T\ ,/ L,_,_, _ Mirror Ima es Interstellar Fungi and Ultradimensionals: Did Arthur C..Clarke Hit Close to Home? by Micah A. Hanks At the dawn of man, our primitive ancestors lived in clus- ly would it be to suppose that early man stumbling upon ters of territorial packs, scrounging and scavenging for what such hallucinogens was no accident? few morsels they could gather from behind the dangerous Mac Tonnies, a ufologist, fellow UFO Magazine columnist, predators that would just as soon kill them, let alone know- and blogger for websites including that of the SETI organiza- ingly allow the timid apes who followed at a distance to tion, recently pointed out some of the unique properties that share the spoils of a fresh kill. Our kind spent their evenings fungus spores display, chiefly among them the fact that they huddling together in caves at night to maintain warmth, have proven capable of surviving conditions as extreme as hardly aware of an ever-present fear that the same predators the vacuum of space. Adopting a view similar to the concept they gleaned after while the sun fell in the sky might come of panspermia, which assumes that the very simplest bio- hunting them in the darkness. logical agents needed to facilitate life may actually be drift- This would all change once the obelisk first appeared, ing around in the cosmos and, from time to time, may find I bringing knowledge to our simple ancestors and stirring their way to stable inhabitable places in the universe, Ton- their genes in an evolutionary brew that would ultimately nies suggested that fungi capable of space travel may actu- bring man to the height of all dominant species on earth- ally have arrived on earth from someplace else! according to Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, at least. If anything, to suppose that hallucinogenic seeds might In reality, perhaps 2001: A Space Odyssey (New American have beenlaunched into space eons ago, makingtheir way Library, 1968) and-itsuniversal theme of thy wonderthat ',to orga~.isp1s with hor;>eofexpandi~g thei~n:;~pqsH&a trippy surrounds transfer of thought and technology throughout the' . concept'at-best. But perhaps WOfthy:of consIderafion. It also cosmos wasn't too far off base. '. :"., ..illustrat• eS"a mOf~ ~ubtle' approa2h ihtelligertt entities might However, if such a thing ever happened in reality, it may use for the dissemination of knowledge, not completely have taken place in a far simpler, less conspicuous manner; unlike that which Clarke set in motion with his obelisk in for instance, it might have been something along the lines of 2001. humble fungi silently waiting, instead of large black obelisks emitting piercing radio fr.equencies. Alien Contact From Beyond ,McKenna's stoned apes weren't the only unusual products Interstellar F..-ngi of his.studies with hallucinogens. During many of his ex- and 'Early Man : periments, Mckenna olaimed to have actually made contact with entities which only revealed themselves upon reaching In'the'1970S ethnobotanist Terence McKenna first began us- the surreal state of mind achieved whilE;lcQI?:9pctingthe tests ingJt):j.epowerful hallucinogen dimethyltryptamine (DMT)"to with DMT: " f.:"C"" obseiV~'lts hallucinogenic effects. DMT is one of the more po- He called these entities machine elves, 1?bdietimes inter- tent drugs in the tryptamine family, and agents like it and mela- changeable with aliases like fractal-elves, tyke§~i'or self-drib- tonih,are created naturally inthe human brain when we sleep. bling basketballs, describing them as beingsiWhose "con- M~Ke'hna's interest in the ~hamanistic traditions of cul- , stant dance" wove together the verjfabric of ti~f!'and space. tur~,s&pUrid the world lead him to begin testing .doses far Although he acknowledged the halluCinogeniq;elements of greaterthan the amounts produced naturally in the human the experiences, McKenna als~ believed that.ip~I?ffl'~ capac- body, and through his experiments with DMT and other nat- ity that the~e beings' actually existed, claihiingth~{ many uralhallucinogens he first began to develop what he later of the realistic elements of his encounter~lWith' tItefu were called his stoned-ape hypothesis. too authentic to -be ignored and may ):l~v~"~YE!ri)':~~r~~ented The essence of this theory involved our ancient ancestors some kind ofultradimensional presehcet6.~h}6Jiwe.:f~main ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms they may have come unaware in our daily lives: .""., ' .} ~).:<i:'r',j";'~·i;J across while scavenging for food. These mushrooms pro- McKenna was by no means the onlyres8'art'lier~Oiiyj~rclaim duced long-term: effects which may have dictatedthe way to have encounters with beings in a clinicaCsettin'g:via the their primitive minds would continue to develop and grow. use of drugs like DMT. After two decades of intermission, in This theory, considering our ancestor's likely omnivorous the 1990s Dr. Rick Strassman was the first person allowed to tendencies, doesn't seem completely unlikely, but how like- officially resume human experimentation with psychedelic 10 issue #147 UFO substances in a clinical setting. The studies were conducted place."Indeed, it seems worthy of consideration that in at University of New Mexico's School of Medicine in Albu- some capacity we may frequently interact on a subconscious querque and involved extensive experiments where DMT level with sentient beings who exist all around us, and since was administered to sixty human volunteers encompassing modern physics continues to push the envelope with new some four hundred total doses. advanced concepts of the universe's dimensional structure, Strassman's findings not only bore results very similar to such notions aren't as easily put to rest. those of Mckenna's, hut also noted obvious parallels to UFO So on some level,Arthur C. Clarke probably had the right and abduction phenomena. For instance, close to 20 percent idea. Whether or not it dealt with alien technology being of those who participated in Strassman's studies claimed sifted through the cosmos and ultimately finding its way to to have encountered beings during their experiences, often primitive man, the concept of interacting with ultradimen- describing them as appearing reptilian, insectoid, or even sional beings in an altered state is reminiscent of something fetus-like. else Clarke described when he stated that "any sufficiently In addition to encountering entities which bore striking advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." resemblance to various extraterrestrials reported over the Surely then, even if we were making contact, it may be last several decades, participants also recounted finding so far advanced that we might not recognize it for what it themselves in what felt like medical environments and even is, save only the magic of having had the experience itself, discussed being examined or probed by the beings they en- which only increases our wonder and fascination as we countered. Studies like these have often been heralded by , learn. u!'o skeptics as obvious proof that those claiming to have been abducted by extraterrestrials -in the past are actually experi- Micah A. Hanks is a full-time journalist and investiga- encing some deeply rooted element stored away someplace tor ofthe unexplained. He is an active member ofthe L.E.M.u'R. Paranormal Investigation team in Asheville, in the human subconscious. North Carolina, and has been featured on many televi- As Daniel Pinchbeck, author of 2012: The Return of Quet- sion and radio programs, including the History Channel's zalcoatl (Tarcher, 2006) points out,"It is ". absurd to suggest Guts and Bolts, the Travel Channel's Weird Travels, and CNN Radio. Youcan read daily news about UFOs and that some of those beings resemble our folkloric archetypes, unexplained phenomena at his blog The Gralien Report, . because they are the source for those archetypes in the first by visiting www.gralienreport.com.Stop in and say hi! '111111. 1111111, C.II Certified Hypnotherapist, Lecturer, Abduction Researcher Over 100 worldwide lectures ranging from Brazil to Italy, New Yorkto Spain including IIW.I.11111E Universities such as M.I.T. Over 100 Television/Radio appearances,and thousands of hypno regression sessions in U.S. and Burope ,Pounder and Pre.ident of Close Encounter .Resource Organi7:ation (CEaO) abduction support group. Google "Yvonne Smith hypnotherapist" for over 1000 references. O IIIEI lilliE 818..883.•6903 [email protected] www.ysmith.com UFO Issue #147 11.