The Messiah Contingency
World-wide expectations around the imminent emergence of a messiah of some sort may never have been greater than at present, and they are showing no signs of diminishing. The nascent clash between Muslim east and Christian west does nothing to mitigate those expectations.
It is not only the believers who are attentive to such emotions. Two related incidents were brought to my attention by Ron. First there was a large scale Christmas time AWOL incident within the ranks of the South Korean military precipitated by a local cult figure claiming ties to Jesus. I was told that a couple of plane loads of US advisors were hurriedly dispatched to the scene.
Later came the Falun Gong phenomenon in China. Ron has always expressed a concern for the emerging Chinese military threat to the US. It was no great surprise when he asked me to get in contact with the local Falun Gong chapter. I did so, but the results were desultory. With Ron's approval I sent a letter to the Chinese embassy, including his name and requesting a meeting with their Science attaché to discuss parapsychological issues. Again, no response.
Clearly there was a build up of spiritual expectation around the turn of the Millennium. And, by way of example, I inadvertently played a not insignificant role in the Hale-Bopp incident by circulating a piece of speculation concerning the visitors that was passed to me by a member of the Aviary. Another case of disinformation having unintended(?) consequences?
It was not too surprising that as we got closer to Y2K, and things appeared to actually be settling down that my ten year interlude with Ron was evidently placed on a back burner. I was mildly surprised then when he called me on 9/2/01 to say that something had come up and there was a pressing need to reactivate the Aquarium. Imagine my greater surprise and curiosity on 9/11. Needless to say, this curiosity remains unsatisfied.
Messianic Initiative:
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8/28/02