Well, one of the things I most enjoy about podcasting or blogging or writing in general is that it challenges me to put into words what previously may have been a feeling or belief that had not been previously formalized this way before. It’s one thing to believe or hold something dear, but it’s quite another to see it before you, standing naked and shivering before your eyes, warts and all! I guess I’ve been writing about religion and UFOs for a long time in one way or another, but trying to tackle them in a single podcast is a whole new proposition. So please know, there’s much more to what I think about the subjects than you will hear in this episode. (And there is a lot about them in previous podcast episodes.)
And—this is really important to me—I do not wish to step on anyone’s toes vis a vis what you may think about these subject. I’m not sure it is possible to write about something like this without shaking somebody’s tree, and for sure, I’m going against the advice my grandfather once gave me to never talk about politics or religion (he never mentioned UFOs) because it is bound to make someone mad. So I apologize now if this makes you mad.
Maybe it will help avert some anger if you know that, probably just like you, I find religion to be amorphous and hard to pin down. And that I do not as yet have a definitive idea of what it is. I know that it has a good side, and that it has sacred texts that contain much wisdom. I have read a lot of those texts and find them to speak to the better part of me. But then again, I also acknowledge that no religion is perfect, and thus no religion has a corner on the spirit market. So, in that vein, I think we are all looking and wondering, prodding and plodding, questioning and guessing about this subject of religion, and the object of its existence, God, or spirit or whatever you want to call it. In short, I don’t believe anyone really knows the true nature of God, but when we can distance ourselves from needing to believe one thing or another God, including whether or not we even believe in God’s existence, we are then free to consider the subject with our minds and our hearts, to let ourselves open to experience what I call the Dance with the Divine.
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I noticed something in post production that I’d like to make clear: I mentioned a link to Rael.org in the podcast. Please do not think I did this to either endorse or to condemn that group. I merely mentioned it off hand. Also, I lost the links to the sound effects people who provided the horse and moving horses sound files. I’ll try to track ‘em down by the next podcast and acknowledge them. At least I can supply the general URL to the wonderful Freesound Project, from where they came: http://www.freesound.org/forum/login.php?redirect=privmsg.php&folder=inbox&sid=5dcc7e3db42d1a2acddcb2e5694553ad
*****
I want to extend my deep gratitude to the musicians and others listed here. (All links open a new window.)
Musicians, in order of their appearance:
(The first six can be found at www.PodSafeAudio.com)
- Aaron Derington, “Gambit”
- Bob Maus, “Borders”
- Oleg Galkin, “Last Dance”
- George Wood, “High Five”
- Eric Moskal, “The Year Before The War”
- Father Rock, “Break Out and Scatter”
- Anahata, “Healing Touch,” can be found at www.Meditation.fm
- Dimtry Lifshitz, “Victory,” can be found at www.facebook.com/dlifshitz
Other Links and Notes:
iTunes Link For Shaman Drums 2.0 Podcast
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=348401683
Research into “new” religions:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/nurel.htm
Interesting Bible Research
http://www.bartdehrman.com/
Rael Movement
http://www.Rael.org
Immanuel Kant, Opening Quotation:
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/kant.html
Kant Background:
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason.” SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/religionboundaries/
(accessed January 13, 2010).
Pew Forum On Religion and Public Life: pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=490#1 Or
http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=504
The Gallup polling organization:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/124793/This-Christmas-78-Americans-Identify-Christian.aspx
New Religious Movements
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_religious_movement
Book Mentioned:
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet
http://www.amazon.com/Jeff-Sharlet/e/B001HCV9UU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
King James Bible Luke 17:21
“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
http://kingjbible.com/luke/17.htm
Matthew 7:13
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.”
http://bible.cc/matthew/7-13.htm
Wow, what a time! I can’t believe I promised to do a podcast that examines religion! Yipes! The more I think about it, the more convinced I am to skip the whole idea. There is simply so much to it–we’ve been doing religion since we started as a species, so that’s a lot of ground to cover in 30 minutes! And then there are the tie-ins with UFOs, philosophy, politics…oh man!
How’d I get myself into this?
Maybe it would be best if I’d simply turn on the TV and get some good ol’ corporate mind control. Tune in to what really matters. You know, like what’s going on with overpaid, hyper-egoic corporate Hollywood comedians vying for prominence on late night TV… and to check up to see whether Tiger Woods is following Rev. Brit Hume’s advice to go Christian…
“To me, there is only one way to test the credibility of any U.S. government official who calls for and announces disclosure, and that is if he or she also calls for our best scientists and metaphysicians to begin examining what is really going on, while also announcing the prosecution of those who have used the phenomenon as a cover or as other means for illegal, unconstitutional or immoral activities.”
Excerpts From The 12/20 Podcast With The Same Title
Though I’ve covered the UFO thing in previous casts, I bring it up again because it’s cropping up in the news right now and causing a bit of a stir on the Web– that is if you follow such things. Back when I was a practicing journalist, I was involved in one assignment to do just that: investigate the subject of UFOs. So I’ll take off my shamanic hat for a moment and grab the old Underwood typewriter to file this updated report.
Right now, the net is all abuzz about so-called “disclosure,” so here’s my headline…
Why US Gov’t UFO Disclosure Will Never Happen…
And Why Not To Trust It If It Does
We’ll start with Disclosure.
This year, a number of high profile proponents, ranging from a former astronaut with credibility to those on the UFO talk-circuit without much credibility, have called for and even speculated about the imminent announcement from the U.S. government, perhaps even from President Obama, that will disclose all of its supposed secrets about what it knows about UFOs.
Oh, it certainly is titillating to think the government will reveal amazing and startling facts about official contact with extraterrestrials and all of that, but the fact is, the government has already made a tacit disclosure at least. And it will probably go no further.
Back in the 1960s, the Air Force said a small percentage of the UFO sightings it investigated could not be explained. That was known as the Project Blue Book, and it certainly provided proof that the government knew something was going on.
Moreover, on countless occasions, the government has obliquely acknowledged some sort of phenomenon by saying that whatever it is, it has so far posed no threat to the nation’s security. I got my own confirmation of that right from a top lawyer in the US Senate. His boss, US Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia was then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and also had tremendous influence in helping to fund the US Army’s program in remote viewing.
So, disclosure has already happened! And, I believe, any further disclosure would ultimately reveal less about extraterrestrial activities than about terrestrial secrets and shenanigans.
We discovered that at the Human Potential Foundation during the time that its main benefactor, Mr. Laurance Rockefeller, had started his approach to the Clinton White House with a call for disclosure. It became more and more apparent that the government, should it disclose all it knows about UFOs, would lay the groundwork for the potential identification of many within the government who are thought to have used the phenomenon as a cover for nefarious purposes.
And if that should happen, it would also reveal government secrets that probably are best kept secret. Not about aliens or off planet exotic technology, but about the nation’s infrastructure and personnel who legitimately gather information to help protect the nation’s security.
This is a sticky subject, for sure, and touches on the whole area of how much spying the government does, and whether it is maintained within constitutional constraints. And it has to do with how the government may use the cover of UFOs as a way to continue its own research into the development of exotic technology and weapons.
So, despite what is now overwhelming evidence from millions of eyewitnesses, including military personnel, professional pilots, theologians, and average citizens in nearly every country in the world who have actually encountered the phenomenon in one way or another, me included, the governments of many of these countries have used UFOs as a cover for various activities having nothing to do with the subject.
The governments are happy to perpetrate and perpetuate the UFO myth as a way to test exotic aircraft and other technology currently in development while knowing that average people who happen to see them will report them as being UFOs, and that the general population will then dismiss the whole thing as coming from kooks and weirdos. Thus, continued testing may advance unimpeded and undetected.
And UFOs also have propaganda value. A country could gain a psychological advantage over rivals if it leaks out that it is in possession of powerful new technology that any other country should be wary of, with the potential result that it may have preemptive strength and force projection.
Now, beyond acknowledging the existence of some sort of phenomenon by telling us that the phenomenon has not posed a threat to the national security, what else could the government say? Outright disclosure, should it involve the dual acknowledgment of the ET hypothesis and a superior technology that could seriously challenge or even overwhelm the country’s defense systems, could lead to societal chaos and the breakdown of its institutions. According to a Brookings Institution Report from way back in the 1960s, disclosure could reveal that our science is next to worthless, so the first institutions to implode would be the scientific ones. And let’s face it, to many people, science is today’s religion.
As a sidebar, it is interesting that many people thought disclosure would destroy religions first, but it’s apparent now that at least one religion has made a preemptive public relations strike against that thought by announcing that it is open to the possibility of the existence of off-planet intelligent life. That is courtesy of the Vatican. It recently sponsored a conference on astrobiology, and once again hinted at the possibility of alien life. It made similar announcements back in the 1990s and in 2001.
It is apparent from history that successful religions are those able to change and morph over time in order to survive, even if it requires changing its most cherished doctrines and dogma, and perhaps even if it requires changing what was thought to be the unalterable word of God.
Fact is, most of Earth’s largest religions originated around a central concept of sky gods to begin with, so one would expect them to be able to eventually acknowledge that fact!
Here’s the final reason, related to the previous points, as to why I don’t think disclosure will ever happen:
In studies undertaken at Rockefeller’s now defunct Human Potential Foundation, publically available research indicated or alleged that U.S. government research into mind control and associated weapons development, the so-called “crown jewels” of off-books black projects, as well as possible duplicitous involvement in any number of untoward activities stemming from that research by some upper level officials in both the government and private sectors, was also cleverly incorporated into the UFO arena for the convenience of obfuscation and camouflage.
I have no direct knowledge of who or what programs may be involved, other than what is publicly available, but there is no doubt that if this is correct, whoever they are, if there is a “they,” don’t want to get caught.
So, even partial disclosure, i.e. official direct recognition of the phenomenon, is unlikely, as it would invite scrutiny of many associated areas that could reveal “a truth too terrible to bear.” Only when the last of the perpetrators have died will disclosure be possible, and that is assuming that no such activity is going on now, an unlikely prospect.
Thus, the UFO phenomenon and the “big lie” exist as parts of a whole, never to be separated, and always in stasis. To reveal one invites the revelation of the other.
Please note: This is not intended as a blanket condemnation of all people in the American or any other government. Only a very small cabal is involved in these activities, and I believe the good people in our government, the true Americans, will eventually root out these “perps.” Then, perhaps, can true disclosure occur, but only if it will include the revelation of all of these Dark Side components.
Okay, so What If Disclosure Occurs?
No matter what form it takes, whether referring to old UFO encounters like Roswell, or something newer, one must maintain the highest skepticism, should a disclosure announcement be made. The phenomenon has simply been used too often to camouflage other things not involving UFOs.
And, assuming that at least five decades of U.S. government and quasi-government mind control research has produced certain methods/technologies/approaches to influence populations, one should be highly skeptical of any official acknowledgment of disclosure, especially if it is accompanied by an active demonstration of alien sentient or technological presence on the planet.
Manipulative technology certainly exists on planet Earth which could convince the eye that ET is flying the skies. Holographic special effects have existed for decades and is commonplace. Like, can you say “Avatar?” What a movie, eh?
And it sure seems the so-called Roswell “crash” had far more to do with the Cold War than with ET.
So, unless or until ET visits your neighborhood and sips tea with you, you do not have to believe what CNN or the “cabal” within the U.S. government or any other government wants you to believe. And who knows, it could be that non-governmental groups are attempting to stage an event in order to influence governments. It’s all pretty murky.
And if you have already encountered this phenomenon, then you already know that it is vastly more complicated than what an official announcement will likely acknowledge, even if such an announcement may bring vindication to some of what you’ve already known. Simply assume that disclosure is occurring for more reasons than altruism, and is serving more purposes than we can know.
To me, there is only one way to test the credibility of any U.S. government official who calls for and announces disclosure, and that is if he or she also calls for our best scientists and metaphysicians to begin examining what is really going on, while also announcing the prosecution of those who have used the phenomenon as a cover or as other means for illegal, unconstitutional or immoral activities.
And when do you think THAT would ever happen?
There’s Been A New Birth At TVD!
It’s the beautiful little Elfin Drum, and you can see, hear and read about the newborn here. (Will open in new window).
When I first posted this entry, I forgot to add this part: Every time I finish a drum, I wish it “Happy Birthday” and sing to it. No, so far as I know, this is not an old shamanic drum-making tradition, but rather a fond memory from childhood days of the old “Frosty the Snowman” animated cartoon where Frosty says “Happy Birthday” every time he is reincarnated!
New Podcast In The Works!
Thank you for your email comments regarding the last episode, where I put on my old reporter’s hat to talk about UFO Disclosure. Now it’s on to taking a more specific look at various belief systems and how they interface with religion. Like, mass media and politics, for example.
I am intrigued by the audacity of people like newscaster (in reality, “opinion-caster”) Brit Hume, who is supposedly Fox News Corporation’s senior political analyst. He recently advised Tiger Woods to forgo his alleged Buddhist beliefs and find true redemption in the Christian faith. There’s also another form of political advocacy of religion, as expressed quite directly by another Fox News (“We Propagandize, You Follow”) commentator and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. It’s his idea to replace the U.S. Constitution with the Bible and to switch from a democracy to a theocracy. Then we have former President George W. Bush, a born-again who hinted that he was God’s chosen one to lead the U.S., which he then used as justification for the invasion of Iraq.
And somewhere amidst all this is Jesus and other spiritual teachers who must find all of this a genuine hoot!
I should have a new episode ready next week.
iTunes Link
Here’s the link to the new Shaman Drums 2.0 podcast on iTunes.
(http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=348401683)
Excited!
I am excited to be working on a drum that is the last of its kind. It is called The Ancestor Drum, and as soon as you see and read about it, you’ll know why. For one thing, it is among the first drums I ever made, and is from the same tree my own drum came from. I believe I made seven drums from a Silver Maple tree, and that was it. So I am completely renovating and updating it with methods I’ve learned and developed over the years to improve its stability, sound and appearance. I hope to have it available by early February.
That Silver Maple took a direct hit from a massive lightning bolt that then traveled through the ground along a buried electric line and entered my home, causing widespread damage to electrical equipment of all kinds–phone, stereo, television, refrigerator. Interestingly, that was the day I knew I was to make Lightning-Struck drums! A flash of inspiration you could say.
CU in the next podcast!
Aho and Namaste,
Bob
Happy Holidays to All!!!!
There are lots of changes occurring at Thunder Valley Drums, so here’s the latest!
New Web Site: https://www.naturalshamandrums.com/Home_Page.php
New Email: livefree@naturalshamandrums.com
The New Podcast Logo!
New Blog / Podcast / Logo: http://blog.naturalshamandrums.com/
Or New On iTunes here:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=348401683
On to 2010!!
Joy!
“Quiet Joy” Teardrop Necklace
I make jewelry on average about once each year, with customers and friends asking to have it available in time for the Holiday Season. So the 2009 collection of necklaces, made from lightning-struck cherry wood and lilac wood, my two favorite to work with (as you probably know from my Website), and two of the most sacred, to me at least. For a new free eBooklet of why I do what I do with lightning-damaged wood and other stressed natural materials, visit the Downloads Center and look for “The Tree, The Shrub And Something Called The Ain Soph Aur.”
The one above is a simple lilac pendant with woven black leather cord held by a copper crimper and two antique copper beads. A 36″ calf leather tie-back thong threaded through copper rings completes the presentation. The disk pendant is a maximum of 3/4″ round and 1/4″ thick (cost $9).
Here are few more pieces.
“Blue Princess” Lilac Necklace
This pendant on the right is a beautiful lilac disk studded with turquoise beads and draped by handmade Peruvian ceramic beads. The lacing is yummy smooth butterscotch and white suede lacing held by a twisted copper eyelet in a 36″ tie-back. The Pendant is 2″ round and at least 1/4″ thick. ($26)
Nature does the creating of these wonderful pieces, whether when lightning takes down a cherry tree, or by the passage of time when the lilac needs pruned, especially after the insect clan bores its way through the soft lilac branches. I merely cut out and clean damaged areas of each piece, rub and rub and rub it with beeswax and oil, then decorate it. And while it’s all great fun to make these, I do so with the awareness that these honored gifts of the Earth Mother are quite special when worn in ceremony, and are great friends to wear throughout your day as they help you to connect with Spirit.
“The Energizer” Cherry Necklace
Each piece is hand rubbed with a combination of all natural beeswax and linseed oil, and the leather and hemp are treated with appropriate oils to help protect them and to prolong their usefulness. This piece (left) is lightning-struck cherry wrapped in copper wire and studded with an emerald chip. A continuous (brick color) leather thong weaves wooden beads from the bottom through the top and also forms the 30″ tie-back. The pendant is 3/4″ wide, 1″ high and up to 1/2″ thick. ($17)
While the necklaces serve various functions during shamanic spiritual ceremonies, you may find them attractive to wear with some of your styles and moods. Each piece is a one-of-a-kind, impossible to duplicate, so when it’s sold, it’s gone, no duplicate available.
There are about three dozen necklaces in this year’s offering, many in unisex styles.
Hope to see you on the Website!
“For, to encounter the Lilac is to chance upon the secret of life.”
There’s always money for war and for bank and Wall Street bailouts. There are always cabinet officials for money (usually staffed by people from banks and Wall Street) and war (usually staffed by people whose livelihoods have always relied on their knowledge of how best to develop weapons and to outfit armies), and yet, we have no one at the top levels of our government whose expertise is compassion. I think we need a Secretary of Compassion.
We could use one right now in the health care debate, and in the wars we fight.
The Compassion Secretary can point out the obvious—that the country can always find trillions of dollars to conduct war and to assure the welfare of the rich, and yet cannot afford the far lesser amounts needed to assure that every citizen can get attention if he or she gets sick— and then seek to reverse it.
We don’t seem concerned at the cost of killing a soldier in a pointless war, but we get up in arms and rail at the prospect of spending a few dollars to save the life of a poor person?
While I certainly don’t wish to support the big pharmaceutical or insurance companies or the bloated, profit-driven health care industry (industries which all deserve far more oversight than now available), I do support health care for all. It is the compassionate thing to do, even if it enriches the pharma-insurance-corporate-provider cartel. When someone is sick, they deserve care and attention.
And there are certainly other health care options provided by a plethora of Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practitioners that are not nearly as costly and that do not feed the cartel.
And once we get the American health care system in a position to help each and every citizen, the Secretary can then begin to counteract the default tendency of American diplomacy to project American war power by instead arranging for the projection of American Compassion to the world. A bottle of Cipro or a corps of CAM teachers is cheaper than a bullet or a fighter jet, and has the potential to save a life instead of taking one. We can make more friends by healing them than by killing them.
