And it begins…just so…

Just how does one know WHY they are here? It’s not like there is a test to help you discover your destiny, so that you can plan your activities to complete that destiny before we die. You can focus on making money, raising a family or solo activities for personal growth (or destruction).

In my case, it hasn’t ever been about money, I always made enough to pay my bills and with extra for tools, toys, my studies, information gathering and networking activities (including conferences which I preferred over a ‘normal’ vacation), all for the sake of learning and sharing as much as possible.

In my teens it was a mix of science and occultism with many experiments in magick, some of which produced results, but it was too flakey for me, so I began studying the paranormal and how phenomena could be detected and manipulated with devices such as radionics.

In my early twenties I knew very few people who had the same interests as I, so felt very isolated. For that reason, I was a book, magazine and newsletter hound always on the lookout for interesting things. This was in the 70s and 80s before the internet.

One evening I got a strange phone call from a guy asking if I believed in UFOs and if I was interested. By that time, I thought I had figured them out so cockily told him, they didn’t interest me so much now that I had their secret. The guy asked if I might like to meet with the board of the Mufon Metroplex group and present my ideas for a possible presentation to their small group of about 50 people. Sure, why not…so a few nights later, went to the house of the host to meet them. Nice folks but clearly believers with little capacity for skeptical observation.

However, I made my presentation and they were very congratulatory saying yes, I had figured it out. Then came the presentation to their group and later an invitation to join their board. The next year they voted me president and I ran it for 2 years.

Over that time our paid lectures went from 50 to as much as 500 people per month. The average was 200-300 which really ticked off Walt Andrus at Mufon headquarters because we didn’t require that people be members of our group or of Mufon proper. We were the biggest UFO group in the US at that time.

It was an interesting period in my life which helped me to focus on what counts. We brought in all the hot UFO contactees, Betty Hill, Travis Walton, Mr. Ed, the two guys from Pascagoula and many more whose names I don’t recall some 20 years later. We also had peripheral speakers such as Tom Bearden, Dr. Andrija Puharich and many others.

After the first year, I was so burned out with NEVER any proofs and seeing people who had been studying UFOs for 30 or more years with no clue as to what or who they were, that in my 2nd year as president of Mufon Metrpolex, I started my own Vanguard Sciences group to host speakers for alternative science topics.

In that 2nd year, we shared speakers who also had UFO interests, such as Dr. Andrija Puharich, who did a wonderful presentation to the Vanguard group. I regret that I didn’t focus on taping, audio or video of these meetings, some exist, though not very good copies.

In my 3rd year with Mufon I was on the board and for a few years after that served as an advisor since I wanted to dedicate my time to Vanguard Sciences and related pursuits.

(Here in central Mexico, it is sunny, warm and I haven’t had comida yet, so think I’ll hop on my lil Honda 125 and run over to Marcos and Estelles cafe for some fresh beef burritos….continued in subsequent posts which I suspect will be voluminous…jajaja…)