DISCLOSURE, 2012, AND MESSIANIC EXPECTATION

Well, 2010 has come and gone, and with it, gone are the expectations of contact with ET, and of "disclosure." Mind you, I'm neither gladdened nor saddened by this; I am not trying to say a long and elaborate "I told you so" here. Those making such predictions or owning such expectations have the right to be wrong; they have the right to make predictions, based on their analyses of things and events, and to voice expectations. We all, in this field of alternative research, are forced to "read the tea leaves" as best as we are able and to come to conclusions, and make predictions when appropriate, based upon them.

What interests me here is not so much that this or that person was wrong or right about disclosure and contact, but rather, the phenomenon itself. "Disclosure" is a tricky thing, and has many meanings to different people. But regardless of particular meanings, one thing unites them all and that is, for want of a better expression, "the expectation of a revelation." The same, to a certain extent, is true also of "contact," for in order for "contact" to be perceived as such, it must be publicly revealed.

And there, for me, is the problem. It strikes me that so much of this phenomenon of expectation of "revelation," be it disclosure or contact, really is a species of Messianic expectation, shorn of its associations with traditional religions that have such expectations. All three great monotheistic religions have such an expectation: the Christians expect the Second Coming of Christ, Judaism expects the Messiah, Islam  expects the Imam Mahdi....

...and 2012 advocates expect an apocalypse, be it that of a great physical change, or that of a heightening of consciousness, or both. Disclosure advocates  have - like a fundamentalist expecting the Rapture - been arguing for years that this (insert specific year here) will be the year it happens.

Why call such expectations messianic? Because, effectively, that is what they are, especially among the "contact" advocates. Few, I think, would deny that there has been a "meme" within certain UFOlogy circles that ET will eventually make contact and come down from the sky and help us sort out our problems. I sometimes even get the impression that the real thrust of so much within UFOlogy is precisely for this: contact, the messianic expectation, the apocalypse, and hence, this expectation rationalizes the religious fervor with which so many advocates of the extraterrestrial hypothesis defend it. To express misgivings or even skepticism regarding extraterrestrial interpretations of certain "events" within the ET Gospel - Roswell or Kecksburg come to mind - is to jerk the rug from underneath the messianic expectation.

So, the bottom line is this: the disclosure and contact and 2012 advocates will continue to create the climate of expectation and prediction. And I will continue to be skeptical of the religious dimensions and implications of their efforts. A deeper question is why would anyone be engaged in making such repeated - and violated - expectations? But that question is perhaps best left to be explored later.