"I have an uneasy feeling that the world is
being slowly and surreptitiously taken over by an all-powerful elite." These
are the words of New Zealand airline pilot Bruce Cathie in the foreword to his
book The Pulse of the Universe. Harmonic 288, published in 1981. Mention conspiracies and almost everyone
will associate to evil powers and groups. Today there are untold numbers of
books, magazines and internet sites devoted to various dark conspiracies. As a somewhat heretic counterbalance I wish on this first day of the new year 2019 present a few
sources giving a more hopeful and positive alternative – a benevolent conspiracy.
This idea is not only found among the naive new age
mystics and cultists but seriously discussed as a hypothesis in many of the
works of Jacques Vallee and Allen Hynek. To understand their fascination with
this controversial topic it is necessary to know that both Vallee and Hynek have one foot in science and one foot in the Esoteric Tradition. This is especially
evident in the co-authored The Edge of Reality (1975) and Forbidden Science
I-III by Jacques Vallee. In the first volume of his diaries, Forbidden Science.
Journals 1957 - 1969, Vallee discuss the theory of a hidden group of
individuals, planetary guardians, working behind the lines to further mankinds
progress: ”Has the future spiritual state of man already been achieved by some
individuals? Have certain gifted men already achieved contact, on some plane,
with those who may be guiding our psychic evolution?” (p. 80).
References to a hidden group of highly advanced
individuals secretly guiding the evolution of man is found throughout history.
Such a benevolent conspiracy is hinted at in Hermeticism, Alchemy, Kabbalism, Rosicrucianism
and in many works of fiction. In his second novel Wilhelm Meister´s
Apprenticeship the German author Goethe gives a vivid description of how The Society
of the Tower become his secret mentors. But it was not until 1875 that the
planetary guardians, the Higher Intelligence Agency (HIA) for the first time in
modern history decided to reveal their existence and present fundamentals of
the Science of the Multiverse, The Ancient Wisdom. The cultural impact of this ”disclosure”
was profound and several scholars and academics began to realize that the
Esoteric Tradition can be regarded as the third intellectual force or pillar in
cultural history, alongside religion and science.
The woman chosen for this mission impossible was Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky, who together with the lawyer, journalist and pioneer in
psychical research Henry Steel Olcott founded the Theosophical Society in New
York 1875. Blavatsky and Olcott had several meetings with and close cooperation with various
representatives of the planetary guardians and came to understand that these
individuals were no astral spooks but living men and women united in an ancient
fraternity. In Old Diary Leaves Olcott narrates his experiences and doubts
before he became head of the Theosophical Society. To his very sceptical friend
Mr. A.O. Hume he tried to explain his decision in a letter September 30th,
1881: "... I would never have taken anybody´s evidence to so astounding a
claim as the existence of the Brothers, but required personal experience before
I would head the new movement... I got that proof in due time".
One of my favourite novels that reveal a deep understanding
of esoteric philosophy and the complexities of the benevolent conspiracy is
Lost Legacy by science fiction writer Robert Heinlein. Published in the
November 1941 issue of Super Science Stories it was later included in the
collection Assignment In Eternity. Three scholars from California University,
interested in paranormal phenomena, decides on a road trip to Mount Shasta. One
in the group falls on a slippery cliff resulting in a fracture of the schin
bone. A tall, elderly man appears from nowhere and offer his help. The group is
led through a passageway into the mountain where they find themselves in a
living room, illuminated by indirect lightning… They are then introduced to the
around thirty persons resident in several rooms, men and women of different
ages and nationalities.
Step by step the group is informed that these mysterious
men and women represent a branch of an ancient secret society, custodians of
the Ancient Wisdom. The university scholars are also briefed on the hard work of
the society, including the struggle against the forces working in opposition to
human liberty and evolution, defined as: ”… the racketeers, the crooked
political figures, the shysters, the dealers in phony religions, the
sweat-shoppers, the petty authoritarians, all of the key figures among the
traffickers in human misery and human oppression… the opposition can fight as
dirty as it pleases, but we have to fight fair, or we defeat our own aims.”
With the advent of the ”flying saucers” a new
element was introduced in connection with esotericism and the benevolent conspiracy - ancient Vimanas, used by both the planetary guardians and extraterrestrial
visitors. This connection was documented by authors such as Desmond Leslie,
Meade Layne and Riley Crabb. It was further explained by UFO contactees Millen
Cooke, Paul M. Vest, Daniel Fry and Howard Menger. Millen Cooke´s article Son
of the Sun, published in Ray Palmer´s magazine Fantastic Adventures, already in
November 1947, is remarkably prophetic of what was to come regarding UFO
contacts in the 1950s: "We are alrady here, among you. Some of us have
always been here, with you, yet apart from, watching and occasionally guiding
you whenever the opportunity arose... We have been confused with the gods of
many world-religions, although we are not gods, but your own fellow creatures,
as you will learn directly before many more years have passed... Some of you
have seen our "advance guard" already. You have met us often in the
streets of your cities and you have not noticed us. But when we flash through
your skies in the ancient traditional vehicles you are amazed... These are our
mechanical means of transport. Now that the art of manufacturing plastic
materials has reached a certain perfection among you, perhaps you can imagine a
material, almost transparent to the rays of ordinary visible light, yet strong
enough to endure the stresses of extreme rapid flight."
My favourite Fortean iconoclast, John Keel
introduced the theme in Our Haunted Planet, commenting on H. G. Wells´prophetic
novel Things To Come. In a world ravaged by war and misery a group of scientists
and philosophers band together in an effort to restore civilization. They call
their organization Wings Over the World (WOW): ”Much of the UFO evidence
suggests that a real WOW has always existed. Maybe one of their members handed
a caveman the first flaming brand and the first wheel, just as some unknown
party alledgedly deposited the first compass outside that Mormon tent… The
members of WOW are still watching as they have always done…” (pp. 18, 222).
In many blog posts I have asserted that accepting,
as a working hypothesis, the reality of a multiverse as presented in the
Esoteric Tradition does not imply irrationalism or a loss of intellectual
integrity. Like Hynek and Vallee I see no problem in having one foot in
empirical science and one foot in esotericism. In Forbidden Science, vol I,
Jacques Vallee expound his view on this problem: ”To me there is indeed a
fundamental reality of hermetic science…Everyone must find his or her own
expression of it. The spiritual path I have chosen is that of intelligence
tempered by the fire of love, but always applied to accessible, solid,
consistent, calibrated facts.” (p. 82). This is esoteric philosophy, an aspiration towards the good, the true, and the beautiful.
