PH: I have a whole section
with guest essays and the question I want to ask you is, do you
see a difference in the exopolitics movement in the last two
years? Since you were one of the initiators of this movement, do
you see any forward action, any progress?
MS: I think there’s a significant shift in the general
perception of exopolitics, especially among researchers. I
believe that what has happened is that previously, people didn’t
understand what exopolitics was.
They operated under a certain
caricature of exopolitics, somehow making presumptions about the
reality of extraterrestrial life and the unnecessary nature of
doing further empirical studies to validate those sorts of
claims about extraterrestrial life.
I think what’s happened is that
people now see that those doing the exopolitics field are still
very interested in collecting data and analyzing the evidence,
and finding what is the most persuasive.
But I believe that what
has been most remarkable has been that there is now an
understanding that we ought to look at the public policy
implications of all of the data concerning extraterrestrial life
and UFO sightings.
That the old school of ufology
operated under the assumption that if we are to make any
progress, that we’ve got to collect more data that is credible,
that is rigorous, that supports the research goal that UFOs are
real and that this is something that deserves rigorous
scientific study.
I think what happened is that there has been a
public shift, and even among researchers now, they are much more
likely to start asking the public policy questions, so that way,
rather than waiting until we have incontrovertible proof that
UFOs are real and that there’s a government cover up, people are
now beginning to ask about the public policy implications.
That’s a very good sign.
I think it’s happening also at an
official level. I think what happened with the Japanese Prime
Minister in 2007 was very significant, because both the Japanese
Foreign Minister and the Cabinet Secretary of Japan, both said
that they personally believed in UFOs and the reality of
extraterrestrial life. But what was really significant was that
they actually made a policy statement.
They actually said that if
extraterrestrial life appeared in Japanese skies in advanced
vehicles, that they would not order the Japanese defense forces
to engage with the visitors, if the visitors only displayed
peaceful intent.
That was very significant because it basically
was telling us that you have a public policy stance that
provided extraterrestrial life shows no hostile intent and is
peaceful when it shows up in the air space of a major world
government, there will be no hostile action against that.
This is very different to standing
orders for UFOs in the American military, where any UFO or any
object that shows intelligent flight control is first asked to
identify itself and to land at the nearest air facility,
directed by any jets that encounter it. If that aircraft or that
UFO doesn’t comply, then it could be shot down.
So the Japanese actually have come
up with a policy giving us an insight into the way in which
major governments will deal with extraterrestrial life appearing
over the air space of major countries.
So I think that’s been a really
important shift in the way in which exopolitics is perceived,
among researchers, the general public, and also the major
governments, and I imagine that this will continue to change as
more and more people now want to ask the who, why, where
questions rather than, is it real?
Rather than asking whether
the UFO phenomenon is real, people are wanting to know who are
they, where do they come from, why are they here, and what do we
do?
Those are all policy questions, and
those are the questions people are interested in, which is why
exopolitics has become so popular and why it genuinely has
become an international movement. And I imagine that in the
years ahead, we’re going to see exopolitics really take off with
some first-rate researchers and scholars supporting exopolitics
research.
Those who, why, where questions are
really the most important ones and more interesting to people
than the very basic one of is it real?
PH: Does this also conversely polarize a lot of the UFO
community?
MS: Definitely. The UFO community is divided quite
strongly between those that argue for what they perceive to be a
rigorous scientific analysis of UFO data, and here we’re talking
largely of sighting data, using the empirical evidence gained
through photographs, visual sightings, individual testimonies,
radar tracking, any kind of physical trace marks left.
Those people believe that this is a
scientific enterprise and therefore you need to have a
scientific mindset to understand this phenomenon and get to the
truth.
So you have those that typically come from a hard science
background, including engineers, astronomers, physicists,
doctors, people who have some hands-on experience with physical
phenomena, those people wanting to have the empirical
methodology used.
In contrast, others want to look at the public
policy implications, at the whistleblower testimonies, or the contactee testimonies, those who claim to have had first hand
experience with extraterrestrial craft or extraterrestrial
beings themselves.
There is a lot of research being
done on those individuals, and there’s a different methodology.
It’s kind of a social science methodology.
This means you’re
going to have two competing camps, one that wants a strict,
rigorous scientific approach that uses empirical methodologies
and quantitative analysis, and the other a more flexible set of
research methodologies using qualitative analysis, which is more
suited to understanding what it is that the individuals have
experienced, either as contactees, as experiencers, or as
whistleblowers.
I think that kind of research divide
will continue to grow into a very significant divide between the
old guard of researchers and this new wave of exopolitics
researchers.
PH: Do you see this new wave, this new humanities wave,
as almost a new renaissance of research, and a new renaissance
for the planet as far as embracing the fact, and it is a fact,
that we may have cosmic cousins?
MS: I believe it is a renaissance. I really like the
title of your first book,
Connecting the Dots.
I think that
really is what people want to do. They want to connect the dots.
But they’re not really interested in doing a really rigorous,
empirical analysis of one dot and just staking everything on
that one dot. People now want to connect the dots.
They want to know what it is that
makes this phenomenon such a challenge to unravel and so people
are willing to put energy into understanding the bigger picture,
and I think that’s where you get this renaissance emerging.
Because when people open up to the bigger picture, what they
find is that there’s an intersection between science,
philosophy, politics, religion, humanitarianism, higher
consciousness, that all of these things come together.
And this is what people are looking
for, they want to connect the dots. They want to find
significance in what it is that this phenomenon represents.
Once
they do that, once they connect the dots and they see the
patterns, I think it does represent a new renaissance because
you can’t walk away from this field once you’ve opened yourself
up to it, and not be really affected at a spiritual, personal,
emotional, and intellectual level.
We are being visited by
beings from
other star systems and even other galaxies, who are able to move
through time and space, who are able to move through different
dimensional realities, who are much closer to that entity that
many people identify as the supreme life force, whether you call
it God, or Brahman, or Allah.
Whatever name you give it, there
is this spiritual force or dynamic in the universe that the
extraterrestrial question helps us better understand.
I think it is a renaissance and
people are embracing this, and I think it’s unstoppable.
PH: Brilliantly said, Michael. From your point of view,
do you think other countries will fall into line with this type
of renaissance before the United States does?
MS: I think many other countries, for various reasons,
are more open to this phenomenon.
Maybe because they have less
vested interest in the status quo as it is, in terms of these
military industrial complexes that are driven by oil reserves,
that sustain a hidden infrastructure of
black projects dealing
with
ETs and
extraterrestrial technologies.
I think many other countries are
less tied in to that, whether we’re talking about major
countries in terms of population like India, China, Brazil,
Indonesia. All of those countries really don’t have as much
invested in the status quo.
I think that they would stand to
benefit the most from disclosure, because being countries that
have very large populations, they would have incredible benefits
from having these new technologies come on line where they are
freed from a dependence on oil reserves, fossil fuel, and that
they are able to generate sufficient energy to meet the needs of
the population.
So that would lead to these
countries having great benefits and I think that they also
historically are countries that are able to understand the flow,
the tides, of human society and culture.
These countries, China,
Brazil, Indonesia, I think that they are more capable of
understanding the big picture in terms of this linkage between
science, technology, religion, spirituality, politics, finance,
and culture.
We really are on the verge of a new
renaissance, and I think the solution or the answer is not going
to come from countries like Britain or the United States, that
are really tied into the present power structure, but countries
outside who are less tied in and are more open to this
phenomenon.
PH: If the reader is interested in following this line
and looking into exopolitics as an academic discipline, as we’ve
been discussing it, do you have any suggestions for them, any
advice that you could give the reader?
MS: I think the best thing for anyone who wants to better
understand this phenomenon is to do a
systematic study of the exopolitics field.
Of course, all of us, when we get drawn into
this field, we begin to do some reading, and we’re kind of drawn
by our interests and people we meet, so reading is pretty
haphazard and kind of wanders all over the place depending on
what we’re exposed to and what are the topical issues.
That’s fine, because that’s the way
a reader’s interest and enthusiasm remains high; but I would say
for those that really see themselves as playing a leading role
in the future, that if they would see themselves as being
teachers for the rest of humanity, or being ambassadors to the
stars, or wanting to write books on what this means for humanity
in general, I would recommend that they do a more systematic
study, where they really understand the whole field.
There is now an exopolitics
certification training program which is available. You’re part
of that program, Paola, and so you know the benefit that
provides for students who enroll, who are given systematic
exposure to some of the leading whistleblowers, experiencers,
and the important literature when it comes to understanding the
big picture concerning exopolitics.
So I would definitely recommend that
they become involved in one of the online courses. I would also
recommend that they become active in a local organization,
setting up an exopolitics research group or study group using
people in your local environment. You could meet and study the
online papers concerning exopolitics, or study exopolitics
books.
There’s a lot of material out in the public, and it’s
important that people begin to coordinate and discuss this, so
that they can educate themselves. Finally, I would recommend
that people become active.
You become active by writing letters
to the editors of your local newspaper; promoting an
exopolitical perspective; you write letters to your parliament
or congress and ask why there are no studies being conducted on
the exopolitical issues. You can get the politicians moving on
these issues as well.
There are a number of things people
can do to move the whole exopolitical platform forward and to
become more of a help in this renaissance that’s coming our way.
