Dr. Stevenson takes the classical scientific approach to the study of reincarnation. He is his own hardest critic, and in his scientific rigor, dimisses any case which has any reasonable explanation other than reincarnation. He then takes this distilled list of cases and objectively analyzes them. His work has mostly to do with children who remember their past lives, because their memories are spontaneous (not artificially induced) and least likely to be tainted by any outside influences. He has also pioneered the study of birthmarks as they relate to past-life physical traumas.

While Dr. Stevenson cautiously adopts the phrase, "suggestive of reincarnation", in my humble opinion, I have less proof that my backside is currently pressed against the seat of my chair (not being able to see either directly), than he has of reincarnation. Don't take anyone else's word for it, read the original studies yourself, because most of the skeptical criticisms consist of ill-informed sophistry.

Exactly so. Stevenson's evidence is compelling - especially when children remember past lives and talk about their past life relatives by name, recognize their old homes or neighborhoods, and so on.

Note that Stevenson also studied birthmarks as possibly relating to events of the past life. Even though I never accepted reincarnation as a proven fact, my work with past-life therapy suggested that many physcial problems could relate to past life experiences. I even had the idea that the conditions prevailing at the moment of death were like a sort of "snapshot-template," that had a powerful effect on the beginnings of the subsequent life. Of course, I am leaving out issues of simultaneous incarnations, time as an artificial construct, and so on.

In any event, very early in life, my son developed asthma in a BIG way - hospitalizations almost every week, drugs, oxygen, nebulizers, etc. He also began to have very bad nightmares. Soon, this physically perfect child exhibited some problems running - he was dragging his left leg. The doctor said "Osgood-Schlatter's disease." I would see my son sitting on the ground in the shade while other kids were playing, and I would ask him why he wasn't playing and he answered that his "back hurts." Naturally, I took him to numerous specialists, all of whom said that, except for the so-called "Osgood thing " and the asthma, he was perfectly normal.

The nightmares increased and I was at my wit's end. When he turned nine, I decided that it was time to do a session. I had done all I could in the "accepted" ways; I needed the cavalry to come in. I decided to do a "past life therapy" session.

As I have already noted in my many remarks on the subject in other articles, even as a hypnotherapist I can't say that I ever actually "believed" in reincarnation. I used to tell people that I "believe in nothing, I just assign probabilities." I used past life therapy in my work because it WORKED, and not because I believed in it. From my point of view, if a person had to make up an elaborate past life scenario in their subconscious mind to escape from a labyrinth of emotional torment, fine with me!

My son was desperate for relief from the nightly torments, and was ready to try anything. When I was working with hypnosis, I was pretty much a stickler for "non-leading" questions. If a past life came up, I would work with it (and it often did), but I didn't "set it up" as the mode beforehand. I would generally use an opening such as "go to the point in space/time when problem began and describe to me what you are seeing around you." Then that would be the platform from which to discover the experience.

In the case of my son, without any prompting whatsoever, he launched into a terrifying description of being in an airplane - and it was unclear if he was the pilot or not, but it seemed so - and his attention being suddenly drawn to the fact that a missle was about to strike the craft. On impact, he began to scream that his leg had been torn off and he was breathing flames. It was so traumatic that I immediately took him away from direct experience and had him view it on a "screen" at a distance. (This works for getting details where there is a lot of emotion involved).

The trauma was quite intense and I decided that it would be better to work on this one a little at a time, so we just dealt with part of the experience and I gave some "feel good" suggestions, and "healing" suggestions and that was that.

This had been about three years before the Cassiopaean transmissions began and he DID have considerable relief from the asthma and nightmares as a result of the hypnotherapy, so we decided to just leave the issue alone for the time being unless and until more symptoms emerged and became unmanageable.

As a part of the "testing" phase of the Cassiopaean contact, I decided to ask about any past life information for my son, but I wanted to go about it in a rather "cagey" way. I was the only one present who knew what he had told me under hypnosis and had never discussed his childhood remarks with anyone in the room, so I thought it would be a good test of the source. If the only information that could be obtained was what was in my mind or my son's mind, that at least would demonstrate a form of telepathy. At the same time, there was the idea that, perhaps my son's description of his "past life" had been merely a "drama" in which he could express some other problem that I did not know about. So, I wanted to be very careful in the way I obtained the information.

I was also fully cognizant of the fact that children are very imaginative, and the problem he was having with his leg might simply be that he had injured it at some point or it had some sort of congenital deformity. There were a number of solutions, and I wanted to hear what the Cassiopaeans offered. Thus, the VERY ambiguous form of the questions and my "indirect" approach:

11-07-94
Q: (L) Why did my son's leg suddenly start giving him problems at about the age of three?
A: Reflection of past life. Leg was torn off at death. SAM missile shot by North Vietnamese Army. He was flying a jet. This was 1969. Name was George Ray or Raymond. Shot down over Phan bien.
Q: (L) Is there anything that can be done to help him release this problem?
A: Will be difficult.
Q: (L) Is his past life very strong for him?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Is it stronger than in the other children?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Will hypnosis help him to release this?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) How old was he when he was shot down?
A: 25.
Q: (L) Was he married?
A: No.
Q: (L) Why did he pick me to be his mother?
A: Previous life connection.
Q: (L) What country did he live in when he was shot down?
A: USA
Q: (L) Does his leg cause him pain?
A: All violent deaths reflect difficulties in next incarnation.

And that led off to a series of questions about "scars of the soul" being a source of physical, mental and emotional problems from life to life.

And there the matter lay until a member of the group, Terry Rodemerk, read it (sometime in December of 94) and asked me if I had ever checked it out.

I said "no," and he asked if he might do so, so I said "sure." I didn't think he would find anything because my experience had been that finding any confirmation from such things was pretty remote. While many cases DO produce information that checks out, a lot of them don't, and I wasn't particularly invested in "proving" anything, especially where my own son was concerned. I just wanted to have tools and ideas to help him. I wasn't sure how Terry planned on going about checking out the details about George Ray or Raymond.

It was a week or two later that Terry produced a little piece of paper that had some notes on it. He thought it might be a "match." But, all the info he could get was a person named "George R. K***," had died in that particular year, was in the AF with the rank of Captain. I think it was from the list of names on the Viet Nam War Memorial, which only lists name, birth and death dates, branch of service, rank etc... but, somehow, he also had the hometown, but whether that is on the memorial or not, I don't know. Maybe it's on a separate list.

Surprisingly, it was Punta Gorda which is only about 150 miles south of our home.Well, I didn't do anything with it except lay it on the desk and we went on with our session of that evening. I really DIDN'T think it was TOO good of a match because the name on the list was "George R. K***." We had been given the name George Ray or Raymond.

Not too long afterward, I met Tom French as he describes in his article and during one of our interveiws I mentioned this to him. He asked me if I was going to check it out and, with that encouragement, I figured "what the heck!" I might as well SEE if the guy's MIDDLE name was Ray or Raymond and HOW he died - maybe it WAS a SAM. And, if so, that would be a more definite "hit." Since the hometown was given, my idea was to call the newspaper in Punta Gorda to see if there was an obit on file that listed the FULL name and maybe, that went into more detail about the manner of death. It wasn't going to be a big deal - just a little check with a phone call.

I called information, found the number of the local paper and dialled. I was told that such "old" records were kept in storage and it would cost to have a search done. Well, I wasn't sufficiently invested in this idea that it might be a "hit" to spend money on it, so that put me off. BUT, the person on the phone just volunteered that the local library might have such things in their available archives. She gave me the number.

That was easy enough. Why stop with one easy phone call if you can get it with two? I called the library, explained what I was trying to find: an obituary for George R. K*** that would give me some details about how he died and what his middle name was. The woman said she would look and, after a few minutes, came back and said that yes, they had him in their genealogy section (funny, considering my later plunge into the genealogy project!), but that the records they had did NOT give his middle name, nor the mode of death. It only told where he was buried. Then, just as the lady at the newspaper office had done, she volunteerd that "such and such" funeral home was listed as having handled the arrangements and she knew that they were still in business, so maybe THEY would have a copy of the obituary! And, she very kindly obtained the number for me.

Well, I was only on my third call in less than a half hour or so, and it seemed like I ought to pursue it until I hit a brick wall, so I decided to call the funeral home. By this time, I began to feel that I really needed to know George R. K***'s middle name and how he died!

The girl who answered the phone at the funeral home listened to my explanation that I was looking for a copy of the obituary of George R. K***, and said that, yes, they might have one in their files. She put me on hold, and a minute later a man came on the phone and said (more or less): "I understand you are looking for information about Captain George K***? Can I ask WHY?"

I was NOT prepared to be questioned about this, figuring that it was so old, that nobody would really care WHY I wanted to know. I had told the newspaper person that I was doing research on Viet Nam, but somehow, the nature of my questions here, so close to the "jackpot," were not adequately covered by that explanation.

There was a pregnant silence while I calculated how MUCH I could say, considering that I might be talking to a person who was not very open to such things, and I decided to leave out the fact that the information had been obtained via channeling, and just stick to the "information about past lives obtained under hypnosis" story. So, that's what I told him. I said my son had been talking since he was little about having brothers and a dog named Sam and having flown a plane in the war since, and that recently, because of some physical problems, he had undergone hypnosis in an effort to seek relief and had given further information about his name, that he was shot down by a SAM missle, and that all I really wanted to do was confirm his middle name and if, in fact, this was how he died!

The guy was completely amazed. He kept saying over and over: "this is amazing! This is amazing!" Then he said that, yes, he not only had a copy of the obituary and could confirm that George K***'s middle name was Ray, but that he had also been a personal friend, and was still in touch with the family. He said he would fax me the obituary.

THEN he asked me if I would mind if he contacted the family and told them about this?

This was getting out of hand! I did NOT think that was a good idea. I had enough info to satisfy my curiosity that it had a good probability of being a "hit," but I certainly didn't want to interfere in anyone else's life with such a thing. My innocent little venture into finding out two simple facts was in danger of going way South!

I could imagine the feelings of a person who got a call and was told that there was some strange kid who might be their dead relative reincarnated! But, the funeral home guy persisted saying that Captain K*** had two sisters who still lived nearby, and they were very "open minded," and he just COULDN'T keep such a thing from them, so, reluctantly, I agreed. One was named Ann, and the other was Ruth.

Shortly after I hung up the phone, he faxed me the obituary which, listed the cause of death as "crash on take-off." I was disappointed because it did not confirm the SAM thing, even if we had a partial "confirmation" about the name. He added a note that he had called Ruth, Captain K***'s sister, and would be shortly having lunch with her.

I was still cleaning off my desk and feeling nervous that this man was planning on telling some strange woman in Punta Gorda that my son MIGHT be her dead brother reincarnated. I had such serious misgivings about it that I was actually becoming sick to my stomach. And, I had NO idea that he was going to do it so quickly!

An hour later, George Ray's sister called me and it was, indeed, the strangest conversation I have ever had. I could tell that she was almost pathetically anxious for this to be true, and my heart broke for her. I tried to play the whole thing down as just a freaky anomaly that had only a small chance of being true, but as she asked me question after question about my son, and I answered them, she became more excited and kept saying that she wanted to meet my son.

For my son's sake, I didn't think that was such a good idea even though I felt very sorry for this lady who had been grieving for her brother for so many years. I told her that I would think about it, but that it was impossible for us to make the trip anytime soon.

A week or so later, I received a letter from Ruth Day with directions to her house and a repeated request to let her know as soon as we were able to visit. And, that was where it lay for eight months. As I said, I wasn't anxious to make any moves on this.

I didn't think it was a good idea for pretty obvious reasons. I didn't want to take the risk that my son might identify so much with his past life that he could not focus on this one, and I certainly didn't want him to be further traumatized by waking up memories that might be better left alone.

But, we DID have another session and asked some further questions:

01-05-95
Q: (L) Well, I am sure that you must be aware of the excitement yesterday with the confirmation of the information received some time ago about J__'s past incarnation as a pilot in Viet Nam...
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Well, I would like to have a few more details about this George Ray K***. Is this, in fact, the individual who is incarnated as my son?
A: Probably, but up to you to discover so as to learn. Remember, it's all just lessons.
Q: (L) Well, what I would like to do is get some information from you and then do a session with J__ and then compare the information, to have a sort of guideline to go by, would that be alright?
A: Okay.
Q: (L) The first thing I want to ask is this: George Ray K***, the probable individual, WAS killed in a plane crash. What kind of plane he was flying?
A: EC 121.
Q: (L) How many other people were on board that plane?
A: 15.
Q: (L) And was that plane shot down?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) It did not just simply crash as is stated in the obituary, is that correct?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) What was it doing when it was shot down?
A: Combination reconnaissance and bombing.
Q: (L) Who was the pilot of the plane?
A: There were two.
Q: (L) What were their names?
A: George and Glen. The "Two G's."
Q: (L) Now, George Ray's sister called me, what is her reaction to this information?
A: Anticipation.
Q: (L) What is she anticipating?
A: Reunion. Have you finished with J__?
Q: (L) Well, I guess I could ask a few more questions about J__. What else could I ask?
A: Searing his lungs with flames.
Q: (L) Did that happen in the plane crash?
A: Immediately after missile strike.
Q: (L) Tell us more of what you are seeing at this moment.
A: Breathing in fire.
Q: (L) Was this the cause of death?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Is this the reason J__ has suffered from asthma?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) And, you previously said the leg was torn off with the missle strike, is this correct?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Are there any other injuries that occurred that he would be experiencing backlash from at this time?
A: Spine severed 17 locations.
Q: (L) Does this cause him back pain?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Any other physical symptoms or experiences?
A: Psychological.
Q: (L) In this experience, how long after the missle struck did he actually leave the body?
A: 14 seconds.
Q: (L) It was pretty much instantaneous.
A: Close.
Q: (L) Still, under those circumstances, 14 seconds can be forever. (F) No K***ing. Time slows down to a standstill. (L) What were the last thoughts George Ray had before he left the body?
A: He thought of his family and his childhood home.
Q: (L) If I were to take J__ to the home George Ray grew up in, would he remember it?
A: That was only one of his homes.
Q: (L) Did he remember his earliest home?
A: Yes! [And, as we know from the visit, this proved to be correct. The family had moved to Punta Gorda from Georgia when George Ray was a child.]
Q: (L) Anything else we need to know at this time?
A: Body remains were questionable.
Q: (L) They may have buried the wrong remains in George Ray's grave?
A: Open.
Q: (L) Well, what do you mean the "remains were questionable?"
A: All we will say.
Q: (L) That is all you are going to say on that?
A: Yes.

And, it was VERY strange that his sister questioned the remains when we finally made the visit. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

What we had here was merely a confirmation of the name, the rank, and that was it.Yes, we had the details that my son had given from the time he was a baby, and some details from the Cassiopaeans that didn't match up with what was recorded, but all in all, it clicked on a several significant points and MIGHT be worth further investigation. The Cassiopaeans seemed to think that the visit would be helpful, so I tucked it away in my mind as a future excurson, but only when I was emotionally ready to take the risk. It was as much a traumatic prospect for ME as it was for my only son.

Not too long after this, Tom French mentioned that if I ever decided to make this trip, to please let him know because he would certainly like to be there. So, I bumped the idea forward a bit, though I was still not anxious to go. Actually, I was dragging my feet.

But, after awhile, I couldn't make any more excuses for not going, and I called Ruth to say we would be able to drive down and meet. She was very anxious and gave careful instructions. Arrangements were confirmed, and we made the trip.

When we were all sitting together in the sister's living room, with assorted other relatives gathered around, the sister, Ruth, asked Jason some questions. He told her about his "secret friend, Janie" and his memory of having brothers, and the dog, Sam. Ruth produced a greeting card from a box of mementos and handed it to him. It was written to "Dear Janie..." and it turned out that the deceased's secret, pet name for this sister, Ruth, had been "Janie." They claimed that NO one, but family, could have known this.

Next, she produced a photograph of the deceased with his 4 brothers, him holding the big, black, dog "Sam" or Sambo.

But, the REAL surprise came a little later when the funeral director friend arrived to see my son. In front of all of us there he said: (And I am paraphrasing a little, but it is really burned in my memory, so will be pretty accurate.)

"I have been carrying a secret for 25 years and I am going to tell it to you all now. I guess it doesn't matter anymore. When Ray's body arrived here with the military escort, I drove out to the airport to pick him up. I noticed that the casket was sealed, and I asked the escort if I could open it to prepare him for viewing. The guy told me I had better not because he was in BAD shape having been in the jungle for awhile before he was found. I mentioned that the report was that he crashed on take-off so why should it have taken so long to find him? The escort told me: 'what I am going to tell you is between you and me, and if you ever repeat it, I will call you a liar. He was flying recon over Thailand and got shot down by a SAM. It took us two weeks to find him. You DON'T want to open that coffin!'"

Needless to say, ALL of us were silent for some minutes at this revelation. Then, the sister, Ruth, began to cry because she said: "All those years they blamed it on pilot error, that Ray crashed on take off and he DIDN'T! It wasn't his fault."

As I understand it, the U.S. Government was not supposed to be violating Thai airspace. Captain K*** was, in fact, flying his last mission before his tour of duty was up, so there has been the suggestion made that a BIG coverup about his death was effected by the government.

The result of this series of incidents was that the additional data points, personally experienced, re-ordered my ideas about reincarnation. I now assigned a much higher probability to it being more than a theory.

But, that was clearly NOT what the undertaker thought. At the time of the visit, Tom French asked him what HE thought about the whole bizarre situation. He was obviously uncomfortable with the question, and he began to talk about his fundamental Christian beliefs which precluded any belief in reincarnation. It was his opinion that Captain K*** must have had a demon in him that was released when he died in the crash, and that this very same demon traveled across the globe to infect my child in infancy! While I understood why he had to come up with such a solution in order to protect his belief system, I wondered if he was aware of how insulting to the memory of his friend, Captain K*** such a statement was. Not only that, I was pretty upset for him to say such a thing about my son.

What the reader will find in the article by Tom French, published on February 13th, is a FAR different statement made by the family of Captain K*** in which they negate ANY validity to the story whatsoever!

Just before printing day, Tom called to find out if there were any final things the family would like to have included in the article, and to read them their part of the account and check for detail accuracy. Tom was only able to talk to the other sister, Ann, and she vehemently denied that anything was proven or verified, even in view of the fact that Tom French and Cherie Diez had BEEN THERE and WITNESSED EVERYTHING!

She said the name was not exactly right, that she and her sister had applied to the government under the Freedom of Information Act to find out about Captain K***'s death, and the documents showed that he did NOT get shot down by a SAM, (completely ignoring the fact that this makes a liar out of their family friend, the undertaker).

When Tom asked her how she could explain the numbers of details that my son provided that "only the family could know," she viciously declared that I must have gone down to Punta Gorda and snooped around about them, and then put my son up to producing this information fraudulently! They did NOT want their names in the paper in connection to this story. They refused to grant permission for the Times to print the pictures of Captain K*** that they had so willingly supplied previously when they were so convinced that it WAS true.

This was so complete a turnaround in attitude, that Tom and Cherie both were stunned, not to mention my own reaction of amazement. In short, it almost seemed as if someone had "gotten to them" and had warned them not to participate.

Further, to add insult to injury, this sister, Ann, went so far as to say that I had instigated and pushed for this meeting, that I had been the one insisting on going down there, and on and on. You get the picture.

All of this was said after the article was finished and was being prepared to be sent to the plant for printing. So, needless to say, it was some pretty quick revising that had to be done to comply with these folks at this late date.

But, a few funny things did happen in regards to this story.At the time of the meeting, Ann and Ruth had given Tom French a good selection of photographs of Captain K*** for the article. I have done the same on a number of occasions, and they have always been returned to me by Federal Express within a day or two of being copied. Some time after, Tom told me that somehow, the photos of George Ray K*** had disappeared. He couldn't explain it, he had NEVER lost any photos that belonged to anyone else EVER! But, they were gone, and no amount of searching produced them. I wondered later if the family became angry at him about this, or if it was an anomalous clue to some sort of "other activity" behind the scenes, stories of which are so familiar to researchers in these subjects.

What do I think happened? Well, a conspiracy is a nice theory, but there is also the far more mundane possibility that the sisters just simply jumped into denial because of their religious beliefs. But that is a funny thing. If they had just said they didn't believe that their brother had been reincarnated, that they didn't believe in reincarnation, that would have been one thing. But, to clearly and blatantly LIE about the facts surrounding the meeting, to viciously attack me and make slanderous remarks about my motivations, (including my son in these remarks), referring to them as fraudulent intentions, (for what reason we would defraud them, I can't imagine!) - well, that passed common decency, and demonstrated most thoroughly to me that, if their objections to being connected to the story are based on their religious beliefs, then being a Christian is not only to believe a lie, but it makes liars out of people - and that is most definitely not "Christian" behavior. And the worst kinds of lies are the ones they tell themselves.

I sympathized with Tom for having to work so hard to write these people out of the article at the last minute, and I was distressed to have to tell my son the change in attitude of his "former family," but he took it philosophically and merely pities them for their ignorance and smallness of mind. He's a great kid, and, after all, that was what it was all about... helping him to adjust to THIS life, so he could forget the other one! I was also relieved of the worry that these people might want to intrude on OUR lives. So, in the end, even if some of it left a bad taste in my mouth, it was for the best all the way around. The only sad thing, in my mind, was that these people deprived themselves of the comfort of knowing that the human soul is, indeed, eternal and when death comes, we are not faced with the choice of only "belief." There was an exchange with Tom French in 1998 that pretty much sums up my take on the whole thing, though this was before the "attack of the sisters":

To: "Thomas French"
Subject: Re[2]: Hi!
Date sent: Mon, 21 Dec 1998 13:06:15 -0500

On 21 Dec 98, at 9:38, Thomas French wrote:

Your story, laura, is the most unique of them all. I have never seen described in a newspaper with any kind of perspective or balance. The way we usually write about anyone asking questions about space and time and other possibilities, you'd think those questions were automatically reserved only for crackpots. Sometimes they are portrayed as loveable crackpots, but crackpots nonetheless. i'm looking forward to breaking that stereotype and telling a story i've never read before in a newspaper.

You are a very complex, funny, super intelligent, brave, amazing person, laura, and I think you have a very compelling story to tell about what it's like to ask the big questions, what it means to investigate the unknown, how you live a life and raise a family when you're pursuing such revolutionary ideas, and -- to me, this is probably the crux of it -- the exhiliration and hardship and possibilities that come when you decide to live your life according to your own heart, and not according to the rules set out by society.

You're an explorer, laura, and i'm looking forward to taking the reader on some of the journeys you've taken. Of course, it helps that the explorer in question happens to have a playful sense of humor, that she's raising kids and dealing with the same who-gets-the-front-seat type issues that every parent deals with, and that in the end that we have this (to my mind) very inspiring love story. See, I can't prove that these sixth-density beings from another corner of the galaxy led you to ark. I can't even prove that the Cassiopeans exist. But I don't have to prove it. Because the questions you're asking are real, and your life is real, and something is definitely happening during those saturday night sessions around that board, and however you met him -- personally, I do lean toward the Cassiopeans -- Ark does exist and the love between you is real and very beautiful. You took a chance, made the leap of faith, and here the two of you are. Tell me that's not an important lesson to share with people...

I responded:

No matter what you do, I think I am still going to come across as a "fruitcake." [But] I only wish I could give such a gift to others - that they could KNOW this thing "faith" that came by WORK... and sacrifice... and how truly amazing a thing it is.

Ark recently got a book by Sagan, thinking, since it was
his last book, he MIGHT have revealed something from his
life of work that would indicate that he was not the
bigoted dupe he seemed to be. In this book we read the
following:

"I would love to believe that when I die I will live again,
that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will
continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and
despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that
assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it
is more than wishful thinking." Carl Sagan [...]

"Contrary to the fantasies of the fundamentalists, there
was no deathbed conversion, no last minute refuge taken in
a comforting vision of a heaven or an afterlife. For Carl,
what mattered most was what was true, not merely what would
make us feel better. Even at this moment [as he was dying]
when anyone would be forgiven for turning away from the
reality of our situation, Carl was unflinching. As we looked deeply into each other's eyes, it was with a shared
conviction that our wondrous life together was ending
forever." (Ann Druyan Sagan)

This was one of the saddest things I ever read...
About as sad as the silly stuff that one is going to Heaven
or Hell and won't ever see the loved one again until that
Great Day of Judgment."

If I know ANYTHING that is close to certain (remember me
and my probabilities) it is that reincarnation is real, and
LOVE is real and CAN be FOREVER. Literally. Period.

I will say that I did NOT believe this so surely when we
started on this path... but the day we all went to Punta
Gorda was a huge watershed experience for me. I was in shock for a LONG time after that.

Yes, it's true, we only have circumstantial evidence...
there is no moving finger writing on the wall...

But that situation had so MANY circumstance, that developed over so long a period... And then, my own case, a lifetime
of "searching" for I knew not what except that I called it
"truth" and all the bits and pieces of dreams and
experiences that all "fell into place" when Ark wrote to me... and not just for me, for him as well... the crazy
synchronicities... Well, if it is my right brain talking to my left, or vice versa.... let it continue.

There is something else about this story. Some time after the visit and the gathering of clues from the Cassiopaeans, we decided that it was time to undertake the process of "processing" the event so that my son would have release from this prior experience.

The process consisted of taking him back to the scene under hypnosis and going through it a little at a time, with distance and perspective in an effort to "desensitize" him. Well, everything went fine except that he kept "skipping" over something. He would describe going along in the plane, telling me what he saw in terms of the landscape, sounds, thoughts and so on. Then, he would talk about the approach of the missle, and then he would skip to being out of the body, looking down at the scene full of grief and rage at his young life, full of hope and promise, being cut short so suddenly and unexpectedly.

This "skip" bothered me. So, we went over it again, projecting it onto a screen so that he could be somewhat distanced, and have some control over the speed using a mental device of a sort of tv remote control. This time, going through it frame by frame, he made a funny remark, saying "what's that SMELL?"

"What smell?" I asked.

"Kind of like garbage, or sewage."

"Where is it coming from?"

"Boxes. Boxes in the cargo bay."

He continued describing the scenery below, and then he volunteered: "The smell is gone."

Right away, I knew something was going on, so I backed him up again. Frame by frame we went through it again.

THIS time, he noticed something peculiar: it seemed that they had passed over the same landscape, which had certain notable features, TWICE!

The first time, the smell was present, the second time it was gone. And there was ANOTHER skip there!

The only way I could think of to get some sort of idea what was going on here, since the skip occurred over and over again, was to take him out of the scene to the "between life" state, where he could analyze and describe what he perceived to have happened. In this state, he remarked that the strange, smelly boxes in the cargo hold had something to do with "alien presences," and that he had been transporting them, the plane was "abducted" so that the cargo could be off-loaded into an alien craft, and was "put back" in the time line just in time to catch a missle DELIBERATELY. And it was this hidden interaction that was the cause of the great distress!

Well, needless to say, I didn't know what to make of such an idea. It was bizarre beyond even MY imagining. But, there it was. So, I decided to ask the C's about it:

Q: (L) A few weeks ago I did a hypnosis session with my son. In this hypnosis session, he seemed to go back through a memory of flying a plane, an EC 135, I believe he said. He seemed to go through the crash and so forth. Was this a fairly accurate recall on his part?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) The most interesting part of the session was when he described smelling something strange in the hold of the plane, that the cargo smelled strange. Was this an accurate memory?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) When I asked him what it smelled like, he said it smelled garbagy or something really horrible like sewage. Was that a correct memory?
A: Close.
Q: (L) When I asked him if he knew what it was at a higher level, he said that it had something to do with aliens. Was that correct?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Was he, in fact, transporting something having to do with alien-human interactions?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Then, something happened as he was flying along, he seemed to be flying over the same spot twice and it startled him. Did this, in fact, happen?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) And it seems, after he was flying over the same spot the second time, that he said the smell was gone, the cargo was gone. Did this, in fact, happen?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Was his plane, himself, and his co-pilot and crew, abducted in flight by aliens?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Were they then shot down deliberately by the United States Government?
A: Open.
[It had been previously stated that the plane was shot down by the North Vietnamese, but this additional information seems to suggest that there was some "intent" in replacing the plane at that exact point in space/time so that it WOULD be shot down.]
Q: (L) Was his memory of the actual situation, as he was shot down, fairly accurate?
A: Yes.

So, indeed, if any validity were to be given to this story by agreement of the family, then it would certainly open the door to further inquiry, and it seems that the kind of exposure that would result from confirmation is certainly NOT wanted by certain persons or groups, as yet unknown. Thus, we may use this information to conjecture as to why the family of Captain K*** may have retracted their original statements. The only question is: did they do this under coercion by HUMAN agents, or have they been "tampered with" from other densities or dimensions so that they truly believe what they are now saying?

And, so it goes. Two steps forward, one step backward.

"Many things are possible," said G. "But it is necessary to understand that man's being, both in life and after death, if it does exist after death, may be very different in quality.

"The 'man-machine' with whom everything depends upon external influences, with whom everything happens, who is now one, the next moment another, and the next moment a third, has no future of any kind; he is buried and that is all. Dust returns to dust. This applies to him.

"In order to be able to speak of any kind of future life there must be a certain crystallization, a certain fusion of man's inner qualities, a certain independence of external influences. If there is anything in a man able to resist external influences, then this very thing itself may also be able to resist the death of the physical body.

"But think for yourselves what there is to withstand physical death in a man who faints or forgets everything when he cuts his finger?

"If there is anything in a man, it may survive; if there is nothing, then there is nothing to survive. But even if something survives, its future can be very varied.

"In certain cases of fuller crystallization what people call 'reincarnation' may be possible after death, and, in other cases, what people call 'existence on the other side.' In both cases it is the continuation of life in the 'astral body,' or with the help of the 'astral body.'

"You know what the expression 'astral body' means. But the systems with which you are acquainted and which use this expression state that all men have an 'astral body.' This is quite wrong. What may be called the 'astral body' is obtained by means of fusion, that is, by means of terribly hard inner work and struggle. Man is not born with it. And only very few men acquire an 'astral body.' If it is formed it may continue to live after the death of the physical body, and it may be born again in another physical body. This is 'reincarnation.' If it is not re-born, then, in the course of time, it also dies; it is not immortal but it can live long after the death of the physical body.

"Fusion, inner unity, is obtained by means of 'friction,' by the struggle between 'yes' and 'no' in man. If a man lives without inner struggle, if everything happens in him without opposition, if he goes wherever he is drawn or wherever the wind blows, he will remain such as he is.

"But if a struggle begins in him, and particularly if there is a definite line in this struggle, then, gradually, permanent traits begin to form themselves, he begins to 'crystallize.'

"But crystallization is possible on a right foundation and it is possible on a wrong foundation. 'Friction,' the struggle between 'yes' and 'no,' can easily take place on a wrong foundation. For instance, a fanatical belief in some or other idea, or the 'fear of sin,' can evoke a terribly intense struggle between 'yes' and 'no,' and a man may crystallize on these foundations. But this would be a wrong, incomplete crystallization. Such a man will not possess the possibility of further development. In order to make further development possible he must be melted down again, and this can be accomplished only through terrible suffering.

"Crystallization is possible on any foundation. Take for example a brigand, a really good, genuine brigand. I knew such brigands in the Caucasus. He will stand with a rifle behind a stone by the roadside for eight hours without stirring. Could you do this? All the time, mind you, a struggle is going on in him. He is thirsty and hot, and flies are biting him; but he stands still.

"Another is a monk; he is afraid of the devil; all night long he beats his head on the floor and prays. Thus crystallization is achieved.

"In such ways people can generate in themselves an enormous inner strength; they can endure torture; they can get what they want. This means that there is now in them something solid, something permanent. Such people can become immortal. But what is the good of it? A man of this kind becomes an 'immortal thing,' although a certain amount of consciousness is sometimes preserved in him. But even this, it must be remembered, occurs very rarely."

I recollect that the talks which followed that evening struck me by the fact that many people heard something entirely different to what G. said; others only paid attention to G.'s secondary and nonessential remarks and remembered only these. The fundamental principles in what G. said escaped most of them. Only very few asked questions on the essential things he said. One of these questions has remained in my memory.

"In what way can one evoke the struggle between 'yes' and 'no' in oneself?" someone asked.

"Sacrifice is necessary," said G. "If nothing is sacrificed nothing is obtained. And it is necessary to sacrifice something precious at the moment, to sacrifice for a long time and to sacrifice a great deal. But still, not forever. This must be understood because often it is not understood.

"Sacrifice is necessary only while the process of crystallization is going on. When crystallization is achieved, renunciations, privations, and sacrifices are no longer necessary. Then a man may have everything he wants. There are no longer any laws for him, he is a law unto himself."

Comment: Here at SOtT, we think that Novak misinterpreted the material he found. The most likely interpretation is a combination of the ideas presented by Gurdjieff and Mouravieff.

Gurdjieff:

"Immortality is one of the qualities we ascribe to people without having a sufficient understanding of their meaning," said G. "Other qualities of this kind are 'individuality,' in the sense of an inner unity, a 'permanent and unchangeable I,' 'consciousness,' and 'will.' All these qualities can belong to man" (he emphasized the word "can"), "but this certainly does not mean that they do belong to him or belong to each and every one.

"In order to understand what man is at the present time, that is, at the present level of development, it is necessary to imagine to a certain extent what he can be, that is, what he can attain. Only by understanding the correct sequence of development possible will people cease to ascribe to themselves what, at present, they do not possess, and what, perhaps, they can only acquire after great effort and great labor.

"According to an ancient teaching, traces of which may be found in many systems, old and new, a man who has attained the full development possible for man, a man in the full sense of the word, consists of four bodies. These four bodies are composed of substances which gradually become finer and finer, mutually interpenetrate one another, and form four independent organisms, standing in a definite relationship to one another but capable of independent action.

"The reason why it is possible for four bodies to exist is that the human organism, that is, the physical body, has such a complex organization that, under certain conditions, a new independent organism can grow in it, affording a much more convenient and responsive instrument for the activity of consciousness than the physical body. The consciousness manifested in this new body is capable of governing it, and it has full power and full control over the physical body.

"In this second body, under certain conditions, a third body can grow, again having characteristics of its own. The consciousness manifested in this third body has full power and control over the first two bodies; and the third body possesses the possibility of acquiring knowledge inaccessible either to the first or to the second body.

"In the third body, under certain conditions, a fourth can grow, which differs as much from the third as the third differs from the second and the second from the first. The consciousness manifested in the fourth body has full control over the first three bodies and itself.

"These four bodies are defined in different teachings in various ways."

"The first is the physical body, in Christian terminology the 'carnal' body; the second, in Christian terminology, is the 'natural' body; the third is the 'spiritual' body; and the fourth, in the terminology of esoteric Christianity, is the 'divine' body.

"In theosophical terminology the first is the 'physical' body, the second is the 'astral,' the third is the 'mental,' and the fourth the 'causal.'

"In the terminology of certain Eastern teachings the first body is the 'carriage' (body), the second body is the 'horse' (feelings, desires), the third the 'driver' (mind), and the fourth the 'master' (I, consciousness)

"Such comparisons and parallels may be found in most systems and teachings which recognize something more in man than the physical body. But almost all these teachings, while repeating in a more or less familiar form the definitions and divisions of the ancient teaching, have forgotten or omitted its most important feature, which is: that man is not born with the finer bodies, and that they can only be artificially cultivated in him provided favorable conditions both internal and external are present.

"The 'astral body' is not an indispensable implement for man. It is a great luxury which only a few can afford. A man can live quite well without an 'astral body.' His physical body possesses all the functions necessary for life. A man without 'astral body' may even produce the impression of being a very intellectual or even spiritual man, and may deceive not only others but also himself.

"This applies still more, of course, to the 'mental body' and the fourth body. Ordinary man does not possess these bodies or their corresponding functions. But he often thinks, and makes others think, that he does. The reasons for this are, first, the fact that the physical body works with the same substances of which the higher bodies are composed, only these substances are not crystallized in him, do not belong to him; and secondly, it has all the functions analogous to those of the higher bodies, though of course they differ from them considerably.

"The chief difference between the functions of a man possessing the physical body only and the functions of the four bodies, is that, in the first case, the functions of the physical body govern all the other functions, in other words, everything is governed by the body which, in its turn, is governed by external influences. In the second case, the command or control emanates from the higher body.
"The functions of the physical body may be represented as parallel to the functions of the four bodies."

"In the first case," said G., "that is, in relation to the functions of a man of physical body only, the automaton depends upon external influences, and the next three functions depend upon the physical body and the external influences it receives. Desires or aversions—'I want,' 'I don't want,' 'I like,' 'I don't like'—that is, functions occupying the place of the second body, depend upon accidental shocks and influences.

"Thinking, which corresponds to the functions of the third body, is an entirely mechanical process. 'Will' is absent in ordinary mechanical man, he has desires only; and a greater or lesser permanence of desires and wishes is called a strong or a weak will.

"In the second case, that is, in relation to the functions of the four bodies, the automatism of the physical body depends upon the influences of the other bodies. Instead of the discordant and often contradictory activity of different desires, there is one single I, whole, indivisible, and permanent; there is individuality, dominating the physical body and its desires and able to overcome both its reluctance and its resistance. Instead of the mechanical process of thinking there is consciousness. And there is will, that is, a power, not merely composed of various often contradictory desires belonging to different "I's," but issuing from conscious ness and governed by individuality or a single and permanent I. Only such a will can be called "free," for it is independent of accident and cannot be altered or directed from without.

"An Eastern teaching describes the functions of the four bodies, their gradual growth, and the conditions of this growth, in the following way:

"Let us imagine a vessel or a retort filled with various metallic powders. The powders are not in any way connected with each other and every accidental change in the position of the retort changes the relative position of the powders. If the retort be shaken or tapped with the finger, then the powder which was at the top may appear at the bottom or in the middle, while the one which was at the bottom may appear at the top.

"There is nothing permanent in the position of the powders and under such conditions there can be nothing permanent. This is an exact picture of our psychic life. Each succeeding moment, new influences may change the position of the powder which is on the top and put in its place another which is absolutely its opposite. Science calls this state of the powders the state of mechanical mixture. The essential characteristic of the interrelation of the powders to one another in this kind of mixture is the instability of these interrelations and their variability.

"It is impossible to stabilize the interrelation of powders in a state of mechanical mixture. But the powders may be fused; the nature of the powders makes this possible.

"To do this a special kind of fire must be lighted under the retort which, by heating and melting the powders, finally fuses them together. Fused in this way the powders will be in the state of a chemical compound. And now they can no longer be separated by those simple methods which separated and made them change places when they were in a state of mechanical mixture. The contents of the retort have become indivisible, 'individual.' This is a picture of the formation of the second body.

"The fire by means of which fusion is attained is produced by 'friction,' which in its turn is produced in man by the struggle between 'yes' and 'no.' If a man gives way to all his desires, or panders to them, there will be no inner struggle in him, no 'friction,' no fire.

"But if, for the sake of attaining a definite aim, he struggles with desires that hinder him, he will then create a fire which will gradually transform his inner world into a single whole.

"Let us return to our example. The chemical compound obtained by fusion possesses certain qualities, a certain specific gravity, a certain electrical conductivity, and so on. These qualities constitute the characteristics of the substance in question. But by means of work upon it of a certain kind the number of these characteristics may be increased, that is, the alloy may be given new properties which did not primarily belong to it. It may be possible to magnetize it, to make it radioactive, and so on.

"The process of imparting new properties to the alloy corresponds to the process of the formation of the third body and of the acquisition of new knowledge and powers with the help of the third body.

"When the third body has been formed and has acquired all the properties, powers, and knowledge possible for it, there remains the problem of fixing this knowledge and these powers, because, having been imparted to it by influences of a certain kind, they may be taken away by these same influences or by others. By means of a special kind of work for all three bodies the acquired properties may be made the permanent and inalienable possession of the third body.

"The process of fixing these acquired properties corresponds to the process of the formation of the fourth body.

"And only the man who possesses four fully developed bodies can be called a 'man' in the full sense of the word. This man possesses many properties which ordinary man does not possess. One of these properties is immortality. All religions and all ancient teachings contain the idea that, by acquiring the fourth body, man acquires immortality; and they all contain indications of the ways to acquire the fourth body, that is, immortality.

"In this connection certain teachings compare man to a house of four rooms. Man lives in one room, the smallest and poorest of all, and until he is told of it, he does not suspect the existence of the other rooms which are full of treasures. When he does learn of this he begins to seek the keys of these rooms and especially of the fourth, the most important, room. And when a man has found his way into this room he really becomes the master of his house, for only then does the house belong to him wholly and forever.

"The fourth room gives man immortality and all religious teachings strive to show the way to it. There are a great many ways, some shorter and some longer, some harder and some easier, but all, without exception, lead or strive to lead in one direction, that is, to immortality."

In reality, phenomena of this sort are the result of a casual and temporary surge of fine energies in the organism: the slot of the individual Present then enlarges for a few instants, and some significant facts of the immediate future slip into the waking consciousness. In this way, the impression is created of a return of another time.

In a certain way this is true, although the impression of having lived before is only caused by mechanical unfolding of the film. By reincarnation, we must understand a phenomenon of a very different order. Although the theoretical film revolves integrally on the plane of possibilities, meaning in eternity, the film of the exterior man clings to the plane of realization, that is, of Time, but only to the extent strictly necessary to satisfy the ends of the Ray of Creation. True reincarnation, on the other hand, occurs entirely in time, and belongs integrally to the domain of the Real, well understood as part of the broader frame of Manifestation. We have insisted on the fact that the human Personality is not a reality in the proper sense of the word, but a possibility. It plays a role in the film to which it is attached, from which it will not disappear until the moment of the second Birth. At that moment, it will cease to be a Personality. Because of its indestructible union with the real 'I', it will be transfigured, and so it will become an Individuality.

As long as man lives in the wilderness, self-satisfied and immersed in lies and illusions, the film will unfold with mechanical inflexibility, and the Personality will remain entirely unchanged. These circumstances start to change the moment man crosses the first Threshold. This passage can be compared to the conception of the future Individuality. The Staircase symbolizes the period of gestation, and the crossing of the second Threshold represents the second Birth, the birth of Individuality. During his later development, corresponding to the notes MI and RE of the Way, the Individuality becomes progressively integrated with the higher cosmoses. By acquiring the gifts of the Holy Spirit appropriate to his nature, he progressively participates in real, objective existence, which finally characterizes his being. This is Salvation; liberation from the bonds of the film.

It is only at this point of evolution that true individual reincarnation becomes possible. This is not mechanical; it is done consciously, generally to accomplish a mission.

An example of reincarnation is given by the Gospels. When Jesus was talking with Peter, James and John when they descended from the mountain after the Transfiguration, the disciples asked Him this question: 'Why .do the scribes say that Elijah must come first. He answered and said: 'it is true: that Elijah must come to make everything ready: but I say unto you that Elijah has come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they would. Even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them. Then understood the disciples that He spake unto them of John the Baptist. '

Elsewhere, talking of John the Baptist, Jesus was categorical. 'If ye are willing to understand it, this is Elijah that is to come,' and He added: ' He that hath ears let him hear.'

It is important to grasp clearly the difference which exists between the film, a mixture of possibilities, and reincarnation in time, which belongs to the domain of the Real, and to understand the meaning of this difference. At the time of the second Birth, that is to say, by crossing the second Threshold, man escapes his bondage to the film, and enters the domain of redemption. He is then admitted into the Sacred Brotherhood of living Beings, called in the Tradition: The Great Esoteric Brotherhood. The Apostle Paul tells us: ' and we know that to them that love God, all things work together for good, to them that are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be similar to the image of His Son, that he may be the first-born among many brethren.'

The Great Esoteric Brotherhood is an unshakeable force: those who are part of it are no longer subject to illness or sorrow. Death loses its hold over them. On their own scale, following the example of the Lord, they too have overcome the world.

In theory, the film in which man is born and in which he lives can go on until the end of the world, on condition that he is happy, satisfied with himself, attributing his virtues to himself, and blaming others for his mistakes and misfortunes. Properly speaking, this kind of existence cannot be considered as human; it could be described as anthropoid. This term is justified in the sense that exterior man, immersed in self-satisfaction, represents the crowning achievement of millions of years of evolution of the species from its animal ancestors, yet, from the point of view of esoteric evolution, he is a possibility which has not yet been realized.
If we envisage the problem of esoteric evolution from the point of view of the film and the different parts man can play in it, it is clear that this kind .of evolution is impossible as long as the film can always be considered as: turning in the same circle. People who perform in such a film are those we have called anthropoids, puppets, the dead who, in the words of Jesus, 'believe themselves to be alive'. Esoteric evolution starts when man, by his conscious efforts, proves capable of breaking the circle and transforming it into an ascending spiral.

The spiral represents an intermediate state between the position where the human Personality is found to be trapped in the film, which revolves mechanically in a way hardly separated from the eternal plane, and that of the perfect, free Individuality, who is able, if need arises, to reincarnate consciously in Time.

This is an intermediate state in this sense that the film definitely departs from the plane of the eternal, from the plane of possibilities. The curve of life, which for exterior man does not in practice differ from a circle, transforms itself into a spiral and does not end - as it did previously - almost at its point of departure: the distance between these two points now marks a definite progression in Time.

The film in the form of a spiral belongs to men who climb the Staircase: we have seen that complete disengagement of the film is produced at the moment of crossing the Second Threshold. If man is able to do that successfully during a single life, so breaking the circle for the very first time, he does not return to it. Such a case is very rare: it is the lot of the just. Generally, this liberation requires several lives; several revolutions of the spiral.

As a general rule, each revolution occurs in Time, and consequently can appear to be a reincarnation. In reality, it is nothing but a return to exterior life. A pseudo-reincarnation like this is neither conscious nor personal: it is the actors in the film who return, and they do not remember any previous experiences.

However, a change is possible as soon as the conscious efforts of man increase the effect of the Time factor by enlarging perception of the Present.

In a film which unfolds in a spiral in this way, the contents of the play change; they change in two ways: first in each life, that is, during each revolution, and also from spiral to spiral. The composition of the cast, the circumstances, and the scenery all change. Two elements however remain permanent: first, the general aim, to reach and cross the second Threshold, then the absolute condition for crossing this Threshold, that all the karmic debts which have been accumulated in the present life, as well as during previous spirals, must be neutralized and liquidated. Before the second Threshold, says the Tradition, every drama must be played out to its denouement.

The work is hard and difficult because man constantly makes mistakes. The attentive reader has understood that following the spiral, or climbing the Staircase, is reserved for men who have already absorbed a certain quantity of 'B' influences, and who thus possess a more or less developed magnetic centre. We must emphasize that this state in no way guarantees that they will make no further errors.

It is true that from the time man first mounts the Staircase he is watched, especially if he makes sincere and considerable efforts. The Great Esoteric Brotherhood offers him a helping hand. Certain meetings, a play of favourable circumstances, are the forms taken by this help. This assistance does not, however, free him of the need .to work on himself and to go on making conscious efforts.

In addition, it must be said that often the proffered help is not used, because man does not listen to the advice given, or because he does not grasp the meaning of the favourable circumstances and the possibilities of progress which open before him. Still more than half a creature of the domain of Illusion, he continues to take frequent impulsive decisions, and often turns against his own avowed aims.

In most cases, although he may be able to disentangle certain situations at the level of each spiral, he will also introduce new complications into the film, especially in his relations with those around him. It must therefore be understood that as long as man has not attained and crossed the second Threshold, he will have to start all over again. He will restart every spiral in the wilderness, he will once again have to discern the 'B' influences, cross the first Threshold, and climb the Staircase step by step. It is true that no conscious effort is ever lost; but the experience acquired in one spiral only appears in the next in the form of innate personal aptitudes, or vague recollections of people in the cast.

One of the great obstacles to evolution is that man does not generally think of his esoteric evolution except in old age, when he has already accumulated a considerable amount of error and new complications in his life. He often introduces into the play new characters, quite foreign to the underlying meaning of his life, or to the reason for which his team is created. He sometimes takes on commitments which tie him narrowly, when he most urgently needs all his liberty of action to catch up with time wasted in enterprises or causes which have nothing to do with esoteric evolution.

The day will come when he will become aware of his situation. Woe to him if, frightened, he tries to brutally break the ties which he has knotted. Instead of attaining the liberty he seeks, he will then fall into much harder and more senseless new slavery, added to the old. We have given an idea, in chapter XVI, of the attitude man should adopt towards those around him. We are now going to attempt to suggest measures that can be taken to find a denouement or unraveling.

We should know that, at the end of a spiral, a comparison is made between the film as it was conceived at the time of birth and what it has become at the time of death. The balance sheet between these two states is drawn up, as in accountancy, by listing assets and liabilities, followed by a profit and loss account. This will show the result of the elapsed life objectively. This balance sheet furnishes the basic elements for composing the film at the start of the following spiral. If we could avoid all errors and complications in this new experience, produced as a result of free movements, esoteric evolution would then occur in a harmonious rising curve. Generally, this is not the case.

As we have just said, man most .often comes to this idea of evolution after he has already complicated the film to which he belongs. But true evolution cannot occur except on the basis of the original film - after all artificially added elements have been eliminated. The latter is conditional on a return to the purity of the centres, especially the emotional centre which - at least at the start - is the sole receptacle of 'B' influences, and seat of the magnetic centre. The heart must therefore be pure, and if not already pure it must be purified.

This is the sine qua non condition of success.

All the information contained in Chapter XVII, which was concerned with 'lying' in all its aspects, was given essentially to emphasize the absolute need for purifying the heart, and for beginning to re-educate the emotional centre in a positive direction.

This necessity explains the meaning of the words of Jesus: ' Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.

This verse specifically refers to the emotional life. However, since the times of the Early Church, there has been a tendency to interpret and understand this instruction as a restriction on the development of the intellectual life. This is a mistake. Intelligence must be developed and stimulated, and the admonition: become as little children, only points to a need for purity of the centres, not to a need to keep them in a primitive state. St Paul the Apostle gives a precise commentary on this which leaves no room for ambiguity: ' Brothers', said he, 'be not children in that which concerns judgment, be children in what concerns malice, but as to judgment, be fully grown men. Supporting this admonition, the Apostle also drew the attention of his contemporaries to the fact that, at that time, man was already very retarded on the way of evolution. He said, in fact : 'for when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again that someone teach you the first principles of the oracles of God and have come to need milk, and not solid food. For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of truth.

Since the time of St Paul it is doubtful whether man has caught up from being behind. If today we want to obtain real results from the point of view of esoteric evolution, we must make haste to abandon the diet of milk and take the risk of adopting solid food.

This is exactly what we are trying to aid by presenting this Doctrine to the reader in systematic form, instead of in parables: this is solid food. It is now necessary for us to give instruction in the same form on a possible short cut in esoteric work which can rapidly take us to the second Threshold. We .have already indicated that this possibility is offered to polar beings, to those couples described by the ancient Tradition in the myth of the Androgyne. We will now reconsider this question more precisely from both theoretical and practical points of view.

On the basis of the preceding analysis, the essential data for the film of any ordinary person can be described as follows: as the hero of the romance of his own life, the subject must necessarily be the star of the film. But he can also play a minor role in the film of people who play a secondary role in his own film. In this way, each film gets enmeshed with other films, where the same people are found in totally different situations.

One must also distinguish between two categories of actors. The first are really part of the cast. A definite role is assigned to them: they are organically tied to the film. The second group only appears by accident in the film, drawn into the action by the free movements of the hero. This complexity is further increased because some of the actors who have genuine parts in the film play their roles badly, while others play roles which are not their own. Situations like this are widespread. Let us examine this phenomenon in more detail.

The human Personality, as we know, is an organism with multiple parts or facets: 987 to be exact. In the ideal case, only realized by polar beings, and the only effective one from the esoteric point of view, the 987 facets of man and woman are strictly polar. These are the predestined husband and wife whose union will create a true couple.

However, the cast contains other people, who play roles organically tied to that of the hero, and who are necessary to bring the film in its ensemble to its natural end. These are friend-souls, brother-souls, sister-souls, collaborating-souls and servant- souls etc. The Personalities of each of them have a certain number of facets identical to those of the hero, for actors of the same sex, while for the actors of the opposite sex they are polar. In the case of brothers and sisters, the number of identical or polar facets can be as many as half or even more.

The lack of discernment and of sincerity towards ourselves, the innate desire to find a perfect resonance to the vibration of our soul, and the impatience that follows, all multiplied by the action of the General Law, induce us too often to contract unions which can only result in absurd situations. Instead of resisting the mirage; instead of waiting and seeking, we slip into imperfect unions, which are a source of suffering both for the partners and their children. In addition, these unions alter the meaning of the film in its ensemble, and so corrupt the personal lives of all the actors in the drama. Lastly, the esoteric results foreseen in the initial composition of the film are gravely compromised.

Our lives very often resemble a well conceived theatre play in which the roles are upset by a person searching for an absurdity; each of us is this mischievous or comic being. It is as a result of considering on the matrimonial plane, or through lack of consideration on the purely sexual plane, that most of our errors are committed, including those which demand the heaviest payment. Even beings of good faith are not exempt from error. To confuse a brother or sister for husband or wife compounds a very complicated situation, especially from the esoteric point of view. The situation is all the more confused when children are born from such unions.

Life then takes on the character of a perpetual compromise with oneself. The moral and physical health of 'accidentally united couples' suffers: with changes in the intellectual centre due to cheating and lying; heart disease if the emotional centre is sensitive and still aspires to the truth; also diseases of obscure origin, of which cancer is one that attacks the body in its most fragile parts. In every case, the condition necessarily leads to permanent loss of fine energies which, in its turn, brings on accelerated aging and leads to premature death.

Difficult as are these situations that arise out of our errors, they must not prevent anyone who throws himself into esoteric work from finding the courage in himself to look them in the face, and to search for a satisfactory outcome. If the Devil - the General Law - tries to lead us into new errors to obstruct our esoteric evolution, the supporting hand of the Lord, gentle yet firm, is always stretched out to help us. Yet our minds, too rational and too realistic, often stop us from sensing this help.

We have already indicated the form of a just and objective solution to the problems that face us when a situation has been entangled by our errors: the Gordian knots must not be cut, they must be untied in such away that the participants, both tied by the same knot, feel only relief at the disappearance of a situation which was simply a source of suffering for both.
If the situation is truly resolved, to the benefit of all those originally concerned, the original meaning of the film and its normal development can be found.

The ensemble of people organically linked in one film forms a team. In the initial conception of the film, this team must attain a predetermined aim as a result of the way the participants play their roles in the play-of-life. This aim is different from the aims we follow in a life ruled by ‘A’ influences, which are instruments of the General Law in its development of the Ray of Creation. The objective for such a team always has an esoteric meaning: in fact, although the Personalities which compose it may be very different: they will share a deep need: a desire to end lies and illusions once and for all, to escape the domination of the ‘A’ influences and, in one form or another, to reach that objective existence in which man finds his real 'I', and identifies himself with it.

Here, we must describe the principal law which underlies the formation of these teams. On the human plane, the greatest reward goes to him who commands. In esotericism, on the contrary, it goes to him who knows how best to serve. The confusion between these two important master-ideas - of commanding, and of serving - sometimes appears dramatic. We can even see this in the disciples of Jesus. The question of knowing who was greatest amongst them tormented them. The Gospel mentions this more than once.

To better understand the significance of how the team is made up, and the kind of mission entrusted to it, it must be remembered that the spiral of the film unwinds itself in an intermediate position, between rotation without issue in the plane of eternity, and progress in time through conscious reincarnation.

The more evolved the team, the more important the task entrusted to it. History provides examples of the work of teams in all fields: legislative, military, political and religious. The role of women in teams is particularly marked in crucial periods of the history of peoples. [...]

The film, freed from karmic elements introduced by our free movements during our present life, will still contain the Karma of previous experiences. In other words, since nothing in the Universe is lost, we are born with a script already burdened with the consequences of our previous free movements. Karmic elements, and the traces of accomplished conscious efforts, are both found in latent state in our subconsciousness. There they exert a certain influence on our life in the form of our predispositions; our inclinations and dislikes.

As we have just indicated, it is only at the summit of the Staircase, at the note FA of the Way, that man will see all the contents of his being truly and in every detail. Nevertheless, once the first Threshold is crossed, esoteric work will begin to reveal the true meaning of the film. Man must proceed with an impartial analysis of its contents: the role that each of the actors plays in it - and the value of this role - must be passed through a sieve. Gradually, as this stripping work progresses, the positive or negative character of different roles emerges more and more clearly. After this, inappropriate elements tend to disappear from the scene. At the end of this analysis, the film will contain only a reduced number of actors. But all of them are organically bound together, and with the hero, by the contents of the play, as it was conceived from the beginning of these experiences, which are pursued by the real 'I' through centuries or even millennia. The play must then be played out to its resolution or denouement.

The basic task of man, once he has crossed the first Threshold, is to shelter himself from the karmic influences which are the effects of errors committed in his free movements, either in the present life or in the past. To facilitate their task, these workers used to go to some monastery or create a hermitage for themselves, a 'desert', in the language of the Orthodox Tradition. The pupil was thus sheltered from a large part of the ‘A’ influences, and this enabled him to concentrate his efforts more effectively on introspective work. In our times this formula is old-fashioned. Monasteries and hermitages are no longer available to everyone, as they were at one time. Today one must work in the esoteric plane while remaining in the secular world. This is particularly true because the rhythm of everyday life is different. Our times require energetic and rapid methods.

There was no confirmation from either Islamabad or Washington on the reports that al-Zawahri had been targeted, but a Pakistani intelligence official said the CIA had told Pakistani agents that they had targeted al-Zawahri in the attack.

Villagers in Damadola denied hosting al-Zawahri or any other al-Qaeda or Taliban figure, saying all the dead were local people. On Saturday, more than 8,000 tribesmen staged a peaceful protest in a nearby town to condemn the airstrike, which one speaker described as "open terrorism."

Mr Ahmadinejad sparked international outrage with his hardline stance towards Israel, following his election last June.

He repeated both his attacks and calls for a referendum for Palestinians to choose their future political fate.

"(Israelis) have no roots in Palestine and almost all are immigrants," he said.

"Let the nation of Palestine decide among themselves."

Diplomatic divisions

Western countries are now seeking to persuade other members of UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to agree to refer Iran to the Council.

European, Russian, Chinese and US officials are due to meet in London on Monday, when they are expected to set a date for the crucial IAEA meeting.

On Friday, US President George W Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed that the crisis should be resolved through peaceful means.

Washington, Israel and many European powers distrust Iran, partly because it had kept its nuclear research secret for 18 years before it was revealed in 2002.

Since last August, Iran has resumed all nuclear activity apart from enrichment, which can produce fuel for power stations or, under certain conditions, for bombs.

Tehran has always said it has the right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - which it has signed - to research nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Mr Marty was asked to lead the inquiry by the Council of Europe, the continent's human rights watchdog, after the claims surfaced late last year.

Speaking to journalists in Switzerland, he said he was personally convinced the US had undertaken illegal activities in Europe in transporting and detaining prisoners.

However, he acknowledged he had yet to produce concrete proof and said he expected his inquiry to last another 12 months.

"The question is: was the CIA really working in Europe?" he said. "I believe we can say today, without a doubt, yes."

Washington's policy "respects neither human rights nor the Geneva Conventions", he said.

He cited as evidence the case of Egyptian cleric and terror suspect Osama Mustafa Hassan, also known as Abu Omar, who was allegedly kidnapped by CIA agents from Milan in 2003 and flown to Egypt for interrogation.

'Dirty work'

Mr Marty also criticised European governments for failing to act when it seemed clear they knew about the US policy.

"It's not possible to transport people from one place to another in such a manner without the secret services knowing about it," he said.

"What was shocking was the passivity with which we all, in Europe, have welcomed these things.

"Europeans should be less hypocritical and not turn a blind eye. There are those who do the dirty work abroad but there are also those who know when they should close their eyes when that dirty work is being done."

Mr Marty said it was unfair to single out for criticism Romania and Poland, both named in media reports as possible sites for the centres. Both have denied involvement.

Governments across Europe had been "willingly silent", he said, and it was now time for Europeans to decide whether they would continue to tolerate the illegal actions of the CIA.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Bern says Mr Marty's comments come amid growing controversy within Switzerland over the leak of classified information from the Swiss intelligence service.

The documents appear to confirm the existence of secret CIA interrogation centres in several Eastern European countries, she says.

On Thursday, an intelligence official told the Reuters news agency that the practice of identifying "non-targets" is a lesson learned from the US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo War in 1999.

But the Germans' assistance may have gone even further. ARD quotes an American source, identified as a "former Pentagon employee," as saying that the German help was "very important" for the American offensive. The source went on to say that the BND provided "direct assistance in choosing targets."

The most dramatic example of such direct assistance may well have been the April 7, 2003 attempt on Saddam. According to ARD's Pentagon source, US intelligence received a tip that morning of a column of black Mercedes limousines near a restaurant often frequented by Saddam and other government leaders. It was thought that Saddam might be among the passengers. But how to verify the report? According to the Pentagon source, US officials called up German intelligence and asked them to have their agents do a drive-by of the restaurant. The German agents in Baghdad confirmed the existence of a convoy of armored vehicles outside the restaurant. Not long afterwards, four satellite-guided bombs obliterated the site.

The Bundesnachrichtendienst denies helping the Americans with targeting. It confirms that two BND agents were in Baghdad during the war, but said its agents "provided neither of the warring parties with targets or coordinates for bombing. The BND collected, analyzed and communicated information to the German government within the framework of its legal obligations," a BND spokesman said on Wednesday.

A political firestorm in Berlin

The revelations come as Chancellor Angela Merkel flies to the United States on Thursday for talks with US President George W. Bush. Germany, along with many European countries, has expressed concern over recent allegations of CIA flights carrying terror suspects to third countries for interrogation -- part of a program known as extraordinary rendition. Alleged secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe have also raised hackles, and last weekend, Merkel said the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba " in its present form cannot and must not exist in the long term." She's expected to mention the case of Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen who was born and raised in Germany and is currently incarcerated at Guantanamo, in her talks with Bush.

Opposition politicians in Germany are demanding an investigation into the lastest reports of BND activities during the war. The broadly pro-American Free Democrats have said that if the story is true, "it would be a proper scandal that would urgently require a complete clarification." The less Washington-friendly socialist Left Party has demanded a special investigation into the allegations.

Much attention, however, is focusing on the Green Party -- Schröder's coalition partners during the war in Iraq. Former foreign minister Fischer said on Thursday that he had no problem with an investigation. "I have nothing to hide," he said. Other members of the Green Party, though, said that Fischer was outraged by the news and, although he knew about the BND agents who were in Baghdad during the war, he claims not to have known about any assistance offered by them to the Americans. Green Party leader Claudia Roth said "the parliament and the German public has the right to see the allegations cleared up with no ifs or buts."

Similar voices are to be heard in Schröder's party. SPD parliamentarians spoke on Thursday of the "dark side of foreign policy" and of "BND's separate foreign policy." One can't escape the feeling, said one SPD politician, that Schröder's Iraq policy seems "more and more dishonest."

Asked if Mr Blair should run for UN secretary general, Clinton responded: “That would suit me. He would be a good one.”

After leaving office in 2000, Mr Clinton set up a foundation through which he has campaigned on issues such as the fight against HIV/Aids and the promotion of racial and religious harmony.

He suggested that Mr Blair might wish to follow a similar path if he did not take a position in a multi-national organisation like the UN.

“What I would say to him and what I have said to him – I saw him actually last month – is that, when he does go, he’s still got a lot he can do, a lot of good you can do in the world and that’s the most important thing,” said Clinton.

“I think there are lots of things you can do. You can… take a position, or you can do what I do – just create your own operation and try to find some public good you can do as a private citizen.

“This has been an immensely rewarding phase of my life and I think he will find immense rewards when his service is done.”

He added: “When he steps down and under what circumstances, that’s for him to decide. I don’t have an opinion.”

Mr Clinton called for a “delicate” approach to Iran in the current row over its nuclear ambitions.

But he said there was “probably no choice” but to go the UN Security Council to seek sanctions against the Tehran regime, which is suspected of seeking to construct nuclear weapons.

He said he doubted his successor George Bush would go to war with Iran, saying that the president had shown “a lot of restraint” on the issue and would also face difficulties fielding enough troops given current commitments in Iraq.

Mr Clinton said he expected a “not insubstantial” withdrawal of US troops from Iraq during 2007, but predicted that special forces would remain in the country for some time beyond that.

The decision also looks set to sour relations with Washington that have never recovered from socialist prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's decision to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq in 2004.

The US says it is concerned that Basque separatist group Eta is active in Venezuela - though Spain's own intelligence services denied the group was there.

Spain's deputy prime minister, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, said Spain would press ahead with the contract. Adding that substitute parts would be sourced.

The group includes two sets of brothers: the two who show no symptoms at all, and a set from the distant suburbs who developed mild symptoms after contact with gloves that had been used to dispose of a dead duck. The fifth is a 65-year-old man from inside the city itself, who the Turkish health ministry says had "close contact with a chicken," without elaborating on the details.

The Turkish Health Ministry and the World Health Organization team refused to give further details. Nor would a hospital administrator allow reporters into the hospital on Tuesday, the public holiday of Id al-Adha, on which families slaughter livestock.

In addition to observing the boys, who are all being treated with antiviral medicines, scientists are struggling with other issues, particularly the possibility that bird flu might not be so deadly as previously thought.

A study released Tuesday in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggested that the A(H5N1) virus might cause a wide spectrum of disease, but that doctors in in other parts of Asia might detect only the severest cases, the ones that went to the hospital. The four children in Ankara bolster that suggestion.

In Ankara, where the government has been sending out vans with loudspeakers urging people to report symptoms and avoid contact with animals, even people with mild symptoms are being checked for bird flu, meaning that milder cases are more likely to be detected than they are in other parts of Asia. "I'm sure that part of the explanation for the high number of case in Turkey is better surveillance," said Maria Cheng, a spokeswoman for the W.H.O. in Geneva.

Residents of urban districts of the capital said almost nobody here keeps birds, instead buying poultry at the supermarket. But poultry is found all around Turkey, even here.

Ibrahim Ercan, a shopkeeper, said he keeps seven chickens in the backyard of his small store, "mostly as pets, to create a farm-like atmosphere." He is supposed to call the authorities to have them culled, though he has not yet done so.

The huge number of animal outbreaks across the country is also perplexing, scientists said. One theory is that migrating birds seeded the disease in various areas in late December. But that is contradicted by the fact that no outbreaks have been reported in adjacent countries where the birds would also have passed.

Another possibility is that poultry-selling practices in Turkey contributed to the spread. In Dogubayazit City, home to 4 of Turkey's 15 human A(H5N1) cases, people said the big chicken farms often send huge trucks of old birds to the town, selling them at low cost to poor farmers. The last truck arrived two or three weeks ago, they said.

If even one bird on such a truck had bird flu, experts said, it could have quickly infected the others on board, disseminating A(H5N1) to many villages. "We are very keen to support the Turkish authorities in exploring the details of the movements of poultry," Mr. Sumption said.

Three people have died and 18 have been infected in Turkey by the virus, first detected in poultry there last year.

A Belgian official said the man's case was treated with caution as he had been in a Turkish region hit by the virus.

The man is believed to have been reporting on the outbreak in the Van region.

Since 2003, the virus has killed almost 80 people and thousands of poultry in south-east Asia and China.

All human deaths so far are said to have been caused by contact with infected animals - but experts warn that a mutant form of the virus that transmits between humans could lead to a pandemic.

Other affected counties include Pierce, Kitsap, Skagit and Thurston.

Rain has caused flooding and mudflows around the state, causing more than $7 million in transportation damage, the Governor's Office said.

Locally, storms have downed trees, caused power outages and halted passenger train service, which is expected to resume today.

Two trees fell in West Seattle during storms Friday morning, causing two separate power outages in the area.

The larger of the two outages occurred around 4:30 a.m. when a tree fell on power lines at 32nd Avenue Southwest and Southwest Brandon Street, cutting off power to about 7,500 Seattle City Light customers.

The outage stretched from Alki in the north to Southwest Findlay Street in the south and 23rd Avenue Southwest in the east to 53rd Avenue Southwest in the west, City Light spokeswoman Sharon Bennett said.

The power was back on for some residents by about 6:45 a.m. It was fully restored to the area by 9:30 a.m.

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Another tree fell on power lines in the Belvidere area just after 7 a.m., affecting fewer than 100 customers, Bennett said. Power was restored by noon.

Intermittent showers are expected today, according to the National Weather Service, but whether enough measurable precipitation -- 0.01 inch -- falls at the Sea-Tac Airport gauge is a question, meteorologists said. It would be the 27th consecutive day of precipitation in Seattle.

The city's record for consecutive days of rain is 33, as measured at Sea-Tac.

More showers -- a more "hit or miss" category of rainfall -- are expected Sunday. The forecast calls for more widespread rain Monday, according to the National Weather Service.

Temperatures are expected to range from the low 40s to 50 degrees.

But in the mountains, heading into a three-day holiday weekend, it's good news for snow recreationists. The Summit at Snoqualmie reported 14 inches of snow Friday. Mount Baker reported 10 inches.

Snow is in the Cascades forecast, with freezing elevations varying from 2,500 feet today to 2,000 feet Sunday, rising to 4,000 feet on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Sound Transit and Amtrak trains are expected to operate on their normal schedule today, said Gus Melonas, spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which owns the railroad tracks.

The railroad opened Friday afternoon after being closed because of mudslides.

In addition to regular Saturday service, Sound Transit will operate Seahawk express trains from Everett and Tacoma to Seattle, Melonas said.

The procedure has already been carried out with some success by two groups of scientists in China and Mr Wilmut is preparing to write to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for permission to test it here.

Professor Wilmut told The Scotsman the results of Chinese research appeared to show that the hybrid embryos could be used to study human diseases.

"What we would be doing is using an unusual method to produce a human embryo which could be used to study very unpleasant diseases for which there isn't a treatment," he said yesterday.

"In effect what we'd do is mimic the disease in the young person who, some unknown number of years in the future, would develop the disease. It gives a way to study the development of the disease which you could not do in any other way."

The embryos would only be about 200 cells and would not be allowed to develop for longer than 14 days or be implanted into a woman's womb.

However, the Church of Scotland said the proposal violated the distinction between humans, who were "created in God's image", and animals, who were not.

The HFEA, which governs this field of research, said yesterday any such work would have to be licensed, but did not rule it out.

Although made of rabbit-cell material, the embryos would be controlled by human DNA.

Prof Wilmut said he believed a hybrid embryo should be treated as human by the HFEA. Asked about the moral objections of church groups and others, the scientist said: "A critical element in this is to recognise we would only be working at a very early stage with a maximum of 200 cells.

"I wouldn't think of a human embryo at that stage as being a person."

His colleague, Professor Chris Shaw, from King's College London, said the lack of human eggs meant they had to consider an alternative source.

"The fertility of rabbits is legendary. There may be opportunities to use human cells for nuclear transfer to rabbit oocytes [eggs]. Legally, the position is not clear, but that's something we'd like to discuss with the HFEA," he said.

Experiments using human DNA and rabbit eggs have already been conducted in China.

Dr Huizhen Sheng, of Shanghai Second Medical University, said in a paper two years ago that she had created more than 100 embryos by fusing human skin cells with rabbit eggs whose nuclei had been removed.

The embryos are said to have survived to the blastocyst stage - a ball of no more than about 60 cells the size of a pinhead.

The disgraced South Korean scientist, Professor Woo-Suk Hwang, had about 2,000 human eggs to work with and obtained fresh eggs from women who were willing, or persuaded, to donate them, including female members of his staff, in breach of guidelines.

To collect that many eggs in the UK might take ten years, said Prof Shaw, and despite his huge supply of eggs, Prof Hwang failed to derive any stem-cell lines from them.

"Faced with that challenge, we have to think of alternatives," Prof Shaw said.

Professor Alison Murdoch, from Newcastle University, whose team produced Britain's first cloned human embryos, said the proposal exposed a "grey area" of the law.

She said: "You have to ask the question, 'If you take a human nucleus and put it in a rabbit egg, is it a human embryo?'"

But she added: "Is there any harm in a human embryonic stem-cell line made from a rabbit egg?"

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, which sets out the rules for conducting research on human eggs, sperm and embryos, is being reviewed by the government. Dr Chris O'Toole, head of research regulation at the HFEA, said: "The issue of mixing human and animal material is complex.

"The HFEA looked at this issue last September and concluded that any research that involves putting a human cell's nucleus into an animal egg would require a licence from the HFEA."

Dr Donald Bruce, of the Church of Scotland's Society, Religion and Technology project, said the Kirk's General Assembly had taken a position on the creation of hybrid embryos and he had thought it was illegal.

"In historic Christian tradition, humans are made uniquely in God's image. The mixture of human and animal tissue would breach the distinction which Christian tradition holds between humans and animals," he said, quoting from a document on the church's position.

Patrick Cusworth, director of the Movement Against The Cloning of Humans, said: "I don't think there's any scientific validity in embryonic stem-cell research these days and research upon embryo 'chimeras' would not only jeopardise the humanity and dignity of the tiny human being, but also hold out a false mirage of hope to some very vulnerable patients."

But Dr Ainsley Newson, a medical ethicist, said that the public's reaction to the proposal would largely be framed by their views on early-stage embryos.

"Obviously we need to be careful about species boundaries, but we are not talking about creating a hybrid animal," she said.

"To me, it seems a very sensible solution to the problem of the shortage of embryos for research on diseases."

Inspector Dick Holmes, of Lincolnshire police, said: "We received several telephone calls from concerned members of the public. However, we have no idea what was behind the noise."

Although the noise was thought to come from directly over Spalding, it was heard by people living in Thorney and Eye, near Peterborough, and Gedney, near Wisbech.

Liz Fowler, a receptionist at the Castle Manor Leisure Centre in Albion Street, Spalding, said: "It sounded like someone had dropped a weight or pushed a machine over. It was a very loud thud.

"We rushed upstairs to see what had happened, but of course nothing was wrong.

Everyone has been talking about it. Lots of people think it was a sonic boom."

Margaret Dark, of London Road, Spalding, said her house shook under the force. She said: "All the birds flew up in the air. I thought maybe a lorry had crashed."

But Tony Walsh, RAF Wittering spokesman, said: "I have no idea what might have caused it, but it was not us.

"It sounds like a sonic boom, but our harriers don't go fast enough. We have now launched an investigation."

And Miriam Adol, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence, added: "As far as I am aware, there was no military activity going on which could have been responsible."