If there is one thing that the subject of belief in the existence of extraterrestrial spacecraft visiting the planet earth has in common with religion, it is the vital element of unquestioning faith. Faith; it cannot be overstated just how vital this nonquantifiable and intangible factor is to the existence of both. Neither can be conclusively proven and neither can be totally disproven, but in spite of this both continue to exist. In the case of the three main monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, they have, at most, been in existence for approximately 3000 years. In planetary terms and in terms of the existence of the human race, this is less than the blink of an eye, yet to date they still exist, although to some extent the influence of Christianity is slowly waning.
In the case of the UFO phenomenon, in spite of abundant evidence that the entire edifice in fundamentally flawed, it, perversely, also clings grimly to life, its embers still fanned into sporadic life by a procession of sincere apologists and well intentioned diehards. All that gives hope to the faithful is the off chance that their ‘holy grail’ will appear in the form of either still classified but indisputable government documents or the landing of a craft in the full glare of public scrutiny. Until either of these two events occurs then it, like religion, must remain an item of faith. Anyone who doubts this should attend a religious service and a UFO conference, the same rapt expressions can be found on the faces of both audiences.
One other factor that the two subjects share are the prophets and messiahs that speak for both beliefs and it is to this similarity that we now turn our attention.
Messiahs of the New Age
Something odd has happened to the convoluted and frequently ephemeral world of hard core Ufology with all its highly detailed and well publicised encounters, including the iconic alleged landings and sightings at Socorro, Roswell and Gulf Breeze in the USA, Shag Harbour in Canada, Rendlesham and Bonnybridge in the UK and myriad others world wide. They have all gradually faded into oblivion to be replaced with, well, what exactly? Why are there almost no intriguing and often terrifying accounts of abduction by alien intruders, of downed and retrieved extraterrestrial spacecraft?
Where are the new reports of visits and overt threats made by the sinister, apparently non-human, ‘Men in Black’ to those who witnessed UFOs in flight: and cattle mutilations, what about them? What was the final verdict surrounding the fate of untold numbers of unfortunate farm animals that fell victim to inhuman and barbaric treatment by parties unknown? The reason for this may be that the bait has been laid and taken and the trap sprung, but let’s begin by looking at these few strands of the UFO mythos more closely because these are only the most high profile facets and like most complex subjects the closer one looks, like fractal images, the more complex it becomes.
One of the most influential and best known alien abduction guru’s is the New York sculptor and artist, Budd Hopkins, who compiled many apparently convincing accounts of such abductions via the frequently disputed technique of hypnotic regression. One of the most notable of these was Linda Cortile, whose version of events, it should be noted, has subsequently been called into question due to the lack of verifiable independent corroboration. Another offshoot of Ufology, cattle mutilations, created an entire sub-genre in its own right complete with its own adherents and prophets, chief among them Linda Moulton-Howe, who travelled widely investigating many reported cases and to her credit did not flinch from getting up close and personal with the decaying and frequently putrid carcases. It also has to be said that she wrote and spoke with great sincerity in support of this particular aspect of the phenomenon.
Although there were many bizarre features associated with the alleged mutilations, including uncannily accurate clinical and apparently cauterised incisions, plus the total exsanguination of many carcases etc, etc. The main culprits, in the absence of any other obviously guilty party, were always assumed to be an amalgam of alien/government/military chicanery, or a cover-up designed to test a range of weapons. At its most extreme it was even mooted that extraterrestrials of reptilian appearance, (reptoids), were carrying out the mutilations to recover the blood for sustenance, this practise evidently included many human victims. However, it has since been persuasively demonstrated that given the right conditions nature can provide apparent ‘wounds’ identical to those supposedly caused by unnatural interference. Now, over time, even this particularly grisly branch of the UFO universe has faded from view; so what has gone wrong?
The answer to this has to be the Ufological equivalent of a flat calm; the almost irresistible storm of excitement that highlighted and propelled accounts from the 20th century has blown itself out, unless the odd sightings of lights in the sky, (LITS), count as worthwhile evidence of extraterrestrial encounters, which in all honesty they do not. In fact, taken worldwide, 'The Great UFO Flap’ has effectively ceased to exist and all we have left are continual retellings and reinterpretations of the cases and incidents that did actually amount to something. While it lasted it provided a source of entertainment and interest for swathes of the population worldwide and also created a market for hundreds of books on the subject. Initially, some were sensationalist and exploitative nonsense designed for the gullible and curious, but later came others that were much more rational, reasoned and thoughtful, arguing the pros and cons of the subject in measured terms.
It was also a source of income for many good and genuine people like, among others, Stanton Friedman, Derrel Sims, Jenny Randles, Timothy Good, Nick Redfern and Nick Pope, who became hailed as experts on various aspects of the subject and undertook, and indeed still undertake, speaking engagements addressing conventions and conferences of like minded people around the world. Friedman, for example, is renowned for his well argued and staunch support for the Roswell crash landings and the consequent appearance of the MJ12 documents apparently naming a committee of well known military and political figures tasked with managing any contact with ETs. Sims on the other hand is acknowledged for his views on alien implants, the small, subcutaneous artefacts occasionally found on alleged abductees. Since it purports to present examples of alien technology it is perhaps one of the most hotly debated aspects of the entire phenomenon. Jenny Randles, one of the most effective investigators still actively involved in this field of research, although accepting UFOs as part of her remit investigates all aspects of the paranormal. Redfern, Good and Pope all still lecture and write extensively and exclusively about the subject.
In every case, although their hypotheses can, as already noted, neither be conclusively proved nor disproved, these sincere individuals have in effect become the evangelists of a belief system that although weakened refused to die and in its diminished state tried to evolve into something else. Because of this and depending on how one perceives it, we can see how the entire subject can take on an entirely different perspective: that of a new spirituality and substitute for religion, for if one thinks about it all the necessary requirements are already there. This is not too unlikely either, consider that there are, even now, organisations word-wide, particularly in the fundamentalist sections of the Christian faith, who openly state that UFOs are the instruments of Satan and the occupants are Satan’s messengers sent to the Earth to confound and confuse humanity: they are ‘The Powers of Principalities of the Air and Those that Fly’.
The Prophets and Visionaries
While these proponents of Ufology perform the function of evangelists, what about the originators of modern Ufology, who are in effect ‘the church elders’? While there is no doubt that large numbers of sincere people did experience events for which they have no rational explanation, equally there is no doubt that in the early days the subject was also hijacked for their own ends by many liars, frauds and charlatans and of course the merely deluded. Having said that there have been some truly remarkable and colourful characters, particularly in the 1950’s, and 60’s, namely the self proclaimed contactees like ‘Professor’ George Adamski (1891-1965), ‘Dr’ George King (1919-1997), George Van Tassel (1910-1978), Earnest and Ruth Norman (1904-1971 & 1900-1993 respectively) and Eduard Albert (Billy) Meier (1937- ) to name but a few and all claim unexpected and involuntary telepathic contact by their mentors, the so called ‘Space People’ of various types.
Of this small group, perhaps George Adamski, Ruth and Ernest Norman, George Van Tassel, and George King attained a spurious kind of lasting fame, although for different reasons. Indeed, ‘The Aetherius Society’, founded by former taxi driver, George King, and ‘The Unarians’ along with the ‘Unarius Academy of Science’ both founded by Ruth and Ernest Norman, still exist today in a number of locations around the world. It goes without saying that the ‘science’ disseminated and promoted by both of these bodies is not that practised in any conventional sense. Instead of science it had the feel of a new spirituality and religion, a means of salvation and was probably, along with the Findhorn Community in Scotland, another UFO/nature spirit based concept, one of the first manifestations of New Age thinking and philosophy.
Meier’s claim to fame came, once again, in the form of telepathic contact with extraterrestrials from the Pleiades and as result of this contact took many pictures of their spacecraft, the supposed ‘Pleiadian Beamships’. In particular he alleges direct contact with the occupants, chiefly with one female named ‘Semjase’ who conveyed a series of environmental warnings. It is slightly worrying that the name of the female being, Semjase, is remarkably similar to that of one of the fallen angels, Semjaza, and given their supposed point of origin the two beings may even share a common identity and purpose. Semjase arrives to warn mankind against its self-destructive urges while Semjaza taught humanity about ‘roots and enchantments’. Whether this is accidental or deliberate is a moot point, so in truth ‘Billy’ Meier was, and continues to be, something of an enigma.
It is curious that overtly flamboyant characters like Ruth Norman, who, incidentally, claimed that she was the reincarnation of, amongst others, Queen Elizabeth the 1st, Socrates and Mary of Bethany, all share a propensity to dress in a rather extravagant fashion. In Ruth Norman’s case she was given to wearing fairy like ball gowns, tiaras and holding ‘magic wands’. In addition to this she was also effectively an Avatar since she claimed to be the incarnation of the Archangel Uriel. It was perhaps rather unfortunate that her habit of driving around the streets in her hometown with a large model UFO attached to the roof of her car caused the neighbours to dub her, ‘Spaceship Ruthie’.
Similarly, the goal of George King’s Aetherius Society is also apparently peaceful and they seek to charge specific mountains with positive energy derived from meditation and prayer via a device of King’s own devising under instruction from the ‘Masters’. This power is intended for release in times of great tribulation to benefit the planet. The device was once actually shown in the late 1960’s on British TV in a programme devoted to the Aetherius Society. The viewers were allowed to see the majority of the artefact, a fairly long device with a box at one end, but King did not allow this section to be viewed, as it was evidently secret and not for profane eyes. George King did in fact appear live on television actually channelling messages from the ‘Cosmic Masters’; which necessitated wearing dark glasses and speaking in a gruff and over pronounced manner and I was fortunate enough to see both the device and the channelling session when the programme was transmitted.
Another of the American contactees, George Van Tassel, who, in a subterranean chamber below the huge rock that gave its name to the location, supposedly channelled a series of ET entities including, ‘Knut’ and ‘Ashtar’, an entity that has lasted the course fairly well as the ‘Ashtar Command’. He actually succeeded in creating a kind of open-air convention centre in the Mojave Desert called the ‘Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention’. The location was frequented by some of the personalities mentioned above who gave informal lectures to the UFO faithful. He went on to found the ‘College of Universal Wisdom’, and was also favoured, like many of the others, with a trip on board one of his ‘friends’ spacecraft.
Van Tassels crowning achievement was the construction of a domed, white, wooden, building called ‘The Integratron’, fashioned using no metal fastenings. It was designed to specifications relayed to him by his ‘friends’, and was intended to rejuvenate the physiology of those who entered. It was also claimed to act as a type of dimensional projector that could display images from different eras within its interior. When he died in 1978 his legacy largely died with him, but the Integratron still remains and still is viewable by appointment. Before leaving this character it is interesting to note that the Integratron bore certain similarities to ‘The Goetheaneum’, a spectacular and organically beautiful art deco construction designed and built by the philosopher and mystic Rudolph Steiner.
With a few notable exceptions it is fair to say that in the main they were sincere if misguided in their beliefs, unfortunately, in the case of George Adamski, who, for reasons of increasing his credibility elevated his position as a hamburger seller to that of a professor, there is abundant evidence to suggest that his account was little more than a cynical money making ploy. It is probably significant that during the era of prohibition in the USA he instituted a centre for spiritual learning and development that required sacramental wine.
Under the strictures of this legislation he was allowed, like all faiths that used alcohol in their sacraments, to manufacture the wine in large quantities, needless to say the majority of it managed to find its way, at a profit, into the local community although not for sacramental purposes. It has been recorded that Adamski viewed the end of the prohibition era with some regret, causing him to reflect that, if it had not ended, he would, quote, ‘Not have had to get into this saucer crap’. One thing that is slightly disturbing is the fact that even today people who should know better still persist in validating Adamski’s claims.
Another trait shared by some of the aforementioned luminaries was a fondness for grandiose titles including bogus doctorates both secular and non-secular, dubious professorships, minor royalty, (George King eventually assumed the title of ‘Count’), and in the case of Ernest Norman, a former incarnation as none other than Jesus of Nazareth. Although in retrospect none of them did anything worthwhile for serious Ufology, at least they raised public awareness of the subject and it is regrettable that almost all of these characters are now no longer with us, though they would probably have argued that in some form they still are, and we are all the poorer for it.
A New Religion?
What these particular individuals actually created were substitute religions based on a series of channelled, mostly altruistic messages and instructions received from a hierarchy of Ascended Masters, Cosmic Masters, The Council of Nine and of course the ever reliable Space Brothers, because to all intents and purposes they shared many of the same precepts as conventional religious belief systems. The difference comes in terms of sheer accessibility and immediacy. According to George King’s Aetherius Society, Jesus Christ, along with Buddha, Krishna and other deities, is an ascended master rather in the style of Madam Helena Blavatski’s ‘Theosophical Society’, with whose tenets they shared a number of similarities.
It is perhaps fair comment to say that the people who wholeheartedly and uncritically embraced the concept of the Space Brothers were already looking for an anchor, a rock to cling to in the troubled and uncertain times created by the Cold War when America and the then USSR threatened the entire world with their incompatible ideologies. The Christian and Jewish God was in some way either too fierce or too intangible to deal with the multitude of fears and anxieties that arose, which of course created a vacuum; it was a vacuum that Ufology was able to fill because it presented real hope. It is not difficult to see why these cult-like organisations gained a following; the attraction was obvious and very accessible, especially when the leader of the group was able to convey comforting messages directly from any particular member of the spiritual hierarchy to which they subscribed.
Within the body of dedicated UFO cultists, as with any organisation or belief system that functions almost entirely on faith alone, there are schisms and factions protesting that theirs is the only truth, when in fact they all may have fragments of a greater truth. Instead of Catholic and Protestant, Jew or Gentile, Muslim or Infidel we have believers in the various strands of extraterrestrial belief; e.g. the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), and the psychosocial hypothesis (PSH), leavened with offshoots into underground bases, shape changers and an entire zoo of ET species, Greys, Nordics, Reptoids and everything in between. This is where faith holds sway, for as with religion, in every case other than hearsay and circumstantial evidence, there is not one single shred of corroborating material to substantiate any of it.
It is evident then that Ufology might just fulfil a universal need in that it can be everything to everyone, equally there is evidence that the whole subject of UFOs and Ufology can be likened to an analogy of the bible, the messiah and salvation, only in this case, as has already been said, it was much more believable and accessible to the masses. As we have already seen it had its prophets and preachers, apostles and acolytes, angels and demons and even divine intervention in the shape of giant spacecraft designated to carry off the faithful to a paradise in the cosmos. In fact it resonates with the teachings of fundamentalist millennial groups who advocated ‘The Rapture’, when the Christian faithful would be physically and literally carried away, lifted from the surface of the planet to their just reward in heaven.
So far these groups have been relatively well intentioned and mild, if eccentric, but a few have been positively lethal; Marshall Herf Applewhite and the ‘Heavens Gate’ cult is a case in point and perhaps best serves to encapsulate and demonstrate the very worst aspects of these doctrines. Heavens Gate seems to have been composed of an unstable leader and an equally unstable flock of social inadequates, in effect poor lost souls who were convinced that the Hale-Bop comet concealed a spacecraft in its tail. All the adherents of Applewhite’s crazed philosophy had to do was commit suicide, which would allow them to access a state that was, according to their leader, ‘above human’, after which they could enter the concealed spacecraft and be transported to some far distant cosmic nirvana and sadly, the vast majority did, including the demented Applewhite.
In its most recent manifestation, faux-religious UFO belief surfaced as ‘The Raelians’, who are quite specific about their function and the extraterrestrial origins of the human race and have managed to attract a good sized following. The founder, Rael, a former French racing driver, has established himself as a truly messianic figure whose function is as a prophet and intermediary between his flock and the Space People. Other than constructing a large mock flying saucer and founding ‘Clonaid’, an organisation devoted to research into human cloning with a view to providing the service for profit and on demand. The ethics of this notwithstanding, the Raelians have done little to differentiate themselves from all those who have gone before and depend on the charisma of their leader making them almost a personality cult.
This brings us back almost to the full circle, why are these groups and organisations needed and why do they almost universally receive support. This is probably due in part to the nature of the human condition. No one is an island and in some individuals this manifests in inadequacy, a lack of security, uncertainty and loneliness, the previously mentioned ‘lost souls’, and all of these deficiencies are fulfilled by saucer cults and quasi-religions. It is also fair to suggest that the people subscribing to the teaching and paradigms of saucer based groups are equally likely to fall prey to other organisations espousing similar unconventional ideas, but not necessarily saucer based.
If the landings and sightings were indeed the bait, then, as we have seen it was eagerly taken and the trap successfully sprung, so perhaps there is no longer a need for overt displays of ‘saucer power’, because to some the reality of a Cosmic Messiah has been demonstrated. But as long as there is doubt then groups like these will fulfil a need and supply ready answers. However, providing they are not harmful or destructive then they do no real harm and perhaps even serve a useful sociological purpose. However, like the age-old question regarding the existence of God, whether or not extraterrestrials and a Cosmic Messiah actually exist falls into exactly the same grey area and the reality of both is due entirely to faith alone.
©2009 Brian J. Allan
References
The Mammoth Encyclopaedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters ISBN 1-84119-613-4 edited by Kenneth D Storey, pub 2001 by Robinson
The Encyclopaedia of Alien Encounters, ISBN 1-85224-734-3 by Alan Baker, pub 1999 by Virgin Books
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from Ellis C. Taylor:
The fourth article in a series looking at the mega-spell aimed at 2012
UPDATED 7:39 am on 15th November
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Messiahs of The New Age
©2009 Brian Allan
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