The goal? To convert the energy of your mind and body into a kind of laser beam that can transcend spacetime.
In 1983, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Wayne M. McDonnell was asked to write a report for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) about a project called the
Gateway Process. His report, declassified in 2003, gives the "scientific" underpinnings โ as well as instructions and technical assistance โ to help people convert the energy of their minds and bodies into a kind of laser beam that can transcend
spacetime.
The goal was to "gain access to the ... intuitive knowledge which the universe offers," as well as travel in time and commune with other-dimensional beings.Even more intriguing, one seemingly crucial part of the document, page 25, went missing for 40 years.
© CIA
For a lot of people, hearing about this report was right up there with finding out that
the CIA had tested clairvoyance as a spying tool, or that U.S. Department of Defense had been
secretly collecting data on Unidentified Flying Objects, even as it labeled UFO spotters as crazy. Non-scientists have long been frustrated by scientists claiming the exclusive right to pose implausible theories with impunity. After all, scientists expect to be believed when they say that 95 percent of what's in the universe is invisible, composed of
dark matter and
dark energy. They say it's conceptually possible that, as in The Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics, we create
new timeline universes through daily decisions. And many lauded scientists embrace string theory, which suggests our universe might be a multi-dimensional hologram.
But when someone tries to apply this information to postulate a deeper meaning behind human existence, many physicists roll their eyes. It's one thing to claim that quantum field theory says the universe comprises multiple
energy fields that connect everything; it's another when someone applies that to humans' communing with trees. Scientists' theories are the result of mathematical equations that can be replicated, not human experience, which can be easily faked or imagined. As far as many physicists are concerned, the question "Why are we here?" has the same answer as the question "By what process did we come into being?"
So a project like Gateway that marries science with the human yearning for meaning seemed awfully promising. But, as it turned out, the process was
not a gateway between materialistic science and experiential
consciousness; it was more like an effort to write a technical manual for the ineffable.
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