"And Energy shall be God, and shall rule the nations of the Earth. All people shall bow down before it, and shall worship it. Forsaking conscience and honor, that they may bask in its warmth and loll in its luxury."

(So far as is known to your editor, the foregoing quotation does not appear in any part of the Holy Bible, or in any other theological text, yet it is a prophecy which is rapidly coming to pass in our present society and technology.)

Man is rapidly becoming incapable of doing anything for himself. The pair of legs and feet which nature gave him as a propulsion system, are now used only to operate the gas and brake pedals of his motor vehicle, and the wonderfully adroit pair of hands are now used only to hold a can of beer, while turning the dial of the television set. (Automatic tuners are now being sold, to relieve man of even that chore.)

Everything must now be done by machines, and energy is, of course, the God of the machine, since it cannot operate, and therefore has no significance without energy. From the electric toothbrush, the electric carving knife and can opener, to the electric washer, drier and electric blankets, man has become the slave of the energy that was intended to be his servant.

In recent months, a few small Arab states, by using their oil production

2 UNDERSTANDING

as an open and undisguised weapon of coercion, have forced several major nations to forswear their beliefs and abandon their principles, in order to obtain their quota of needed energy. The United States has not yet succumbed to this coercion, and probably will not, but only be-cause the Arab oil supplied to this country has never been sufficient to have any great effect upon our total energy requirements. If the Arab countries were now shipping us every drop of oil they could get from their wells, we would still need to find or to develop huge new sources of energy if we wished to keep our Energy God securely upon his throne. At the present moment, however, that throne is more than a little shaky. We have waited too long to begin the development of our unlimited, and non-polluting energy sources. While we will eventually have all of the energy we need or want from these sources, there will inevitably be a period of a year or two when man will have to give some of his machines a holiday, and learn to do a few things for himself. This will not be nearly as painful as he may now imagine. It is remarkable how readily and how completely man can adapt himself to new situations, once he accepts the fact that he must! We may, in the next few years, rediscover arts and abilities that we had thought lost forever, and the dethronement of the God of Energy may prove to be a blessing in disguise.

VISION OF AMERICA - YEAR 2000

(This article, written by 16-year-old Teresa Elizabeth Tracy of Santa Barbara High School, was sent to us by a reader.)

We are children of the future-pioneers on the verge of discovering a world of inexpressible horror or fathomless joy. A new age has dawned; the greatest events in the history of mankind impend and we are the weight to tip the scales of fate. We will build or destroy, love or hate. Soon, man must decide forever what course to follow.

Come, follow me to the future world of my dreams-America in the year 2000. Let me show you what it could be like. Imagine a world free of fear, without threat of war; with love, trust and friendship taking the place of hate, prejudice and distrust. What need is there of police or jails? Everyone works with joy, neighbor helps neighbor, nation aids nation. Because man has discovered his divinity, balance, harmony and order rule, peace and prosperity ensue. The arts and sciences flourish, work is pleasure, discipline a joy, and happiness the norm. Man has found himself! Utopia? No, America-America in a world cleansed of greed and strife.

There are several ways in which this transformation could come about-through an atomic holocaust which only the highly evolved

MARCH 1974 3

would be likely to survive, or a cataclysm of such magnitude that those who were not killed outright would probably die of sheer terror. Here,

again, only the fittest, the highly evolved, would survive. Whichever one, man would have to forget old grievances and unite in a common cause. Once more would he remember that he IS his brother's keeper. He would have to rebuild and start a new life, learning from past mistakes, avoiding old pitfalls, keeping ever in mind the folly of TAKING by might what he should earn and RECEIVE by right.

An easier way to attain this goal, of course, would be for nations and their leaders to come to their senses and realize that the choice lies between peace or annihilation; to reach an understanding and an amicable solution to their problems, and to work together toward the common good. Each of us can hasten this day by being more considerate to his neighbor, stepping into his shoes, so to speak, the better to feel with, and understand him. By taking pride in a job well done, striving constantly for improvement and self-mastery (thereby setting a good example), peace at last becomes a habit, a way of life.

America, my country! You are the greatest leader of all time! The world watches and waits to see what example you set. You, country of the future, have the power to make my dream come true. We are both young, and the world's blood courses through our veins. Can you lead the way through the darkness to the light? Can I live up to my convictions and show others the path to a worthwhile life? This remains to be seen. We are both endowed with the potential and I pray that we can use it wisely to create that Shangri-La for which mankind longs.

(The teacher gave her a C minus and asked her never to write on abstract subjects, but to keep her feet on the ground.)

♦ ♦ ♦

CONSIDER THE CONCEPT

Life itself is invisible. They physical form may be said to clothe life and give tangible evidence of its movement, but the real life substance, power, and character of life dwells within the physical forms. It is this one power which is expressing itself throughout all physical forms, be they on this planet or on any other throughout the whole cosmos. Thus the life animating your physical body is fundamentally the same life animating the trees and flowers, moving this earth around the sun, moving every sun in its galaxy, and moving every galaxy through the universe. If life moves clearly through the body which writes these words, then they are spoken by this One and Only Power.

ALAN HAMMOND

4 UNDERSTANDING

THE PEPPERMINT BIBLE

Granny's Family Bible always lay in the same spot on the window-sill, with her spectacles on top of it and a bag of peppermints at its side. Religion and peppermints seemed to go together in Granny's estimation. She liked to suck the one while pondering over the other; and now that she could no longer go to church, it gave her a feeling of taking part in the service if she popped a peppermint in her mouth on Sunday morning and opened the Bible at Proverbs.

I used to wonder why she made such a rite of putting on her spectacles since she never looked through them but always peered over the top. But they had belonged to her mother who wore them when reading the same Bible, and Granny liked to follow in her footsteps. "Besides, it would be a pity to waste them," she would say thriftily.

There were pictures in Granny's Bible. I liked the Good Samaritan best of all, but Granny had a leaning towards Daniel because he reminded her of Uncle Andrew who had gone to America, which was little better than the Lion's Den, in her opinion.

Apart from its Biblical lore, Granny's Good Book contained treasures between almost every page, ranging from clippings of Uncle Andrew's baby-hair and recipes for curing the colic, to pictures of a long-ago Sunday-School Treat and a pattern for a baby's vest.

Granny would begin by reading to me the story of Joseph and his Brethren, using her own pronunciation and her own pithy dialect which would have confounded the prophets. But half-way through her eye would light on a cutting, and she would be off into a parable of her own, telling me the tale of some faraway picnic, or living over again the time when she sang "O Rowan Tree" at the church concert.

When I demanded "a story from the Bible" I was never sure whether I was to hear about the Burning Bush or the time when Uncle Andrew stopped the runaway horse; and it was many years before I could be sure which were Bible stories and which were family episodes. Indeed, I was under the impression for a long time that Uncle Andrew himself held his place among the prophets, and was surprised to discover that all Bibles did not contain a recipe for marmalade in Deuteronomy.

When the minister called to see Granny she would enquire if he had chosen his text for the following Sunday, and if not would proceed to choose one for him and to give him his various "headings." He listened with commendable gravity, and, indeed, often accepted her advice-though not her phraseology-and doubtless his discourse was all the better for it. I, myself, was convinced that Granny was the better preacher, for the parson stuck too closely to the Book for my liking, and had no "tales on the side" to tell of the speckled hen or the time the chimney

MARCH 1974 5

went on fire.

When neighbors were in trouble and came to Granny for advice, she would always find consolation for them in the Bible, whether it was a comforting text or a remedy for the toothache. Indeed, Granny's Bible came to be looked upon as a village encyclopedia, to be consulted on a wide range of subjects, from the exact date of the Relief of Mafeking, which was noted down in spidery writing on a margin, to the best way of taking ink-stains out of a tablecloth.

"It's wonderful what ye'll find in the Bible," Granny would remark, peering over her spectacles and sucking contentedly at a peppermint. "Here's the story o' Noah; and, mercy me, here's a photo o' me as a lassie. Ay, it's a wonderful book, the Bible."

LAVINA DERWENT

England

A GLOBAL LANGUAGE

When will the world wake up to this glaring deficiency: The crying need to understand one another? Yet, it is no wonder that we wrangle when we speak so many different languages-and, cannot understand what people are really saying to us.

Kipling wrote: "We are all islands, shouting lies to each other across seas of misunderstanding."

We Need a Global Language!

Tell this to our growing thousands of tourists; to our growing mil-lions of Planetary Citizens. Tell it to everyone who possesses normal intelligence.

This is not the first time that strong words have been shouted from the housetops to this effect, but, with so many "musts" on the human agenda constant repetition of each "must" is the sure-fire way to penetrate our thick skulls! Is this compelling enough to catch your eye? If so, read on. We shall be more calm, but no less urgent.

To many of us a global language is worthy of major consideration. There is a need for the universal teaching of a one world language in which essential words will have, as nearly as possible, the same meanings and connotations for human beings all over our small globe. With all the easy, effective ways, now available for teaching, this should not be difficult to undertake, and promptly.

Let all civilized nations decide, without further delay as the subject has been considered before, what the language should be: Esperanto or some other. It is said that English is the most widely known and used today, but many of its absurd spellings could eliminate it as a contender among living global languages-unless, of course, the worst of such

6 UNDERSTANDING

faults could be corrected.

None of our beautiful languages should ever be lost, though all languages change somewhat through the ages. Let each nation cherish and preserve its own language as pure and uncontaminated as is possible, yet, let each nation foster knowledge and use an agreed-upon universal world language. Let us no longer communicate at cross purposes with each other because of misunderstanding, misinterpretations

Life could be simplified with the need to learn only one language be-sides our own! Naturally, we could learn as many others as we desire for personal pleasure and service.

Will someone please start the ball rolling again and again-until, at last, we can intelligibly converse with anyone we may meet anywhere on earth.

LOUISE KIDDER SPARROW

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

Earth Day

The following material has been extracted from an article by Margaret Mead, entitled, "Earth Day: Faith Alone Not Adequate to Preserve Planet." This appeared in the Houston (Texas) Chronicle, March 16, 1973.

The day of the vernal equinox, when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are everywhere of equal length, has been chosen by thousands of people as Earth Day.

Margaret Mead comments thus:

"Earth Day celebrates the interdependence within the natural world of all living things, humanity's utter dependence upon Earth-man's only home and in turn, the vulnerability of this Earth of ours to the ravages of irresponsible technological exploitation. It celebrates our long past in which we have learned so much of the ways of the universe, and our long future, if we apply what we know responsibly and wisely. It celebrates the importance of the air and the oceans to life and to peace.

"On the blue and white wastes of the picture of Earth from space, there are no boundary lines, except those made by water and mountains. Yet, in this picture of the Earth, the harsh impersonal structures of world politik disappear; there are no zones of influence, political satellites, international blocs, only peoples who live in lands, on land that they cherish.

. "In the past, human beings have worshipped the Earth as a source of fertility, feared its depths as the abode of death, treated its soil as

MARCH 1974 7

defiling or sacred, covered it with monuments to the transient glories of political conquest. Today, now that we have at least seen Earth

from space, it has been transformed into our home, the common home of all of humankind, and all the living creatures on it.

"Everywhere people who observe it can pause to test their acts, assess the risks of oil spills or strip mining, of clouds of pollution that blacken their fair skies, of lakes that are dead or dying, of fertile soil blowing away in dust storms or washing away into the sea. Each Earth Day they can pause, take stock, and go on again, with renewed determination.

"This is what we can do. The question is, will we? For the needs of this our home will not be met by prayers and flower offerings, by pretty slight symbolic ceremonies, or single moments of contrition and atonement. Earth Day is a grand idea, well founded in our present scientific knowledge, tied specifically to our solar universe. But the protection of the Earth is also a matter of day-to-day decisions of how a field is to be fertilized, a dam built, a crop planted, how some technical process is to be used to enrich or deplete the soil.

"It is a matter of whether the conveniences of the moment are to override provision for our children's future. This means very concrete things-how should plants be built, how should food be preserved, how crops and men should be defended against insects and weeds. All this involves decisions, some taken by individuals, some taken by municipal corporations, some by national governments, some by manufacturers, some by multinational corporations, and some by the United Nations. .

"Earth Day uses one of humanity's great discoveries, the discovery of anniversaries by which, throughout time, human beings have kept their sorrows and their joys, their victories, their revelations and their obligations alive for re-celebration and re-dedication another year, an-other decade, another century, another aeon.

"But the noblest anniversary, devoted to the vastest enterprise now in our power, the preservation of this planet, could easily become an empty observance if our hearts are not in it. Earth Day cannot live by faith alone; works are needed . . . ."

♦ ♦ ♦

No man is your enemy; no man is your friend. All alike are your teachers. Your enemy becomes a mystery that must be solved even though it takes ages; for man must be understood. Your friend be-comes a part of yourself, an extension of yourself, a riddle hard to read. Only one thing is more difficult to know-your own heart.

MABEL COLLINS

8 UNDERSTANDING

UFOs INTERNATIONAL

Remarkable UFO Sightings in Japan

(Special Report from CBA International, Yokohama, Japan, Oct. 28, 1973)

5-10 FORMATION OF UFOs HOVERS OVER TOYAMA CITY ABOUT THREE HOURS! -Some 5-10 pale white objects, almost translucent, appeared over Toyama City, facing the Japan Sea, for nearly three hours from 8:30 p.m., on August 24, 1973. The objects were at first circling slowly, flying side by side in a long and slender stick-shaped form, or being broadened, or making a round formation flight, but they suddenly got up speed and disappeared somewhere in a straight line. While they were repeatedly doing the same, they suddenly stopped in the air, which caused a sensation for a while, the Kita Nihon Shimbun, a local paper reported.

It was approximately 1,000 to 2,000 m. high and more than 300 people were baffled to watch the sky for a long time. Even a passing taxi driver stopped his car to look up at the objects. The size of the objects was approximately more than a crescent each, never the size of any birds, they said.

The next day, the local paper Kita Nihon Shimbun published a photograph of those mysterious objects caught in 250 mm telephoto lens by the paper's cameraman, M. Omokata, at about 10:30 at night.

Meanwhile, information similar to this rushed, one after another, to Toyama Astronomical Observatory for a few days. The paper said that it was examined whether or not it is the American Skylab coming near recently, but the time was different from that of the Skylab, so the objects still remain unknown.

UFO Sighted Over Bangkok

(Courtesy CBA International, Japan)

(Mainichi Daily News, Saturday, September 1, 1973)

BANGKOK (AFTP)-An unidentified flying object (UFO) was reported seen in downtown Bangkok Thursday night.

Christina Leow Rakwong, 13, told the press she saw the UFO in a half wing shape with lights going on and off above it, passing behind two modern buildings located in Sukhumvit Avenue.

Lisanette Hansen who was with Christina also said she saw the same UFO and its small square windows with bright lights inside. Christina who saw it first said the UFO went very slowly and smoothly without making any noise behind the buildings and disappeared heading towards the port of Bangkok. Both are students. They said they believe what they had seen was a flying saucer.

Two reporters of a local newspaper said they saw a UFO with two

MARCH 1974 9

blue flashing lights and in between them a flashing red light as they were riding on Sukhumvit at about eight Thursday night.

♦ ♦ ♦

UFOs Said Sighted Throughout World

(Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun, Sunday, Oct. 21, 19731 By Fred Coleman

LONDON-(AP)-Pilots flying a commercial jetliner over Portuguese Mozambique in southern Africa earlier this year reported they had been trailed by a strange object between Beira and Lourenco Marques.

Across the equator to the north nearly 6,000 miles away in Denmark, about 30 persons independently reported seeing a transparent oval object flying near Elsinore, legendary site of Hamlet's castle.

These were two of the hundreds of reports every year from all parts of the globe claiming to have sighted an unidentified flying object, or UFO.

Despite the volume of such reports, governments tend to treat them cynically and even UFO amateur societies question the reliability of many purported sightings.

Norman Oliver, a spokesman for the British Unidentified Flying Object Research Association, estimated that eight or nine of every 10 sightings can be explained as a hoax, hallucination, airplane, balloon or some other plausible occurrence.

Oliver's organization still worries about the other one or two reported sightings.

"An increase in reports does not necessarily mean there are more UFOs flying about," Oliver said in an interview. "It could just mean that more people are looking up or reporting UFOs."

The PA survey, though unscientific, showed remarkable similarities between the experience of amateur societies in different countries. Sweden reported about 200 sightings a year. The amateur society there-UFO Sweden-said only 20 or so are considered of any interest and are filed after documentation. This works out to 10 per cent, the same figure used in Britain.

♦ ♦ ♦

What have you shared today-a smile, a greeting, a letter, a conversation, a book-to help promote a better understanding among the peoples of earth?

♦ ♦ ♦

Understanding is acceptance, not merely tolerance, of another's way of life.

10 UNDERSTANDING

poet’s corner

WITH YOU

let me walk a little way with you,

come - be my sister - be my brother –

let me walk a little way with you,

maybe we can get to understand each other.

let us talk about the ways of peace:

the way bright green fields bloom in Summer,

childhood games: the happy songs they sing,

and solemn stillness of cities deep in slumber.

your load is heavy and so is mine ...

we were meant to share our common joys and sorrows ...

given the will - and just a little more time,

we can cross that bridge to a better tomorrow.

color, race and all those other things

that keep us parted from each other

fade away - and let the sun come through,

come - and let us walk along the way together.

-BRUCE KINGERY

♦ ♦ ♦

CHANGED

I am no longer I, but someone more,

Larger than the one who entered your door.

I had changed, yes, I had grown a foot;

MARCH 1974 11

To tell just how or why, I'd be hard put.

Year after year I struggled, worked and fought

Weather, rock and beetle to keep what I had wrought.

Each day dragged by as something stricken with age;

My temper grew short, my thoughts less sage.

The pride with which I started, had to take a tumble,

Let others boast their gains, Let me be humble.

With neither horse, nor wagon, nor harvest crops inside,

I did not feel, nor could I show, a single ounce of pride.

And when I grew content with working, and with living,

Content with very little, content to be forgiving,

I changed.
I was no longer I, but some one more,

Greater than the man who entered at your door.

I had grown; I can't explain, won't try,

But I say a prayer for him with the hopeless eye.

-RUBY ZAGOREN

♦ ♦ ♦

Communication alone won't solve all the problems of man and his world. But it can clarify issues, remove obstacles, humanize relation-ships and open the way for workable solutions.

CHRISTOPHER NEWS NOTES

♦ ♦ ♦

USSR-USA TALENT EXCHANGE

On October 28, 1973, the Bell System Family Theatre presented a rather unique viewing experience, Peggy Fleming Visits the Soviet Union.

This program was unusual in that tapings were being shown in both the USA and the USSR on the same evening.

The theme centered on the mutual talent display of performing artists from both countries. Among the Soviet performers were the Moscow Civic Ballet on Ice, the Moscow Circus, the Kirov Ballet, and the Obrasova Puppet Theatre.

In this writer's opinion, the program afforded a fine opportunity to view the Soviet humor, sense of entertainment, and standards of per-forming excellence which are indeed quite admirable. Still another ex-citing facet of this show was the chance to see what can be done when people from two different facets of human society come together in creative cooperation.

SHARON TUCKER

12 UNDERSTANDING

world report

'Light in East'

(Daily Courier, Grants Pass, Ore.. Dec, 13, 1973)

FRUITLAND, Idaho (AP)-A Fruitland man and his wife have reported a mysterious, eerie, blinding light hovering near their car as they drove along eastern Oregon desert.

Larry Wood said the object had a "whiteness so pure it was startling."

The incident occurred about a week ago, he said.

Wood said they were traveling about 15 miles north of McDermitt, Nev., about 2 a.m. when they first spotted the bright light.

"At first I thought it was a large vehicle up on the mountainside using a spotlight or something," Wood said. "As the car came closer and we could see open landscape, the light was still there. And it wasn't on any mountainside, it was in the sky."

Wood said he stopped to observe the light and it suddenly disappeared. After Wood resumed driving, the light shone again and it was visible until they reached the bottom of the Marsing hill in Idaho, he said. The Woods said they observed the light, which intermittently turned on and off, for nearly 150 miles.

He said darkness prevented seeing the object itself, but Wood commented, "It had a large shaft of white light extending from the bottom of the craft that looked at least 10 feet in diameter from where we were standing."

The light extended toward the ground, but Wood said they couldn't see any illumination on the ground itself.

Paul Kiepe, Payette, area investigator for the Aerial Phenomenon Research Organization, said thousands of such encounters with unidentifiable objects in the sky have been reported.

Kiepe said the APRO organization has reports of observers forced to leave automobiles because of sudden, excessive heat caused by unidentified flying objects.

Too Psychedelic

(Daily Courier, Grants Pass, Ore., Jan. 7, 1974)

DUBLIN (AP)-"Discos are a new development designed by the devil for crazy youngsters to make them even more crazy," said Judge Carr,

MARCH 1974 13

at Naas Court, County Kildare.

He said the psychedelic lights which rotated at high speed could drive people out of their minds.

The judge was hearing an objection to the granting of a dance license to an hotel.

♦ ♦ ♦

Unidentified Submerged Object

(Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, Thursday, Nov. 8, 1973)

PASCA GOULA, Miss.- (UPI) - Another strange object has been sighted on the Pascagoula river where two fishermen reported being taken aboard a spacecraft by weird creatures several weeks ago.

The Coast Guard called the latest sighting "an unidentified submerged illuminating object."

Raymond Ryan, 42, said he saw the object while fishing on the river Tuesday night. The Coast Guard confirmed the sighting.

Ryan said the underwater light followed his boat and repeated efforts to beat the thing away with an oar only made the light get dimmer.

At first, he related, he decided not to tell anyone about the sighting. Much publicity has surrounded the reported sighting several weeks ago of an unidentified flying object in the same vicinity by two other Pascagoula fishermen who claim they were taken aboard the craft by creatures with claws.

But Ryan said he finally summoned his twin brother, Rayme, and the two of them went back to the brackish waters and poked at the light with oars again.

The Coast Guard station in New Orleans said Wednesday the Ryan brothers went to Coast Guard officials in Pascagoula.

"At 9:40 p.m. the Coast Guard at Pascagoula dispatched a 16-foot boat to investigate the object," a spokesman said.

"The object was located in 4 to 6 feet of water, moving at 4-6 knots," the Coast Guard report said. The officers named the object "an unidentified submerged illuminating object," and described it as "an amber beam, 4-6 inches in diameter, attached to a bright, metal object."

Coast Guard officials said they tried to retrieve the object, but "it would appear to go out and move away and then reappear."

Blind See Colors By ESP

(National Enquirer, Dec. 13, 1973)

Totally blind people have been taught to "see" colors in an ESP experiment that a parapsychologist calls "fabulous" and another scientist says is "mind-boggling."

14 UNDERSTANDING

The blind people (16 totally blind volunteers) were able to correctly distinguish between black and white sheets of paper 65% of the time in more than 2,000 attempts, and between red and green sheets, 70 percent of the time in over 2,000 tries, according to parapsychologist Douglas Dean, who made the statistical analysis of the results.

The experiment was carried out at Rosary Hill College in Buffalo by Carol Liaros, a psychic who teaches people to see an "energy aura" which she says surrounds a person or object.

The blind were taught to relax, then pass their hands over sheets of white or black paper. At first it was guesswork, but in eight weeks most were able to differentiate between black and white. Then we tried red and green, with many able to make the distinction of color.

Some were able to pick up auras-tell where a person was in the room by "seeing" the aura. "Toward the end, some were able to name different objects-marbles, dice, light bulbs-and working with photo-graphs tell with uncanny accuracy which were pictures of men and which of women."

Dr. Sean Zieler, clinical psychologist at Veteran's Hospital in Buffalo, believes blind people may be more open to extra-sensory feelings, and messages sent to our brain by the eyes may be sent by different methods in their case.

One woman told of learning to scan articles and get the feel of color through her fingers. Another woman reported - "One night at home I went into my bedroom and to my amazement the whole room was lit up in chartreuse-I could see the outlines of the bed and the dresser in the glow. And it wasn't coming through my eyes-it was coming through my head."

Said Barbara Engel, 26, who experienced the same situation on two other nights in different rooms, "I have great hopes that the experiment might be the start of something that will help us make our way in the world."

♦ ♦ ♦

Tailed By UFO

(Medford (Ore.) Mail Tribune, Nov. 19, 1973)

BROWNSVILLE, Tex. (UPI)-Cameron County Deputies Eddie Gonzalez and Frank Lopez told their superiors last week they were tailed by a funny kind of thing with a red light on top. and a yellow light on the bottom that hovered 50 to 60 feet above the ground.

They said they were driving three prisoners from the Rio Grande Valley to the state prison in Huntsville. They were just north of Brownsville at 6:30 a.m. when the thing appeared overhead.

MARCH 1974 15

Gonzalez said when he stopped his station wagon, the thing stopped too. When he speeded up, the thing kept pace.

They notified officials of an unidentified flying object in their presence and Harlingen and San Benito police answered the call. They re-ported seeing the thing too.

All the officers converged on a point near San Benito, watched the thing hover silently 50 to 60 feet in the air for 30 minutes before it "zoomed straight up into the sky and disappeared."

Book reviews

Investigating the Unexplained

(INVESTIGATING THE UNEXPLAINED, Ivan T. Sanderson, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1972. $7.95.)

This will be the last tome the late Ivan T. Sanderson will ever write on the mysterious, Fortean and the unknown. Perhaps in this book, Sanderson contemplated his death, for he said in his Epilogue:

"So, all I want to say in taking leave of you, is that I am willing to put it on the line now: First, that there is a hell of a lot going on of which we are not aware and of which we are usually not informed; and, second, the explanation for just what is going on in these more abstruse fields can only be interpreted in accepting the fact that ours is not the only universe."

Sanderson had been scratching his head, wrinkling his nose, and staring pensively into the sky for years-before John Keel began writing on "ultraterrestrials" that materialize before us, and Jessup speculated on "other dimensions" in his books, or Drake speculated that the gods of ancient were real and physical-and his conclusion that "other universes coexist" closely with ours should have made him just as successful as Daniken, and as rich. But alas!

What else could explain what Sanderson called "fafrotskies" and "oopths" (falls from the skies and out of place things). Legions of frogs, fishes, reptiles, blood, hair and other oddities which fell from the

16 UNDERSTANDING

sky and made absolutely no sense to conventional science. Why should one species of frog, of the same size and weight, come down at the same time and place? Why out of their normal regions-and landing "from a clear midday sky"? Science has never really attempted to find out.

Sanderson lumps UFO's in the general category of "falls from the skies" and "out of place things." And he makes the interesting observation that UFO's had been dumping pure magnesium, lead, tin and other metals long before aircraft made the scene. One can't help but think of the high purity Ubatuba, magnesium UFO fragments found in Brazil in 1957. It has been speculated that "pure" metals have been part of the operating mechanism of the UFO's.

And would "multiple universes" explain rare coins, neolithic-type flint axes, and "bits of marble statuary of a completely unknown origin"? Where were they being held all these years-and for what reason?

Sanderson speculates that "intervention" from other universes would explain the arrival of the sea serpents, such as the Loch Ness monster, the "giant bats," the "flying reptiles," unusual penguins, past destructions, ancient models of "space gliders," and "ancient construction machinery," ancient electronics, and a host of other Fortenisms.

Just as remarkable is Sanderson's tracing of the original Zodiac-which tends to leave astrology on shaky ground.

"The astrologers' much beloved Zodiac has nothing whatsoever to do with ancient astrology, except that its various 'houses' might reflect the most notable characteristics of certain peoples (of that time)," Sander son said. "The Zodiac was nothing more than traveling directions for anybody setting out in any direction from the head of the Persian Gulf." Unfortunately, we aren't totally convinced that cases of "spontaneous combustion" can be attributed to the imbalance of phosphate-potassium compounds in the body, as Sanderson speculates. Would that explain destruction that is so complete and total as to completely disintegrate one area of the body, yet leave totally unharmed other parts? We can thank Sanderson for this imaginative series of theories. Many will say that Sanderson now confronts the biggest mystery of all time-at the end of this life.

STEVE ERDMAN

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What we need is a "Pentagon of World Friendship," a body as efficient in making friends as the existing Pentagon is in making war materials.

DAVID E. MASON

MARCH 1974 17

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Dr. Fry:

On February 24, 1973 I sent you a copy of a UFO sighting I made. Since that time I have kept a careful record of all unexplainable objects I have observed. I have made quite a few sightings, some of which could be explained as atmospheric phenomena. However, several of them could not possibly be explained away. I would like to share these sightings with you.

Date: February 28, 1973

Location: Over woods near my home

Sky: Clear

Time: 10:25 p.m.

Duration: 50 sec.

Wind: Calm

Witnesses: Two-mother and self

Description (through binoculars): The object was clearly a solid, circular shape. It glowed a very bright orange. It did not blink nor were there any other lights. The object was the size of a half-dollar at arm's length.

When I first saw the UFO it was about 30-50 feet over the tops of trees in front of our house. It suddenly began to rise vertically to a height of 100 feet, then shot down to about 30 feet again over the trees. At this time I called my mother outside. We watched as the object began to move very slowly eastward over the trees. When it was nearly out of sight, it lit up very brilliantly, then disappeared.

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Date: March 12, 1973

Location: Western sky

Sky: Clear Time: 5:50 p.m.

Duration: 20-25 minutes

Wind: Very light

Witnesses: Four

Description (through binoculars): The larger object was a clearly de-fined, disc-shaped vehicle. The color was orange. I could see a metallic reflection under the orange glow. Smaller objects were a clearly defined round shape. They were blue, surrounded by an intense white glow. Large object was size of two half-dollars at arm's length. Smaller ones were size of nickel at arm's length.

My neighbor called my attention to the sighting. When I got outside there was a jet flying toward the west. Suddenly two globes of blue and white light approached the jet. They came very near the jet, then abruptly changed direction and disappeared. The jet flew out of sight. Now an orange disc-shaped object came up very quickly from the East, flew above us, turned left and headed toward the S.E. Horizon. It slowed down when it neared the horizon, stopped and hovered there for about ten minutes. While hovering, it tilted downward and a white light appeared on top. When the white light appeared, the two blue and white globes returned, flew to the larger object and all three objects flew off westward.

MARCH 1974 19

These are just two of the sightings I have made this year, but I felt they were the most interesting. The only explanation I can offer is that they were extra-terrestrial vehicles, here for a definite purpose.

I shall continue to keep my eyes open for UFOs and I will continue to send you my observations.

Sincerely,

Mr. Terry W.

Bulletin board

Pettit Books Received

From John Curtis Gowan, of California State University, Northridge, California, his book: Development of the Psychedelic Individual.

From Gene Duplantier, Willowdale, Ontario, Canada, his booklets: Hidden Planets; Outer Space Humor; and Subterranean Worlds of Planet Earth.

From Vantage Press, New York City, Alva Knight's book: Find Happiness in Your Name.

We thank our generous friends!

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Thank You

We thank publicly our members, subscribers and Units who have recently made generous contributions to forward our work in bringing about better understanding among all peoples of earth, and of those not of earth. Your support is deeply appreciated.

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Something New at Buffalo Unit

A recent Bulletin issued by our Buffalo, New York, Unit #37, offers a thought that other Units may wish to adopt. The Bulletin reads: We

20 UNDERSTANDING

are investigating something new at this meeting. In addition to the regular UFO reports by Norman Weis, we are asking some of our members to give a short talk on a subject of their own choosing. We have so much talent and so many knowledgeable people in our group that it is a pity to have it hidden under a bushel, so to speak.

Mr. Daniel Harding will be the first to serve us this added attraction. He will have a most interesting message to give us.

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Creative Arts Fellowship

Mrs. Ray Oller of Ashland, Oregon announces the founding of the CREATIVE ARTS FELLOWSHIP. Open lectures will be held on Friday evenings at the Episcopal Parish Hall, 44 North 2nd Street, Ashland, at 7:30 p.m.

Nationally recognized authorities on Creative Education will participate as Guest Speakers, and also teachers trained in Creative Problem Solving.

If you live in the area and wish to participate, do write to Mrs. Ray Oller at 370 Hargadine St., Ashland, Or. 97520.

CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT

6c per word per insertion; 3 or more insertions same copy, 5c per word.

UNDERSTAND your mental-spiritual side better. Read Life Is As You Give It by Louis Condé-Lahissa. Happiness, Overcoming Mental Handicaps, Employer-Employee Cooperation, Tuning-in to Universal-Mind Knowledge, New Era, Selected Gems, etc. (155 pages clothbound, $3.25 postpaid.) Non-sectarian. IDEAL GIFT. Ellen Gibbs, 2803 No. Victoria, Peoria, III. 61604.

EDITING AND TYPESETTING for individuals, publishers, printers, and organizations. Very reasonable rates. Latest IBM computer typeset-ting equipment. Over 20 years experience in publications as Production Supervisor and Senior Editor. Query Wanna Walker, 13880 Highway 66, Ashland, Or. 97520 about your book manuscript, your organization's publication, "job-shop" work.

NEW FROM SS&S PUBLICATIONS: SUBTERRANEAN WORLDS OF PLANET EARTH-Edited by Gene Duplantier. Researchers into the inner earth give their accounts of its credibility. Nine pages by Richard Shaver, worldwide reports of and evidence of inner world openings, legend of the green people, giant inhabitants of Hal Salfini, much more. Illustrated, Price: $1.25 Mail orders to: Gene Duplantier, Dept. UN, 17 Shetland St., Willowdale, Ontario, Canada M2M 1 X5 (Personal and bank money orders 25c additional to cover bank charges.)

f a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money it values more, it will lose that too.

By JOHN NUNEZ

Memberships in Understanding

Understanding, Inc. is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the propagation of a better understanding among all the peoples of the earth so that they may live in harmony and be better prepared psychologically and sociologically for the space age.

Several types of membership are available to those who wish to support our endeavors either with dollars or with time and service, or both.

The Associate Membership is Two Dollars per year; the Contributing Membership, Ten Dollars per year, including the Understanding magazine; Sustaining Membership, Twenty-Five Dollars per year, including subscription; and Life Membership, Five Hundred Dollars, including subscription to Understanding magazine.

Welcome to the Understanding family!

UNDERSTANDING, INC.

P.O. Box 206, Merlin, Oregon 97532.