Customer Reviews

Passport to the Cosmos

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Resuming that the Alien abduction (that has always been with us since biblical times and prior, stretching across all cultures in all continents ) is a gift, a kind of catalyst for the evolution of the human consciousness, Dr Mack puts everything on the line; How else could a prestigious Harvard Professor in Psychiatry and a "Pulitzer prize-winner", risk career suicide by taking on the abduction phenomenal and fight against such mighty institution holding to his guns, when a committee was formed in the Harvard Medical School to investigated Dr John E Mack`s work with abductees. It was the first time in Harvard's history that a tenured professor was subjected to such an investigation, although with no specific complaint but with concerns about his Alien/UFOs investigations, where Dr Mack suggest that his findings might required a change in our world view of reality, rather than saying that he found a new psychiatric syndrome, needless to stress, the committee 14 months later was dismissed failing to stop Dr Mack in his research. Concluding the investigation, Harvard then issued a statement stating that the Dean had "reaffirmed Dr. Mack's academic freedom to study what he wishes and to state his opinions without impediment," concluding "Dr. Mack remains a member in good standing of the Harvard Faculty of Medicine."..BRAVO for Dr Mack, whom we missed dearly for his accidental death in 2004, he is one of the most serious if not the best researcher in the subject, breaking away from academia world view was his sin, a great understanding of the UFO/abduction phenomena was his and our triumph.
I found Dr Mack makes a very objective presentation. I do not see any new age philosophy, I read/heard from the voices of the abductees and the experiencers themselves; Jim Parks, Credo Mutwa, Bernard Peixoto, Sequoyah Trueblood, Karin, Andrea, Isabel, Carlos Diaz, Nona and Abby, etc a clear messages of a collected Cosmo tic intelligence, ours and of those entities. But Dr Macks goes beyond Kenneth Ring and Michael Grosso, associating this phenomena to Near-Death-Experiences(NDEs) and a planetary Super-mind that reflects our collected concerns and feeds them back to us symbolically in dreams(since both NDEs and abductions happens during medical procedures on Hospital for NDEs and onboard UFOs for abductees), or hallucinations to provoke evolutionary change in our human species as needed, cause by the own "Earth Electromagnetic fields" affecting those with a higher sensitivity and encounter-prone personalities which interpreted them such as ancient Angels, demons, fairies or whatever the culture conditioning dictates, in this case Aliens. Dr Mack has shown in this book, that this experiences are more than dreams, or mass hallucinations, or hoaxes(that do happen, see Donna bassets, Stan Romanek, Linda Cortile/Napolitano), stopping short of capturing the quantum physics smoking gun to solve this puzzled once an d for all.
Noting that Dr Mack is not establishing the physical proved of alien abduction, but instead focusing in the validity of it through the experiencers, and its meaning that altered the view of the cosmos full with intelligence, humane kind and our purpose in this journey through life and our responsibility to our environment and society. The book points out that no knowledge of psychiatry fit into this phenomena to explain how a force or entities were entering the lives of the abductees, making Dr Mack face the dilemma to try to fit, this reports into his world view and regard them such as fantasies, delusions, and strange dreams mostly know as Hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences (HHEs), that are believed is caused by sleep paralysis where the hallucination of aliens has been generated by 20th and 21st century...by culture contamination through Science Fiction...Or perhaps a more unorthodox explanation will do and Dr Mack included the possibility that entities, beings from another realm are and had been reaching into our realm, ...could this be the real reason behind the Abduction phenomena, having many points in its favor, such as;
A-The high degree of consistency of the details of the abductees from all walks of life, ages from 2 to late 50`s, with great intense emotions, in many cases having Traumatic stress syndrome, a direct result from a real experience that cannot be explain such as sleep paralysis or hallucinations...
B-Body marks and scars, semen's extraction, and a sense that a medical procedure had been performed on them and constantly had been reported by abductees with no explanation of how a sleep disorder could account for it. Dr Mack clearly and professionally testified that there`s no proved scientifically yet to validate missing pregnancies or immaculate pregnancies, or pregnancies test or oval recollection and implants on abductees, that they indeed exist in a material world, and by Dr Mack judgment is beyond the point of the true meaning of the abduction phenomena, setting himself apart from any false claims to the contrary, typical of fanatics ufologist.
C-Second and third witnesses to a UFO sighting, but not yet, a direct witness of a abduction phenomena (except the Budd Hopkins, Linda Cortile case which is falling apart, shamelessly), once again reinforcing his professionalism on the subject, with only the notion that "missing time" has occurred and the testimony of being missing for some time physically, a occurrence that does not go unnoticed by family members and friends...
D-A direct proved that "culture pollution" does not played a role solely in the Alien Abduction, since children as young as 2 have describe having had a alien abduction experience and point reinforced by the testimony of many ancient cultures such as those of native Americans, Brazilian indigenous and African and Asian aborigines that indeed this phenomena had been recorded for millennia and is taken by what it is, a truth phenomena. To which, Dr Mack presence in his book, if I may add the testimony of these 3 native medicine men/Shamans: Bernard Peixoto, Sequoyah Trueblood and Credo Mutwa. Covering the shamanic experience, including ancestral guides and potential risk from imposters in the dimensional planes, and as Dr Mack explain in this book, are the most important lesson for all of us..."These man corroborate the reality of the abduction phenomena, making clear that this is not simply the product of the Western imagination", 20 and 21st centuries, nor is the Man-made aerospace technology in its entirely but has been part of our civilization since the beginning of time to now...as Jacques Vallee as proved in his book(Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times)
To summarize it in the words of Jim Parks; "he said, until I came to realized that is man who puts a limit of what God did not create, and what he does outside of this planet. so who`s to say what God has done in the rest of the cosmos, that does not mean that goes against god, it just means that God has created MORE than you have knowledge of, UNTILL NOW.
Dr Mack drives the point, that abductees are saying that they have received a message that we humans have loss our relationship to the nature of the creator, and we had turned to forms of addictions to fill the void, shamelessly, those addictions now are causing an irreparable damage to our planet and societies, arresting our spiritual growth, our true mission in this life of ours. The stimulation of our material hunger and needs, are a step further to the destruction of our environment by human toxic pollution of our Earth, and the abductees had been shown scenes and images, by these entities, that are forecasting an ecological disaster for our planet, if us humans keep on negating alternative fuel energies alternatives to improve our lives and move on to our rightful place in the cosmos alongside other intelligence life forms that populate it.
Abductees had been shown on direct mind-to-mind with the entities a glance of what our future could be, an apocalyptic scenario full with images of nuclear and environmental disasters( much greater than those we had witnessed after Japans powerful earthquake in 2011, and oil spills such as the Deepwater Horizon in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, the Alaska Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989), with toxic spills over our skies and waters with total disregard for our environment, inevitably resulting in our planet inability to sustain human life and that will soon collapse unless there is no fundamental chance in a collective consciousness from the bottom-up, because it has not worked so far, from the top(government and multi-national corporations) to the bottom(us), our leaders won`t do it, because it affect their bottom line, and they have to be, want to be re-elected for office again and again, and who pays for their electoral-campaign?, the mayor corporation, do. But as Dr Mack said; We cannot not turn back the clock to a time before industrialization, materialism, consumerism, and modern technology, they are not the enemy, but could be made into a partner to achieve greatness.
These abductees tell us, said Dr Mack, that their consciousnesses have been affected by these beings, they have been awaken by these vibrations, from a higher intelligence, by entities that vibrate in a different frequency than us but that are as real as you and me, call it God and its agents if you will, and a deep care for our planets environment and society has been created in them, many had give up higher paying jobs often for less paying jobs in the healing or other human service professions, and become active in Earth-preserving projects, this change continue to evolve and the abductees feel compelled to share what they have learned, a decision that many times comes with a heavy price, ridicule, attacks and criticism from colleagues, and society en general, also are seen as nuts by family and friends from whom they many times break apart from, when they go public with this shift in consciousness, but the abductees have no choice but to fulfill their mission, and spread the word transmitted to them by the entities, as a new Gospel, not in the subjective religious way but in a more spiritual and human way, so our technological advancement is partner with a spiritual growth that care for our planet and Earthling as a whole. As Dr Mack puts it, the abductees feel we are connected beyond Earth in a cosmic level and that no common enemy will unite us but a common source will, no religion or Bully God nor a messiah-savior will lead humans to the next level. We have to do that ourselves, aided by the light within the source of all creation, that we learned from abductees, that the source and its agents are more of a partner than anything else, working through and with us to guides us, rather than taking us to the light and knowledge that will make us survive and thrive as a species in our planet and beyond.


My two cents, of this great work of Art, by Dr John E Mack in his book; Passport to the cosmos...I have not read his first book Abduction and promptly will, meanwhile, I recommended on this subject to read these two other great author; David M Jacobs and Budd Hopkins

I think nobody has the absolute truth in this matter, and Budd Hopkins books;
Missing Time, intruders, and sight unseen present another piece of the puzzled, perhaps he is the pioneer that got Dr Mack and Jacobs's involvement in this phenomenal, and that is remarkable on its n merit.

Also David M Jacobs, has a perhaps different view, channeled through the abductees he treated, and reported in his books, with no apologist, present a crude hypothesis in his books ;
The Threat and Secret life. I do not agree with him on his grey view of our future, maybe because I have faith in us humans and in the source "God", like David Jacobs, once said; he wants to be wrong on this subject...

Harvard educated psychiatrist John E. Mack was at the peak of a distinguished career as a doctor, Harvard professor, writer and researcher. He even won the Pulitzer Prize for literature and enjoyed universal respect. Then in 1994 he astonished everyone by daring to publish a UFO book.

It was as if every accomplishment of his entire life was now called into question. A Harvard "kangaroo committee" began to investigate him. High-level academic peers condemned him. Public ridicule followed.

Ironically, Mack's 1994 book "Abduction" was a bestseller and probably made him a ton of money - opening him up to that old skeptic's attack over anything to do with UFOs - 'he did it to cash in.' I remember other quotes in the media from egg-head academics that went something like this: "John Mack is a really brilliant guy, but for some reason, he just lost it."

But Mack was only going where the science was leading him. As a therapist, he was intrigued that he was getting an increasing number of patients who claimed to have been abducted by UFO aliens. They were distressed over their experiences, but Mack was perplexed that, outside their bizarre tales of abductions, these people seemed altogether normal and mentally healthy in all other respects. They wanted to stay anonymous; in fact, they were desperate to keep their experiences a secret. It was clear they were not just a bunch of nutty attention seekers, or deeply neurotic or psychotic lunatics. They were ordinary people who needed to deal with a traumatic event.

And so what really got Mack into hot water, especially among the academic and scientific community, is that he had the audacity to suggest that maybe these people REALLY HAD BEEN abducted by aliens! That maybe they were telling the truth! It was blasphemy!

In my view, Mack, who died in 2004, was treated in much the same way the Catholic Church treated Galileo when he dared support the idea that the sun did not revolve around the earth. In the end, Mack faced no disciplinary action from Harvard, and he didn't lose his license to practice psychiatry, but he endured a scathing wind of condemnation from the "established elite" and sacrificed his standing in the medical and academic community.

Just as I found Mack's "Abductions" a riveting read, I give stellar marks to this book, "Passport to the Cosmos." It's an amazing book in many ways - it's not even really so much a book about alien abduction as it is about spiritual transformation. "Passport to the Cosmos" bears greater relationship to such spiritual classics as "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda than to other books about UFO-related phenomenon - although there is plenty of "alien and UFO" discussion underpinning all of the content.

In addition to the experiences or ordinary Americans, Mack also highlights the UFO-like experiences of three modern day shamans - Sequoyah Trueblood, Bernardo Peixoto and Credo Mutwa. This is significant because Mack rather brilliantly shows us the UFO phenomenon through the eyes of a different culture - perspectives that are not as entangled in the highly rational, secular, materialistic, scientific mindset of Western society. It gives us another way to look at and consider just what might be going on with this whole UFO thing. It forces us to look at it in a new light.

For many readers who have read Mack's "Abductions," this book may seem like "more of the same" but my view is that Mack's thoughts and ideas about what is going on with abduction patients ("experiencers") and the UFO phenomenon have advanced and solidified, and are stated more firmly around a more coherent theory in this book.

This is an important book. I wish millions of people would read it, and give it serious thought.

Mack does a very fair and broad coverage of the phenomenon of ET and other non human being experience. wish i had a chance to tell him what i know . we are not alone folks and we are more than flesh . I dont know what role the ET is if anything more than just an advanced race with or without souls , but after reading this you can make up your own mind . interesting to see from the perspective of contactees who come away with different thoughts , many i do not agree with and this is why it is important to get so many different peoples experiences reviewed.

As Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard University Medical School, John Mack had the highest possible academic credentials. He was also a Purlitzer Prize-winning author for his biography of T. E. Lawrence, "A Prince of our Disorder."

"Passport to the Cosmos" (PTTC) was Mack's second and final book on the alien abduction issue, before his death in September 2004. It's a thoughtful, coherent and readable essay; a more absorbing narrative than his earlier 1994 book "Abductions: Human Encounters with Aliens". Whereas the earlier book episodically recounted the experiences of 13 different abductees in their own words but seemed reluctant to draw conclusions - beyond the obvious fact that the phenomenon was not psychiatric but (in some way) external to the experiencer and physically real - "PTTC" explores what it all might mean in terms of human consciousness and why our accepted "ontological notions of consensus reality" need to be expanded to accommodate this subversive intrusion into our world.

The author writes in Chapter One:

"...marshalling evidence that might conceivably satisfy the physical sciences `on their own turf' has proved to be an elusive task. I will document experiencers' reports with physical evidence where applicable, but my principal interest is in their pattern, meaning and potential implications for our understanding of reality and knowledge of ourselves in the universe."

There you have John's fundamental attitude and the thesis of the book, in a nutshell.

All researchers into this phenomenon uncover common narratives and themes: the physical body passing through walls, ceilings, car roofs and solid structures; the duration of the abduction usually of 1-2 hours leaving a period of seamless missing time; the quasi-medical procedures on identically-described examination tables; the workmanlike attitudes of the abductors; what the abductors look like; the telepathic communication; the genetic/breeding-focussed tasks, sperm and ova harvesting; interactions with hybrid children; mind-scanning; explorative "staging" procedures; a preoccupation with planetary environmental issues; the repeat-nature of the process; the fact that the abducting entities seem to focus on specific family bloodlines and the children of abductees are themselves usually abducted. John was no different in that he uncovered the same narratives, memories and reports as everyone else. Whether these narratives are recalled from normal conscious memory or assisted by hypnosis makes no difference: the stories are generally the same down to small, quirky and eccentric details.

So the data is universal, ubiquitous, global. Where researchers differ is in their emphasis, and in the interpretation of this common data. Tellingly, on p13 the author writes:

"The orientation and ideology of the investigator, and the questions he or she asks or does not ask, will determine to some degree what data can be enabled or allowed to come forth and will affect profoundly the interpretation of the experiences."

Mack was trained as a therapist, and his approach is less critical than that of a researcher with a more investigative academic mind-set. John's engagement with the issue focussed on two areas. First, from his clinical training he focussed on assisting the 200 or so different abductees with whom he personally worked over the years to come to terms with their experiences, to see the whole thing in a "positive" and "transformative" way. Second, he worked to convince his peer-academic community of the empirical reality of this phenomenon and to consider current clinical consensus-paradigms might be insufficient to contain or understand it.

The title PTTC is an oblique reference to Jacques Vallee's classic 1970 book "Passport to Magonia", in which Vallee argued that modern abduction accounts have echoes in traditional folklore through the ages and episodes of missing time, being abducted to "another realm" to assist in the interbreeding of mixed-species children and then returned to normal life was nothing new, but an old and persistent human experience. In the third section of PTTC, the "Magonia" theme is explored as Mack transcribes personal interviews he conducted with three acknowledged living shamans: Bernardo Peixoto, Sequoyah Trueblood and Vusumazulu Credo Mutwa, who explain that in their various preserved indigenous cultures, shamanic interaction with the "visitors" is taken for granted and understood, and it is the western scientific paradigm which has moved us modern folks away from such knowledge. This is classic Mack territory.

Where PTTC falls short is in its failure to confront the phenomenon head-on and draw conclusions about what might be going on against the available data. A large quantity of mutually corroborating evidence exists which demands answers to these questions: Who exactly are these abducting entities, what are they doing and why? This looks like a sustained program of interbreeding - but what for? Where is it going and what is the objective? These hard questions are more effectively addressed by other researchers, contemporaries and friends of John, and his "it's-consciousness-expanding-and-potentially-beneficial-and-transformative" mind-set somehow persuaded him to skirt around the core issue.

The reader would be well advised to investigate the field widely: PTTC is best read not in isolation but together with the instructive and scholarly works of Budd Hopkins, Dr. David Jacobs, Raymond Fowler and other eminent researchers into this subject. Other writers uncover the same data (the sure sign of a real empirical phenomenon, not a fantasy or cultural artefact) but emphasise different faces of the prism.

John Mack was a fine writer, with a great mind. However his writing style does not always make for easy reading, and his perspective proves too vague and new-agey for many, so PTTC is read less often than some works by other researchers on the abduction subject. It is however one of the better-written books on the issue and definitely worth reading. It's a pity John felt unable to place his cards on the table and conclude what the objectives of the abducting entities might be: the astute reader will see that the data he uncovered leads inevitably in only one direction, and that the works of other academics more clearly demonstrate the obvious but not altogether comforting conclusions about this phenomenon which John refused to face.