Charles Tart conducted an experiment and wrote a scholarly article, “Psychedelic Experiences Associated with a Novel Hypnotic Procedure, Mutual Hypnosis.” There are some peculiarities in this article that super interest me. It feels paranormal. It’s probably not. The basic premise is that the two selected for this project were hypnotized simultaneously, in a way where they were interacting with each other. They each reinforced their hypnotic experience, and it appears their language drifted into a ‘short cut’ sort nonsensical language that deepened their trance and solidified the consensus reality. That is my understanding of what I read. In this, they either ‘went’ to an inner space that they created, or they went somewhere that exists- and per their reports, it was a consensual reality. They experienced a place that was more real than real. It was so real to them, that at some point one of them quit. They became unwilling to discuss the experience further. …

Notice I am not leading with ‘the truth of…’ I am not an expert. I am not claiming to be. I am interested in the subject. I have had an experience which has similar artifacts to an NDE which probably increased my interest sufficient to pursue the subject in depth. It was PMH Atwater that introduced me to the term, ‘Fear Death Experience,’ as another pathway to having experiences similar to NDEs.

I don’t just automatically assume that the thing is what is appears to be. I have approached it also with skepticism. I have had a theory that made sense to me as a plausible explanation for ‘out of body experience’ associated with trauma. People can ‘see’ with their ears. Human echolocation is a thing. You can learn to do this, whether you are blind or sighted. And so, hypothetically, let’s say your eyes are closed and there is a pinging sound, like a heart monitor painting the room. You could, in theory, translate this information into a 3 dimensional map and place yourself anywhere in the map. I thought this was a brilliant thing to track, until I realized- deaf people, deaf from birth, also have NDEs. Then I wondered, well, a person can still get sound through bone conduction? …

There as been once constant in my life: Star Trek. It has influenced me in more ways than I can say. I have been rather vocal about not liking the new Trek. Sometimes it’s the script. Sometimes it’s the plot contrivances. Sometimes it’s the tech. Sometimes it’s the characters.

Take ST: Picard. Picard is on the Borg ship and to escape, they use a portal that has a travel range of about 40 light years. I am okay with portals. Portals were in Star Trek before there was SG1. The Guardian of Time is a portal. The probably I had with that tech was that if the Borg had that, there wouldn’t have been a big Star Fleet space battle with the Borg. They would quietly sent drones through to a planet from afar, built up a critical mass, and just conquered planets. Also, i was super mad about the theme being- androids are sentient and should be treated well, only for them to get to the end and pull the plug on Data. What the heck? If it’s just his time to go, why wasn’t it just Picard’s time to go when he died? Why did human get a new android body, but Data couldn’t get a new android body? That irritated me, because it expressly went against the entire theme of the show. …

I like conspiracy theories. No hiding that. And I am familiar with quite a few, especially if it’s related to space and or aliens. I am going to give you two pieces of a puzzle. It doesn’t necessarily mean what I think it means. I am curious if you have explanation.

If you look at NASA, you will find running theme of a chevron. I am not the first to suggest Star Trek was a soft disclosure project for the secret space force. But, I can allow for NASA just adopting a thing and running with it. Humans do that. That same Chevron is the NTTA insignia for Texas Toll Roads. That’s a German based company. Not sure why they have it, except they do own the roads in Texas. Am I funding a secret space program? …

I experience lucidity in dreaming. This is an art, a science, and a practice. I don’t always become lucid in my dreams, but I think about dream so much, and interject dream seeds so often that I frequently have memorable, exciting dreams. I have written my dreams into journals. Some of my dreams were complete books. I call these my movie dreams, because they have solid characters and have clear story arcs.

Seeding dreams is as easy as talking to yourself. We all talk to ourselves, but rarely do we give ourselves instructions. For example, if you want to lucid dream, one way to increase the odds of having one is telling yourself as you head to sleep, “You will have a lucid dream.” I would lead with you, as opposed to I. If you say it to yourself in the mirror, even better. “You will remember your dreams” is also good self instruction. You’re more likely to remember a dream if you give yourself permission. …

If you had all of space/time at your disposal, who would you spend your life with? If you could live 900 years, or more, with the average health and vigor of a thirty year old, would the answer to the first question change? If in that thousand or so years, your looks and preferences changed rather frequently, even your personality quirks and subtle attributes- how would that affect the first two questions?

One of the difficulties writing aliens is the fact, by definition, they’re not human. Doctor Who is not human. He is an alien. From this literal perspective, it’s difficult drawing conclusions from potential metaphors. He looks human. That makes it easier to write for and makes it easier on the relatability scale. Let’s say, humans have biases. Some of them are unexplored. There is a real danger that we will be nicer to aliens that look humanish as opposed to those who come at us truly alien. Most of us can’t even handle snakes. There are some humans who can. There are rattle snake handlers that have handled rattlers so much they’re immune to the venom. Snakes are just snakes- they deserve respect based on our understanding of them, not necessarily fear. …

My friend Shari need a shout out. Seriously, she needs more recognition than anything I am going to be able to generate. I have known her since 1996. She and I have not always seen eye to eye. That’s human. She is married to one of my best friends. I have like three, so this is a significant. If you follow me, you may remember my friend John is dying of cancer. No one is using that phraseology- the Doctors have skirted giving a timeline. He has glioblastoma multiforme, inoperable. He has completed radiation treatment. His aphasia is becoming more pronounced. …

So, in the mix of looking at stellar phenomena, a signal was detected. It’s still needs to be analyzed, but in terms of passing filters of rule outs, it’s being heralded as the best candidate for potential evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence in 40 years. It’s better than the ‘Wow’ signal. And, it’s right next door. Four light years away- that’s actually within our reach with probes. If we really wanted to test our ingenuity and put our humanity on the line, putting politics and nationalism aside- we could reach Proxima Centauri, and have intel within even my life time.

I am not saying the signal is alien. I would like it to be. I would like Oumuamua to have been an alien probe. We know it’s interstellar, not locally made. And it’s strange. I love when even scientist say something is strange. As if we have monopoly on truth and knowledge. The TICTAC UFO, or UAP, I would like that to be extraterrestrial in origin. I wish one scientist had said that was strange. The Navy pilots chasing it were convinced it was alien. KIC 8462852 made the news not too long ago as there was evidence for an alien megastructure present- the light from the sun was being interrupted in an inexplicable way. There was strangeness. Maybe not ‘high strangeness,’ but strange enough to banter aliens in a discussion. Maybe we jump to quickly to god and alien explanations. Or maybe, we all innately know there is something more and it’s sophisticatedly subtle, as if baiting us to rise to a new perspective. …