Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact - Above Top Secret

least one occasion, experienced levitation without being able to control it. Clocks and electricalcircuits have been affected, apparently without cause.Such phenomena are not unprecedented. Cases of uncontrolled levitation or gravity effects havebeen reported in connection with UFOs. In one case, which took place in 1954 in the Frenchcountryside, a man who was coming back from the fields with his horse had to let go of the bridleas the animal was lifted several feet into the air – a dark, circular object was flying fast over the trailthey were following.Neither is the change in life patterns an uncommon fact among witnesses of close encounters withsuch objects. An awareness of the paranormal has been inspired by such sightings in men like EdgarCayce. As a child, Cayce met a woman who appeared out of a sphere of radiant light and told himthat he would be able to heal the sick when he grew up. In the words of Thomas Sugrue:As soon as the weather was good he went back to his retreat in the woods. There, oneafternoon in May... he became aware of the presence of someone else. He looked up. Awoman was standing before him.... "Your prayers have been heard," she said, "tell me whatyou would like most of all, so that I may give it to you." "Most of all I would like to behelpful to others, and especially to children when they are sick." Suddenly she was no longerthere. He looked at the place where she had stood, trying to see her in the beams of light, butshe was gone.Edgar Cayce's sighting is reminiscent of several cases that fall into the category of religiousexperiences, although the initial observation is often linked to an unusual flying object, as in the"miracles" of Lourdes and Fatima, which we will analyze in Chapter Seven, and in the visions thatled to the founding of the Mormon Church. Such miracles often give to the precipients healing orprophetic powers.MetalogicWhat do we know of the nature of the communication that is reported to occur between humanwitnesses and the occupants of the UFOs? I have earlier commented that, on the surface, suchcommunication appears to be simply absurd. The word absurd, however, is misleading; I prefer theexpression metalogical. When a witness meets a UFO occupant who asks, "What time is it?" andreplies, "It's 2:30," only to be bluntly told, "You lie – it is 4 o'clock" (this actually happened inFrance in 1954), the story is not simply absurd. It has a symbolic meaning beyond the apparentcontradiction of the dialogue. Could it be that the true meaning of the dialogue is "time is not whatyou think it is," or "any measurement of time can only be relative"? In 1961, similarly, Barney Hillfound himself trying to explain to the humanoid examining him that time was an important conceptfor us on earth. The humanoid appeared not to understand what he meant. The point of theseincidents seems to have been to convey the fact that consciousness transcended time itself.Situations such as these often have the deep poetic and paradoxical quality of Eastern religious tales("What is the sound of one hand clapping?") and the mystical expressions of the Cabala, such asreferences to a "dark flame." If you strive to convey a truth that lies beyond the semantic level madepossible by your audience's language, you must construct apparent contradictions in terms ofordinary meaning. In the above contact case in France, the next question was about space and againwas absurd ("Am I in Italy or Germany?" asked the UFO pilot). What scientist would take such astory seriously? Even a priest might avoid it, for fear of demons! In fact, some witnesses havethought they had seen demons because the creature had the unpredictability and mischievousnessassociated with popular conceptions of the devil. If you wanted to bypass the intelligentsia and thechurch, remain undetectable to the military system, leave undisturbed the political andadministrative levels of a society, and at the same time implant deep within that society far-reachingdoubts concerning its basic philosophical tenets, this is exactly how you would have to act. At the