Religion in the making

Steven M. Greer is an ufologist, UFO contactee and conspiracy theorist. He heads two somewhat controversial UFO-related groups, CSETI and the Disclosure Project. In this book, "Hidden Truth, Forbidden Knowledge", Greer comes clean about his religious convictions. Almost clean.

Greer has a long background in "metaphysics" and alternative religion. He was a member of TM for a period, attending their private university, and claims to have developed various paranormal powers: levitation, supernatural healing, the ability to diagnose a patient at a glance, and precognition. Later, Greer joined Bahai and implies that he still supports this particular religious group. (Bahai is a modernist split from Shia Islam, still banned in its native land of Iran. Its international headquarters is situated on Mount Carmel in Israel.)

Above all, however, Greer emphasizes his spiritual independence from all sects and creeds. As a teenager, the future ufologist had a Near-Death Experience which taught him everything he needed to learn about spirituality and transcendence. During the course of the NDE, Greer merged with the Divine. He also encountered two beings of light, which he believes were the Twin Avatars of our age. Who these avatars might have been is never explained, but since Greer claims to be a follower of Bahai, a fair guess would be Bab and Baha'ullah (respectively the putative founder and the real founder of Bahai). According to Greer, the Second Coming of "Christ" took place invisibly in the mid-19th century (which also points to Bab and Baha'ullah). A new cosmic dispensation of 500,000 years of peace and prosperity awaits us!

Unfortunately, the forces of evil have banded together to stop the coming transformation. This conspiracy has as its main goal to stop disclosure of the truth concerning UFOs. The aliens are peaceful, spiritually enlightened beings who want to share their advanced technology with man, including the secret of free energy. A shadow faction of the U.S. establishment knows the truth, but has successfully managed to classify all positive information about the aliens. The conspirators have also retro-engineered UFOs, and are using the new technology for their own nefarious ends. All "alien abductions" are really carried out by very human conspirators, connected to the military and intelligence organs. The purpose is to discredit the real aliens. The ultimate goal of the conspiracy is to fake an alien attack on our planet, thereby getting the ultimate argument to create a One World Government. (Greer's politics sound vaguely libertarian.) In his other books, Greer describes the conspiracy as a network working within the U.S. administration, but also having contacts with private corporations. In this book, the author reveals who is *really* behind the conspiracy. It turns out to be a distinctly religious affair, dominated by Christian fundamentalists, Satanists and Mormons!

Greer's message contains numerous contradictions. In a manner reminiscent of other UFO contactees, Greer cannot make up his mind whether the aliens are spiritual or physical. He seems to regard them as astral beings, but if so, why do they need physical spaceships? If the aliens are fundamentally astral, and their technology somehow astral-material, how can their craft be retro-engineered by purely material human scientists? If sectors of the U.S. military have access to super-high tech from outer space, why don't they use it to take over the world? Why haven't we seen these fantastic retro-engineered UFOs in action in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc? If the aliens are so powerful, how is it even possible for puny human conspirators to retrieve their crashed UFOs? And why do they crash in the first place?

The most annoying parts of "Hidden Truth, Forbidden Knowledge" are Greer's Adamski-esque tall tales about constant meetings with the rich, famous and powerful. Greer claims to have close contacts with senators, generals, CIA directors, top UN officials, etc. etc. For some strange reason, the conspirators haven't been able to kill him or even discredit him! At one point, Greer called the White House, warning them about an impending plot to kill George Bush Sr. Instead of being arrested on the spot, the president's security team supposedly took the precognitive abilities of Dr. Greer seriously, and acted accordingly. Note that the anti-conspiracy author wanted to save Bush, usually considered to be one of the top conspirators by conspiracy theorists! Greer's conspiracism has the odd trait that it doesn't include the highest political, military and intelligence officers. Rather, he claims that these people have been conned by the actual conspiracy. Of course, this makes it possible for Greer to invite high-ranking Washington people to the hearings of the Disclosure Project, claim to be on a first-name basis with everyone from the CIA director to "Prince S.A." (presumably Prince Charles), etc.

To be perfectly honest, I get the impression that Steven Greer suffers from some kind of inferiority complex. He has a tough guy image, talks about his rough childhood, and constantly describes himself as an "emergency doctor from North Carolina" who knows the powerful people in the federal capital (i.e. despite being just a lowly health care worker from fly-over country). And yes, he claims to have almost the same supernatural powers as Jesus Christ! I don't doubt that Greer knows *some* (formerly) high-ranking persons, such as Lord Hill-Norton, who happens to believe in UFOs. However, most of the meetings with the rich and famous described in this book are unbelievable. I think Greer made them up to impress his followers...and bolster his own self-esteem.

But sure, that's just a guess. I suppose it's possible that the CIA is interested in what Greer has to say. That, however, only raises the obvious follow up question: Why? I don't think the Agency is connected to the Twin Avatars of our age...

"Hidden Truth, Forbidden Knowledge" is a revealing book, showing that the CSETI is really a religion in the making. However, the book is so badly edited, and difficult to take absolutely seriously, that I only give it two stars.