Rick Strassman-Inner Paths to Outer Space, Chapter 9

181 Strassman-Wojtowitz-Luna-Frecska: Inner Paths to Outer Space

9CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE A NCIENT KIND

AND SPONTANEOUS DMT RELEASE

EDE FRECSKA

I n t r o d u c t i o n

For millennia, encounters with divine, otherworldly entities have been the mostprofound human experiences expressed in visions and prophecies, omens and oracles,dreams and revelations. Divine encounters were recorded in the earliest scriptures andreveal the most ancient and most powerful drama that spans Heaven, Earth, and Hell.On the stage of this drama the actors were gods and goddesses, demigods and angels,heroes and heroines, humans and humanoids. The encounters with divine beings hadimmense power affecting both the life of individuals experiencing them, andcommunities hearing reports about these encounters. They were the first spiritualilluminations, transformative experiences making incredible impact on human affairs,changing the fate of rulers, building or ruining empires, inspiring prophets and sproutingworld religions.

Divine encounters can be considered the primary source of spiritual wisdom. Whileall religious individuals would agree that the Scriptures provide the infallible rule forfaith and practice, most believers agree that authentic divine encounters carry evenhigher authority than Holy Scriptures. God spoke to Moses through a revelation, notthrough a text. The Scripture just followed the experience of the Divine. As God said toMoses (Exodus 24:12; Masoretic Text version):

“Come up to Me into the mount and be there; and I will give thee the tables of stone,and the law and the commandment, which I have written, that thou mayest teach them.”

The citation refers to one of the greatest moments in the history of humancivilization. There were more of them, and the most significant developmental steps inancient history were based on divine encounters. By opening doorways to the‘supernatural’, divine encounters expose great degree of truth and moral insight. Thestate of the experiencer’s mind is undeniably altered from the ordinary state ofconsciousness as it is reflected in the nonordinary perceptions, intense emotionalresponses, and exceptional cognitive performances accompanying the experience.

Elsewhere in this book I outlined the difference between integrative anddisintegrative forms of altered states of consciousness (ASCs), and traced the maindifference between them to the lack or presence of divination, which is conceived as a

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process of accessing transformative information from spiritual realms. Amongintegrative ASCs divine encounters represent the uppermost level, having immensepower in facilitating human reintegration on the highest scale: doing nothing less thancreating civilization, shaping society in accord with the spiritual realm. Similarly to theless dramatic, although highly adaptive forms of ‘psychointegration’ (Winkelman 2000)– such as shamanic healing, where some kind of restorative information is incorporatedinto the system to be treated, there has to be an intense information flow in instances ofdivine encounters resulting in integration on a larger scale, denoted here as‘sociointegration’ (paraphrasing Winkelman’s term). The sociointegrative form ofdivine encounters is so profound and transforming, that rational thinking cannot copewith it, and speculative interpretations open up for extraterrestrial intervention, invasionfrom outer space, and manipulation by nonhuman intelligence.

For a reader who has successfully wrestled through my previous chapters it is easierto understand that shamanic journeys and divine encounters have the same principalmotif: access to reintegrative, transformative information from spiritual sources, whichappear to originate in the ‘nonlocal Universe’. Before arriving at that conclusion, thischapter will lead the reader through other theories dealing with nonhuman invaders fromthe ‘local Universe’, or extraterrestrial “information providers” of the human race.

Ramban’s Conundrum

Moses Ben Nachman (1194-1270), also known as Ramban or Nachmanides, was amedieval scholar, Catalan (Spanish) rabbi, influential Kabbalist, biblical commentator,and a great thinker of his time. He lived in a prosperous era of the history of the Jewishreligious tradition. Two prominent schools of Jewish culture existed in medievalEurope: the Tzorfat School headed by the world renowned Bible and Talmudcommentator Rabbi Solomon Ben Isaac (named by the acronym: Rashi), and theSephardic School headed by a group of brilliant scholars including Rabbi Judah BenSamuel Halevi, Moses Ben Maimon (Maimonides), and Ramban himself. Ramban wasnot only an influential follower and critic of Maimonides’ rationalism, but at the sametime he developed the ideas of Kabbalah, and used some of them in his commentarieson the Bible.

While Ramban was the first Kabbalist to openly discuss the esoteric doctrines ofKabbalah, he had always considered that the deep Kabbalah teachings were only for thechosen ones, and many times evaded open explanations of his ideas, noting that therewas a “secret” behind the text and its interpretation. One of Ramban’s enigmas was the“Nephilim secret”.

The English translation of the Masoretic Text of Genesis 6:4 says:

“The Nephilim were in the Earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons ofGod came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same werethe mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.”

Here is Ramban’s commentary to the cited verse of Genesis 6 in Mikraot Gedolot(1990):

“But the Midrash Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer, which is mentioned in the Talmud, treatiseYoma (67b) explains the word ‘HaNphilim’ [Nephilim] as Messengers fallen from the


sky. That is the best commentary for the verse Genesis 6:4. But to explain the secretcontained in this verse, it is necessary to write very much.”1

Rashi commented similarly on Bereshith Rabbah:

“They were called Nephilim because they fell [Naphlu] and caused the downfall[Hipilu] of the world.”

Later interpreters stated that they (the Nephilim) were so called because the heart ofman fell from fear of them. That was a necessary shift from Ramban’s version becausesuch an idea was very dangerous both for the ruling Christians and for the acceptedJewish ideology. However, according to Matest Agrest (1994) “for the contemporaryreader it is evident that Ramban sees in this verse a record of the descending of manlikemessengers from another world to the Earth, that is, paleocontact.”

Paleocontact Theories

The advocates of these notions propose that advanced extraterrestrials have played aninfluential role in human history. The originator of this idea is a Russian-bornethnologist and mathematician Matest Agrest, who was the first to advance a theory thatintelligent beings from outer space visited the Earth in ancient times, and certainmonuments of past cultures on Earth have resulted from contact with an extraterrestrialrace.

It was in an article printed on February 9, 1960, in the Russian LiteraturnayaGazeta (not a scientific journal), where Agrest proposed that the Earth was visited byextraterrestrials in prehistoric times. His concept was very soon circulated in the worldmedia, and popularized later by Erich von Däniken. Having experience in investigatingold manuscripts Agrest noticed that the Hebrew word ,[Nephilim]הּנפלים the meaning ofwhich contains the core relevant concept, but is only transliterated into English.

In several translations, the word [Nephilim]הּנפלים is deciphered as ‘giants’ or‘titans’. Agrest’s aim was to demonstrate that the translation of the Hebrew word‘Nephilim’ as “giant” in the aforementioned verse is incorrect. According to Agrest, thecorrect meaning of the word ‘Nephilim’ is the ‘beings fallen’ (from the sky). Thus,Agrest believes that this verse reports that in the time of Enoch extraterrestrial man-likebeings descended to the Earth. This way Genesis 6:4 becomes a written document ofpaleocontact. Hence, as I will discuss in more detail later, by rediscovering one ofRamban’s commentary on Genesis 6 Agrest introduced a misinterpretation, which hasbecome widespread in the science fiction literature and on the Internet as well. Themisinterpretation is that the Nephilims are the fallen angles.

Also in Genesis, Agrest found a sentence he interpreted as an opposite event:ascension of a man to the heavens from the Earth. The sentence is about Enoch inGenesis 5:24:

“Enoch walked with God, then he was no more, for God took him.”

1 Ramban also offers the interpretation that the Nephilim were so called because they were theoffspring of “the sons of G-d” born to less than superior women, and thus these offspring were“inferior” compared to children born of Noah’s daughters.


The Bible meticulously informs us of the age of death of all the ancient ancestors,but there is no note about the death of Enoch. There is a Jewish legend that Enoch wasthe inventor not only of the written language, but also of mathematics and astronomy. Inthe Koran (Sura 19:56) Enoch is named ‘Idris’ – a man of truth.

According to the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah, there was a Book of Enoch inancient times. This book was mentioned by the Apostle Jude as apocryphal. The Book ofEnoch, like many other apocrypha, was lost until it was rediscovered by the Scotchexplorer James Bruce in 1773. The Book of Enoch follows the structure of the Bible.The first seven chapters of the discovered Book of Enoch are essentially the same as inthe Bible and Agrest used verses 1-7 in chapter 6 as reference for his paleocontacttheory:

“1. And it came to pass that after the eons of men multiplied in those days (the days ofJared, the father of Enoch)…2. And the angels, the sons of Heaven, saw them.5. …There were two hundred of them in all.6. And they descended on Ardis which is the top of the mountain Hermon.7. …and here are the names of their superiors (twenty names are given).”

Here Agrest correlates the location of the place of descending, Mount Hermon, andthe time of descending, the time of Jared. It is worth noting, that the word Jared inHebrew means ‘descended’. The event of descending of humanoid beings from the skysupposedly made a great impression on the inhabitants of the Earth. In biblical timeschildren born at the time of a remarkable event were named after the event. Thus, thename of Enoch’s father was Jared. So – Agrest posits – it is possible that the divinebeings fallen from the sky mentioned in the 6th chapter of Genesis really descended inthe times of Jared on the mountain of Hermon.

Another element of the paleocontact view is the suggestion that much of humanwisdom or religion was given to man by space invaders in ancient times. Thispossibility has been considered by some scientists, including Carl Sagan and theRussian astronomer Iosif Shklovsky. Although, Sagan, Shklovsky, and other highlyregarded academics took seriously the possibility of extraterrestrial visitations in Earth’spast, they were generally cautious in their speculations. While Sagan was known as askeptic concerning UFOs existence, in the book he co-authored with Shklovsky (1980),he argued that technologically advanced extraterrestrial civilizations were common inthe Universe and he considered it very probable that the Earth had been visited severaltimes in the past.

Popular authors, most notably Erich von Däniken (1999) and Zecharia Sitchin(1999) appear to be less critical in their approach, and they have been the mostoutspoken advocates of the ancient astronaut hypothesis. The ‘ancient astronaut theory’is an expansion and perhaps less credible elaboration of the ‘paleocontact theory’. Theformer often claims that human beings are either the descendants or creations of alienswho landed on Earth millennia ago.

The purpose of this chapter is to reveal what might be relevant in von Däniken’sand Sitchin’s – at times remarkable, at other times outlandish – concepts and to clarifythe pros and cons of the ‘ancient astronaut theory.’ In doing so, I will draw upon thework of Rick Strassman and ancient religion expert Michael Heiser that providesadditional insights into UFO encounters (Figure 1).


Figure 1. Manifestations of the nonlocal Universe.

The Fall of the “Fall of the Nephilim”

There has been a lot written about the meaning of the Hebrew word ‘Nephilim’. Many –like Agrest and Sitchin – have accepted the idea that the word ‘Nephilim’ is simply themasculine plural participle of the Hebrew ‘Naphal’ [fall]. According to Michael Heiser,a well-read linguist of Near-Eastern languages and stern critic of Sitchin, practically allof these interpreters are wrong – even many Old Testament scholars, Ramban included– since the typical explanation that ‘Nephilim’ comes from the Hebrew ‘Naphal’ doesnot fit with Hebrew morphological patterns for a masculine plural participle in any stem.

Ancient Hebrew language was originally written without vowels. Around the 6thcentury BC Hebrew began to use certain consonants for vowel sounds. The reason forthis historical development was the preservation of correct pronunciation. At time of theBabylonian exile Hebrew was being lost as a spoken tongue and incorporating vowelsinto the system was developed to teach people to read correctly. Conflictinginterpretations may derive from the use of different missing vowels associated with thesame consonants in ancient scriptures.

Michael Heiser eloquently shows us (2005a) that the form of the word ‘Nephilim’does not derive either from the active or passive participle of Hebrew ‘Naphal’ andcannot mean “those who fall”, “those who fall upon”, or “fallen ones” – these meaningsdo not match the form, and the form does not match the meanings. Nephilim were notgiven the “fallen” name because of some inherently fallen spiritual state (as the OriginalSin leading to the expulsion from Eden) either. Heiser indicates that there is good reasonto return to and accept the earlier version of Scripture. His conclusion is that the word‘Nephilim’ is better interpreted from the Aramaic noun ‘Naphil’ as ‘giants’ or ‘titans’,as it was done in conventional translations of the Holy Bible.

The word ‘Nephilim’ does not describe a human race either. In the Old Testament,family lines or races of people were generally designated by their founding maleancestor. For example, the Anakim were descendents of Anak, or Edomim (Edomites)originated from Edom (one of Esau’s names in the Hebrew Bible). However, theNephilim have never been described as being descended from anybody. Since the Bible


describes Nephilim both before and after the Deluge, if the Nephilim were humans, thenit would contradict the rest of Scripture, which indicates pretty clearly that there wereonly eight survivors of the flood: “…in the days of Noah, during the construction of theark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. (Peter3:20)”

Zecharia Sitchin is leaning on the “fallen” explanation noted above since hispurpose is to prove the idea that the Nephilim were extraterrestrials descended to Earthin rocket ships. It is also for the same reason that he keeps arguing, although lackingconsistent textual evidence, that the Nephilim are the Sons of God. While Sitchin’sscholarship is second to none, at times his conclusions and extrapolations are a bit offthe mark. Nevertheless, it happens frequently that someone argues for a right cause notusing the best arguments available. As I will suggest in this chapter with reasonablesupport of experts, very likely our ancestors did have the sight of man-like beingsarriving from the skies. However, they were not the Nephilim descending from Heaven,but were the Sons of God instead, and the Nephilim were their offspring.

The Sons of God, the Watchers

Besides the puzzling origin of the Nephilim, the identity of the Sons of God is the othermystery of Genesis 6, and the two riddles are related. Modern-day commentatorssuggest that the phrase ‘sons of God’ refers to a tribe of exceptionally tall and good-looking men who appeared on biblical lands and were appealing to women. At variancewith contemporary views, ancient rabbis ascertained that the Sons of God were angels.For argumentation, the rabbis bring up the Prologue of the Book of Job, where God hasa dialogue with two angels, Samyaza and Azazel, who condemn the corrupt ways ofmen.

The angels convince God to let them descend to Earth in order to prove theirrighteousness. When they do, they get immediately filled with desire for the beautifuldaughters of men: “…the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; andthey took them for wives, whomsoever they chose.” The offspring of these unions aredenoted by the word ‘Nephilim’, which has been better interpreted to mean ‘giants’ andnot ‘fallen angels’, since they were not “fallen ones,” but rather their heavenlypredecessors were.

While Genesis 6 tells us that heavenly ones married women, it does not condemnthis as a sin. Here, the ‘sons of God’ are given no specific name or function; they couldrepresent fallen angels, or simply divine beings that mate with earthly women. The Sonsof God also appear in Psalm 82 and in the apocryphal books of Enoch and Jubileeswhere they are perpetrators of evil deeds and inclinations. Psalm 82 tells that the angels[elohim – plural] sinned, but does not tell how (i.e., it does not mention that theymarried human females). Some scholars suppose that the angels’ sin was reproducingwith mortals. In the Book of Enoch the Sons of God are called Watchers, angelsdispatched to Earth simply to watch over human affairs. Samyaza, Azazel, and theothers failed their duty, became corrupt, and taught their human hosts to make metals,weapons, cosmetics, and other accoutrements of civilization that had been kept secret inHeaven. According to the Book of Enoch, the Watchers numbered a total of 200 (butonly their leaders were named); a group size good enough for a heavenly congregation.


Divine Council in the Garden of Eden

It is well known to Old Testament scholars that Scripture often depicts God presidingover a council of divine beings (Heiser 2001). A number of passages in the HebrewBible describe the divine council’s function with precise terminology and a pictureemerges, which is rather different from the Christian tradition. In a biblical scene God ispictured as the chief deity enthroned among the members of His council, who standbefore Him, and the members of this heavenly assembly – the Sons of God – serve toemphasize and execute God’s decisions.

There has been, according to Scripture, a heavenly council of spiritual beings thathas influence over our world. For nearly the past two millennia, there has been a generalmisunderstanding of the way God governs human affairs. A singular God [Elohim]leads a Divine Council consisting of other, less powerful gods [elohim – plural], and theGarden of Eden was their meeting place. The Eden was not a place of human habitation;rather it was reserved as a divine abode, where God put Adam “to till it and to keep it”,possibly in service of the heavenly council.

According to some scholars, Scripture indicates that the Sons of God were presentduring the week of Creation: “…and God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after ourlikeness...’ (Genesis 1:26)” or “Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened? Orwho laid the corner-stone thereof, when the morning stars sang together, and all theSons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:6,7)” Even more troubling: there are malevolentspiritual powers in the Heavens that influence the mankind, teach evil things to them,and oppose God’s people. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, againstpowers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts ofwickedness in the heavenly places.”

Discovering in the Holy Bible that god-like beings, ‘sons of God’ already existedfrom the time of creation, and were governing humans – at times with dubious intent,does not require one to view Israelite religion as polytheistic, but definitely pointstoward a Sumerian influence on the Book of Genesis.

The Sumerian Connection

As far as we know today, Sumer (the biblical Shinar) is where civilization began,appearing suddenly about six thousand years ago in the delta of the Tigris and Euphratesrivers. There is some disagreement about its primacy, because Jericho in Israel is 11,000years old and is thought to be the oldest city in the world. In any case, the Sumeriancivilization left for us the oldest written records thus far, and seemed to be thrivingseveral hundred years before the Egyptian (4000 BC for Sumer vs. 3500 BC for Egypt).Both cultures have much in common and much that is different. It may turn out that theyboth derived from a common antecedent civilization.

Zecharia Sitchin (2002), the pioneer of research into the Sumerian past, wrotecompassionately – for good reason – about the accomplishments of the Sumerianculture: “It gave Humankind almost every ‘first’ in all that matters as integralcomponents of a high civilization – not just the first brick making, … but also the firsthigh-rise temples and palaces, the first priests and kings; the first wheel, the first kiln,


the first medicine and pharmacology; the first musicians and dancers, artisans andcraftsmen, merchants and caravaneers, law codes and judges, weights and measures.The first astronomers and observatories were there, and the first mathematicians. Andperhaps most important of all: it was there, as early as 3800 BC, that writing began,making Sumer the land of the first scribes who wrote down on clay tablets in the wedge-like script (“cuneiform”) the most astounding tales of gods and humans. Scholars regardthese ancient texts as myths. We, however, consider them to be records of events thathave essentially happened.”

Many authors have also noticed that the Bible might have been influenced byancient Sumerian stories since many verses in the Book of Genesis, for example, arefound much earlier in Sumerian and Babylonian tablets, but in more expanded anddetailed form. Sumerians had stories similar to Genesis 1-11. Some of the influentialtexts are: the Sumerian Epic of Creation (Enuma Elish), the Sumerian King List, and theSumerian Flood Story. Those are well-elaborated stories of Sumerian gods andgoddesses with the key motifs reappearing in the myths of almost every ancient Near-Eastern culture. Many picked up some of these Sumerian tales and wrote them down thebest they could without having direct access to the original tablets. Therefore the storieswent through transformation. Even more, mistranslations and errors accumulated overtime, because of the different languages and influences of individual translators thatplaced their own stamp on them. Probably even the honorable scribes of the HebrewBible were not immune to similar errors. All these ancient depictions are augmentingthe biblical narrative, and paint a detailed picture of a course of events with identifiableprincipal participants (with different names) coming together in the saga of DivineEncounters. Academic scholars by large persist in lumping all such evidence as fictionor “mythology”.

Sitchin’s merit is in showing – as one of the first who noticed that certain texts havean older origin than the Hebrew version, and in giving credit to these stories byconsidering them as records of historical events. I can only agree in believing that thoseevents may have happened, but look for the scene of the almighty drama in a differentdomain of reality.

Who were these Sumerian deities, the protagonists of the earliest written stories?Were they just actors of mythical legends, as we judge them today? Or, were they – assome scholars are beginning to believe – real beings, which were somehow superior tothe common Sumerians? Were they considered gods because they did incomprehensiblethings that even nowadays we would call god-like? Prior to addressing these questions,let us turn to the most enigmatic Sumerian deities known as the Anunnaki.

The Anunnaki

There is much confusion amongst researchers, scholars, and laypeople about the identityof the Anunnaki. What most agrees on is that the Anunnaki were worshipped, admired,and feared as gods by the Sumerians. It was the Anunnaki, who taught the people a widearray of “civilized behaviors” such as art, music, poetry, astronomy, mathematics,architecture, mining, metallurgy, jewelry-making, tailoring, blacksmithing, humansacrifice, and war. According to the ancient lore, they also did evil things and weredemoted from heavens.


According to Sitchin’s interpretation of the ancient Sumerian texts, the name‘Anunnaki’ literally means “Those Who from Heaven to Earth Came”. Not correct –according to Heiser. His translation is “Princely Offsprings”, as sons of ‘Anu’ (TheHeavenly One), they were in high rank, but some of them were later consigned to theNetherworld, and turned into “infernal gods”. As Sitchin goes on: the Anunnaki arrivedat our planet from outer space with the order of ‘Anu’ (“The Heavenly One”), under theleadership of ‘Ea’ (“He Whose House Is Water”), called later ‘Enki’ (“Lord of Earth”),and established a colony named ‘Eridu’ (“House in the Faraway Built”). Theextraterrestrial visitors’ mission was obtaining gold which they needed on their homeplanet, ‘Nibiru’. The colonization did not go well. More and more Anunnaki had totravel to Earth, and in the end their number reached 600. About half of them, the groupof the ‘Igigi’ (“Those Who Observe and See”) remained sky borne fulfillinginterplanetary liaison type functions.

Enki, who also served as the chief scientist of the Anunnaki, had a solution forspeeding up the mission. He said: “Let us create a primitive worker, which will takeover the backbreaking toil.” Enki created the first intelligent worker from a hominid(proto Homo sapiens) he found in Southeast Africa. According to Sitchin, he hasachieved the task by mixing the blood of a young Anunnaki male with the egg of afemale hominid. The fertilized egg was then inserted into the womb of a femaleAnunnaki, and after a tense waiting period a “Model Man”, Adamu was born. Heiser’sinterpretation of Sumerian texts is at variance of Sitchin’s: acting as judges in their highestate, the Anunnaki contribute nothing but approval to the idea of killing one of thegods and making humans from his remains. According to Heiser, Sumerian tablets domention hybridized human beings, created by a god with the approval of Anunnaki.Directly or indirectly, Enki has also been involved in the business of creating a royalrace – appearing as Nephilims in the Hebrew bible – for the purpose of keeping theupgraded hominids in slavery, and ensuring they stay “civilized”. In some tales theroyalty was said to be a combination between reptilians and humans.

So who were Enki and the Anunnaki? As you have figured it out by now, Enki andthe Anunnaki were the Sons of God, the Fallen Angels of the biblical texts. Actually,there were different classes of celestial beings who functioned in a divine hierarchy andeventually got caught up in spiritual warfare. The Hebrew Bible has laid it out quitenicely, but it did not get through into the English translations.

The description of creation of humans can be extracted from the Hebrew scripturesand summed up briefly this way: Elohim said in front of the Sons of God (the “fallenones”): “Let us make the Adam in our image, after our likeness.” Then, with the consentof the Heavenly Council, the task was carried out: “And Elohim created the Adam inHis image.” The main difference is that the Elohim of Hebrew mythology correspondsto Anu, and Enki – the keeper of knowledge – is undoubtedly the source of the biblical“Serpent in the Garden of Eden”. Based on ancient descriptions, Sitchin has alsosuggested that the Anunnaki probably had some quasi-reptilian form. Figure 2 shows astatuette with clear reptilian features found at Al Ubaid archeological site in Iraq: Itbelongs to the Ubaid period, dating 5900-4000 BC, which predates the classicalSumerian era, and probably depicts the mother goddess Inanna aka Ninhursag (Lady ofthe Mountaintop). There is no official explanation for the intriguing shape of thestatuette. The figurine is labeled as “ritual object”, common in archeological circleswhen uncertain what a particular object represents.


Figure 2. Ritual object from the Ubaid period of Sumer.

Who were those Anunnaki orbiting in the skies and appearing in the Akkadian andBabylonian tales under the name ‘Igigi’? ‘Igi’ stands for ‘eye’ in Akkadian, and iscombined with the cuneiform sign ‘gi’ symbolizing sexual intercourse. ‘Igigi’ can thenbe translated to mean the “Eyes in the Sky”, the “Watchers”, who deflower sexually.Similar entities show up in dozens of ancient cultures. In ancient Greek mythology therewere Titans, godly beings, who descended from heaven, kidnapped earthly women, andhad sexual intercourse with them.. Dear reader, do you know what the Greek word‘Titanos’ means? Well, it means ‘Gray’. If you haven’t guessed it by now, we are beingtold by ancient people a complete story of UFO encounters and abductions, occurringprobably as far back as six thousand years ago.

Six thousand? Perhaps even more. British archeologist Steven Mithen (2006) statesin his book on human prehistory entitled After the Ice (pp. 86):

“…the possibility arises that the roots of Babylonian religion lie in the Neolithic cultureof the Jordan valley around 6500 BC.”

Then, based on the plaster statues found at the ‘Ain Ghazal excavation site in 1983,Mithen provides us a ritual scene with detailed description of the following deities:

“They have flattish bodies, elongated necks, large round faces, and wide-open eyes withdeep black centers. The noses are molded as stubs; the lips hardly exist at all. Theplaster is pure white.”

The above is an eerie description of aliens, while Mithen interprets them as ghosts.Controversial and contradictory it may sound, but we conceptualize them differently:they were “real” extraterrestrials – not necessarily from outer space though. Rather,these ancient gods – possibly the teachers of agriculture – were DMT(dimethyltryptamine) entities emerging from inner space. Strassman’s work (2000)indicates that – at least some of – the experiences involving UFO encounters areprobably related to the effect of the endohallucinogen compound DMT. One aim of this


chapter is to point out that similar phenomenon might have happened in ancient times,served as source of creation myths, and represents a different kind of reality, calledelsewhere in this book as ‘nonlocality’.

Genesis Told in Tryptamine Tongue

Michael Harner, the forerunner of neoshamanism, is the author of the book entitledThe Way of the Shaman, which became an important text for shamanic practitionerscoming from a Western cultural background. At the beginning of this book Harnerdescribes his first encounter with the DMT-containing psychedelic brew ayahuasca. It isone of the best and richest examples to illustrate the typical characteristics of the DMTexperience – set in bold type by myself. Themes found to be in parallel with Sumerianand biblical tales are emphasized in italics(some passages are highlighted both way)::

“Overhead the faint lines became brighter, and gradually interlaced to form a canopyresembling a geometric mosaic of stained glass. The bright violet hues formed anever-expanding roof above me. Within this celestial cavern, I heard the sound of watergrow louder and I could see dim figures engaged in shadowy movements. As my eyesseemed to adjust to the gloom, the moving scene resolved itself into somethingresembling a huge fun house, a supernatural carnival of demons. In the center,presiding over the activities, and looking directly at me, was a gigantic, grinningcrocodilian head, from whose cavernous jaws gushed a torrential flood of water.Slowly the waters rose, and so did the canopy above them, until the scenemetamorphosed into a simple duality of blue sky above and sea below. All creatureshad vanished.

Then, from my position near the surface of the water, I began to see two strange boatswafting back and forth, floating through the air towards me, coming closer and closer.They slowly combined to form a single vessel with a huge dragon-headed prow, notunlike that of a Viking ship. Set amidships was a square sail. Gradually, as the boatgently floated back and forth above me, I heard a rhythmic swishing sound and sawthat it was a giant galley with several hundred oars moving back and forth in cadencewith the sound.

I became conscious, too, of the most beautiful singing I have ever heard in my life,high-pitched and ethereal, emanating from myriad voices on board the galley. As Ilooked more closely at the deck, I could make out large numbers of people with theheads of blue jays and the bodies of humans, not unlike the bird-headed gods of ancientEgyptian tomb paintings. At the same time, some energy-essence began to float frommy chest up into the boat. Although I believed myself to be an atheist, I was completelycertain that I was dying and that the bird-headed people had come to take my soulaway on the boat. While the soul-flow continued from my chest, I was aware that theextremities of my body were growing numb.

Starting with my arms and legs, my body slowly began to feel like it was turning tosolid concrete. I could not move or speak. Gradually, as the numbness closed in onmy chest, toward my heart, I tried to get my mouth to ask for help, to ask the Indiansfor an antidote. Try as I might, however, I could not marshal my abilities sufficiently tomake a word. Simultaneously, my abdomen seemed to be turning to stone, and I hadto make a tremendous effort to keep my heart beating. I began to call my heart myfriend, my dearest friend of all, to talk to it, to encourage it to beat with all the powerremaining at my command.


I became aware of my brain. I felt – physically that it had become compart-mentalized into four separate and distinct levels. At the uppermost surface were theobserver and commander, which was conscious of the condition of my body, and wasresponsible for the attempt to keep my heart going. It perceived, but purely as aspectator, the visions emanating from what seemed to be the nether portions of mybrain. Immediately below the topmost level I felt a numbed layer, which seemed to havebeen put out of commission by the drug – it just wasn’t there. The next level down wasthe source of my visions, including the soul boat.

Now I was virtually certain I was about to die. As I tried to accept my fate, an evenlower portion of my brain began to transmit more visions and information. I was “told”that this new material was being presented to me because I was dying and therefore“safe” to receive these revelations. These were the secrets reserved for the dying andthe dead, I was informed. I could only very dimly perceive the givers of these thoughts:giant reptilian creatures reposing sluggishly at the lowermost depths of the back of mybrain, where it met the top of the spinal column. I could only vaguely see them in whatseemed to be gloomy, dark depths.

Then they projected a visual scene in front of me. First they showed me the planet Earthas it was eons ago, before there was any life on it. I saw an ocean, barren land, and abright blue sky. Then black specks dropped from the sky by the hundreds and landed infront of me on the barren landscape. I could see that the “specks” were actually large,shiny, black creatures with stubby pterodactyl-like wings and huge whale-like bodies.Their heads were not visible to me. They flopped down, utterly exhausted from theirtrip, resting for eons. They explained to me in a kind of thought language that theywere fleeing from something out in space. They had come to the planet Earth to escapetheir enemy.

The creatures then showed me how they had created life on the planet in order to hidewithin the multitudinous forms and thus disguise their presence. Before me, themagnificence of plant and animal creation and speciation –hundreds of millions ofyears of activity – took place on a scale and with vividness impossible to describe. Ilearned that the dragon-like creatures were thus inside of all forms of life, includingman. (Footnote: In retrospect one could say they were almost like DNA, although atthat time, 1961, I knew nothing of DNA.) They were the true masters of humanity andthe entire planet, they told me. We humans were but the receptacles and servants ofthese creatures. For this reason they could speak to me from within myself. “ (Harner1990)

The following days Harner, at that time an atheistic anthropologist, shared hisexperience with an evangelist missionary couple and a blind Conibo shaman. It came forhim as surprise and wonder, that these experiences were neither unique norextraordinary. The missionaries looked up corresponding passages in Chapter 12 of theBook of Revelation (e.g., “And the serpent cast out his mouth water as a flood…”), andthe shaman told him: “Oh, they’re always saying that (referring to the dragon-likecreatures stating to be the masters of humanity). But they are only the Masters of OuterDarkness.” The Conibo shaman referred to outer space in his language, from hisworldview, despite the fact that Harner had skipped that part of his story.

With all respect due to the blind shaman, he was wrong about those dragon-likecreatures since he hadn’t read Richard Dawkins’ book (not yet published that time) onthe selfish genes (1976), which indeed the true masters of the planet are and “wehumans were but the receptacles and servants of them”. As far as Harner is concerned,he got a preview of Francis Crick’s DNA-based panspermia theory (1973) twelve yearsbefore its publication!


On another continent, in Africa, some tribes claim to bear extensive esotericknowledge of a race of reptilians, who they say control the Earth. They also claim tohave accounts of a reptilian race, which created blacks and used them to work their goldmines, extremely similar to the accounts described by Harner and in the Sumeriantablets. How could people living “under different skies”, on different continents, indifferent eras and with very different worldviews share common divine experiences?The effects of our endogenous psychedelic compound, DMT may provide the clue.

The DMT Code

Please find summarized below the typical signs and symptoms of the DMT experiencemore or less in an order as they appear after the exposure to DMT administeredintravenously; a list based on the pioneering work of Rick Strassman (2000).

The typical introductory symptoms at the onset of the DMT effect are hearing loud,rumbling, buzzing, pulsating noise, the tone can quickly shift to hissing with highfrequency pitch; the sound is usually accompanied by feeling vibrations in the body,feeling a rush, heat wave running through the body, strange sensations from the bodilyorgans, power (some people perceive it as “energy”) entering or leaving the body. Atthis phase visuals consist of seeing flickering, pulsating bright light, followed bygeometric type imagery, spirals and/or zigzags (phosphenes). It is common to perceive a“presence”, sometimes with a pressure on the chest as if someone invisible is sitting ontop of the lying body. Muscle paralysis, numbness, floating, out of body experience mayoccur around this phase.

The DMT experience culminates in a sudden transition as if breaking through awall or “membrane” sometimes preceded by hearing a crackling/buzzing/clickingsound, finding oneself in an unusual world which feels surreal but hyperrealistic at thesame time. The visuals get marvelously complex, colors are much brighter than in theordinary reality, strange entities appear such as talking lizards, smart snakes, littlepeople, angels, aliens, two dimensional, cartoon-like forms, who may penetrate the bodyof the subject (e.g. operation, implantation, insemination) especially when he or she isresisting the experience. Ego dissolution, sense of falling apart, fear of death takes overthose who try to resist the effect. For those who “let it go” and surrender to theexperience, “teaching time” will come with the mentorship of the entities, whereinsubjects feel they are being downloaded “telepathically” by the entities with a good dealof pertinent information. Harner supposed he was dying, tried to accept his fate, andthen received those rich revelations. The quality of awareness changes with a peculiarduality of reality orientation: being in two realms at the same time, e.g., feeling the sheetof the bed, the pressure of the pillow, while being in the alien world.

It is not necessary to have all of the above symptoms and in the same sequence; theexperience is highly variable, but the commonalities are remarkable. If similarsymptoms occur without taking DMT externally, then the experience is suspect ofresulting from a spontaneous DMT release. Dimethyltryptamine is an endohallucinogen;the brain has enzymes to synthesize this powerful psychotropic chemical, and has anactive transport for taking it through the otherwise very restrictive filter of the blood-brain barrier. It is supposed that the pineal gland can be a source of endogenous DMT.Strassman points out that spontaneous DMT release may provide a rational explanation


of the UFO abductions and related phenomena. It is a striking coincidence that themajority UFO encounters happen during the early AM hours when the pineal gland isthe most active. Sleep paralysis, the “old hag syndrome” may also be the consequenceof a limited, mitigated form of spontaneous DMT release.

Hank Wesselman, a prominent follower of Michael Harner’s neoshamanicmovement, has started his career as a physical anthropologist with research activities inAfrica’s Great Rift Valley, where Lucy and other early human ancestors have beendiscovered. In the 80’s he had a series of spontaneous and then deliberate shamanisticexperiences that revealed for him a dramatic future for humanity. Wesselman’s journeyswere spontaneous ASCs of the integrative type occurring usually in the early morninghours. He published his fascinating “intrapsychic” adventures, and exciting discoveriesin three consecutive books (Wesselman 1996, 1999, 2001), which are on par with thewritings of Carlos Castaneda. Here are excerpts from his First Encounter:

“I … was just slipping off to sleep – when I felt a peculiar sensation in my body. Asmy dissolving attention re-formed and turned toward it, the feeling abruptly intensified,paralyzing me where I lay. Startled, I opened my eyes. I saw momentary spots of lightinterspersed with strange lines and zigzags against the darkened field of the ceiling.A transparent arc seemed to coalesce out of the lights, and then the bedroomdisappeared.

I found myself in a forest in almost total darkness. Around me in all directions, tallblack tree trunks and branches stretched away into the night. The night was very still,and a faint fragrance floated on the warm air. The illusion was vividly real, and yetparadoxically, I could still feel myself lying in bed next to Jill and hear her turning thepages of her book. I felt very much awake.

…As my attention shifted back into the “dream” and the forest around me, thesesensations, these rushes of feeling, increased. At this point I discovered that I couldmove, and I proceeded to walk through the trees, profoundly impressed at how realeverything appeared. I wasn’t too sure how I was moving or what I was walking on,but as in a dream, my intention seemed to be enough to take me here or there. My bodyin bed, however, was still immobilized by the sensations.

…The sensations abruptly intensified, and my body swelled and stiffened, becomingincreasingly paralyzed, as though I were wrapped in an invisible fist that was slowlysqueezing me, cutting off my breath. For a moment, I worried that I might be having aseizure of some sort, and I felt the edge of fear. The fear departed as abruptly as it hadappeared, however, when I realized that the sensations were intensely pleasurable. Eachincrease in pressure was accompanied by a euphoric surge mixed with an indescribablejoy.

Something cut through my absorption in this overwhelming rapture and drew me towardthe trees to my right. There among the shadowy tree trunks I saw a huge, dark form. Itwas vaguely manlike, and I could make out what I thought was a distinct head andbody, but the body was strangely geometric and…door-like. The head was roundedand small, there seemed to be no arms or legs. It was flat, completely black, andfeatureless.

…The sensations continued to flow around and through me, exerting pressure fromboth within and without. I tried to move but I was now completely paralyzed. I heardJill turn another page and thought to myself, “I’ve got to try to tell her what’shappening,” but my jaw was locked, and my entire body was as rigid as a stick ofwood. I couldn’t close my hands.


…Abruptly, it seemed as if the shadow had increased the sensations so much that I feltmyself “lift off.” I drifted slowly up through the trees until I was standing above theground, turning slowly in space among the leaves and flowers. The ecstatic sensationssurged through and around me, and my muscles shook, trembling with the force. Tofight against the enormous strength that enfolded me seemed absurd. The dark form wasobviously immensely strong, and yet it hadn’t harmed me.

I heard a roaring sound and waited to see what would happen next. Then as abruptlyas the experience began, it stopped. I was gently placed back on the ground, and thedark form changed, shifting its shape to blend into the shadows under the trees.Simultaneously, the sensations that had held me rigid began to flow out of me in slowsurges, each one less powerful than the last. Progressively the trees, the shadow, and thebright sphere dissolved, and the darkened bedroom reappeared before my eyes. … theworld was ordinary once again. The first light of dawn was illuminating the sky. Mymind was reeling.” (Wesselman 1996)

Wesselman had an encounter with an entity, what is known to Native Americans asthreshold guardian. Hopefully, the reader can pinpoint the fingerprint of DMT-inducedexperience enhanced by bold type in the report. In his trilogy, Wesselman gives accountof a dozen similar, richly detailed experiences without any previous psychedelicpractice. When the author of the chapter contacted him, he had no awareness of thepossibility of having spontaneous DMT experiences as inspiring forces behind hismarvelous writing.

Experiences related to the release of endogenous DMT may be more universal thanone would suppose. They happen frequently in our days and with all certainty havehappened in ancient times. Listeners of Art Bell’s or George Noory’s shows on Coast toCoast AM may notice that many aired UFO reports and near death experiences carry thecharacteristics of a spontaneous DMT release (for example, the interview entitled ETContact and Disclosure with Steven Greer on June 1, 2006).

Just as a thought experiment, imagine the scene in a small Sumerian settlementabout 6000 years ago. What would happen, what would be the outcome if some peopleenthusiastically report their hyperrealistic experiences after having spontaneous (oraugmented perhaps by Peganum harmala – see Figure 4) DMT release? Is it possiblethat DMT is the source of some creation myths, and its effects can explain somepeculiar characteristics of ancient legends: Anunnaki coming from outer space,modifying humans, inseminating women, and transferring significant information?Some other possible consequences follow below.

‘Nachash’ IlluminatusThe word ‘Nachash’ appears in the Hebrew Bible in the “original sin” scene and istranslated as ‘serpent’. The meaning of the Hebrew word ‘Nachash’ is much richer andcan be illuminated in light of the DMT experience (Figure 3). Michael Heiser (2005b)points to the triple meaning of ‘Nachash’, which can mean ‘serpent’ as noun, or ‘shiny’as adjective. The verb form of ‘Nachash’ is analogous with the verb ‘to deceive’, or ‘todivine’. As we have seen, any of these meanings can take form or be built into a DMTexperience. If a strong believer of mind expanding substances may have any doubtabout the deceitfulness of a DMT experience, I just remind her or him that not allhallucinations are true (some will even argue that by definition no hallucination can betrue) and refer to the expert opinion of Harner’s blind Conibo shaman. Only the worthygets the truth…


Figure 3. The three meanings of the Hebrew word ‘Nachash’ in Genesis 3corresponds to three characteristics of the DMT experience (based on the wordinterpretation of Michael Heiser).

Angelogenesis

As the ancient depiction of Sumerian Anunnaki and the myths of many other culturesshow, smart and winged reptile beings were the first ones to descend on Earth. Figure 4illustrates what may happen when Mesopotamian artists from consecutive generations,removed by centuries or even millennia from the original visionary experience, copywinged beings over and over again. A picture is worth of hundred words, and helps keepthis paragraph short (Figure 4)…

Figure 4. Winged figures on Mesopotamian clay tablets indicate what may happen if artistswithout the original visionary experience copy the theme over and over again during centuries andmillennia.2

2 Please, pay attention to the plant on the left tablets, which has striking resemblance to Syrianrue, Peganum harmala (right). This plant originates from the Near East and is known to amplifyDMT effects.


Invasion from Inner Space

It is estimated that in the observable Universe (i.e., the perimeter of the whole Universewhere from light could reach us since the Big Bang) there are as many as 200 billiongalaxies – each one with hundreds of billions of stars. The actual number of galaxies(and stars with potentially life-bearing planets) is even larger, since the size of thevisible part is a tiny portion of the whole Universe, the Metagalaxy, which started toexpand with the Big Bang. Based on current calculations (Pasachoff and Filippenko2006), the ratio of the actual size to the observable size of the Universe is equal to theratio between the size of the observable Universe and the size of a proton. That means,one must multiply the number of visible galaxies by the huge difference between thesize of the observable Universe and the proton. This unimaginable number of galaxiesgets even more mind-boggling if one takes into account the Multiverse theory, sincecontemporary physic’s String Theory (more recently M-theory), Bubble UniverseTheory, or the Many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics posit the existence ofparallel universes of similar immense size.

One may argue that parallel universes can have different physical constants thanour Universe, thus not permitting for the development of life. Based on concepts ofeminent string theorist’s Michio Kaku (2004), this might not necessarily be the casebecause of the presence of Darwinian like evolutionary processes affecting paralleluniverses. Yes, natural selection may work in different universes! The physicalconstants of our Universe predispose it both for the presence of a vast number of blackholes and of intelligent life (at least in one known instance). The singularity of a blackhole may generate a Big Bang of a parallel universe on the “other side”. The physicalconstants of that baby universe are very close to the constants of the mother universe.One can see this way, how a universe of our kind can propagate itself, while universeswith shorter life span and smaller number of black holes have lower chance to multiply.

The number of possible intelligent life forms is likely to be incredibly high in theMultiverse model. Then how might intelligent beings from the vastness of theMultiverse reach out to each other and communicate between themselves? Definitelynot by rocket ships and radio waves traversing the local Universe at a snail’s paceduring the span of human life. There is no need for that, if the nonlocal feature of theUniverse (Multiverse) permits contacts of a different kind. As I outlined in my previouschapter, and will recap below, that type of encounters may occur in inner space, andmanifests as a transdimensional contact.

Is there any difference between a transdimensional and intrapsychic emergence?Probably not. Higher dimensional beings can perceive lower dimensions more easilythan lower ones can perceive higher dimensions (DeKorne 1994). For the latter sensoryorgans (developed for coping in a 3D space) are not suitable for perceiving entitiesemerging from higher dimensions. What follows that those from the nonlocal,topological field appear inextricably linked with our inner psychic processes, since theinterface for nonlocal processes, the quantum array antenna of the brain holding thequantum hologram of the Multiverse is below the neuroaxonal level. Therefore, highdimensional outer space gets intrapsychically projected, and presents in inner space.

Ancient gods, such as the Anunnaki, and the ghosts of ‘Ain Ghazal, probably havenot descended from the skies, but ascended from inner depths, through the receptivecapacity of the human soul, which is anchored in a common source with outer


multidimensional space (remember the wisdom of Atman = Brahman). They were likelyreal beings, but based on the duality of reality detailed elsewhere in this book, theywere/are entities of the spiritual-nonlocal realm and not sheer products of imagination.The concept of their spiritual existence is not in conflict with their physical reality.Istvan Dienes, an unorthodox physicist and a follower of the topological theory ofconsciousness, said recently: “They are autonomous structures existing in thetopological field!” Ancient people considered them gods, because they brought fromnonlocal sources knowledge unimaginable to common public. Information that led tothe development of human civilization was received as a divine encounter via thatCommon Source, the Dynamic Ground, and DMT might have been a key that openedthe doors to that spiritual source.

Q&As and Concluding RemarksLet me summarize in a Q&A form what has been addressed in this chapter.

Q: Who were these Sumerian deities, the protagonists of the earliest written stories?Were they just actors of mythical legends, as we judge them today? Or, were they – assome scholars are beginning to believe – real beings, who were somehow superior to thecommon Sumerians? Were they considered gods because they did incomprehensiblethings that even nowadays we would call god-like?

A: They were real beings, but based on the duality of reality detailed in my otherchapter, they were/are entities of the spiritual-nonlocal realm and not sheer products ofimagination. It may sound mind-boggling, but the concept of their spiritual existence isnot in denial with their physical reality. Ancient people considered them gods, becausefrom nonlocal sources they brought in knowledge unimaginable to common humans.

Q: Who were Enki and the Anunnaki?A: They were Sumerian gods appearing as Sons of God or Fallen Angels inancient Hebrew texts and mythology.

Q: Who were those Anunnaki who were orbiting in the skies and appeared inthe Akkadian and Babylonian tales under the name ‘Igigi’?A: They were the Watchers of the Book of Enoch. Since they stayed in orbitand did not descend to Earth, they must have been abducting humans fordubious purpose and to satisfy their evil lust.

Q: Do you know what the Greek word ‘Titanos’ means?A: Titans were godly beings in Greek mythology, who descended fromheavens, kidnapped earthly women, and had sexual intercourse with them. TheGreek word ‘Titanos’ means ‘Gray’. Make your own conclusion.

Q: How could people living “under different skies”, on different continents, indifferent era, and with very different worldviews share common divineexperiences?A: DMT, my friend, DMT. We humans share it endogenously.

Q: What would happen, what would be the outcome if some peopleenthusiastically report their hyperrealistic experiences after having spontaneous(or facilitated?) DMT release? Can such experiences be at the root of somecreation myths? Anunnaki coming from outer space, modifying humans,inseminating women, and transferring vital information?


A: Very possibly. Plus a knowledgeable entity like the Serpent [Nachash] ofthe Garden of Eden may emerge with luminous and deceitful qualities. Angelsmay appear in poorly photogenic form with reptilian features on their firstpictures. Cosmetical touch-up may take hundred years of a couple. Acceptingthe role of endogenous DMT in divine encounters or in holy revelations is not adebunker of the Scripture, it is NOT a sacrilege, IF one understands mystandpoint about DMT being as a key (among many others) to the spiritualrealm.

Q: How might intelligent beings from the vastness of the Multiverse reach eachother and communicate between themselves?A: Not in the local ways of communication and transportation. Our brothers (orfathers?) are better off taking advantage of the nonlocal feature of the Universe(Multiverse): ‘signal nonlocality’. Such a ‘nonlocal’ form of informationtransfer must maintain consistency with the theory of relativity. Duringnonlocal transfers some vital information is scrambled during the process; thusthis foundation of knowledge is usually surrounded with uncertainty, at timeseven with a deceitful atmosphere.

Q: If gods descended to the Earth by UFO’s as extraterrestrials and gavehumans the power of written language, why did they give us thosecumbersome cuneiforms and hieroglyphs?A: That question was not raised in the text, but in the author’s mind, whoapparently starts to mix up ‘nonlocal’ and local, ‘what is in’ with ‘what is out’by the end of this tiresome chapter. Because the teacher gods were notextraterrestrial, but rather were transdimensional, “intrapsychic” beings,information from them got distorted during the translation of the ‘direct-intuitive-nonlocal’ knowledge to the `perceptual-cognitive-symbolic`processing (see my other chapter for explanation of these terms). It took awhile to improve it and to arrive at the Phoenician alphabet.

What, in fact, this chapter represents is my attempt, as an amateur scholar comingfrom the field of psychopharmacology, to draw upon both archeology and the history ofreligion, and provide a fresh perspective to these phenomena by providing somecontroversial proposals, based upon my own expertise. I am attempting to bring togetherobservations of UFOlogy with a serious assessment of ancient and biblical studies. Ihave done this because there is a striking coherence between what some people (in facta very significant portion of the population) have experienced for themselves nowadaysand what was recorded as divine encounters in ancient texts. In this chapter “non-ordinary” reality was attached to both kinds of these experiences without fullydisregarding their physical reality. By keeping balance between sacred (spiritual) andprofane (rational) an honest intention is hidden in this chapter to convey a reassuringmessage to those faithful Jews, Christians, and Muslims, who got caught up in a conflictbetween their religious faith and rational thinking: holy revelations were not sheerproduct of imagination, the great prophets really tapped a holy, very meaningful source,the encounters on Mount Sinai or during Al-Isra indeed happened. It may sound mind-boggling, but the concept of their spiritual existence is not in denial with their physicalreality.

Using different terminology Rabbi Joel David Bakst (2007) arrives at similarconclusion:


“...fundamentally bney elohim (sons of God) are not angels and the bnot adam(daughters of man) are not earthly women. They are forces and processes that are part ofthe divine ‘physiology’ of creation dealing specifically with primordial realities andtheir interface with the current reality.”

The endogenous human hallucinogen, (here the term ‘entheogen’ – manifesting thedivine within – would be more appropriate) DMT was suggested as one of the keycomponents which hold this mix together, since it provides clues toward the mostcohesive, cohering understanding of the phenomena. Shockingly, this endogenouscompound offers good coherence and conceptual validation of divine encounters andrelated spiritual experiences. Accepting the role of DMT in divine encounters or in holyrevelations does not debunk the Scripture, it is NOT a sacrilege, IF one understands my(and my coauthors’) standpoint about DMT being as a key (among many others) to thespiritual realm.

With all limitations kept in mind, I am humbly arguing that our knowledge ofreality needs to change for a rational explanation of spiritual revelations. Divineencounters, while subjectively real to experiencers, probably reflect a much moresophisticated model of reality than scientific empiricism currently allows. In otherwords, divine encounters are likely not real in the traditional sense of flesh-and-blood-or-silicon extraterrestrial visitors interfering with human affairs. This chapter concludesthat humans had been indeed coming into contact with a spiritual intelligence thatappears to antedate space-time as we know it, and gods are less extraterrestrial than theyare ‘nonlocal’: emerging intrapsychically in form of spiritual experience through‘nonlocal’, extradimensional connections of the Multiverse.

References

Agrest, Matest (1994). The historical evidence of paleocontacts. Ancient Skies. Official Logbookof the Ancient Astronaut Society. 20(6):1-3.

Bakst, Joel D. (2007). Fallen Angels and Cosmic Fallout: The Secret of the Nefilim.

Crick, Francis and Leslie Orgel (1973). Directed panspermia. Icarus, 19:341-346.

Dawkins, Richard (1976). The Selfish Gene. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

DeKorne, Jim (1994). Psychedelic Shamanism: The Cultivation, Preparation and Shamanic Use ofPsychotropic Plants. Port Townsend, WA: Breakout Productions.

Harner, Michael (1990). The Way of the Shaman. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row.

Heiser, Michael (2001). Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God. Bibliotheca Sacra.

Heiser, Michael (2005a). The Meaning of the Word Nephilim: Fact vs. Fantasy.http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/nephilim.pdf

Heiser, Michael (2005b). The Nachash and His Seed: Some Explanatory Notes on Why the“Serpent” in Genesis 3 Wasn’t a Serpent.

http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/nachashnotes.pdf

Kaku, Michio (2004). Parallel Worlds: A Journey through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and theFuture of the Cosmos. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

Miḳraot Gedolot (1990). Hamo’or/Liefer.

http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/nephilim.pdf

http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/nachashnotes.pdf


Mithen, Steven (2006). After the Ice: A Global Human History 20,000-5000 BC. Cambridge,MA: Harvard University Press.

Pasachoff, Jay and Filippenko, Alex (2006). The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millennium.Brooks Cole.

Shklovsky, Iosif and Carl Sagan (1980). Intelligent Life in the Universe. Garden City, NY:Doubleday.

Sitchin, Zecharia (1999). The 12th Planet. New York, NY: Avon Books.

Sitchin, Zecharia (2002). Divine Encounters: A Guide to Visions, Angels, and Other Emissaries.Rochester, VT: Bear and Company.

Strassman, Rick (2000). DMT: The Spirit Molecule. A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into theBiology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press.

Von Daniken, Erich (1987). Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past. New York,NY: Penguin Group.

Wesselman, Hank (1996). Spiritwalker: Messages from the Future. New York, NY: BantamBooks.

Wesselman, Hank (1999). Medicinemaker: Mystic Encounters on the Shaman’s Path. New York,NY: Bantam Books.

Wesselman, Hank (2001). Visonseeker: Shared Wisdom from the Place of Refuge. Carlsbad, CA:Hay House.

Winkelman, Michael (2000). Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing.Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey.

Rick Strassman-Inner Paths to Outer Space, Chapter 9

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