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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
An out of print masterpiece,
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This review is from: The Invisible College (Mass Market Paperback)
Dr. Jacques Valle's " Invisisible College" is an amazing analysis of the UFO phenomenon. True to his scientific credentials he refuses to unquestionably embrace the ET hypothesis and instead focuses on the mechanisms of how the unseen intelligence behind the UFO interacts with human subjects and influences society despite attempts by both mainstream science and governmental authorities to deny the importance of what has been going on. Dr. Valle, John Keel and more recently Graham Hancock with the publication of his "Supernatural" have done an enormous service to mankind by revealing the link between the UFOs and all the other belief systems of this "haunted planet."
4.0 out of 5 stars
From Magonia to "Control System", Vallee's evolving ideas move from the bizarre to the incredible,
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This review is from: The Invisible College (Mass Market Paperback)
Published in 1975, `The Invisible College: What a Group of Scientists has Discovered About UFO Influences on the Human Race' (the full title) was Jacques Vallee's fourth work on the puzzling UFO/contactee phenomena. Here he first put forward his idea that these phenomena were some kind of `control system' on human consciousness. Vallee is highly intelligent, his ideas are often interesting and he has a reputation for thinking out-of-the-box (he refers to himself as "a heretic among heretics"), but whether he ultimately offers any meaningful answers to this persistent set of phenomena is debatable. Many read Vallee's books and find his ideas hard to accept simply because they do not explain the evidence nor offer any credible, sustainable hypothesis. The name `The Invisible College' was first used in the 1500s by early rationalist scientists who co-operated covertly to avoid the attentions of the Church, the then-controlling ideology, and (Vallee tells us) was resurrected by late 20th century scientists again confronted by a similar controlling ideology: that UFO and related phenomena do not exist and deserve no consideration. This latter-day Invisible College reportedly shared data and ideas about the UFO phenomenon in secret in order not to jeopardise their careers in the prevailing restrictive ideological climate. Where once people were burned at the stake, now they are merely ridiculed and ostracised for daring to be rational and open-minded. The book's long title however is slightly misleading, as the content is not really about `what a group of scientists has discovered about UFO influences on the human race' but, rather, what Jacques Vallee personally thought about this subject in 1975. The text does not confine itself to UFO phenomena per se but embraces religious miracles, visions, ancient Phoenician symbolism, revelatory messages received through channelling and automatic writing, telekinesis and a range of other psychic phenomena which the author sees as interrelated. Jacques can be tough going at times. In the introduction, he lays out his methodology: "In this book I will not confine myself to the examination of the physical reality, but will step...to the experiential and even to the mythical. I will approach this enquiry within the framework of descriptive phenomenology..." There is merit in frequently heard criticisms that TIC repeats cases detailed in the author's previous book, `Passport to Magonia.' However, TIC is not the same book as PTM but puts forward a different (and somewhat more `out there') hypothesis. The basic argument of TIC, in a nutshell, is that UFOs and the associated phenomena which surround them cause changes in the life-attitudes of percipients. The phenomenon is without question a nuts-and-bolts reality with INTENDED psychological and physical characteristics. Physical effects on the environment serve to reinforce to the percipient that his encounter was real: such effects are more important than proving to third party investigators that something physical occurred. Vallee puts forward the thesis that these phenomena are possibly not due to extraterrestrial visitation but are collectively a kind of deliberate control system, like the heating thermostat in a house, designed to adjust perceptions in the human race and challenge existing societal thought paradigms. This control system, according to Vallee, operates by introducing elements of absurdity and dislocation from normal consensus reality as tools to move percipients into a new expanded consciousness. The ridiculous/absurd nature of many encounters keeps most scientists away from the evidence, as they are in thrall to current strait-jacket thinking and will not step over the boundary into unknown territory, and again this element is somehow intended by the agency controlling the phenomenon. Yeah, weird. So Vallee goes beyond discussing if these phenomena are `real' to focus primarily on the effect encounters have on percipients. Of primary interest is the psychological impact of the phenomenon on, for example, French astronomers who Vallee witnessed being confronted by UFOs right in front of their eyes: "Instead of asking whether these seemingly manoeuvrable and `impossible' objects could be a manifestation of some advanced technology (which may even have been terrestrial in origin) they thought only of suppressing...of denying every observation...and by destroying the data when it was demonstrated to them that no airplane could have behaved as the objects did...my interest in UFOs has gone through several phases during this period, but my curiosity about the behaviour of scientists who destroy, distort or simply ignore the very facts they are supposed to investigate has never been satisfied..." Vallee takes it for granted that any intelligent reader who has done diligent investigation for himself will recognise that these phenomena are objectively real and physical. He is more interested in exploring how the encounter causes percipients to think and behave, and why. To Vallee, these effects are a planned and intentional product of the phenomenon; its `raison d'etre,' not unintended side-effects. To support his thesis he details various persistent paranormal events resistant to all prosaic explanations: the extraordinary abilities of UFO contactee Uri Geller whose telepathic and telekinetic abilities he tested; the series of `miracles' tied up with prophecy at Fatima in Portugal; the extraordinary UMMO phenomenon in Europe, generally regarded as an elaborate hoax but for which Vallee offers an alternative explanation. In TIC he begins to examine cases of those allegedly touched significantly by his hidden `control system' and who subsequently come to believe they have been given a special mission from on high: Joan of Arc and Mormon-founder Joseph Smith were essentially influenced by the same phenomenon as leaders of the new `space brother' UFO cults which form the focus his next book, `Messengers of Deception.' Credit to Vallee for getting out there and investigating encounters, claims and cult-like groups in person: he is no armchair theorist. In evaluating Vallee's control system hypothesis, the obvious questions are: who or what is in charge and managing it? If something non-human, then what? Where is the real evidence for this idea, other than that some of Vallee's carefully selected cases can be made (with difficulty) to force-fit the theory? Most people care little about UFOs and have no interest in the subject, so how does this theory stand up? If some kind of inter-dimensional control system it seems pointless, futile, a failure. The reader should make up his own mind, and follow through the arguments expanded in Vallee's subsequent works `Messengers of Deception' (1979) and the `Dimensions' trilogy (1988-91). Vallee has a literate if rather formal writing style. His books are not light reading but occasional gentle humour can be found if you search for it amongst the earnest flowing prose. TIC is worth reading even if only to make you think in new ways about all this stuff, and appreciate how wild can be some ideas to try to explain it. For its clearly up-a-blind-alley-with-no-way-out hypothesis TIC rates no more than 3 stars, but given the benefit of the doubt due to the originality of the material it deserves 4. Good hardcover copies are hard to find, and not cheap: like `Anatomy of a Phenomenon' and `Passport to Magonia' there has been no latter-day reprint, and you'll need to find an original, so be prepared to pay real money for it.
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