypothesizes a large-scale unfolding of covert contact between humanity and the extraterrestrial community. Deardorff envisions a staged program of quarantine, observation and gradual contact. Finally, once all previous stages are successful and the time is right, open contact can occur.
Assumptions
Deardorff and others[iii] make some very broad assumptions about the nature of potential Visitors to Earth, which help us lay the groundwork for our hypotheses. They assume any world that has survived long enough, will be sufficiently advanced to be welcomed into the Cosmic Community, would have moved beyond its potentially warlike youth. We can reason that such a society would have reached a level of civilized enlightenment, and would be reasonably benevolent. Thus, Deardorff suggests we can assume that, at least to some extent, they would be motivated to protect the interests of the developing worlds within their sphere of influence. They would therefore be nurturing to "up and coming" worlds such as Earth.
Contact Strategy
As mentioned earlier, a quick perusal of speculation about the consequences of first contact[iv] [v] suggests that for us, the consequences would be largely negative. Thus, Deardorff proposes that today, any enlightened E.T. civilization would avoid open contact. Instead, he suggests that an advanced civilization would follow a more subtle plan for the gradual acclimation of humanity to an E.T. presence.
Deardorff proposes that Earth (and other emerging worlds) would likely be under some form of quarantine, a Star-Trek-like "Prime Directive". This would serve both to insulate "primitive" worlds such as ours from external influence and to prevent the expansion of humanity into the cosmos while we are still in our primitive (warlike) adolescence. With this "prime directive" in place, a careful program of contact and acclimation could occur.
An evolving contact agenda would most likely begin with an extended period of observation in which the extraterrestrials study humanity extensively, learning as much detail as possible about our society, capabilities, psychology, etc. A program of limited contact would follow. This careful, covert interaction would remain out of the attention of human authorities (political, military, scientific, etc).
There would very likely be several stages to such a program of gradual contact:
1. An initial observing stage: mapping, surveying, and scientific observations, effectively concealed from human perception, but including observation and study of humanity.
2. Initial covert interaction: abductions and expanding clandestine contacts
3. Gradual disclosure of the E.T. presence in subtle ways, beginning at the grass-roots level, but perhaps also secretly, at official levels
4. A Subtle infusion of knowledge of E.T. topics into the mainstream of human culture: This would include concepts and/or discoveries that shift human paradigms toward acceptance of contact.
5. As humans eventually became more accepting of an E.T. presence, a careful, ever-increasing level of overt contact could occur.
Deardorff also suggests that there might be an air of mystery and logical absurdity to such a contact effort, at least partially due to the advanced technology level of the E.T. visitors, "indistinguishable from magic"[vi]. He suggests that the E.T. presence might even deliberately conceal itself with such a veneer of absurdity. One purpose of such deliberately illogical behavior might be to make it seem nonsensical and thus "unscientific", making it uninteresting to the scientific community. In this way, the Visitors would avoid a premature acceptance by the authority structures of Earth - postponing official contact until humanity has sufficiently matured.
In its early stages - stage 2, above - covert contact would occur with selected individuals at a grass roots level. It would begin carefully, gradually widening in scope, acclimating greater numbers of people to the E.T. presence. Such a slow but ubiquitous process of contact would be compatible with an overall "Prime Directive" style embargo yet would bring about a relatively painless preparation of humanity for E.T. contact.
Within the CE4 phenomenon, we see many potential signs of such a covert, large-scale contact and acclimation process. Indeed, when one researches the UFO and close encounter phenomenon to any degree, one finds that it seems centered around this very concept. Most experiencers describe the phenomenon as being covert – coming to them in the dark of night. It also seems cloaked in mystery and absurdity, even an aura of magic. It presents us with a host logical paradoxes and superpositions of reality, an overlay of dreams and the physical. Is this "magic" simply our (mis)perception of a vastly superior technology? Or is there a deliberate presentation to us of apparent absurdity, in order to repel the "rational" scientific community? The answer to this question is not at all clear but the fact remains that, in the eyes of the scientific community, no apparent contact is yet accepted as having occurred. Yet to the myriad of individual experiencers, such contact appears to be ubiquitous.
The vast scope of the CE4 phenomenon seems entirely compatible with the bottom-up strategy described in the Deardorff model. The Roper poll and other estimates suggest that phenomenal contact affects nearly one percent of humanity in some form. This could be seen as an indication of a massive effort to reach, and presumably to acclimate humanity to the Visitors' presence. We can imagine a goal of eventual open disclosure, when the time is right, presumably culminating in the entry of humanity into what UFO researcher and author, Stanton Friedman has referred to as "The Cosmic Kindergarten"[vii]
Might such a program of covert, widening grass-roots contact - an "Extraterrestrial Strategy for Earth" - be a core component of such an alien agenda?
In the next issue, we will look at some more models of contact, such as the "Zoo" hypothesis, and the "National Park" metaphor. How do these models of contact mesh, and how might they conflict? How can we build a synthesis of possible ways to understand the interaction with our Visitors from the other side of the sky? For answers to some of these questions, check out the next issue of The CE4 Corner...
