THE MEANING OF LIGHT IN THE UFO EXPERIENCE
“I saw the Light, Praise the Lord, I saw the Light!” Hank Williams --1948
Note: The following material is submitted from a chapter in my UFO book. It examines some of the esoteric origins of the meaning of light and its relationship to the UFO encounter. Elements of my examination draw from mythological interpretation of light and the UFO archetype and are based, in part, on the studies of the metaphysical studies of C.G. Jung.
This chapter will also present a theory that unravels a negative thread associating UFOs with demonic myths, when in fact, many encounters with these heavenly vehicles of light, demonstrate transformational qualities found in positive spiritual epiphanies.
From Chapter Five of UFOs: GOD FROM INNER SPACE
Ironically for the Western world, the “bringer of light” was originally associated with Lucifer, described as “the light bearer” according to metaphysical sources, and only later became associated with the devil. My sources track the origins of Lucifer to the fourteenth chapter of the Old Testament book of Isaiah, at the twelfth verse, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” It was only by a circuitous route that a Latin word got into the Hebrew bible.
From its origins in Roman astronomy, it appears that the name was associated with “the morning star” or Venus, and heralded the daily rising of the sun. The name derives from the Latin term “lucem ferre--bringer or bearer of light.” Suffice it to say that Lucifer originally was considered a “good” angel when he was associated with light in a positive sense. This was also the purpose of Hermes, Mercury Prometheus and, in a sense Psychopomp, the enlightened Buddha, and Jesus whom many devout Christians praise when they sing, “I saw the Light, Praise the Lord, I saw the Light!”
Yet this fact is often obscured and forgotten when the OLD TESTAMENT is remembered, or when people say that they, indeed, were bathed in an astounding light that shone upon them. So we see that the reception of the light had its origins in both Roman and Judeo-Christian sources, and referred to messages or information coming from God, i.e. spiritual sources originating in the fourth dimension. In that sense, Lucifer, as well as other teachers from within the light, play exactly the same role as UFOs in the evolution of consciousness, because they come from heavenly (above or outside the earth) sources that free us from the illusion of the physical plane.
Before life began in the physical plane, the 4th dimension was our original home, and is the area we return to when traveling in the out-of-body vehicle during altered states of consciousness. Light waves are the conveyance vehicles through the 4th dimension, and mythically refer to the ba, atman, and angelic messengers or devas, UFO crafts and correspond to the inner senses described by Seth. Also, light waves we now know, carry information on the quantum level in photon packets or quanta, through time and space. My point is that an alteration of consciousness releases light that appears to come from beyond, or outside the limited focus of our senses. The devil, or Lucifer in today’s fundamentalist religion, often continues to be associated with UFOs and the so-called Occult, and for that matter, any metaphysical sources other then conservative interpretations of Christ’s teachings.
There is an anti-saucerian movement today in the Christian churches that teaches that the UFOs and its occupants are ‘evil archangels of Satan’ who have arrived on Earth to trick mankind into converting to his evil ways. “They’re coming to enslave us to Satan,” a local holiness Christian once warned me, in a very serious voice. She was, without doubt, adhering to ancient beliefs that the light or the UFO was actually a vehicle of Lucifer. It is easy to see how the light as a symbol from beyond became subconsciously connected with UFOs and evil, though it had actually two widely differing interpretations.
Looking at it from this perspective, it is no surprise that an encounter with the light from beyond the physical plane could have become twisted into a foreboding portent of evil by the light-confused Christian mind. When the sudden and in some cases startling light of awareness breaks forth, it often clashes with the subconscious beliefs humans possess of demonic invasion, shaking the stability of the three dimensional plane. Saul of Tarsus fled this light before transforming into Paul, the apostle of God. He ran from ancient fears associated with the light, hidden within his subconscious mind and the uncertainty that challenged his life, compelling him to acknowledge the presence of the 4th-dimensional plane. Salvadore Dali’s painting of Christ’s Crucifixion on the cross in the form of a hypercube is a good approximation of the 4th dimension, a.k.a. Corpus Hypercubus, and artistically depicts the Self’s effort toward spiritual union with God, culminating in the renunciation of the 3rd dimension. His drawing portrays the activation of the archetype, symbolizing a spiritual transformation or reunion of an apparent division between opposites (divine androgyne) and the ascension to divinity.
In a symbolic sense, isn’t that what Eve experienced when she gained access to knowledge of good and evil? Didn’t she, in essence, receive enlightenment? Then why were Eve and Adam expelled from the Garden of Eden, thereafter? Obviously, Lucifer in Hebraic tradition becomes indirectly associated with higher consciousness, or the reception of arcane information from an alien source, thus freeing humans from the illusion of life and death and the power of a tyrannical god over the Garden of Eden. The snake is just another symbol for treachery and forbidden knowledge. Note how we as a collective mind use this symbol of the snake to intimidate those challenging the social parameters of good and evil? In the same sense, at the gates to independent perception stands the Christian devil conjured by the church to warn us to relinquish our desire to know the origin of good and evil, which may set us free from the dogma of the church. It is easy to see how proposed aliens coming from beyond the earth would also become subject to suspicious scrutiny by the collective mind, as would those who have contact with them.
Enlightenment signifies insight into our greater selves, and because of it, the first couple was expelled from the mythical Garden of Eden (of innocence or ignorance of our inner Self), and the world they must return to as a new reality. Note that this is an allegorical interpretation about personal transformation, following a profound psychological re-introduction to the collective SELF that is often associated with growth in higher consciousness. Keep in mind that the “light,” the “UFO” and the transformation-of-consciousness are synonymous.
Yet, this light of new consciousness can bring about a sudden alienation from one’s accepted view of reality. At that point of transformation, confusion often reigns, because everything we have been told about reality is suddenly shattered. It is similar to trying to locate the fourth dimension, and once having done so, trying to describe its location in space-time. It is easy to see why the early mystics were so frightened by this light. In addition, it included weighty responsibilities plus heralded rejection and isolation. These were some of the dilemmas faced by early mystics when confessing to others that they too had seen the light. However, those who have practiced meditation, for instance, know that the light can also bring about an expansion of consciousness that can be stimulating and insightful, as one turns inwardly.
As one experiences this expansion of consciousness, a fork in the crossroads of life arises. One prong of this fork points in the direction of a negative probability and the other toward a positive. These two choices rest upon the contents of the subconscious and its conflict with conscious choice, arising in the individual at the time of the encounter. To clearly understand this dilemma arising from the subconscious when encountering the light, one must realize that the primary purpose of our ego is censorship, as was the priestly/shepherds duty, i.e., to protect his flock from danger, or to resist evil suggested by the altered state of consciousness. This could be, at an instinctual level, derived from the deeper ramifications of Eros, or the drive toward life and survival.
Therefore, the altered state (and the light) becomes inadvertently associated with Thanatos or the death drive, as one gives into the inclination to yield to the unknown, synonymous with the possibility of dying. This is essentially the psychic nature of the NDE; i.e., a shift in consciousness that becomes allied with the psychodrama of dying. As far as the ego is concerned, the UFO encounter is clearly associated with the non-traditional route. The light primarily reflects an alteration in the perspective of the ruling ego “I” maintaining the status of identity, and points toward a reorientation of self and world. The identity of the ego “I” censors and inhibits incoming information, directing data to conform to a basic mold established as our current view of reality.
It is from this view or framework that our senses compose the collective perception of what is substantial and/or correct. For example, our society has many stereotypical myths by which we live, such as age, IQ, class, general racial abilities and inclinations, etc. For the most part, these myths we accept as reality and as a group reinforce by bullying individuals who break these molds with intimidation, insult, or direct assault. The devil and his imagined legion of demons can be found within that same grouping of adverse symbols.
We change our identity as well as our form or idea of reality/self many times during life, producing a continuous fluctuation in the quality of experiences that we apperceive. We do this even though our conforming ego may render us “unconscious” of these changes, in much the same manner as the body as a whole tends to render us unconscious, so to speak, of the processes of our daily cellular deaths. Metaphorically, let us imagine that there are two different entities at work within the whole of the mind/body union. Let us consider that it is an ego composed of two selves. While one self remains in a trance, the other makes changes, which might be in total opposition to this entranced self. This situation is quite similar to the processes occurring within the brain, the right side of the brain carries on routine behavior that is quite different then the left brain. Even while these dual sides carry on two separate functions, they do so in a complementary conflict, momentarily allowing one side to dominate, and the other to assume a passive relationship within one brain.
Normally these opposing functions of the ego occur smoothly, beyond the scope of our general awareness, allowing the outer-ego full security in its position of authority, just as the body-mind supervisor maintains its authority over all the internal voices coming from the constellation of body parts and other probable realities. Thereby, we are able to continue on with the illusion that we have complete control, meaning the ego “I” that we think we are. If, however, change is sudden, as many transcendental experiences are neurologically, they can upstage the authority of the ego and chaos ensues. This is the subtle incursion from outside that the clergy senses, when they redirect the mass mind during moments of crisis and change, toward spiritual values. According to Jung, the UFO symbol is a sign of a need by the ego, in the above sense, to reunite a schism occurring between self and changing world, that threatens its authority in times of insecurity, in terms of the leadership of the mind/body unit. The work of restoring that sense of security is entirely the duty of the sentinel activities of the outer senses, while the connection between self and the 4th dimension strictly is the duty of the inner senses.
So one can readily see that though these two sets of senses have specific and differentiated duties, their work is independent, yet bring together dual worlds. The mind can induce this transformation of consciousness as an attempt to heal the schism created by these dueling aspects of the psyche during crisis. C. G. Jung explains this process: “The psychological experience that is associated with the UFO* consists in the vision of the rotundum, the symbol of wholeness and the archetype that expresses itself in mandala form. Mandala’s, as we know, usually appear in situations of psychic confusion and complexity. The archetype thereby constellated represents a pattern of order which, like a psychological viewfinder marked with a cross or a circle divided into four, is superimposed on psychic chaos so that each content falls into place and the weltering confusion is held together by the protective circle.”
This is a depiction of the process of individual transformation, which could be seen as essentially antagonistic to the dictates of God. It is an example of how the Christian symbol of the cross, provided the suggestion symbolically for the ego to choose between two directions, the devil or God. Symbolically, these two choices represent the path to selfishness, or toward selflessness. One arm of the cross leading to individual choice, (as did Adam and Eve) while the other leads in the direction of submission to the traditional path, and adherence to the ministerial dictates. Contrary to this antagonism in the western world is the unifying idea of spiritual enlightenment found in Buddhism, which encourages the individual to seek the inward path through solitary meditation. Seen in this example, the UFO or the light becomes an attempt by the outer ruling ego to make sense of the unexpected and sudden impact of a new order. This new order represents the incursion of an alteration in consciousness, changed in a transformational experience reuniting the former disunity of the cosmos and self.
Thus, resistance to change or alteration of consciousness can become crucial to dogmatic followers of the traditional biblical word. Again, changes that are by chance perceived by our ego control tower are quickly labeled weird, demonic or strange. Keep in mind, this ‘outside’ or interloping entity called the devil, i.e., is seen as a snake that seduced Eve, the unwary first female who was said to cause man’s fall from everlasting grace. Eve becomes partially associated with this negative entity, when she conspired with the devil, thus casting an aspersion upon females in general, because the old gods including Jehovah, were by western culture ‘male,’ symbolizing authority e.g., the penis as a masculine symbol of controlling force.
During such an experience a supportive entourage of selves comes to the rescue, so to speak, by constructing a ready rationalization of what was seen, heard, felt or observed. If the event was decidedly psychic in context, that individual is looked upon as either seer, insane, or simply demonic, depending upon which faction of society judges the nature of the individual experience. Should that perception be seen as an acceptable one within certain cultures, such an individual is praised as a visionary.
In many instances visionaries and clairvoyants report seeing concentric rings or circles. The circle is a religious symbol found within many cultures, including the Native American Medicine Wheel and the Mound Cultures, the Egyptians with their pyramid or tetrahedron, the Mayan and Aztec pyramidal cosmogony, in addition to many others. So it is clear that most cultures sense this healing energy of the 4th dimensional aspect of self united with cosmos. The cosmology that gave birth to these geometric forms derived from teachings of various mystical, philosophical visionaries or clairvoyants that could tap into the 4th dimensional aspects of higher consciousness. All of these cultures demonstrate awareness of the 4th dimension with spiritual orders represented by spiral structures. They depict a cosmogony that requires initiation for the ascension into higher realms of learning, and an alteration of consciousness as a way of getting there.
The Bible records Ezekial’s vision of the angels aboard the UFO, 1:4ff. In this prophetic account he describes ‘wheels within a wheel,’ which is essentially circles within circles. There are, of course, many other historical encounters with spheres, boiling or ethereal lights, such as the burning bush and the Ark of the Covenant. This account literally describes a light craft accompanying the Israelites as they make their famous trek across the desert. All accounts are reminiscent of the same kind of phenomena associated with the light or UFO. Noteworthy is the fact that such energy releases are observed in hundreds of similar cases of a transcendental type, that report the light accompanying those led, or touched in some way by GOD. What is taking place is a conjunctive birthing of self and world, bringing about the enormous releases of light seen in the archetypal symbol, when it is stimulated or activated during a transformation drama. When such an event occurs, new selves are born and people are recorded receiving a glimpse of the pure light beyond the physical plane.
Timothy Leary interpreting THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD referred extensively to these pure states of mind as:
“The infallible mind of the pure mystic state.” Dr. Leary continues on to say that:
“This is the awareness of energy transformation with no imposition of mental categories.” Later, he states, “It is important to remember that the consciousness expansion process is the reverse of the birth process, birth being the beginning of game life and the ego-loss experience being a temporary ending of game life. But in both there is a passing from one state of consciousness into another. And just as an infant must wake up and learn from experience the nature of this world, so likewise a person at the moment of consciousness expansion must wake up in this new brilliant world and become familiar with its own peculiar condition.”
Note: There are many levels of the light far more refined that continues beyond the range of perception sensed by mortals. The old idea of light as being merely "quanta or packets" will eventually give way to the realization that light simply "is," and that as we follow its extensions into the inner cosmos we find different gradations of it as it thins out into a plane or internal reality from completely new realms can be found. Within these inner realms are worlds within worlds of pure light. The intuitive realization of "crystalline fields of light" are memories of travels into these inner worlds of light via the OOBe exploration during lucid dreams. Nahu
