Nexus - 1404 - New Times Magazine-pages

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of its phenomenal and disquieting aspects and the effect they would have in the public mind and spirit. Nevertheless, if the story of man's sudden immersion into the interplanetary world of extraterrestrials isn't unfolded in part, at least, its telling may come too late. For the inhabited solar system in which we dwell and the equally inhabited space beyond is far more complex than the average intelligent person would realise. It is in fact a universe of principalities and powers which have traditionally been visiting and perhaps seeding planet Earth for a thousand millenniums and which probably will continue whether or not we accept their incredible reality. It is this knowledge that will confound most religionists and many scientists and educators in the next span of years more than any other current revelation about outer space. An eminent physicist of Stanford University has stated that "committed Christians of all faiths will likely be the most unbelieving—as in Galileo's time". It may be that the greatest danger to the thoughtful reader will be his despondent reflection that God does not exist or at least has become remote and impersonal. On the other hand, the revised rationale of the agnostic may be to elevate man into God's abode, raising man's ego-image still higher. But what to rightly believe will become self-evident to thoughtful people when they know for certain that the horizons of the heavens are endless and that there is a Force unlimited by time and space which must be omnipotent and omnipresent to fashion and turn the endless wheels of the cosmos, wherein Earthman may be only an insignificant figure. For those who will think this material is science fiction in disguise, they are asked to delay judgment until the conclusion of the book. Meanwhile, a few of the problems encountered are shared with the reader. One foreign government complained to the US State Department that its embassy staff were being badgered by the authors. In another country, the stay of the researcher was cut short when he was asked to leave. The Vatican registered a strong diplomatic protest with the President of the USA that one of its top emissaries was interrogated and forcibly searched while bringing material into the USA for the authors. A special hearing of congressional and senate committees met in Washington to act on the refusal by a government agency to release unclassified information as required under the Freedom of Information Act. In another case, the researcher was taken into custody for attempting to photograph non-classified National Archives exhibits, and an executive order was secured to release him from detention. And just as offensive was a forceful reminder that the collecting of information and pictures from our former German enemies was treason under a still- existing wartime statute. The drama of subterfuge on both sides went on and on, and in itself would comprise a book of skirmishes with the military and science worlds that would be both laughable and yet lamentable. But as the story of the round-wing plane unfolds, it will be realised how the authorities became committed to a bond of silence going back 30 years. Nevertheless, the gathering of information for this book was not simply a game of the pen versus the sword. It was a rivalry of serious intent by the authors and those who came to their aid to persuade the government sources to reveal long-overdue facts on the UFO enigma. And for those opposing forces who had been made keepers of the secret by the previous generation, it was a concerted attempt to dissuade the authors to go home and forget about UFOs and the nation's possible involvement. But curiously, the whole series of episodes has produced a grudging respect for the thrust of science in the free world and the hidden might of its military. Only in a democracy could the forces of constraint and openness meet in confrontation, and the lesser of the two protagonists be allowed to survive and tell of the struggle. As this century ends, a reluctant United States has been shoved onto the world's stage at the most critical time of our civilisation. Whether America likes this role or not, she and her friends are the star players who must take major parts in shaping this planet's destiny here and beyond. For far from being weaklings, the USA and her allies are the noble giants who hold aloft over our planet the shield that would keep our world intact and still free. Earth under Surveillance The Sun was two o'clock high on June 24, 1947, over Mount Rainier in Washington state, USA. A commercial pilot flying northerly in a clear sky over the Cascade Mountains fixed his sight to the left where a flash had occurred at the 10,000-foot elevation of the towering mountain. As the experienced 50-year-old Kenneth Arnold scanned the reflection, little did he think that his description of the objects seen near the burst of light would result in the coining of a new universal word. Here is how Arnold expressed himself that afternoon, as reported later in newspapers around the world: "The nine SSE Somervl fe 62 = NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2007 "Hello. I'd like to report an Unidentified Frying Object." www.nexusmagazine.com