from ExopoliticsJournal Website
While evidence for extraordinary, interactive events gradually accumulates, concerned individuals tend to align themselves with mutually exclusive, knowledge-gathering methods and worldviews. Individuals convinced that this phenomenon can be both anomalous and physically real also often interpret incompatible meanings in it.
Internationally speaking, some government agencies like the Peruvian OIFAA overtly accumulate evidence that the UFO Phenomenon does exhibit anomalous and real components.
Due to sui generis, messianic-like cosmologies and lack of publicly acknowledged evidence, contactee cases tend not to be credible to the scientific community, even while suggesting that direct interaction with extraterrestrial beings or with beings from other reality systems may sometimes actually occur.
In this paper I used Ken Wilber’s “Integral Methodological Pluralism” in an attempt to assess two contactee-based social movements. Throughout this approach I tried neither to discard nor to give credence to a UFO-contact movement based upon what I might realistically interpret as ‘outlandish claims’.
I did so by incorporating the criteria
of ‘truth’, ‘truthfulness’, ‘justness’ and ‘fit’ associated with
methodological ‘zones’ that integrally relate.
UFO research requires an intense knowledge of the methodologies and perspectives found in each quadrant of Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory model. This research is one of the most challenging there can be due to its many intense sociological characteristics and people tend to justify their involvement with it in an idealistic and intensely skewed way.
Nonetheless, let me start
from the beginning:
UFO sighting over
Chilca, Peru 1975 In 1975 (and gradually diminishing but into the 1980’s) there were many UFO sightings just south of Lima and I found that some relatives and their friends claimed to be telepathically and psychographically communicating with UFO entities.
Thus, in 1975, about 12 of us went to the beach around where a large amount of individuals had witnessed all kinds of strange fly-bys, landings and happenings. Late at night, we witnessed a very bright, lens-shaped object hovering (within 300-500 feet from us) above the Pacific Ocean in a beach of the town of Chilca. Some people became nervous; others quiet and some showed an emotional, welcoming (perhaps worshipping) attitude.
Nevertheless, my cousin Sandro and I tried to coordinate a coherent response by sending flashlight signals. There was no response from ‘them’. The object disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later in the same fashion. An alleged physical contactee leading the group approached with his hands open. My cousin and I also approached. We signaled with our flashlights again and asked the people to focus and to call ‘them’ closer but…again no response.
That thing seemed to be about 30 and 40 feet in diameter and hovered above the water, illuminating it and creating a reflection of itself on it. It made no noise. Nevertheless, it became clear to me that being able to communicate with an intelligence capable of creating classical physics-defying devices would be a unique opportunity for the human world to acquire scientific, historical, ethical information and other cultural references from a more advanced civilization.
The era seemed ripe for a world-shifting revelation since the Cold War and the possibility of universal oblivion raged, Man had reached the Moon and - in some intellectual circles - the arrival of esoteric publications and Gurus from India was news.
Thus, in preparation for
what could happen, I began to pursue the possibility of
extraterrestrial knowledge disseminated by contactees and, over
decades, read many books, met many experiencers, participated in
many groups and went to many conferences.
In fact, this research field has gradually accumulated interesting data and good degrees of evidence that there actually are non-earthly (and-or ‘other dimensional’) beings possessing a very advanced technology.
Some of it seems to be hyperphysical at a macro scale. Nevertheless, UFO ‘visitors’ seem to be as elusive as the brief sightings perchance allowed or granted and - even after some curious people satisfy their need to know - the UFO field and its aggregate findings seem to be of no serious consequence in world politics or science. It still lingers as an undercurrent.
This may
be because - in the long run - it still feels ‘visionary’ and not as
permanently real enough to merit most people’s practical attention
and concern.
Apocalyptic and millenarian
expectations are often associated with.
In 30 years of active research, I found that the parties involved tend not to speak with each other or not to take each other seriously. There are subgroups whose emotionally satisfying worldviews do not exactly match and thus tend to avoid each other.
Contactees tend to be jealous of each other and not to trust abductees. Abductees tend not to trust contactees and to think of them as ‘delusional’.
Researchers tend to divide themselves between those inclined to a ‘nuts and bolts’ materialist approach and those inclined to a spiritual-philosophical one. Moreover, recurrent expectations of a world-wide UFO disclosure (either from governments or from the UFO intelligences themselves) have always been intense and in many instances have also been confounded with Christian, messianic expectations.
Close-minded skeptics have a strong say that sways a significant portion of undecided public opinion easily. The media has traditionally used the phenomenon for ratings or entertainment and people that depend upon upholding a sober public image (like politicians, law enforcement, airline pilots, military officers, priests and scientists) normally prefer to avoid openly talking or writing about it.
In ‘our Universe’, the UFO field begs for an
integral approach.
In some sense they were more open-minded and ‘integral’ than those that rejected the phenomenon and considered it ludicrous, but in other ways they were disappointing.
As in the New Age Movement, all sorts of details didn’t seem to match except for a general series of expectations. Now (after interviewing dozens of witnesses, alleged contactees, alleged abductees; after analyzing photos and exchanging information with other researchers) I understand that there is a genuine aspect to this phenomenon, which sometimes can be interactive (and even life-changing) but which is typically interpreted with very strong biases and, emotional filters. I know that most sightings are not genuine signs of otherworldly ET intelligence, but misperceptions.
Nevertheless, I also know that a small and persistent percentage of the sightings cannot - in all honesty - be explained away with a prosaic explanation. This percentage of cases seems to indicate that the physics involved distorts some of the elements used to interpret reality as we know it. The human mind feels like confronting a semi-real, dream-like event that intrudes either producing spiritual inspiration or fear.
Nevertheless, serious research groups (like the
ad hoc French ‘COMETA’ assigned to research an alleged anomalous
landing) have found enough objective evidence to merit scientific
and governmental interest. [1]
Potential implications continue to be enormous and research (as with the ‘paranormal’) has been principally advanced by well-intended (and not institutionally bound) individuals. Nevertheless, we could say that their efforts are not complemented by highly inclusive Meta paradigms or an integral approach: They are inspired by their preferences and tend to study the phenomenon in a segmented way.
This phenomenon is so complex that it deserves a more integral approach. I think that the time is ripe for more integral thinkers to approach this multifaceted area of inquiry as they might be capable to appreciate all of its aspects more carefully while maintaining an objective, yet spiritually inspired, ethical attitude. For instance, even if preferring the scientific method, an ‘integral’ researcher might not simply toss out information given by alleged contactees, abductees or channelers.
The chance for experiential verification would be given to everyone.
Nonetheless,
he or she may appreciate the working of group phenomena and use
knowledge acquired from sociological studies like Leon Festinger’s
When Prophecy Fails or like Diana G. Tumminia’s When Prophecy Never
Fails.
...but the interest on ‘Exopolitics’ (exploring the long-term political implications of genuine ET contact) is slowly growing as a more coherent movement with an attempt to tentatively classify alleged interactions with ET intelligences as apparently showing different interests, technologies, origins and intentions. [2]
Also, thanks to a many decades-long effort and more recently to the valiant efforts of Dr. Steven Greer and serious journalists like Leslie Kean, another interesting area of recurring interest that has become more coherently organized is ‘Disclosure’.
This is a movement
which aims at requesting or forcing governments to reveal what they
know about the extraterrestrial presence.
Nevertheless, both
are doing great pioneering work and the former has interviewed many
important past government officials and military witnesses who have
publicly declared that at least part of the UFO phenomenon has
physical consequences and is related with more technologically
advanced intelligences. [3]
These events were technically called “anomalous aerial phenomena” and were of interest to the Peruvian state because of broad national security concerns. In previous months there had been ‘flaps’ of UFO sightings over Lima, some of which had been filmed or photographed. Obviously, if large solid objects of unknown origin were occasionally flying without restraint over national air space, data gathering and intelligent analysis in relation to their origins was required.
The issue of air safety and the recognition
that there were non-authorized flying objects and/or unknown devices
moving about over the territory were good reasons to investigate
more proactively.
President Fujimoro saw a UFO during a fishing trip
to the Amazon in 1991
according to Commander Julio Chamorro Moreover, there were credible testimonies that, in 1991, former president Alberto Fujimori had a clear UFO sighting in the Amazon during his first term.
After this,
I suspect that elements of his administration might have been more
inclined to set up a UFO research office.
In fact, Peru was not unique in these endeavors since already in South America the governments of Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina had officially established their own similar offices. Furthermore, it was known that in Chile there was some degree of collaboration between universities, private researchers and the FACH (the Chilean Air Force).
In fact, I suspect that the OIFAA followed a structure similar to Chile’s CEFAA (Research Committee of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena) which, after being discontinued for some years was reactivated in 2010. Interestingly the original announcement for the prompt inauguration of this office was a public affair to which the Peruvian press, Spanish paranormal reporter Juan José Benitez, contactee Ricardo Gonzales and researchers like me, attended.
This kind of openness reminds me of the first attempts made by the U.S. Air Force in the 1940’ s and 1950’s attempting to conduct similar research by establishing projects Sign, Grudge and Blue Book.
Today the U.S. Government denies having a similar research office particularly interested in UFOs but, in Perú, there still is a sui generis degree of openness.
While the OIFAA is currently inactive, DINAE (the Division of
Aerospace Interests which was the Peruvian Air Force’s department
under which it operated), is - at least in theory - still publicly
accessible for UFO reports.
Commander Chamorro recounts that one day the OIFAA received a call from peasants in a remote part of Peru and, rather than being concerned with a scary ‘alien invasion’ or with a national security issue, they asked the air force to interfere with the unknowns in order to stop the racket raised by their animals every time an unknown object landed near their fields and strange creatures came out.
This lack of mind-altering interest (perhaps associated with a greater cultural-attitudinal ‘naturalness’ toward miracles, mythic and anomalous events) was perhaps one of the reasons why, upon opening the office, many mass media interviews were granted asking citizens to call in and to report any strange happenings.
In fact, the degree of openness was exemplary in terms of the spirit that should prevail in democratic countries as even unequivocal UFO cases that involved the military with visual, radar, collective and other strong degrees of evidence were publicly discussed.
One such cases was that of Captain Oscar Santa María
Huertas who, in 1980 (after approximately 1800-2000 eye witnesses
saw a well-defined stationary UFO during at 7.15AM over the ‘La
Jolla’ Peruvian Air Force Base), intercepted and several times shot
at the object hitting it with high caliber rounds with no apparent
results. [4]
As mentioned, I had befriended and interviewed many alleged contactees, abductees and other researchers and (along with real estate attorney and lively paranormal researcher Anthony Choy Montes and anthropologist Fernando Fuenzalida Vollmar) was invited to collaborate as a civilian researcher with the OIFAA.
The work environment in our
small budget office was welcoming and friendly and (having conducted
some field work and read important manuals - like MUFON’s - on UFO
field work) I carefully prepared a dossier explaining many
conceptual aspects of Ufology including general protocols and
specific procedures for conducting interviews and objective UFO
research. At the OIFAA I met some air force pilots that had experienced UFO encounters and did enjoy many learned conversations with the erudite anthropologist Professor Fernando Fuenzalida.
I learned that no Peruvian Air Force pilots had been shot down by any UFO-related aggression but that - after a UFO sighting - one of them had experienced three hours of ‘missing time’ without the corresponding loss of fuel. Shortly before distancing myself from the OIFAA I learned that - after a UFO sighting - a high-ranking military officer began to automatically write latitude and longitude coordinates.
I don’t know how this case further evolved.
During my time at this office, I didn’t detect any attempt at covering up any aspect of UFO events to the citizenry. Furthermore, I didn’t detect any restrictions from higher military or governmental echelons other than the implicit imperative to maintain a rational-scientific approach that would support the respectable image of the Air Force.
Commander Chamorro was always
welcoming and mentally open toward many approaches to the UFO
Phenomenon and - trying not to overwhelm him with the complexities
of the subject matter - I gradually shared in a convivial setting
some of the knowledge I had acquired since my initial involvement
1974.
Thinking that the Peruvian cultural mindset was not overtly condemnatory in a religious way against the possibility of extraterrestrials visiting us, and thinking that there might at least be a small chance of success, I wanted the Peruvian Air Force to be the first air force in the world to verify the existence of a technologically advanced extraterrestrial presence. Unfortunately, as feared, I found that there was no interest to this approach.
The Peruvian culture also didn’t seem to be too original or creative to take the lead in extraordinary affairs in the world today and, moreover (and understandably) there was little faith in contactees who, for the most part, also generate profuse mythic-like cosmologies and who may or may not deliver the expected unequivocal sightings.
There was no interest in simply giving it a try. Nonetheless, I understood that, in spite of positive results being of potentially important worldwide consequences, since a public institution was involved, there was a fine line between being democratically open to the public and exposing the institution to an experimental attempt that might not only end in failure but in publicized ridicule.
Going out to the fields with contactee and camcorders on tripods, even if for a simple, innocent attempt was not likely due to a combination of fear, lack of interest and prejudice. It might have been a failure but at least a discreet attempt would have been fun and a reasonable part of our research. Once again, I verified that - in the UFO field - lofty expectations for grand disclosure events capable of raising worldwide collective interest and cultural awareness sturdily tend to be - in one way or another and however plausibly and rationally promoted - thwarted and/or resisted upon.
This reminds of that my
friend (pioneer paranormal researcher) psychiatrist Berthold Schwarz
told me when referring to demonstrating to scientists that
psychokinetic effects are real: Most of the time, something goes
wrong.
Then there were those that called the office and who were later interviewed. Some of them not only referred to possible anomalous sightings but even to alleged close encounters of the third kind. Some others had psychological problems and their ET contact promises led nowhere. Some referred to cases that involved alleged materializations of humanoid beings. It was impossible to follow-up on all these cases.
Nevertheless, during 2001 there was intense UFO activity over and about the small town of ‘Chulucanas’, in northern Peru and (due to a grave illness in my immediate family) I wasn’t able to go on site to conduct research on behalf of OIFAA. Nonetheless (with great dedication, professionalism and enthusiasm), Dr. Choy took the bus and traveled there, interviewed local witnesses, and also investigated some anomalous events that were taking place around the nearby Pilan Hill.
Then, he returned with interesting videos of luminous objects, one of which recorded a larger, luminous (and rather amorphous) ‘mass’ hovering over Chulucanas for a couple of hours.
We must understand that, due to a very small budget, civilian collaborators like Dr. Choy and I were not paid and this meant that all of us had to find ways and means to conduct research ad honorem. Anyhow, ‘Chulucanas’ was the ‘watershed’ case for OIFAA and it was also publicly divulged in local radio and TV stations. Various video analyses showed that the objects were anomalous.
In 2003 Dr. Choy travelled to ‘Piura La Vieja’, a ‘sleepy’ town not far from Chulucanas and obtained more interviews and videos of other interesting UFO events. Then in 2004, the U.S. Hispanic network UNIVISION came to Peru, travelled with Dr. Choy and filmed some anomalous lights.
Dr. Choy subsequently
returned many more times to this region in northern Peru. [5] After having left the OIFAA for a few years, in 2005 I returned to its headquarters in Miraflores and found that my carefully crafted UFO research dossier had been lost.
Moreover, the many UFO photographs and videos that I had left in custody at the vault had also been lost. Apparently in 2004, OIFAA computers with their digital archives had also been stolen. Unnecessary losses like this often happen in Peru when administrations change and when a commercial opportunity appears and informality is rampant.
Another commander was leading the office and, after my succinct interview with him, I realized that there was less interest to relate with the general citizenry as openly as before. Moreover, I was told that - according to new policies - in order to collaborate with OIFAA again, I had to take a strategic defense course at CAEN (the Center for Superior National Studies).
Dr. Fuenzalida (now deceased) then taught part of this course which Dr. Choy had already taken. Nonetheless, the latter’s continued collaboration with OIFAA had also dwindled as it may not have been as welcomed as before. Dr. Choy now conducts a popular weekend, evening radio show on the paranormal and UFOs (in Radio Capital 96.7 FM) and continues to gather witness testimonies.
As of today, the OIFAA office is inactive but, according to Commander Chamorro, it
may once again become active when needed. [6]
It is also about including many correlated aspects without being overwhelmed by the effort.
The following is my attempt at integrally studying two UFO contact groups: Mission Rahma and Unarius:
An unusually strong compulsion to write manifested in a few individuals and was followed by messages from an allegedly extraterrestrial person or being called “Oxalc,” supposedly a colonist living in Jupiter’s moon Ganymede under artificially enhanced conditions. Oxalc asked these people to go south of Lima to KM 54 in the Panamerican Hwy on a certain day and time.
They climbed a hill close to an abandoned mine and, although everyone was skeptical, several people went along with it and indeed, as witnesses even today insist, a large, metallic-looking, hamburger-shaped object came out of the Pacific Ocean (in front of the towns of Pucusana and Chilca) and approached them, flying closely overhead.
As some of them became frightened they heard a voice saying that at that time there wouldn’t be a landing or a physical contact because emotions in the group were running high. Then the object left.
They were also told that there
would be another opportunity to meet face to face.
Eventually, (as some participant-friends tell me in earnest) physical contacts took place, starting with the brothers Sixto and Carlos Paz Wells. A specific method to prepare other people for contact was then devised, along with a way to hermeneutically discuss whether any particular information or communication that had been telepathically and/or psychographically produced and received from alleged extraterrestrial intelligences was genuine or spurious.
A certain emphasis was placed upon empirical corroboration.
By the mid 70’s UFO sightings became commonplace in and around Chilca, a small vacationing community south of Lima and dozens of individuals began to experience different kinds of direct contacts. Some of these contacts included walking into visible domes of light forming temporarily on the ground and - as a small minority claims - being transported to an advanced and friendly alien environment were experiences passed more rapidly than on Earth.
The messages multiplied and the group grew, became international in scope and came to be known as “Mission Rama” or in Spanish, as “Misión Rama.”
Later on, the letter ‘h’ was added to ‘Rama’, turning it into ‘Rahma’ both in English and Spanish). Soon - as enthusiasm and participation grew - the problem of sifting genuine messages from mentally constructed ones (so called “mentalisms”) became relevant and guidelines were devised allegedly with the assistance of whom became extraterrestrial friends, mentors and… yes “older brothers” (as are known elsewhere by genuine and non genuine “contactees”).
The messages spoke of a dimensional shift, of
reintegrating Earth to a different timeline and of imminent sweeping
social, spiritual and historical changes. They partly reflected what
seemed like a combination of theosophy with messianic Christianity.
These messages were similar to those represented by other contactees from the 1950’s early “contactee era” in the U.S. and they were also quite compatible theosophical teachings.
They provided an alternative history for humanity and a “mission”: To work in several countries so as to awaken the sleeping consciousnesses of reincarnated individuals that had a commitment with this contact experience.
The mission also included efforts to enhance interdimensional energy vortices through the use of collectively focused human feeling and intention so as to eventually reconnect the Earth with another time and “dimension of consciousness.”
The reception of a unique historical and scientific book from the hands of extraterrestrials and from the hands of ancient spiritual masters living in underground monasteries was also advertised, but - as far as I can tell - hasn’t taken place yet. Nonetheless, several arduous, interesting and relatively successful expeditions in search of archaeological sites have taken place in all continents, including journeys to various parts of the Amazon jungle, Mongolia and Egypt.
The idea of living a simple, balanced and exemplary life of love and service, following the teachings of the great wisdom masters, (especially Jesus Christ), was emphasized.
Vegetarianism, the practice of daily meditation and of psychophysical or psycho energetic exercises was also suggested to prepare the body to the “vibrational shift” that meant having interaction with extraterrestrials (as they would have to lower their vibrations and Rahma participants raise theirs to reach a tolerable meeting ground).
Nevertheless, none of these guideline was
ever forced upon participants.
The year 1989 in particular was a watershed year for these events and reporters from the U.S. (Mr. José Grey, Mrs. Leticia Callava from Univision & Telemundo), from TV Channel 2, Argentina and one from “Diario Expreso” in Lima filmed, saw or took photographs of anomalous objects at a certain distance.
Also, as time went by, a few persons from other countries and who became supporters of Mision Rahma also allegedly began to establish contacts with the same beings from Ganymede and with beings from an association of worlds (among them, “Apu” in Alpha Centauri, “Cerpican” in Andromeda, and “Xilox”).
I know some of them
personally.
Moreover, the leaders tend to contradict and accuse each other of distortions or deception while considering themselves more sincere.
Also, over the years, the intensity of predictions
suggesting almost immediate upheavals, and changes in awareness
accompanied by social changes has somewhat decreased along with the
missionary the zeal of the early period.
We held a long conversation as I wanted to share information from the Mision Rahma contact group in relation to alleged extraterrestrial communications. Mr. Spaegel sounded kind and very willing to share the “truth” with me but I soon noticed that his enthusiasm was one-sided. He told me that Unarius was the name of a “plane of leadership” in Shambhalla and that it stood for “Universal Articulate Understanding of Science.”
I sent a donation and received several booklets and a video on the teachings and rituals imparted at the academy.
Over the years, I also occasionally followed news about this organization that was founded in 1954 by Ernest Norman and by Ruth Marian after they met in a psychic fair. The organization settled in El Cajon, CA and was based on the inspiring channeled teachings of the founding leaders as the first one claim to have been Jesus Christ in a former life and the latter, Archangel Uriel.
Both leaders also claimed to be in contact with beings from other planets and from other planes of existence.
As far as I can tell, and concurring with Dianna Tumminia (who presented an essay about Unarius at the August, 2001 meeting of the American Sociological Association) the “Unarians” survived based on a mutually enhancing complicity between the leaders and their close followers.
Basing her assessment on ideas from sociologist Max Weber, her insight is that close students/devotees entered into,
Mr. Norman passed away and Ruth Marian (Uriel) took over the reigns of the organization that distributed educational material through correspondence.
I found that every now and then documentaries and TV specials showed Ruth (a.k.a. Uriel) heavily dressed as a flamboyantly colorful and exotic goddess or queen. After Ruth Marian died, Mr. Spaegel took control of the organization and, after a small schism, the organization officially announced that there would be a massive UFO landing for all the world to see in the 2001.
Even I kept an eye for it but, needless to say, no such landing took place. His tenure was legitimized by “channelled” material that mentioned he had been atoned for by serving Ruth for many years, even after having killed Norman in another life as an extraterrestrial.
Some time later, Mr. Spaegel (also known as “Antares”)
died and the closest members of the group strengthened the board of
directors, consulted with the (now departed) extraterrestrial
leaders through channeling and continued with the organization, in
spite of failed prophecies and such.
The main planet was called “Orion” and another planet was called “Eros.”
The group was a self-reinforcing collective that survived due to their member’s subjective experiences since, as far as I know, there have been no confirmed sightings or physical contacts. An understanding of the teachings is supposed to occur in an inner personal level, basically as a revelation.
Memberships and courses by correspondence are
offered. The development of psychic abilities and the discovery of
past lives is emphasized since it is taught that humans have lived
many lives on Earth and also in extraterrestrial planets. Visions
are taken very seriously and many symbols are used to promote an
otherworldly atmosphere conducive to this remembrance.
More specifically, the prediction that planet Earth will become the 33rd member of an Interplanetary Confederation was a coincidental reason I decided to call the organization and to speak with Mr. Spaegel.
In fact, all things and events can be either observed under four fundamental ‘perspectives’ or known as expressing their being through any of them These ‘perspectives’ are formed by the four ways in which the fundamental ‘dimensions’ of expression of any ‘thing’ or existent (the subjective, the objective, the singular and the collective) can combine.
These ‘perspectives’ can be drawn into four ‘quadrants’ and are the ‘Subjective’ (or ‘subjective-singular’), ‘Intersubjective’ (or ‘subjective-collective’), the ‘Objective’ (or ‘objective-singular’) and the ‘Interobjective’ (or ‘objective-collective’).
Thus, four ‘quadrants’ and ‘perspectives’ are formed with which all things can be described and also experienced from.
Furthermore, things and events are also described
as simultaneous ‘wholes’ and ‘parts’ (or under Arthur Koestler’s
neologism ‘holon’). This is not a ‘holism’ in which the whole is
prioritized. It is an equal acknowledgement of the ‘whole’ and the
‘part’, extending in transfinite hierarchies as each ‘part’ and
‘whole’ is defined in relation to a context.
They act under consistent rules which, in
turn, are rational-manifestation by-products of a more primordial
duality-based perspective. The duality-based holonic patterns form
‘quadrants’ (which in turn can be subdivided) and also
organizational hierarchies and can be inductively discovered by
observation or rationally deduced a priori through the analysis of
complementary poles.
After reading Professor Steven E. Wallis’ Avoiding Policy Failure, I reckon that, in its current state of development, internally ‘Integral Theory’ is not structurally robust in a way that can allow us to use it to make predictions with ease and reliability.
Nonetheless, I also think that Ken Wilber’s
‘Integral Theory’ is close to a ‘cosmic level’ or ‘universal’ model
that could be a major theoretical step outside of the typical
parochial, exclusivist, monological and reductionist approaches that
have accompanied cultural human discoveries until our days.
Perhaps by including the Aristotelian concept of that which is ‘potential’ and that which is ‘actual’; by including the recognition of quadrants as interpenetrating, causally relating and mutually immanescing; by continuing to explore the integrative patterns given by a trinitarian principle; and by revealing the interactive patterns across (the Gross, Subtle and Causal) realms of being, Integral Theory will advance to a more mature stage capable of providing more specific guidelines to scientists.
However, the development of those
ideas corresponds to another paper, so let’s continue.
Depiction of Zones representing different paradigms and perspectives.
Source:
http://allisasis.info/node/58 Now, the four ‘quadrants’ or ‘perspectives’ can also be understood under greater detail or complexity by dividing them by their ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ aspects and, therefore, generating a total of eight main perspectives.
These subdivisions generate what are called ‘methodological zones’ or, simply, ‘zones’ and normally refer to the main research methods humanity has found to understand, disclose and-or ‘enact’ reality.
Integral Methodological Pluralism is the recommendation of combining methods appropriate to each ‘zone’ (or in as many ‘zones’ as is manageable) in order to study a phenomenon.
Each ‘zone’ discloses its own truths and all are necessary to understand any phenomenon more integrally.
Thus, perhaps ‘Zone 1’ meditation may have disclosed the higher states of ‘Consciousness’ (or of the ‘Mind’ in Buddhist terms) but would have never been useful for disclosing the brain patterns that accompany it or the cultural ideologies, values, myths and norms that would have been used to interpret what was disclosed in meditation.
For this, perhaps ‘Zone 6’ and ‘Zone 4’ methods (discovered in the modern era) should have been more appropriate. Integral Theory aims at recognizing all the methods (and there are many more methods within each ‘zone’). It also aims at including all valid discoveries made by using all the methods across different cultural stages.
Furthermore, in recognizing these
methods as stemming from a shared metalogical pattern corresponding
to the same model, Integral Theory transcends the simplifying,
reductionist claims their practitioners may tend to experience
without knowing about ‘the pattern that connects’.
In Eye to Eye Wilber tackles the “Problem of Proof” (Wilber, 2001, pp.76-79) and basically suggests that (in order to recognize the intellectual demands of the modern and postmodern ages) what should be integrally recognized as ‘valid’ knowledge (obtained by applying the methods in any of the ‘zones’) should have been revealed, discovered or ‘enacted’ by individuals following the same ‘injunction’ or practice.
Then (according to this ‘injunction’ or practice) the individuals would have experienced an intuitively grasped apprehension or ‘result’ and would later have to compare each other results to confirm or reject information.
This practice would be valid for exterior-objective, cultural-ethical, interior-phenomenological and even for mystical, esoteric, psychic and interdimensional disclosures of knowledge.
An observation: I think that individuals can also have valid disclosures of knowledge without following Wilber’s ‘three strands’ of valid knowledge.
What Wilber offers is a recommendation, not an unequivocal formula (much like Occam’s ‘Razor’) for multiple forms of knowledge to be accepted under modern and postmodern academic strictures.
Nonetheless, for any kind of research (including UFO
research), using the ‘three strands’ (whenever possible) provides a
useful verification structure that gives more credibility to
knowledge gathering.
...of UFO-Based Social Movement One
...of UFO-Based Social Movement Two
Zone 3 validity claims (in the “We” space) aim at cohesion and goodness. What is good for the group depends on the hermeneutical interpretation of what is adequate or inadequate for group participants.
In relation to these cases, I find Mision Rahma to be more authentic and less prone to schisms or self-injury because of the more open and mature nature of dialoguing rather than of trying to enforce a rigid set of beliefs. Zone 6 validity claims (in the “it” space) refer to correlates in the exterior, objectively verifiable perspective.
In this respect, I find Mision Rahma as a social movement more evolved and mature in its efforts to deal with information that shares similar superficial structural cultural characteristics with Unarius Academy of Science.
While the Unarians feel satisfied with enacting an organization that promotes exclusive channeled teachings and mutually reinforced exclamations, participants in Mision Rahma know that their claim to unique and potentially useful and communicable knowledge is backed by very special, objective experiences.
Zone 8 validity claims (in the “Its” space) depend upon interobjective correlations. In the case of Mision Rahma there’s a more fluid, more autopoietic kind of organizational system which correlates with a smaller psychological and cultural need to defend a particular set of beliefs. On the other hand, Unarius appears to survive due to a tight control of the organization.
While Mision Rahma is not a formal or
legal organization, Unarius is a formal, non-profit organization.
While Mision Rahma participants are open to change, partly due to
the evolution of their experiences among the many independent
subgroups in different countries, Unarius requires strict
reinforcement of what they stand for.
Shared commonalities among many of these groups (like The Etherius Society, Ashtar Command, Mark-Age, et al) include a belief in higher or more evolved beings trying to assist humankind and a belief in reincarnation.
Oftentimes, these commonalities seem highly related with the general outlook offered by the Theosophical Society and similar “esoteric” schools of the hermetic tradition. I think that some of these groups mostly rely on charisma and very few rely on concrete experiences enacted by an orange altitude (or higher) socially-orchestrated paradigms.
In some ways, Mision Rahma seems to be more an example of the latter.
Then again, there are some UFO-based social movements like the ones that promote The Urantia Book and The Book of Oahspe, movements which allegedly rely on impressively long and complex pieces of automatic writing. Also, a few of these groups (like the Raelian Church), deny ideological ties with the theosophical/hermetic teachings and offer more technological worldviews.
In any case, charismatic leaders seem
to be a common feature.
From what I have seen in my involvement and observation with these and other alleged UFO contact groups, levels of self-denial and pathology run high in most cases but these hold on to supposedly universally meaningful revelations or disclosures of information that cannot be replicated or openly questioned.
Nevertheless, it seems that a very small percentage of these groups fostering their own expansion in social movements do indeed promise kernels of genuine revelations from a higher origin.
Case in point, Mision Rahma seems to show mostly a harmonious grouping of well correlated validity claims related to the methodological zones we began to superficially touch upon. Thus, in the “I” perspective natural emotions (given the unique circumstances) tend not to fall into unquestioning fanaticism. In the “We” perspective, open-ended hermeneutic questioning and sharing, coupled with time-tested collective injunctions lead to the enactment of uniquely important emergent phenomena and to a self-correcting interpreting mechanism.
In the “It” perspective,
hundreds of individuals since 1974 have directly experienced
objective and extraordinary physical effects in relation with what
arose along with the previously mentioned perspectives and
practices.
Phenomenologically, I feel that my own “Higher Mind” intuition tells me that what is occurring in “Mision Rahma” is part of a healthy, bona fide process that unfolds more successfully than in other groups because key values of humbleness and service added to some degree of objectivity and hermeneutical sharing, plus a unique inner voice stemming from the whole Kosmos are touching the hearts of a good number of participants.
I may be a poor observer due to my partiality towards Mision Rahma but classic “Integral Theory” developmental lines observed in most people don’t seem to apply very well for many individuals in this group.
Thus, it is interesting that, in some sense, a fraction of participants seem to be mostly “Amber altitude oriented” (because they seem to accept what appears to be mythical information a bit too unquestioningly, romantically or idealistically).
In another sense, a few participants (generally the main contactees) seem to be intellectually restless and active enough to self-organize themselves with some intellectual discipline and with a moderately questioning attitude. From what I’ve seen, these latter individuals sometimes attempt to influence the rest of the group towards thinking more for themselves and towards being more responsible while not falling into a “follow the leader” (the main experiencers) pattern.
In still another sense, many
participants seem to be in a predominantly Green-centered altitude
or higher (in that they outwardly claim not to identify primarily
with a group or a nation but with the world, humanity, an
intergalactic confederation humanities or, even, with the Kosmos at
large). Overall, participants seem to stride within a syncretic and
synthetic combination of developmental levels inspired by a unique
calling that can embrace them all.
Not all Mision Rahma participants agree with this idea or, at least, with an acceptance of the purported suddenness.
Here I see a recurring interplay between the “ascensionist millennial” and the “apocalyptic millenial” versions within a recurring “cargo cult” tendency found in many spiritualist-theosophical-esoteric “saucerians” since the 1950’s (something not evident in most “nuts and bolts” and scientifistic approaches to the UFO mystery).
This follows the pattern of other
“contactee” groups that also have a tendency to discover and
associate a new cosmology and major world shifts with UFO
experiences. As usual, whether there’s any objective truth to these
claims, only time will tell. I personally think that there might be
a barely perceptible turning point on December 22nd 2012 and that,
from then on, there might be a gradual increase of events that will
make humanity more aware of contact with other realms and their
inhabiting beings.
As was typical of contactees from the 1950’s (like George Adamski, Truman Bethurum, Daniel Fry, George Van Tassel) Mision Rahma contactees, either genuinely or self deceptively (and partially following Sixto Paz’s charismatic lead) acquired an alternative cosmology and history of the Earth, Humanity and its place in the Cosmos.
This cosmology and history is claimed to have been received
from telepathic, automatic writing, and also directly before the
physical presence of extraterrestrials (inside “Xendras” or
dimensional doors and during extra planetary excursions to orbiting
spacecraft or to other inhabited worlds existing in a physical
“Fourth Dimension”). [9]
I say “perhaps” because, in spite of they seeming to be not too analytically questioning and pseudo religious and myth prone (at least in Mision Rahma’s case) they also seem to relate well with the modern world in all practical and relevant areas of personal life just as many of them seem to be ethically concerned with the environment and humanity as a whole. In a way, they are a sample of what most humans in today’s economically developing world are evolving to.
Although participants in the “UFO-based social movement one” may also not knowingly feel part of the call from “Eros,” they may fall short of having the required purity or healthy balance that could be associated with the unique experiences many Mision Rahma participants are undergoing.
This lack
of purity (and extra levels of bias) may block the required healthy
levels of tetra-enaction called forth by “Eros” through the inner
spiritually aware mind of Buddhi-Prajña.
Perhaps this purity and innocence is more closely related to the Higher Mind (that generates vision-logic) than other lines being currently studied and it may be more essential to advance into a true “Second Tier” way of being-in-the world.
To end this essay, I want to emphasize once
again that what could be considered knowledge rather than mere
belief in relation to what is normally deemed “esoteric” information
(whether UFO contact-based or not) are truth claims that arise with
a clearly strong simultaneous correlation in the four quadrants as
revealed by their corresponding methodological injunctions. In this
sense possibly the UFO social movement called “Mision Rahma”
presents a stronger case for at least some genuine knowledge derived
from ETs than some other social movements which
superficially-speaking seem to be similar.
UFO approximations tend to remain uncertain and elicit extremes of belief and disbelief offering a window into unique social and psychological human characteristics. The imaginal world seems to become objective and the objective one imaginal.
In genuine close encounters, the simple distinction between interiorities and exteriorities often becomes blurry when the phenomenon gets close and personal. Visionary and objective aspects (even collectively objective ones) become blended as if we were contacting something that has not been completely actualized in our ordinary structured reality.
All of these also are interesting reasons for an inquisitive, ‘integral’ mind to become involved into the ongoing mystery challenging what we may think the nature of reality is.
ENDNOTES
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