Yes, Virginia, there is an MJ12, but you may be a bit disappointed by its lackluster nature.

It is an eclectic unofficial group that is heavily weighted, nonetheless, toward older male scientists having had long association with the US government. Collectively they have come into the possession of a body of information and artifacts about which the only common understanding is that the public would not be particularly benefited by its release in the foreseeable future. The emphasis here is on passive collection and containment of information. There is simply no compelling reason for these folks to take a proactive stance or to rock any boats. They are second generation custodians.

The beliefs of these individuals regarding the phenomena in question are probably quite varied partly as a result of different levels of access to data even in the inner circle, and also as a result of genuine uncertainty, even at this level of exposure, and due to the inherent ambiguities of the phenomenon.

Nonetheless, it is unlikely that the inner circle harbors any significant beliefs that are not well represented among the outside investigators and students of the phenomena. The fact that there is such a considerable overlap in beliefs between the insiders and outsiders is one more reason for these folks to keep their own counsel. If there were a desire to inform the authorities or the public on some matter, that could be done by just an occasional lowering of the barriers to the outward flow of information along preestablished channels. Over the years these informal protocols have become rather smooth in their functioning.

Beyond the inner circle, other individuals and small groups are more involved with mundane aspects of the collection and containment of information. These people are partly self-selected and partly drafted into service. They have normal careers that must be maintained in order to provide a cover for their special activities.

The mundane aspects of collection and containment will generally entail direct contact with individuals in the military and government who have taken it upon themselves to collect information. Those individual must be discouraged from becoming further involved in the investigation or reporting of the phenomenon, unless there is some component that is novel or otherwise warrants special attention. With as little disclosure as possible, such individuals would be made to realize that there were other authorities already engaged in a larger collection effort, and that their own efforts might be counterproductive, while also letting them know that their activities would continue to be monitored.

'MJ12's responsibilities do not end with the government and military spheres. Collection and containment efforts take place in the civilian sector as well. This does not require as much effort as one might suppose, as long as the general public is satisfied with the status quo. All that is required is the active cooperation of some strategically placed individuals, most of whom, with varying degrees of knowledge of the overall strategy, would be volunteering their efforts. The cooperative individuals would, of course, receive preferential treatment whenever possible.

UFO's are not the biggest secret ever. They are perhaps the worst kept secret ever. 'MJ12' is not a sinister organization that is bent on world domination. It is the natural outcome of a relatively open society attempting to grapple with a mysterious cosmos. It is a part of the natural filtering and buffering process that all of us employ individually in our continuing negotiations with 'reality.'

Up to this point of the exposition, I have painted a relatively benign picture of the phenomenon and our response to it, but there are several caveats that need be kept in mind. It is my own opinion, but one that is widely shared both inside and outside, that the cosmos is considerably more mysterious than is generally credited by our modern science based understanding of the world. The UFO's and related paranormal phenomena thus represent the very small tip of an 'iceberg' of mystery. The biggest uncertainty and the biggest worry in this sphere is how and when the existing conflict between modernity and mystery will be resolved.

Science does not and cannot credit the existence of a cosmic intelligence. In the mind of science, the universe must be an object. If there is a larger intelligence, it must be something quite distinct from the strictly material world. But if there is anything distinctive about the phenomena in question it is that they show very little respect for our normal modern categories of thought. It is the definite prospect of having to undergo a paradigm shift of monumental proportions that has both the insiders and knowledgeable outsiders most worried.

The when and how of the paradigm shift is the bottom line of the concern. Keeping this concern in mind is a good way to shed additional light on other aspects of this emerging realignment between cosmic and human intelligence.

Scientific materialism, which provides the basis of the modern understanding of the world, is only an approximation to reality. It tells us just what sort of object the world would logically have to be if it were in fact an object. However, there are growing indications that the world is not an object, but rather the construct of both cosmic and human intelligence. The domain of 'paranormal' and 'anomalous' phenomena is just one of the indicators of the myopia that is inherent in scientific modernism.

(continued)

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rev. 6/5/97