BOOK EXCERPT

Why is life?

               Why is life? As you may have gathered, I am pretty well convinced that the purpose of life, the reason why most of us are on the planet at this time is to pursue enlightenment. That is, to learn all the lessons of this third-dimensional level of the Game so that we’ll be ready to move on to the next level. I believe that, in order for an individual to achieve enlightenment, s/he must have evolved to the point where each circumstance is greeted with love/compassion/gratitude/joy and positivity, and not with any degree of fear/anger/self-pity and negativity. In order to arrive at such a state of mind an individual comes to the realization that we are all the same, cut from the same fabric, and so there is no need to judge anything or anyone. One comes to the realization that we create our own reality, that we are immensely powerful beings who have gone through a temporary period of forgetting. One seeks to remove all obstacles to this process of realization, of becoming whole, of healing. An individual seeks to heal, using whatever methods s/he chooses.

            Any effective healing method involves some form of self-examination. One may well understand the way that the universe works in theory, but until this knowledge is applied to one’s actions on a daily basis, healing will be limited. Knowing that one is a parcel of divinity is only a step in the process of behaving like a parcel of divinity. Knowing why one does the things one does leads to greater control and wiser choices. Digging out our hidden motives and examining the underlying intention behind our actions is necessary in order to understand the power of our intent and to learn to use that power wisely. Healing requires honesty, a willingness to examine the long list of rationalizations that most of us have to justify our actions. Through self-examination, one begins to make better and better decisions in life until, ultimately, all decisions are made in love. In other words, to heal is to know oneself.

            What is true for the individual is also true for collective humanity. The human collective is evolving, the collective is healing. This healing happens as the collective seeks to know itself. In order to heal we must be willing to look into the dark corners of our collective soul. We must know ourselves thoroughly. It is important to examine our past actions in a sincere and honest way, unafraid to confront hidden motives and rationalization.

It  is  important  to  question  the  bodies  of  knowledge,  the  accepted  paradigms  that
shape  our  attitudes,  govern  our  daily  actions  and  direct  our  collective  evolution.

            There are many such paradigms and any book that sought to examine them all would soon become a large encyclopedia. In this book I have focussed on several of the bodies of knowledge, belief systems and attitudes that I feel are holding humanity back from its progress down the path to enlightenment.

            Our ruling paradigms are often built from information that serves the interests of a particular group of people, a political agenda. The clearest example is the paradigm of history, which as we all know, is written by the victor. In other words, the official account of history is shaped by the interests of the elite group who is occupying the place at the top of the social heap. It is then fed to the masses via the mass media, the education system and other tools that are firmly in the grip of the ruling elite. This body of knowledge becomes the ruling paradigm, the base from which the ruling elite can justify further decisions and actions.

            History is only one category. There are religious and philosophical paradigms. The story of Jesus and the tenets of Christianity, for example, are firmly entrenched in our collective psyche, although there is a growing body of information that seriously challenges these belief systems. This religious paradigm has been used to justify actions all through history. The philosophies of democracy and communism are examples of concepts that have become paradigms. They have been used to justify a host of questionable actions in our recent history.

            Under the vast umbrella of science or academia there are many paradigms, accepted bodies of information on a wide variety of topics. Although it may sometimes be more difficult to recognize, these paradigms also serve the ruling elite and exert a great influence over society. For example, the paradigms of knowledge regarding human physiology, which underlie and shape our attitudes toward medicine and the health care systems, generate huge profits for the pharmaceutical corporations. They also offer the ruling elite, in the form of health organizations and licensing bodies, enormous control over the health and welfare of the entire population.

             The accepted schools of thought, the paradigms of knowledge, are usually taken for granted, absorbed without question into our collective lifestyle. It usually takes an enormous, irrefutable upheaval for old-school thought to be displaced. Even when newly accepted theories completely pull the rug out from under established paradigms, as did Einstein’s, it takes a long time for the ramifications of such revolutions to actually infiltrate and effect our daily lives.
              
            For the most part, the ruling elite do not encourage the questioning of established paradigms. That is putting it mildly. In the not-so-distant past, such a questioning was called blasphemy or heresy and was usually punishable by death. Most information that has challenged our paradigms gets ignored and pushed aside. When it refuses to be ignored it is often scoffed at, even to the point of having to withstand organized debunking campaigns. In the past, revolutionary thinkers like Galileo or Giordano Bruno paid dearly for the advances they sought to bring to mankind. Many things have changed since then. Although in more modern times it is unlikely for scientists to be killed or jailed for their views, there have been cases of scientists losing their jobs or enduring derision and public humiliation as they courageously fought to bring forth some new idea or to challenge the old paradigms. (We’ll mention a few such cases in part two of this book.)

           This is not to say that old paradigms shouldn’t be honored and respected. Humanity’s collective knowledge grows in increments and most paradigms represent a positive step down the path. In most cases the old paradigms have served humanity well for a time, even if they have served some elite group to a much greater degree. But when we cling to them, or when certain factions persist in using them to further their personal gain, to the detriment of the pursuit of truth and the well being of mankind, then the old paradigms no longer serve us.

           One can hardly blame the establishment for clinging to their paradigms and thus, to their expertise. A great many jobs and social positions are dependent upon that expertise. There are families to feed and chests to thump. Over many years the mountain of information that becomes an accepted paradigm accumulates one layer at a time. Challenging such a mountain becomes very difficult. Any new information or evidence that threatens it is usually swept aside, rather than destroy the entire mountain and its host of experts.

             At a much higher level, at the very apex of the pyramid of world social structure, the ‘power elite’ are very much invested in maintaining the status-quo. When one is presiding; when one’s social position is at the top of the heap, with all its power, prestige and privilege, why rock the boat? Why fund research unless it is going to further one’s own position? Why encourage the schools to present a more accurate portrayal of reality if that information threatens to take the reigns of power from your hands? Why own huge media conglomerates unless you can control the information that is being dispensed? There has always been an ongoing struggle between sincere educators, journalists, scientists, etc., and the ruling powers of the day. Some try to tell the truth by operating outside the system, but most try to do so while remaining within the system. In most cases it is difficult to operate outside the system and still be able to feed one’s family.
             
               Increasingly, many people feel that the power elite has willfully suppressed information that could have benefited all of mankind, in order to ensure its own wealth and power. Some of the more widely spoken allegations contend that those who control the world’s energy resources, in the form of fossil fuels and electricity, have suppressed knowledge that could have provided the world with free energy. (SEE BOX 8 – Free Energy; Tesla and Schauberger) Many people feel that there exists a great deal of technology designed to make life easier for one and all, but that inventions have been suppressed, patents bought up, because powerful corporations have feared losing profit potential and power. It is, after all, very difficult to challenge the status quo in a way that does not result in a redistribution of wealth. And so, the wealthy resist change. It has been that way throughout our known history.

            However, it is human nature to seek knowledge. No matter how often we become sidetracked, no matter how many obstacles are in our way, humanity will not be deterred and will relentlessly seek the ever-elusive ‘truth’. We instinctively know that the path to the next level involves self-examination. We must somehow come to a state of knowing.

          As I have said earlier, researching and writing this book is one of the ways that I seek to better know myself, to attempt to better understand ‘what is really going on’. Since childhood I have been instinctively suspicious that there was more going on than met the eye. As I grew older, I felt that there was much that we were being taught that was mistaken and that there was even important information being kept from us. I was born to a tough and difficult father who planted the seeds of anger in me at an early age. Those seeds were further nurtured by a growing awareness of the atrocities that had been committed by mankind over the years. The anger was accompanied by guilt at the knowledge that our ‘prosperity’ had come largely by means of war, deceit, thievery, genocide, slavery, and other forms of exploitation. In my late teens and early twenties (I am currently fifty) I started snooping out information about social injustice and the dirty dealings that went on behind the scenes. I had a low opinion of humanity. I walked around seething.

              It is only in the last ten years that I am getting a grip on my anger. A wise man taught me to forgive myself and all the stupid things I’ve done over the course of my life by getting me to realize that I was doing the best I could with what I had at the time. As this realization settled into my mind, I felt a great weight fall off of my shoulders. Soon the forgiveness began to spread. I soon realized that the same thing could be said of all of humanity. We have made many stupid mistakes throughout the course of history. In order to forgive ourselves we must take an honest look at ourselves, acknowledge the mistakes, take responsibility and move on.

            Forgiveness and healing will not come about by pointing fingers elsewhere. It is easy to blame the ever-changing power elite, the infamous ‘they’. The truth is, persons from any strata of society could have been slotted into positions of power and made the same mistakes. Our ruling elite are holograms, fractals, smaller versions of the prevailing collective attitudes. The darkest element of society is an extreme representation of the dark shadow that runs through all of us. If the collective darkness becomes lighter, then that extremely dark faction will also become lighter. It helps to have an understanding of what the power elite have done and are doing. But, rather than become bogged down with blame and judgement, it makes more sense to me to attempt to peel back the layers, to strip away the veils of deceit, misinformation and mistake, and to try to see what is underneath.

            Throughout the ages, people have sought to disempower each other. This is partly due to the misguided notion that ‘the pie is only so big and so I’d better get as big a piece of it as I can’. Often one’s self-worth is wrongly measured by comparing one’s lot in life to that of one’s neighbor, so that those in better social positions can feel superior to others. Thus, groups have sought domination over other groups in a quest for external (false) power and wealth. Even within these groups, members have sought power over each other. To disempower a group of people is to control them. This has been developed to a fine art, and as Machiavelli pointed out, there are many effective ways for the ruling elite to maintain control over the masses. (SEE BOX 11 – Machiavellian Controlling Devices) I’m sure that these controlling devices are implemented both calculatedly and inadvertently. Many of the belief systems that have been drilled into us have been used as controlling devices.

            Many religions, despite what may have been noble intentions in the beginning, and despite the fact that many individuals working within these religious systems may have noble intentions, soon become controlling devices for some elite groups.  In part two we will look at some of the forces that shaped our western religions and some of the consequences. We will see how sex has been vilified, rather than promoted as the great healing tool that it is. We’ll see how the ancients, including the founders and followers of Tantra, viewed sex. We’ll look at ways in which the female aspect of humanity has been squelched and at how the resulting imbalance has disempowered us. We’ll try to look at other accepted, established belief systems and the ways they’ve clouded our vision. We’ll weigh some of the evidence that suggests that we would probably be wise to relax some of these old beliefs.
 
            In Book 2, I will attempt to share, to introduce (as opposed to thoroughly examine) some of the information that I’ve encountered in the process of peeling back the layers. This will cover a lot of ground and thus, a detailed examination would extend well beyond the confines of this book. Wherever possible, I will attempt to point out where further information could be had. (I will continue to use italics when I am clearly presenting my own beliefs and opinions.) I will attempt to draw attention to those subject areas that I feel represent the more formidable obstacles to humanity’s quest to know itself. In what ways have we been unable to see clearly? In what ways have we been duped? What keeps us from becoming fully empowered?

Part Three             

The Origins of Man

"The sunset for the empire of science has arrived."
- Huston Smith

             Before launching into this chapter’s topic, I think it’s important to say a few words about the world of science, which has often been called the new religion, and scientists, who have been referred to as the new priesthood. The ‘scientific era’ has been underway for about 500 years during which it served humanity well, helping to pull us out of the dark ages of paranoia and superstition, and into the age of reason. I agree with a growing number of scholars such as Huston Smith and Dr. John Mack, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who believe that this scientific age is about to end. Although that may seem a bold statement, I am not saying that the field of science will be no longer, but rather that it will cease to be the dominant way in which we glean our knowledge. Society has placed a great faith in science as our guiding light and the solver of all of our problems, similar to the faith placed in the ‘churchianity’ that dominated our consciousness a few hundred years ago. That faith will be replaced by the awareness that the scientific method is just one of many by which we’ll come to know our universe.

             Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against scientists, some of them are amongst my favourite heroes. I believe that most of them, fresh out of school, start off with a genuine love of life and a curiosity about the workings of the universe. The best of them are blessed with inspiration, with ‘muses’ similar to our best artists. That idealism, however, is often replaced with the realization that, rather than working for the good of humanity, they will likely be employed (either directly or indirectly) by a corporation, working for the good of its profit-making potential. If all research was funded by objective, impartial sources, what a different world it would be.

            Despite being employed by those who seek to maintain the status quo, many scientists bravely speak out against it. Groups such as the Union of Concerned Scientists are often issuing warnings regarding the actions of governments or the ways that corporate actions are hurting the environment. Scientists often suffer the indignity of having their research manipulated in the interests of some corporations’ profit potential. There were examples of this that came to light during the class action suits against some of the tobacco companies. I once attended a meeting during which a senior scientist, who had been employed by the department of government that tests new food products, was moved to tears as he told how he had resigned his position in disgust. He referred to the testing process as a sham and was appalled at the way that research was misrepresented. In the past, the work of great scientists such as Darwin has been manipulated to justify the economic policies of the ruling elite.

             But I’m digressing, that was not the point I’m trying to make. Science continues to search for a unified model of the universe, that is, a provable theory that explains everything, both in the macro-world and in the micro-world, thus rendering our universe a safe and predictable place. What is the substance common to everything? What exactly are nuclear, gravitational and electro-magnetic forces? I do not believe that it is possible to determine the true nature of reality using the scientific method, which relies on some sort of observation based on the five senses. I believe that reality is intangible, ineffable and beyond the five senses. What if, as many ancient mystical writings contend, the primal substance of the universe is consciousness itself? Is reality being thought or imagined into existence? I believe that the true nature of reality is unobservable from our 5-sensory, physical perspective and that science will ultimately prove its worth by bringing us to that conclusion.

              Thinking and perceiving in the linear, logical way in which we have become accustomed, can only take us so far. Our best scientists, a good example being Einstein, have been ‘lateral’ thinkers who receive inspiration in much the same way as do mystics and artists. Some of the newest theories, at least in physics, seem to be going in a direction that will soon bring them into the realm of mysticism. I believe that this trend will grow and that many branches of science will start to pay heed to what the mystics are saying. This will result in researchers applying the scientific method to premises and theories that develop from suggestions from the world of mysticism. It will also result in an awareness that some things are just not scientifically testable.

            One of the dilemmas of modern science, in my view, is that it is has become a multi-faceted mosaic, a collection of sharply focussed areas of specialization. Most scientists spend their careers examining a very narrow, specialized aspect of reality, to the point where it becomes difficult to put the pieces together into a coherent whole. While most would acknowledge that such focussed scrutiny is necessary, it seems to me that we need another branch of science that seeks to examine the whole. We need scientists who can step back and view the mosaic in its entirety. The difficult question in such an endeavor would be, who would fund it, who would employ such a scientist?

            Another dilemma (one that is more relevant to this book) is the tendency to examine new information using old assumptions. Often such assumptions lie at the very core of an accumulated body of knowledge - at the very base of the mountain of information that has become a paradigm. Here’s an example. Assumptions are made in all fields of science, and archeology is certainly no exception. In assessing the Mayan civilization, conventional science tends to assume that, because they were a culture that did not use iron or bronze, with no knowledge of the wheel, they must be ‘primitive’ and basically, belong in the same category as other primitive societies. The fact that they had one of the most sophisticated calendars ever known on Earth and that they had extensive knowledge of the workings of the solar system and beyond, without the use of a telescope -  none of these amazing discoveries seems to prompt the establishment to look beyond the paradigms.

              Maybe the Mayans come from another planet. Maybe they are leftovers from Atlantis or Lemuria or some other advanced, ancient society. Maybe the knowledge and stone structures were only inherited by the group that has come to be known as the Mayans - maybe it originates from some much older civilization. So engrained are the old paradigms that it’s hard to resist rolling one’s eyes at such suggestions, even though there is more than enough evidence to merit such an investigation. Very few research projects are done with a completely open mind, devoid of all preconceived notions and assumptions, where even the most remote explanations are treated fairly.

           Assumptions are made continually in the world of science. In examining our very ancient past, for example, we assume that certain factors that define our existence today were also in place then. For example, we assume that the strength of the planet’s gravitational pull has always remained constant. We assume that the laws of physics, that is, the laws governing our ability to observe the physical world, have always been the same. If consciousness shapes reality, then maybe such ‘laws’ have changed with our changing consciousness. While I admit that it is difficult to progress in the pursuit of knowledge without using such assumptions as a sort of ‘toe-hold’, it seems even more difficult, ultimately, if these assumptions are never questioned.

             In the NASA project known as the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), over 100 million dollars in ten years was spent sending capsules into space, sending radio waves, etc, in an attempt to make contact with whatever other intelligent life may exist out there. Again we have made assumptions. We are assuming that these life forms are going to communicate with us via some medium and language that is familiar to us. What if they are already trying to communicate with us in their own way? What if they don’t even use words, but use symbols and pictographs like the ones in crop circles? Trying to communicate with us could be the equivalent of humanity trying to communicate to a colony of ants. How would we do it? Maybe the Great Pyramid was an attempt to get through to us. Maybe their attempts to contact us are right in front of our noses. What if it is less important to them to communicate with us in the way we imagine? Maybe they prefer to drop hints and clues rather than approach us directly, based on an awareness that it is better for us to accumulate our own experiences, use our own will, etc. In any case, the point is, we can’t assume to know what their methods and motives might be.

            I believe that we would be wise to open our minds and to re-assess the information we already have. I believe we should stop making unchallenged assumptions and dismissing investigations because they are outside our old paradigms.

Who are we? Where did we come from? These are questions that mankind has grappled with for a very long time. As we move toward enlightenment, toward graduation day, these issues seem to take on a renewed urgency. Many people are no longer satisfied with the traditional answers to these questions. Neither the religious explanations, nor those provided by science seem to make complete sense.

            For many centuries, in conjunction with the teachings of organized religion, the dominant point of view in western culture was that the universe, including mankind, had been created by ‘God’. This mysterious entity, this ‘supreme being’, had taken a lump of ‘clay’ and ‘breathed life into it’, creating a new class of being that would exercise dominion over all the other creatures. This new species was said to have been created ‘in the image of God’, and was meant to serve, worship and obey God.

            With the cultural revolution known as the Age of Reason (approximately 500 to 600 years ago) came a dissatisfaction with such simplistic views. Explanations based on the blind faith of religion came to be replaced by explanations based on scientific observation. The scientific viewpoint that began to prevail seemed to be the exact opposite of the old creationist paradigm. It seemed to be saying that there was no supreme intelligence, that all of creation came into being due to some ‘cosmic accident’. This is in line with the ‘mechanistic view’ of the universe as a giant machine in which each event follows logically from some other event; that every effect is the logical result of some cause. According to this view, the universe came into being after an event called the ‘big bang’. It did so in a completely predictable way, according to the chemical reactions that took place due to certain laws of physics. At some point these chemical reactions just happened to produce conditions that caused the arrival of ‘life’.

            According to this dominant paradigm, life began to evolve into a wide variety of forms, becoming ever more complex as time went on. This evolution was driven by certain laws, mechanisms, ways in which nature was predisposed to behave. These mechanisms were completely logical and, with enough of an understanding, scientists could determine and possibly even predict the course of this evolution of life. After great volumes of information were gathered, a picture that was acceptable to science began to emerge. The conventional overview of the history of life, including the development of mankind and civilization, goes something like this:

- 4.5 billion years ago; Earth was newborn, a lifeless lump of space dust.
- 3 billion years ago; the first traces of life in the form of bacteria and algae made an appearance
- 530 million years ago; after having stayed virtually the same for a very long time, life began to appear in many diverse forms of flora and fauna. This era is known as the Cambrian Explosion.
- 190 million years ago; the first dinosaurs made an entrance, ruling the planet for 125 million years.
- 60 million years ago; relatively suddenly, the dinosaurs went extinct. A diverse variety of mammals made a relatively sudden appearance and began to dominate.
- 6 million years ago; the first of the early hominids (defined as bipedal ape-men) began to appear.
- 2.5 million years ago; hominids started using the first simple, stone tools.
- 800,000 years ago; this marks the beginnings of Homo erectus
- 200,000 years ago; Homo sapiens makes an appearance. He differs greatly from Homo erectus, with a much larger brain size. The first religious artifacts, cave paintings and evidence of a shamanic lifestyle emerges at this time.
- 70,000 years ago; this is the Neanderthal period.
- 40,000 years ago; the Cro-Magnon period.
- 30,000 years ago; Neanderthal man becomes extinct. The debate still rages about whether Neanderthal was the ancestor of Cro-Magnon. Some say that DNA testing has proved that they were not the ancestors of Cro-Magnon, but rather co-existed with them for a while, and then Cro-Magnon began to dominate and Neanderthal died out.
- 15,000 years ago; Asians cross the land bridge at the Bering Strait and populate North America.
- 13,000 years ago; the ice age ends and the Wisconsin ice field retreats.
- 11,000 years ago; agriculture emerges in the middle east. Jericho, the oldest town is established.
- 9,000 years ago; the town and culture of Catal Huyuk is established in what is now Turkey.
- 6,000 years ago; the first great civilization is established at Sumer, in Mesopotamia.
- 5,000 years ago; the dawn of the great Egyptian civilization.

            Science felt no need to consider notions of ‘supreme beings’ or creative intelligences. It sought only to understand the mechanisms underlying the existence of our universe. It considered information gleaned only through scientific methods. Science has contributed greatly to our growth as humans, to our understanding of the nature of reality, to our ability to answer questions such as, ‘who are we - where do we come from?’ However, many people (myself included) are beginning to feel that a more accurate answer to these questions will come from some kind of marriage of the scientific views and the idea that the universe was created by some form of ‘supreme intelligence’. They further feel that the clues leading to such an understanding may be outside the realm of science; that all pertinent information may not be scientifically testable.

Chapter 16 – EXTRA TERRESTRIAL SKELETONS  IN  THE  CLOSET;

             Whenever there is serious talk about extra terrestrial life forms (ETs) or non-physical entities, it is often greeted with rolling eyes and a scoffing tone. Even those who do believe in such things tend to keep it to themselves to avoid derision. This is starting to change, however and recent polls have found that about 50% of the American population, including many notable scientists, astronauts, etc., feel that there is intelligent life on other planets. Many feel that it is far more logical, given the number of stars in the universe, that we are not alone, nor are we the most advanced life form in the universe.
   
              Terrance Dickinson, an astronomer who writes for the Toronto Star points out that, according to current scientific estimations based on the work of astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble, there are about ten billion, trillion stars in the universe. This is a number too large to comprehend. If each star was represented by a grain of sand and the sand was loaded into haulage cars on a freight train, how many cars would it take to contain ten billion trillion grains of sand? If you were standing at the side of the track watching the train go by at the rate of one car per second, how long would you be there? The answer is - three and a half years! Imagine that! It would take three point five years to watch the passing of a train big enough to haul that amount of sand. That is a heck of a lot of sand - an incomprehensible number of stars.

             Back in the mid-twentieth century, Hubble (after whom the Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990 was named) had access to the best telescope of his day. He was determined to learn more about the numerous spiral swirls that were faintly observable in the night sky. He found that each swirl was a galaxy like our own Milky Way, containing billions of stars. Those galaxies at the furthest edge of our observational capabilities are moving away from us at speeds that approach the speed of light. Galaxies that are moving away from us at lightspeed are unobservable because their light cannot reach us. So there are even more galaxies, even more ‘grains of sand’ that we cannot observe. The uni-verse is indeed, staggeringly large. Two thirds of its star systems are older than ours. Surely there must be life in a great many places.

            This is what the great scientist and educator, Carl Sagan had to say about it; “It seems the height of human arrogance to imagine that this planet is the only inhabited world.” In their book, ‘Intelligent Life in the Universe’, Sagan and co-author, I.S.Shlovski say that there could be as many as 50,000 to 1 million civilizations in the universe more advanced than ours. 12   
                  
             There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that life on this planet has been greatly influenced by life on other planets. Some factions of science believe that life first happened on Earth due to a chance electro-chemical reaction, occurring under conditions that just happened to be conducive to life. Some people, including scientists, believe that life could not have developed by ‘accident’, and that perhaps it arrived in germ form on an asteroid, or was seeded by intelligent life-forms. Some astronauts, including Buzz Aldrin, have publicly stated that they believe in extraterrestrial life. Astronaut Gordon Cooper is convinced that they visited Earth in the past. 13 Francis Crick, one of the discoverers of the DNA double helix, believes that the highly complex DNA constituting the primitive life forms of 3 billion years ago, could not have developed here in so short a time. He says that science should seriously consider the possibility that, “a primitive form of life was deliberately planted on Earth by a technologically advanced society on another planet”.14

             Some people believe that extra terrestrials (ETs) have played a huge role in human evolution, affecting us in ways ranging from the manipulation of our genes to the teaching of computer technology. Back in 1968, Erich Von Däniken published his book, ‘Chariots of the Gods’, which asked the question, “Is God an astronaut?” Although it was widely read and made the author a millionaire, it was totally scoffed at and dismissed by the academic establishment. He had traveled the globe, digging out ancient artifacts from many diverse sources, which looked suspiciously like spaceships and astronauts. For example, ancient Hebrew statuettes called ‘malachim’ depict demi-gods or ambassadors that look very similar to modern descriptions of ETs known as the ‘Greys’. 
While admitting that some of his claims may seem far-fetched and somewhat sensationalistic, I believe that much of Von Däniken’s research is fascinating, relevant and at least worthy of further study. (See BOX 12 - EZEKIEL) In fact, there has been a good deal of subsequent research on the subject, most of which is somewhat more thorough and scholarly. This next section will take a look at some of the information that has become available, mostly in the past fifty years, which may shed some light on ET activity in our past.

               In the 1950s, French anthropologists Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen were studying and living with an African tribe near Timbuktu, just south of the southwest corner of the Sahara. The people of this tribe were known as the Dogon. After a few years, when the anthropologists had won their trust, the Dogon began to show them their sacred artefacts and ceremonies, things that had been with the Dogon for centuries. The Frenchmen were shocked to see depictions of strange flying craft and information about the solar system and the star system of Sirius; information that the Dogon could not possibly have gained themselves. They knew, for example, that Sirius was a binary star system, with one bright giant called Sirius A, and one extremely dense white dwarf called Sirius B. So dense is Sirius B, that one cubic inch of its matter would weigh 2000 pounds on Earth. The Dogon knew this. They knew the amount of time it takes for these two stars to orbit each other, which is 50.1 years. How could they know this kind of information? The dwarf emits almost no light and is completely invisible to the human eye and science has only been able to observe it very recently, since we’ve had a satellite telescope out beyond our atmosphere.

             The Dogon worship a deity they call Nommo, the leader of a group whom they claim arrived a long time ago in a spaceship. They are described as amphibious creatures who lived in a water-hole of their own making, emerging to teach the native people about astronomy and certain technologies.

              In the mid-1960s, an American scholar named Robert Temple became fascinated by the work of Griaule and Dieterlen. What made little sense to him was that a group of ETs would come to Earth and make contact with a small, remote tribe, leaving the rest of the world’s population alone. After seven years of extensive research he published his book, ‘The Sirius Mystery’. Temple succeeded in tracing the cultural lineage of the Dogon back to ancient Egypt, showing that the Egyptians had extensive knowledge of Sirius as long ago as 3200 BC. He dug up ancient references to legends of a strange race of amphibians that had helped bring civilization to the ancient Sumerians. The Babylonians had a god named Oannes, who was depicted in ancient artifacts as a strange fish-man. 15
 

.14Temple’s work is extensive, thorough and seems very convincing. Why is it not more widely known? Why didn’t the media jump on such a fascinating story? It seems at least worthy of further discussion and research.

             About 100 years ago, an archeologist named Sir Leonard Wooley was excavating sites in what is now Iraq, in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which has been named Mesopotamia. He uncovered several layers of civilization, the oldest of which went back to 4500BC, making it the oldest sophisticated civilization to be unearthed so far. This civilization is known as Sumer. Large stepped pyramids called ziggurats were found, which are similar to the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, Egypt. Mountains of clay glyphs, cylinder seals and ancient texts containing enormous amounts of information about many aspects of life in Sumer were also found.

           Scholars, such as Sumerologists Arno Poebel in 1914, Thorkild Jacobsen in 1940, and Henri Frankfort in 1950, set about the arduous task of deciphering and translating this information. It revealed a society of breathtaking sophistication, one that seemed to arrive relatively suddenly. Cities such as Uruk (considered the oldest city on Earth), Ur and Eridu contained relatively luxurious houses that speak of a comfortable standard of living. Many of civilization’s ‘firsts’ happened in Sumer, such as; writing, school, congress, libraries, proverbs, cosmogony, historians, the wheel, money, taxation, laws, social reform, medicine, surgery and much more. It also marks the first production of bronze, a fairly complex operation requiring a mix of 15% tin to 85% copper. Tin, a difficult metal to extract, does not naturally occur in Mesopotamia. 17 This degree of sophistication seems to have come out of nowhere, with no evidence of an incremental accumulation of such knowledge that surely would have taken many centuries. How can we account for this abrupt arrival of culture and technology?

                One of the scholars chosen to translate Sumerian cuneiform writings was a man named Zecharia Sitchin. He began to note that a great deal of it, in fact a disproportionate amount of it, dealt with information about the cosmos, flying chariots and a race of ‘gods’ called the Annunaki. Throughout Mesopotamian art there are many depictions of stylized rockets, fiery landings, battles in the sky, planets, etc. Sitchin began to see connections with Biblical stories in the Old Testament, especially in Genesis. In the original Hebrew text the Annunaki are referred to as the Nephilim or the Elohim. (In the modern version of the Bible, the word ‘Elohim’ has been replaced by ‘God’ or ‘the Lord God’.) Even though these terms are used to denote God in the singular, they are definitely pluralized words. The Bible also makes mention of a group called ‘the Watchers’, who appear in the Book of Daniel and in the apocryphal Book of Jubilees.
“Behold a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven.”
- Daniel; 4:13

Sitchin began to cross-check Sumerian information with the original Hebrew Old Testament texts, even the ones that weren’t selected for inclusion in the Bible. He also began to research other ancient cultures, looking at the Sumerian writings from many perspectives. He found that the Genesis stories such as; the seven days of creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, the Tower of Babel, etc., come directly from old Mesopotamian texts like the Enuma-Elish, the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Atra Hasis. In the older accounts, however, the stories are longer and more detailed than the Biblical versions. We’ll take a closer look at some of this stuff in a later chapter.

              A year before the unmanned spaceship, Voyager 2 flew by and photographed Neptune in August, 1989, Sitchin accurately predicted what it would look like based on Sumerian information he had encoun-tered. These predictions appeared in several magazines in the US, Europe and South America. There is a great deal of knowledge about the solar system, and other things that the Sumerians shouldn’t have had, that Sitchin has uncovered. He has released many fascinating books on the subject, coming to some very startling conclusions about humanity’s origins.

              I’ll now present an encapsulated account of Sitchin’s views regarding the Annunaki. Bear in mind that, what may seem quite far-fetched when presented in skeletal form, is backed up convincingly in Sitchin’s books by volumes of evidence and research. He claims that, according to the Sumerian writings, the Annunaki came to Earth about 400,000 years ago to mine gold, mostly in South Africa where, it is said, there can still be found old mine-shafts containing bones that have been dated to 150,000 years ago. They came from a planet named Nibiru, the tenth planet in our system, which has a strange, highly elliptical orbit that brings it close to the inner planets every 3600 years. (See BOX 13 - THE TENTH PLANET) The familiar symbol of the winged disc, examples of which have been found in numerous ancient cultures, is said to de a depiction of Nibiru.

              The grand leader of this mining project was named Anu, who resided mostly on Nibiru, coming to Earth every 3600 years. On Earth, his two sons, Enki and Enlil were left in charge, with Enlil holding higher rank. There was an ongoing rivalry between the two. After 200,000 years of mining, the Annunaki decided that life would be much easier if they had slaves, so they genetically manipulated some native hominids and thus created the first man. Enki and his partner, Ninkhursag, were in charge of this project and grew to love their creation, while Enlil maintained a colder, more utilitarian disposition toward the new slaves, who were known as the Adama (the word adama means earth/clay/dust). Over the years there was some genetic experimentation, sometimes yielding Adama that were too smart to be slaves, and sometimes too stupid to be of use. Eventually they got it just right.

                Although operations were going on elsewhere, the Annunaki lived in a lush, fertile section of Mesopotamia named E.Din. The Adama that lived and served in this area were eventually given by Enki (also known as Samael/Ea/the Serpent), the secrets of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the ability to procreate. The Sumerian writings imply that, before this occasion, the Adama were ‘mules’, incapable of reproducing. Enki, who is often depicted in Sumerian glyphs holding a vial of liquid, had offered mankind the ability to procreate, via another genetic manipulation. The ancient word, ‘hu’, means color/vibration/god. Man had now become ‘hu’man, made in the image of the gods.

             This new, improved version of humanity was known as ‘Adapa the Adama’. It is interesting to note that this expression appears in the ancient Sumerian text, the Enuma Elish, as well as in the Egyptian archives of Amenhotep III. 19

                Enlil did not approve of this turn of events, in fact he was very angry and banished mankind from E.Din, sending him to fend for himself in the surrounding hills. Enlil was upset that the Adama could now reproduce, and was worried that they would learn from the tree of life, the secrets of immortality, becoming equal to the gods. From this perspective, the following Biblical passage suddenly makes much more sense;

“Then the Lord God said, ‘behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’ - therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east end of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way,
to guard the way to the tree of life.” 
- Genesis; 3-22

               This is a very significant passage in the Bible. What is one to make of this? Does the flaming sword represents all the ways in which mankind has been held back from discovering (remembering) its true nature, its divine potential?  Has Enlil/Jehovah, referred to in this Biblical passage as ‘the Lord God’, been keeping humanity down all these years? Is the true friend of man actually Enki, the Serpent, whom the Bible has vilified? This is exactly what is being stated by Sitchin and other researchers, whose views we will discuss in a moment. These are also the views held by Gnostics around the time of Christ, as expressed in recently discovered Gnostic texts. In ‘On the Origins of the World’, Yahweh is portrayed as a false God, hiding the real God from view. In ‘The Testimony of Truth’, Genesis is presented from the Serpent’s point of view. 20
Enki is said to have given ‘civilization’ to mankind, to have given knowledge which was written on 100 discs, and to have established ‘kingship’. In those days, the king/priest was the one who was the most scientifically knowledgeable, serving and guiding the people down the path to enlightenment.

             To continue with our story, mankind went forth and multiplied over the centuries, or possibly millennia. Sitchin claims that the old texts indicate that both the Annunaki and the humans were preoccupied with sex, and that the Annunaki regularly had sex with the humans. This would throw some light on a passage of the Bible that has been baffling scholars for years;

“the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose....The Nephilim were on the Earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.” 
- Genesis; 6-2

According to Sitchin, this activity, this mixing of genes was also offensive to Enlil, who decided in conjunction with the Assembly of Gods, to allow the humans to be culled by the coming deluge. Again, it was Enki to the rescue. He arranged for Ziusudra/Utnapishtim/Noah to escape the flood in a strangely shaped ‘ark’, taking with him the ‘seed’ of all creatures. After the flood, according to the Bible, Noah’s three sons are said to have fathered the various races, Shem being the source of the Semitic peoples, Ham the African , and Japheth the Indian and far eastern races. Science, however, claims that racial diversity has existed for about 135,000 years. But, if there was a great flood, didn’t all of humanity die in it? Alford claims that racial traits were ‘saved’ in test-tubes in the ark. Other sources say that, even though the consequences of the deluge were great, many life forms survived, including many humans.

           After the flood, new instructions regarding sexual intercourse were issued, instituting two different kinds of sex, one for procreation, the other for pleasure. (Non-procreative sex played a big role in the cultures of ancient man and we will take a look at this in a later chapter). Also, humanity’s lifespan was reduced. Before the flood, even according to the Bible, the average age was close to 1,000 years. After the flood, lifespans became much shorter. Abraham lived to the age of 175 years, and subsequent Biblical characters lived ever-shorter lives. (The shorter life spans could also be explained as being the result of the new denser circumstances on the planet after the flood and the ‘fall of man’, although this is not part of Sitchin’s theories. The next section will explore this idea further.)

          Inspired by Sitchin’s work, many other researchers, such as; Alan Alford, Laurence Gardner, Father Charles Moore, William Bramley and David Icke have gone on to write about the Annunaki, whom they claim are a race of ‘reptilians’. There is also channeled information from Barbara Marciniak and others that refers to such extra terrestrials. Bramley and Icke claim that, behind virtually every government and religious movement throughout history, the hidden elite consisted of a hierarchy of  ‘reptilians’ who quietly pulled the strings. In their view, these creatures continue to control events in the modern world. They say that these entities somehow feed on negative energy, so that their agenda generally involves trying to ensure that humanity remains disempowered, mired in fear and negativity. (Regular human food can be thought of as a form of energy. Is it possible that some entities can live on food that is a non-physical, non-material form of energy?)

           In his book, ‘The Biggest Secret’, Icke claims that they are still very active today, and that they have the ability to ‘shape-shift’ from human form to reptilian form. Some of the most powerful people in the world, including members of the British royal family are, according to Icke, reptilian shape-shifters.

             As outrageous and far-fetched as this may sound, there are a great many mysterious references to reptiles, including serpents and dragons, throughout all cultures going back through history. There are many ancient depictions of humanoid reptilians, including one that is holding her baby in a typical ‘Madonna and child’ pose. In a cave near Casares, Spain, there is a cave drawing that looks suspiciously like reptilian humanoids. These drawings are said to be 15,000 years old.

          Interestingly, the dragon is considered a positive symbol of goodness and wisdom in most cultures worldwide, except for the Judeo-Christian traditions which see it, and the serpent, as symbols of evil. The Chinese and Tibetans revere their dragons and in the traditions of many native American cultures, the plumed serpent in the form of Quetzalcoatl, Kulkulkan, Viracocha and others are credited with having brought wis-dom and knowledge. The Celts had their Pendragons and the Egyptians, who prized crocodile fat (messeh) as a spiritual ointment, established the Dragon Court in 2170 BC. Amongst Australian Aborigines, the Rainbow Serpent is credited with creation, while in Africa such entities as Kush and Dumballah Wedo are revered.

            In his books, ‘Gods of the New Millennium’ and ‘The Phoenix Solution’, Alan Alford presents a vast amount of information, expounding on Sitchin’s work and claiming that the gods (Alford does not use the term Annunaki) have been manipulating mankind, to our detriment, for millennia. According to Alford, much of history and many of our great mysteries can be explained in terms of the ongoing rivalry between the lineage of Enki and that of Enlil. While contending that there were no violent confrontations before the flood, he shows evidence suggesting that tensions mounted after the deluge until, by the time of the Sumerian civilization, the gods were engaging in all out war. Two key players were Marduk, an Enki-ite and Inanna, an Enlil-ite.

            Alford contends that highly sophisticated weaponry was used in these altercations, citing a collection of Sumerian ‘lamentation tablets’ describing what sounds like a nuclear holocaust and fall-out. The famous Biblical devastation of Sodom and Gomorrah, as described by these tablets, could be interpreted as the result of a nuclear explosion. Even the Bible’s account could be interpreted as such. The site of the two cities, which is thought to be a shallow section of what is now the Dead Sea, still emits radio-activity, as does Jebel Barkal, a ‘sacred’ mountain in the Sudan. Here one can see blackened rock faces and rubble in what appears to have been a large explosion. A third suspected site is in the Sinai, where there is a blackened scar that is anomalous to science. Alford claims that this was once the site of a ‘space-station’ that was destroyed in one of the wars.

              Archeologists and scholars have often puzzled over the sudden demise of Sumer and Akkadia and the sudden appearance of Assyria and Babylon, around 2000BC. Alford claims that Sumer met its end due to nuclear fallout, and that Abram, the Enlil-ite patriarch who was to become Abraham, was warned by Enlil and left the Sumerian city of Ur to settle in Canaan. In a Sumerian poem entitled, ‘The Curse of Agade’, there is the story of the leveling of Agade, the capital of Akkadia, which brought an end to that society.

             I have run across several postulations claiming that nuclear explosions have occurred in the distant past, in the Sahara and Gobi deserts. Brad Steiger claims that fused glass has been found there as well as in Gabo, Africa, the Mojave Desert, Iraq and the Euphrates Valley. This is the same glass, caused by the super-heating of naturally occurring silica that can be found in the deserts of New Mexico as a result of nuclear testing. 19
In an old epic poem from India called the Mahabharata, there is a description of what sounds like a flying saucer dogfight (involving Vishnu, Nara and Narayana), complete with nuclear explosions, fallout and ray-gun weaponry. Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, who helped create the first atomoc bomb, was familiar with the Mahabharata and held similar beliefs that it was describing a nuclear explosion.22 Similar accounts can be found in some translations of the Hindu Vedas, particularly the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Hymn to Vata. Ancient skeletons discovered in India gave off fifty times the normal levels of radio-activity.23

           The Sumerians also had a great and mysterious knowledge of astronomy, with a very sophisticated calendar and number system. (See BOX 14 – THE SUMERIAN NUMBER SYSTEM.) Like the Egyptians and many other cultures, they display an obsession with information relating to the zodiac and the Precession of the Equinoxes. Alford states that the first known references to these things are those found in Sumer and he postulates that the Sumerian gods were the ones to institute them. He claims that Anu, in an effort to stave off conflict between the Enki and Enlil lineages, divided the precessional cycle of 25,920 years into twelve eras of 2,160 years, so that the two lineages could take turns being the boss in Mesopotamia. Thus, the Enlil-ites would rule for one zodiacal period of 2,160 years, and then the Enki-ites for the next period. Alford claims that the number twelve became sacred because of these eras, and also because Nibiru was honored as being the twelfth major cosmic body in the solar system, counting nine other planets, the sun and the moon. (The moons of other planets are considered to be true natural satellites. Our moon, which is much bigger than all other moons in proportion to the host planet, is enigmatic and thought to once have been a planet unto itself.)  I believe that the number twelve is special for deeper, meta-physical reasons, which have to do with the sub-structure of the universe.

Alford thus claims that many of the enigmatic astro-observatories which we will discuss in the next chapter, were built by the

             gods who needed to accurately measure the precessional cycle to know when their ruling term was due. He says that most of these structures were designed by Thoth, a god who was an impartial pacifist, and built by a crew led by the god, Ishkur. This crew is said to be a genetically constructed race of Negroid giants, roughly nine feet tall and facially resembling the statues on Easter Island and the large stone heads of the Olmecs. These giants were experts at stone masonry and had the use of advanced powered tools. Alford points out that there are many references to giants in the Bible, the most famous being Goliath. He postulates that groups of giants known as the Kassites, the Rephaites, the Anakim and the mysterious Olmecs all came from this ancient race of stoneworkers.

             Alford takes a stab at establishing a new chronology of events which succeeds in reconciling the differences between Biblical time scales, Sumerian and Babylonian king lists, anthropological information and records of pre-flood gods and dynasties as recorded on the Turin Papyrus and the Palermo Stone, and by Manetho. (See BOX 15 - ANCIENT DYNASTIES) He does this by assigning the precessional period of 2,160 years to a unit of time which appears often in Sumerian records, called a ‘sar’.

Alford feels that these ‘gods’ and thus all the ‘dragon’ stuff, are ‘badguys’, the source of all of our problems, oppressing mankind for millennia. He claims that they left the planet at the start of the Piscean age, just before the time of Christ, and that they are due to return shortly, in the age of Aquarius. He thinks of them as a form of anti-Christ and warns that we must be on guard for their return. There are others,

however, who feel that this group are benevolent to mankind and anticipate their return as being akin to the second coming of Christ, the return of the messiah.

            Another author who has written extensively on the Elohim/Nephilim/Anunnaki in his books, ‘Bloodline of the Holy Grail’ and ‘Genesis of the Grail Kings’, is Sir Laurence Gardner, who has a string of titles behind his name. He is an internationally known sovereign and chivalric genealogist, holding the following positions: Prior of the Celtic Church of the Sacred Kindred of Saint Columbia, Chevalier Labhran de Saint Germain, Preceptor of the Knights Templar of Saint Anthony, Presidential Attaché to the European Council of Princes and Chancellor of the Imperial and Royal Court of the Dragon Sovereignty. He is attached to the Royal House of Stewart, is the Jacobite Historiographer Royal and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

            Some of the ways in which Gardner differs from Alford and Sitchin have to do with the chronology of events, which we will not discuss here. The key difference is that, unlike Sitchin and Alford who never mention the concept of enlightenment, Gardner feels that the Annunaki /reptilians are ‘goodguys’ who brought us culture, technology and methodologies to facilitate our spiritual progress. He claims that the ‘Adapa’ referred to earlier, was the start of the true king line, the original royal ‘dragon’ bloodline, which started with Qayen (Cain), the first son of Enki and Eve. Gardner claims that, for whatever reason, the Roman/Christian church, via the Bible, has distorted this truth (as well as many others) and made Adam’s son, Seth, the father of the Hebrew lineage. He goes to great pains to demonstrate this, claiming that this ‘pure’ bloodline runs from Qayin, through to David, Jesus, the Merovingian kings of France, etc. He strongly implies that the true descendant of Jesus should shortly appear upon the world stage to lead us through the end times.

             As well as examining ancient texts, many of Gardner’s contentions come from his knowledge of etymology, the examination of word origins. The words ‘king’ and ‘queen’, for example, are derived from Qayin. The word ‘ritual’ comes from ‘ritu’ which means red gold, which means blood. This brings us to one of Gardner’s more interesting topics.

            Over many centuries before the flood, the process of enlightenment was assisted by the ingestion of menstrual blood. This was known as the ‘starfire’ tradition. Rich in melatonin and other hormones, menstrual blood contains the chemical information of life, having the power to stimulate the pineal gland/crown chakra, long considered to be the seat of the soul. The female genital organ is the first flower (from the word ‘flow’), and is symbolized in the lotus and lily. The kings, under the supervision of Enki, were treated to Anunnaki menstrual blood, which, according to Gardner, was of superior potency.  This ritual ingestion, as well as other sacred sexual activities was practiced for many years, until it was outlawed by Enlil during the days of Noah.

             In the days after the flood the practice continued despite the ban, especially in areas where Enlil had less control. The Hebrew lineage, which had started with the patriarch, Eber, several generations before Abraham, was strongly aligned with Enlil and had to be secretive about the continued practice of the starfire rituals. When the Annunaki left Mesopotamia during the time of the destruction of Sumer (about 2000BC), the more potent menstrual fluids became unavailable to the kings and Enki came up with another means of facilitating enlightenment.

             A method of processing gold into its ‘highward’ state was developed. This involves some form of combustion that transforms the metal into a ‘white powder gold’, which when ingested, also stimulates the pineal gland/crown chakra. This was the science that became known as alchemy, which later became mistaken for the process of attempting to turn base metals into gold. The changing of lead to gold was meant as a metaphor, symbolic of the transformation of ordinary states of cons-ciousness into the elevated consciousness of enlightenment. The word ‘alchemy’ comes from ‘al khame’ which means ‘overcoming blackness, bringing light’.

             The powder was pressed into a conical, ‘shem’-shaped loaf, which was known to the ancient Egyptians as ‘shem-an-na’ or to the Hebrews as ‘shewbread’ or ‘manna’. In Egypt the powder was also called ‘schefa food’ and in its pressed loaf form, was known as the legendary Philosopher’s Stone. There are at least two reference to the white powder in the Bible. Exodus 32:20 refers to the golden calf that the Hebrews made and worshipped while Moses was up the mountain. Moses then “burnt it with fire and ground it to powder, and scattered it onto the water, and made the people of Israel drink it.” In Revelation 2:17, God says, “To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone...”

                In 1904, Egyptologist Flinders Petrie discovered the Sinai Mountain Temple at Serabit, which had been built circa 2600 BC, and had been lost for the past 3000 years. In it he found two shems, a crucible and mounds of white powder, much of which is now in the British Museum. White powder is also said to have been found in the so-called ‘sarcophagus’ in the King’s chamber of the Great Pyramid. (We’ll speak more of this later). According to an electrical engineer named Preston Nichols, who was involved in the Philadelphia Experiment and the Montauk Project, the Egyptian mystery schools were designed to balance the left and right brains of the initiates. When this state of balance was achieved, a white powder was emitted by the pineal gland. It has also been said that monks in prolonged states of meditation emit small amounts of white powder in the forehead region.

              According to Gardner, rendering gold into its highward or high-spin state is a process that is partly physical, partly meta-physical, and involves getting the electrons in a gold atom to spin at a higher rate. All the platinum group of metals have the capacity to achieve a high spin state. Iridium in a high spin state is said to stimulate serotonin production in the pituitary gland/brow chakra. Gardner says that 95% of a human brain’s dry weight is carbon, and the rest is iridium and rhodium. He sites several other relevant attributes of the platinum group and their effects on DNA. (Gardner got much of this info from a researcher of ancient alchemy, David Hudson, who operates through the Ramtha School of Enlightenment. For more info re: white powder gold, and many related subjects, see www.halexandria.org)

              In 2170 BC, 39 men and women formed the Great White Brotherhood in Egypt. Although it may sound like another name for the Ku Klux Klan, it has nothing to do with race, and is also known as the Dragon Court. To the Greeks it became known as the Therapeutae, to the Hebrews it became the Essenes/Nazorenes, and to the Europeans it became the Roscrucians. Secret societies like these, as well as the Knights Templar, the Sons of the Priory of Sion and the Freemasons, have been guarding the secrets of the white powder and other forms of magic/alchemy for all these years. (See BOX 14 – MASONS, TEMPLARS AND THE SECRET SOCIETIES)

              The word ‘grail’ comes from ‘sangreal’ = sangre réal = blood royal. For Gardner, the Holy Grail symbolizes the vessel, the womb that holds the true kingly bloodline of the Dragon lineage. Thus, the quest for the Holy Grail is the quest for the rightful heir to the throne, the descendant of Jesus. (The question of whether Jesus had offspring will be taken up in a later chapter). Although Gardner’s book is chock-full of fascinating information, it seems designed to convince us that some sort of new messiah is about to enter the world stage. Many people have a difficult time with this notion, particularly David Icke, who has accused Gardner of working for ‘the reptilians’, if not actually being one himself!

             I believe that it is entirely possible, maybe even probable, that ETs interacted significantly with mankind in the past (and probably in the present). Such an idea does not seem far-fetched to me. In an age when the ability to clone and to manipulate DNA is already here, I find it within the realm of possibility that ETs could have tampered with our DNA in the past. I admit that such a suggestion makes more sense to me than the idea that humanity evolved into its current complex form entirely due to natural selection.

             Temple, Sitchin, Alford, Gardner et al, present reams of very compelling and convincing evidence, although none of it, in my opinion, represents concrete, definitive proof. Ancient glyphs and texts must be difficult to decipher and the process must surely be subject to a certain amount of personal interpretation. Some of the glyphs, however, require very little deciphering, as they are clear depictions of the planets of our solar system, recognizable by the accurate number of planets and their relative sizes. Again, it seems clear to me that there is more than enough worthwhile information here to challenge the paradigms of human origins. These seemingly far-fetched lines of thought definitely deserve further investigation.

                It seems to me that mankind has a tendency to look at things in black and white, preferring to take either one side of an argument or the other. There are several classical debates, such as ‘determinism vs. free will’ in the field of philosophy, or ‘nature vs. nurture’ in the field of psychology. In the latter, one side will argue that behavior is inherited, while the other side argues that it is learned. It seems obvious to me that both are true; behavior is both learned and genetically inherited, with probably a few other factors thrown in. Most of these classical ‘either-or’ debates seem to be examples in which both sides of the argument are partially true. I believe that nothing is black and white. I believe that most phenomena have many causal factors, and that in many cases these factors are not mutually exclusive.

             In much of the alternative information that I read, I find the same tendency to argue in favor of either ‘black’ or ‘white’. While I do feel that Sitchin and Alford have made a major contribution to our under-standing of mankind’s origins, they can’t seem to resist the temptation to come up with the explanation to end all explanations. Can every ancient mystery be explained in terms of the Anunnaki and the desire of the gods to take turns ruling? Even though I consider Sitchen, Alford and like researchers to be my personal heroes, I would love to see them examine the same information from more of a metaphysical, spiritual perspective. I believe that, even though the picture they paint is far closer to the truth than the official line, it is still part of the ‘maya’, the cosmic illusion, and is a very small fraction of the total picture.

             Even if one chooses to buy the idea of a race of reptilian shape-shifters, taking a stand as to whether they are goodguys or badguys also seems to me a pointless endeavor, which could almost be interpreted as racism. Surely any race of beings, whether extraterrestrial or not, would consist of individuals making bad decisions as well as those making good ones, with the majority of individuals making a mixture of both types of decisions. They, like us, have a variety of motives. I personally believe that there are and have been many different races of ETs, possibly including those known as the Anunnaki, interacting with us in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, all playing the Game at their own level. This would include those levels of consciousness that have come to be called angels or archangels. Any form of consciousness, even those that are non-physical, are by definition, ETs. I believe that most of them are more aware than are we, of the cosmic cycles and the coming shift, the laws of energy and the workings of the Game. I believe that their actions have both helped and hindered mankind throughout the ages. While it is, no doubt, prudent to be vigilant and aware, to view any one race as the ‘evil enemy’ is, in my opinion, folly. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I believe that the only good course of action is one based on love and compassion. We must feel that way for everything and everyone, even for those who may have hurt all of humanity.

               I am grateful for the wealth of information provided by Sir Laurence Gardner, however I must say that I am not comfortable with his obsessions regarding a ‘truly royal’ bloodline. If one believes in reincarnation, which seems to be the case with Gardner, then why are bloodlines important? Does a soul always incarnate into the same bloodline? I doubt it. I believe that the entity that was Jesus, for example, has incarnated many times in different racial forms and cultures in an attempt to assist humanity. Looking for a new messiah who is of the same bloodline as Jesus seems to me to be foolish and dangerous.