Syllabus

MXCC Fall 2016 

PH199 (3361) - Philosophy of UFOs  

Introduction to Exophilosophy

The study of human relationships to off-world intelligences

Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2 - 3:30 PM 

Starting Sept. 20th

Snow Hall, Room 521

Middlesex Community College

100 Training Hill Road, Middletown 

Dr. Justin Vood Good

justin@oursanctuary.org 

Cell 617.733.9270

Office Hours: Tuesdays 11 AM to 12 Noon 

in the new MXCC cafeteria, or by appointment.

Course Description

In this new philosophy class, we shall delve into the bizarre, complex yet exciting world of ufology in its many strange aspects and ramifications. Adopting a skeptical, open attitude towards this academically and politically taboo subject, we shall together examine and weigh the many kinds of evidence and analysis now available which are fueling a heated debate amongst researchers regarding the reality and meaning of this phenomenon : physical evidence, historical documents, eye-witness testimonies, contactee and abduction materials as well as cultural phenomena. While becoming familiar with a topic that has revolutionary ramifications for our entire civilization, we shall also be using this topic to reflect on perennial philosophical questions about truth, knowledge, reality, social and political justice, evolution and history, cosmology and spirituality. This class is not for the squeamish or dogmatic. It requires the willingness to question your most deeply cherished assumptions. 

Learning Objectives

Mindfulness

Non-judgmental observation

Epistemological equanimity

Critical thinking/feeling skills

Basic research skills

Non-violent communication skills

Compassion

Required Texts

1. Robert Salas, Unidentified: The UFO Phenomenon - How World Governments Have Conspired to Conceal Humanity’s Biggest Secret (New Page Books, 2015).
2. John Mack, M. D., Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1994).

Please note that the rest of the tests for this class will be posted on the course 

blog at least one class before the class they are to be discussed, 

http://mxccexophilosophy.blogspot.com.

Course Requirements

1. Keeping a “Book of Questions”

Students are required to keep a weekly journal based on readings and class discussion. The student should prepare for each class by compiling a min. 1 page of notes for the assigned reading for the class, and at the bottom of those notes, at least one question you have, about the reading or some idea which the reading provokes for you. If you don’t have a question after reading the assignment, you haven’t read it or thought about it carefully enough, and you should try reading it again. After each class, the student is encouraged to write down any clarifications that occur during class. This journal will become the basis of your final writing project. Journals will be reviewed mid-semester. (See below for more details)

2. Serving as a Question Spur

During the semester, two students will be responsible for getting our conversation going by offering a question and very short (5 min. or less) impression of the reading. Note: You are not being graded on your ‘performance’ here, just offering your impressions of the reading. You don’t need to have understood or even digested the material to present your question, but simply to have done the reading, and found something that interests you that you can share. 

3. Several short Projects and a Mid-semester Presentation 

Students will be be required to offer a short (5-10 min) presentation mid-semester based on a chapter from John Mack’s Abduction book. A 4 page paper on the chapter, and/or that chapter’s connection to other issues in exophilosophy is required.

4. Final Project Presentation

A final 5 page paper with documentation, posted to class student blogsite on a topic from the class. This could be a focused on a particular case, hypothesis, question, testimony, etc.These projects will be presented at the end of the semester during the scheduled exam period. These projects can be collaborative, and I encourage you to join forces. :)

5. Willingness to Practice Meditation Beginning several weeks into the course there will be short weekly meditations – 10 minutes of Vipassana meditation. Students should be willing to practice non-judgmental self-observation. 

6. Effort, Attention & Courage

Students are instructed to come to class, to be mentally and emotionally present in class and absolutely no use of digital devices, no texting or cell phone use, and no online reading. You should be prepared to discuss the assigned reading, have a question to share, be willing to engage in friendly dialogue and to question your deepest assumptions and stories.

Schedule and Themes

(9/20-10/4) Chapter One • Introduction to Exophilosophy

Assumptions, Terms, Evidence

Conventional Wisdom: Fermi’s Paradox & Drake’s Equation

Making Sense of UFO Reports: J.Allen Hynek’s classification system

New Developments in Exo-astronomy: SETI, Exo-planets, Kardechev systems

Some important cases: Rendlesham Forest, JAL Alaska

Mass sightings: Phoenix Lights, Hudson River Valley, Belgium Wave.

Crop Circles and Cattle Mutilations

Best Photographic and Video Evidence

Taxonomy of Alien Types

Due 10/4: Case study using Hynek’s classification system (1 page)

(10/6-10/18) Chapter Two: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up

National Security State and the UFO Cabal

Expert Witness Testimony: The Disclosure Project

UFOS and Nuclear Weapons: Robert Salas narrative.

Roswell: Cover-up, Reverse Engineering, and Interview with an Alien

Structures of Secrecy: The Deep State and MJ12

Government Paper Trail: CIA, NSA, FBI, Blue Book, Condon Report.

The 1960 Brookings UFO Report

SSP Whistleblowers: Corey Goode, William Tompkins, Bob Lazar, John Lear

Due 10/18: Formulating main question so far (1 page) 

(10/20-11/8) Chapter Three: Alien Abduction & Experiencers

Epistemology, Metaphysics, Politics, Spirituality

Anatomy of an Experience

Interpretations of Abduction: Mack, Jacobs, Cannon, Mutwa Credo

Due 11/1-3-8: Student Presentations on John Mack’s Abduction 

(11/10-11/22) Chapter Four: High Strangeness

New Concepts of Language, Consciousness, Technology

Exo-linguistics

Remote Viewing ETS

Channelling Pleiadians, Jane Roberts, Bashar, Law of One

Electrogravitics, Teleportation and Higher Dimensional Physics

Who Built the Moon?

Due 11/22: Topic and outline for Final Project

(11/29-12/8) Chapter Five: Emergence of a New World View

Hidden Histories and New Cosmologies

New Narratives of Earth History and Human Evolution

Living Library, Prison Planet, Classroom, Mining Expedition

Time Travelers, Christ Council, Ascension

Ancient Visitation: Zacharia Sitchen and the Annunaki

Inner Paths to Outer Space • Ayahuasca Shamanism and Indigenous Perspectives  

Due during scheduled Final Exam period: Final Project

Additional Resources

1. Dr. Vood’s Alien TV Youtube channel - my personally vetted source for decent videos

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-lynhRwaHMYoCO1KHgUGxNyGfUUhSHV5

2. Scientific Study of the UFO phenomenon - our go-to site for information about evidence.

http://www.ufoevidence.org

3. The John Mack Institute - Continuing the work of John Mack

http://johnemackinstitute.org

4. Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) - Great source for current reports

http://www.mufon.com

5. International Center for Abduction Research - David Jacobs research

http://www.ufoabduction.com

(2) 9/3 UFOS: Definitions, Epistemology, Exopolitics

Reading for this class: 

Richard Dolan, UFOS for the 21st Century Mind, pp. 1-32.

Below is an interview with Steven Greer, director of the Disclosure Project, and below it, a video feed with excerpts of the expert witness testimony I mentioned in class. Watch as much as you have time for.

Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell's testimony

FAA official John Callahan's testimony about Japanese 747 encounter over Alaska 1986

Dramatization of the encounter

The drawing that the pilot of JAL 1628 drew of the UFO he saw over Alaska. 

Note the relative size of the craft compared to the 747.

More expert testimony from the Disclosure Project

Controlled Remote Viewing & ET

Documents

1. Russell Targ's website, co-founder of Controlled Remote Viewing

2. The Farsight Institute, non-profit CRV research organization

3. Richard Hoagland, Enterprise Mission website.

4. Ingo Swann, Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy

12/1 • Transpersonal Aspects of Ufology: Channeling, Telepathy, Shamanism and Indigenous Perspectives

Themes for class on Thursday, Dec. 1th

Dear Exophilosophers, since we are not having class on Tuesday because it is Reading Day, I've posted a bunch of material below related to the theme of Transpersonal Aspects of Ufology: Channeling, Telepathy, Shamanism and Indigenous Perspectives on Spirit and Consciousness. 

Also, final projects are due at date of the scheduled final exam period for this class. The final project is a 5 page paper on a topic of your choice, one at least one key text or researcher for your basis. See you tomorrow :)

Materials

1. Jacques Vallee, Terence Mckenna and others on UFOS, psychedelics and Transpersonalism



2. More T.M.

3. Sequoyah Trueblood offering First World perspective on spirituality and Oneness



4. Documentary on First World Perspectives on ET

Channeling Extra- and Ultra-terrestrials

Channeling Extra- and Ultraterrestrials 

These are all channeled books that have large scale followings and which I personally find compelling. Enjoy. :)

1. Messages from a group of light beings called the Pleiadians, channeled by Barbara Marciniak. In this book, they offer an interesting story about the origins of Earth as a collaborative research project undertaken by a collective of ET civilizations. Try and listen to the first couple of chapters.

2. Barbara Hand Clow, another channel for the Pleiadians, her well-known book The Pleiadian Agenda

3. The Law of One • Ra Material, channeled through a scientific research group, as discussed by David Wilcock

4. A General documentary about some contemporary channelers in the US

5. Jane Robert's book "The Nature of Personal Reality" who channels an ET named Seth.

6. A Course in Miracles, a modern spiritual classic channeled through militant atheist scientist Helen Schucman.

7. Gary Renard, author of a ground-breaking book called "The Disappearance of the Universe" based on A Course in Miracles

Tues. Nov. 29th • Meeting with Shafer's Film Studies class again

Dear Exophilosophers, we are going to meet with John Shafer's class again tomorrow, Tues. Nov. 29th in Chapman Hall, Room 605 in the basement level at 2 PM to discuss "Arrival" and also to screen and discuss an edited version of "Fire in the Sky" about the famous Travis Walton abduction case. 

Some documents for your interest:

1. My friend Nancy du Tertre, an exolinguist, wrote an article about "Arrival" that's pretty interesting, called "Story of an Alien Linguist" This is the person I was gonna bring to class this semester but obviously didn't happen.

2. A recent presentation by abductee Travis Walton, telling the true story behind the film we will screen tomorrow. His account is a bit different from the Hollywood version.

11/17-11/22 • New Theories of Consciousness arising from Research into the UFO Phenomenon

Dear Exo-philosophers, unfortunately I will not be able to make class on Thurs. Nov 17 due to the funeral of a close friend who passed 2 weeks ago. Our next topic is the role of consciousness in the UFO phenomenon. In preparation for our next class meeting on Tues. Nov. 22nd, please review as many of the documents below as you have time for. We will be focussing on the work of three researchers: Jacques Vallee, Stephen Greer and Philip Corso. These researchers have proposed consciousness as (1) having an internal connection to the reality of flying saucers or space craft (2) consciousness or 'coherent thought' as not only guiding but even powering space ships, and (3) collective consciousness as the source of the Others themselves.

Here are some very interesting documents we will discuss on Tuesday. Be well, JG :)

1. Jacques Vallee, "Incommensurability, Orthodoxy and the Physics of High Strangeness: A 6-layer Model for Anomalous Phenomena." and "Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Theory"

2. Stephen Greer on Coherent Thought and UFOS

3. Philip Corso on the Role of Consciousness in Driving the Roswell Craft

More abduction materials

Dear class, we will be finishing up our look at abduction on Tuesday, Nov. 15th. Please review as many of the materials posted below as you have time for, and bring your questions!

A recent article in mainstream psychiatric magazine on alien abduction which cannot make sense of it.

Conclusion from that article:

"Like other traumas, AAE can induce symptoms of acute or chronic PTSD. The various psychoses, personality disorders, and dissociative disorders that could account for abduction experiences are characterized by delusions, so conduct ongoing assessment for these conditions in patients who report AAE. However, evidence suggests that serious psychopathology is no more common among “abductees” than among the general population.12

"Persons reporting AAE exhibit physiologic reactivity as profound as that of survivors of combat or sexual assault.13 This reactivity confirms that the emotional power of the memory is as evocative and problematic as the physiologic reactions attributable to genuine (documented) traumatic events. Because patients have difficulty differentiating these hallucinations from actual events, they experience emotional pain and suffering. Fifty-seven percent of sleep paralysis patients who report AAE attempt suicide.14

Clinical Point

Offer patients with AAE psychotherapy to deal with long-term effects of trauma and problems with mood, sleep, daily functioning, and/or relationships.

There are no FDA-approved medications for treating sleep paralysis. Pharmacotherapy can be used to address psychiatric symptoms such as the depression and anxiety Ms. S exhibited."

Questions from the Roper poll on alien abduction designed by Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs

• Do you remember ever seeing a ghost?
• Do you remember feeling as if you left your body?
• Do you remember seeing a UFO?
• Do you remember waking up paralyzed with a sense of a strange person or presence or something else in the room?
• Do you remember feeling that you were actually flying through the air although you didn't know how or why?
• Do you remember having seen unusual lights or balls of light in a room without knowing what was causing them?
• Do you remember having seen, either as a child or adult, a terrifying figure-- which might have been a monster, a witch, a devil, or some other evil figure-- in your bedroom or closet or somewhere else?
• Do you remember experiencing a period of time, an hour or more, in which you were lost, but could not remember why or where?
• Do you remember having vivid dreams about UFO?
• Do you remember finding puzzling scars on your body and neither you nor anyone else remembering how you received them or where you got them?

Budd Hopkins on the reliability of eye-witness testimony

The movie "Intruders" based on Budd Hopkins' seminal abduction research

David Jacobs excellent website/research center:
International Center for Abduction Research

Some representations of ETs involved in abductions

The Grays 

Seem to range across a diverse spectrum of species, 

from relatively simple biological robots to highly spiritual beings.

Mantis (or Mantid) ETS 

Often in authority positions during abduction, tend to have more positive 

effect on people, more intelligent, doctors or guides.

Reptilian or Reptoid ETS

Appear in very negative forms but occasionally positive as well.

10/27 Alien Abduction cont.

Reading for Thurs Oct 27th
1. Mack, Abduction, pp. 51-91.

Recommended stuff

John Mack on Oprah

Supplemental Materials

1. Evan Gough, "EITHER STARS ARE STRANGE, OR THERE ARE 234 ALIENS TRYING TO CONTACT US"

2. John Mack on Opra

Some Abduction materials

The First well-known abduction case in modern times: Antonio Boas, Sao Paulo, Brazil, October 15, 1957

An artist's rendition of the abduction

Betty and Barney Hill, the first abduction case in the US that reached popular awareness, Sept. 19th, 1961

Hill's drawing of the ship

Betty Andreasson's Gray aliens

Budd Hopkins' ground-breaking study, 1981

Artist and gifted hypnotherapist Budd Hopkins

Gray aliens encountered by US airforce sergeant Charles Moody,
August 1975

David Jacobs, famed abduction researcher, wrote the first Ph.D. thesis on the UFO phenomenon in the early 19702, now runs a private research institute into abduction.

Dolores Cannon, world-famous hypnotherapist; her research supports a non-dualistic interpretation of abduction.

The humanoid-looking alien as drawing by abductee Her Schirmer, December 1967.

Harvard Psychiatrist John Mack, studying the perceived positive, spiritual dimensions of abduction and contact.

An implant extracted by Dr. Roger Leir.

More implants, with a living, biological coating which cannot be cut with a scalpel 

The humanoid aliens in blue jump suits as experienced by Travis Walton, Nov. 1975

Travis Walton's famous account, first a trauma then an a blessing. 

The media circus that the Travis Walton case created.

10/25 Introduction to the Alien Abduction Phenomenon

Reading for Tues. Oct 25th

1. John Mack, Abduction, up to page 50.
2. Watch: "Experiencers" a documentary about alien abduction and John Mack's research



Recommended:
Daniel Sheehan discussing John Mack and the genesis of his book Abduction

Articles from the John Mack Institute

10/13 Following the Cover-up: Majestic 12

Texts for this class

1. Salas, Unidentified, up to page 122.
2. The MJ-12 Documents: The Eisenhauer Briefing Document

Recommended

This is the film about Roswell I mentioned in class. I highly recommend you watch it.



One of the best Roswell Researchers Don Schmitt

Roswell: The U.F.O. Cover-Up - FULL TV Showtime... by cosmo2161

The website about the Roswell nurse who communicated with the EBE.

The Website for Alien Interview