Thomas James Streicher Ph.D. - Extra-planetary experiences : alien-human contact and the expansion of consciousness

EXTRA-PLANETARY

EXPERIENCES

Through his thorough analysis of extra-planetary experiences, Thomas Streicher successfully prepares the ground for deeper questioning: Are they merely significant as subjective experiences, or are they also objectively real? This book shows that we should not dismiss these experiential reports.

JRGEN W. KREMER, PH.D.,
EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF REVISION:
JOURNAL OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND TRANSFORMATION

Employing academic scholarship, detailed documentation, human curiosity, and humane compassion, Thomas Streicher provides the results of his investigations of persons who describe their encounters with extraterrestrials and their experiences on other planetary civilizations.

R. LEO SPRINKLE, PH.D.,
COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST AND
PROFESSOR EMERITUS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING

I dedicate this book to the participants of this study.I acknowledge the pain and suffering they often have endured along with their lifelong devotion to their inner journeys, commitment to UFO/ET phenomena, and realization that they live in a cosmic encompassing spiritual reality. Accounts of unexplained phenomena are typically strange to someone who has not had similar experiences, and as a result many experiencers have not dared speak openly. Centuries ago, when people reported stones falling from the sky, scientific experts at the time claimed that this was impossible. Only after years of resistance was the existence of meteorites accepted. It is through the sacrifices of such pioneerssometimes in the face of ostracism, ridicule, total disrespect, and even deaththat we may envision a new reality.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work may be considered controversial and one that defies the worldview of certain mainstream authorities and their theories. We should keep in mind that even long-held theories can crumble under the weight of disconfirming evidence. I thank Dr. John Mack, along with Dr. Leo Sprinkle and Dr. Stanley Krippner, for their devotion in helping me complete this task and for launching me into the academic and public worlds.

The publishing of this book brings me to the close of a personal lifelong journey. Like most journeys, it started with the first step. At the time I had no idea in what direction it would take me. The length and difficulty of this journey have been compounded by the actions and stances of adherents of a relentless consensus reality predisposed to pathologize the very core of my being. Although I spent considerable time in agony and despair, I also experienced moments of pure joy obtained through my inner knowing. This discovery acknowledges and honors what I consider to be the benevolent extraterrestrial beings involved in my life journey who have guided me to this end. Sometimes I would like to separate myself from this personal belief, but perhaps it has been helpful in setting up a safe atmosphere in which my research participants felt they could tell me their stories.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Stanley Krippner, Ph.D.

Human beings need to explain puzzling events in their lives, thus becoming myth-makers at many levelscultural, ethnic, familial, and individual. The human brain searches for beliefs and it looks for facts. The resulting personal myths often collide with the prevailing opinion embedded in cultural myths. It is within this framework that I approach the controversy over unidentified flying objects (UFOs). I have discussed UFOs with such celebrated investigators as J. Allen Hynek, John Mack, and Michael Persinger, and I have heard lectures on the topic by Carl Sagan and Philip J. Klass. I have spoken to dozens of people who claim to have seen UFOs, sometimes at close quarters. I have even met a few individuals who claim to have had personal interactions with the inhabitants of UFOs, including abductions, close scrutiny of their bodily parts, and the implantation of foreign objects in their bodies.

With this orientation, I had an unusual experience in February 1991. The Institute of Noetic Sciences (an organization founded by the astronaut Edgar Mitchell) had asked me to take a group of its members to Brazil in order to visit spiritual communities and folk healers. On February 22, we stayed at a rustic country hotel near Ouro Preto, a historic mining town in the state of Minas Gerais. During our evening meal, a member of our group asked me if I had ever seen a UFO, and I replied negatively. I mentioned that, several years earlier, two friends and I had visited the Valley of the Dawn, a Brazilian spiritual community. During an outdoor meditation session the three of us were sitting in different parts of the auditorium. Immediately after the session, one of my friendsRolfcame up to me and told me that he had just seen a UFO. He described it as blue, disc-like, with flashing lights on the bottom. He said it was visible for about thirty seconds and then disappeared. A few minutes later, my other friendAlbertorushed over to me, asking if I had seen a UFO. I immediately separated him from Rolf, so that he could not hear Rolf s account, and asked for details. Albertos description was exactly the same as Rolf s, except that his time estimate of the sighting was less than ten seconds. Residents of the Valley of the Dawn then told us that they often see UFOs during the afternoon meditation session, especially when music is played.