The Omega Project

by Kenneth Ring

In his book, The Omega Project, Kenneth Ring demonstrated that there are startling similarities between persons claiming to have undergone alien abductions and those who have had a near-death experience. Many aspects of their childhoods as well as the changes they undergo following their experiences show uncanny parallels. In light of his findings, Dr. Ring posits the existence of an “encounter-prone personality” – a distinctive, spiritually sensitive and ecologically-oriented individual who, collectively, may represent the next stage in human evolution.

Genres: Paranormal, Aliens, Spirituality, Nonfiction

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1992

Reviews

[The Overflowing Inkwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have never in my life heard about people coming back from UFO experiences determined to save the planet from climate change. That's possibly the weirdest thing in this book (and that's saying a lot). He's got the data from his survey of people who all say they're super interested in rescuing the planet from mankind after their experiences, but I've just....never heard of it? And it makes zero sense. Here, let's abduct the human, conduct freaky experiments, and on the way to drop you back at home, by the by would you happen to be interested in voting green this year? Nothing will turn you around on saving the seas like a good tractor beam at midnight, apparently. Like????? All the space he had to share experiences that ever touched on becoming the ozone defender par excellence and.........crickets. He shares loads of experiences of all sorts, and legitimately never shares *one* that gives a strong impression that the whole point of the experience is to fashion a legion of eco-warriors to save the planet. There's a lot of mentioning that telepathic communication happened, that 'downloads' or something along those lines occurred so I suppose that's when they make their irresistible case for rescuing the polar bears, but none of the experiences he relates state that connection themselves.

Given that the eco connection is the driving force behind this book, his inability to lay out lots of cases that back him up makes it more obvious that he came to the writing of this book already an eco warrior himself, determined to share the message in any space he could find. This whole book felt tortured, forcing conclusions and connections that absolutely don't work. He tried so hard to make UFO abduction experiences align perfectly with NDEs (near death experiences) and it's honestly laughable. He even takes the time to give a comparison of features between the two experiences in a table on page 94, which, apart from making a disaster of his case, it also leaves any idea of heightened ecological awareness being the driving factor behind abductions in tatters:

1. Precipitating event:
NDE Life-threatening crisis
UFO Sudden capture
2. Form of separation:
NDE Swept up into a light-filled realm
UFO Taken away to an alien environment
3. Initial response:
NDE Peace, security
UFO Fight, terror
4. Perception of reality:
NDE Hyperreal
UFO Dreamlike, fantastic
5. Nature of beings:
NDE Beings of light, spirits of deceased relatives or friends
UFO Hideous alien creatures
6. Nature of encounter:
NDE Compassionate self-examination; insights of profound spiritual import
UFO Clinical physical examination; awareness of obscure alien purposes
7. Sense of encounter:
NDE Total affirmation
UFO Violation
8. Motivation regarding encounter:
NDE To remain
UFO To be set free
9. Determination of return:
NDE Personal choice, externally imposed injunction, or not indicated
UFO Under control of alien beings
10. Emotions upon return:
NDE Disappointment, regret, sorrow, resentment, but also exhilaration
UFO Relief, panicky confusion, anger, hatred
11. Memory of encounter:
NDE Usually intact
UFO Often impaired
12. Immediate aftermath:
NDE Variable, strong emotions
UFO Posttraumatic-stress symptoms
13. Frequency:
NDE Usually only once
UFO Often recurrent episodes
14. Occurrence:
NDE Usually in adulthood
UFO Often in early childhood

He admits for a second a lot of it is different but then immediately says since both NDEs and UFO experiences involve separation, ordeal, and return they're essentially the same on a deep level and therefore the rest of the book is full steam ahead. But he never makes a convincing argument as to why he thought leaving someone with PTSD, anger, and impaired memory is the perfect way to alert the world to impending ecological collapse. He sweeps all that aside like a pesky mosquito. We must save the earth from icky evil science, and all these horrifying experiences are actually intended to deconstruct us, baffle us, turn us upside down, so that we can "open ourselves up to modes of cognition that rest on unabashedly indeterministic principles that by definition entirely preclude conventional either/or solutions"! (pg 245) Alien encounters are a super special external Mind's way of showing us how nature feels under our domain, of course! Aren't you convinced now??

That all of this comes directly after he debunks the common UFO experience as social contagion or cultural conditioning just takes the cake. There's plenty of space given to many arguments from many quarters to show how every aspect of an abduction story has an antecedent in popular culture from the lights, to the ships, to the operations and possible nefarious reasons behind them. He then dismisses the alien part of the alien experiences, saying that an experience is occurring (though he doesn't entirely settle on the how), that it is in some imaginal realm that is also 100% as real as our waking world, but when a human sees aliens and spaceships and operations occurring it's just cultural conditioning forcing him to see it that way instead of what's really going on.

If you can honestly believe that people are having experiences in an alternate reality, that some external Mind (not God) is giving people a shared experience, but deny entirely that the experience they are having looks anything like how they are describing it, how can you then say that the whole point is for an ecological purpose? Concern about the planet's health and future has not ebbed since this book was written in the nineties; a sense of impending global doom and ecological collapse has been (I would argue) more thoroughly embedded in society than UFOs. If the alien part of the experience can be dismissed as window dressing, an artifact of cultural conditioning, then why isn't any ecological message dismissed for the exact same reason?

If you can ignore the comments about his conclusion scattered throughout the book, and stop at the end of chapter 9 before he gets into the wacky Mind at Large and eco disaster portion of the book, it's actually not terrible. He writes mostly smoothly, though there are some wild sentences in here, and reading about people's experiences is always interesting. I disagree that the NDE is at all shamanistic in style, content, or purpose, because I am thoroughly a believer in lives after this one after reading the brilliant set of books by Christopher David Carter, and see the shamanism instead in the UFO experience. Visiting other beings, being operated on, having parts of your insides or brain either removed or replaced with foreign objects or gems are a part of shaman lore. I would lean to the side that if shamanism is in any way real, that the individuals experiencing UFO encounters would have been shamans in another culture or past age, and that they are still being initiated--just without the prior notification and possible preparation or training they would have been given in a society that had shamans. That at least, would have been a cogent argument, whether or not it is believable; it is certainly more believable than an extra, external human Consciousness foisting alien experiences on members of the human race for the general spiritual evolution of the planet!

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE FAMED NEAR-DEATH RESEARCHER COMPARES NDEs TO UFO ENCOUNTERS

Kenneth Ring (born 1936) is Professor Emeritus of psychology at the University of Connecticut, and has written other books such as 'Life at Death,' 'Heading Toward Omega,' etc. He states in the Preface to this 1994 book that his editor sent him a copy of Whitley Streiber's 'Communion: A True Story,' and "Reflecting on all this, after finishing Streiber's book, helped to germinate the basic query that led to the research reported in this book. In its simplest terms, it is this: Are NDEs and UFO encounters... in effect ALTERNATE PATHWAYS to the same type of psychospiritual transformation...?" (Pg. 11)

He states, "the more I delved into the varieties of UFO encounters... the more convinced I became that... There were hitherto unnoticed links between NDEs and UFO encounters, as well as among the people who were having these experiences." (Pg. 38) He also suggests, "there may be SOME KIND of connection between the structure of dreams and fairy tales on the one hand, and UFO narratives on the other---even if we cannot say exactly what it is." (Pg. 63)

He observes, "It has long been known that approximately only one of three persons who survives a near-death incident will later describe having had an NDE experience of some kind. But why only one in three? Why should some individuals experience an ineffable light and a feeling of divine love when they nearly die, whereas others... remember nothing? This question has stumped researchers from the beginning... when I first met Raymond Moody [author of Life After Life] in 1977, I made a point of asking him about this. His reply was as candid as it was pithy: 'Ken... I haven't got a clue.' ... thus conundrum has continued to elude NDE investigators to the present day." (Pg. 113)

He argues, "one significant predisposing factor in the developmental history of our extraordinary experiencers may well be the presence of relatively high ... levels of childhood abuse and trauma and possibly other forms of stress." (Pg. 139) He adds, "Overall, individuals who report UFO encounters and NDErs appear to have a greater likelihood of showing dissociative tendencies in their psychological functioning." (Pg. 143) He also notes, "following extraordinary encounters, respondents, on the average, don't become more religious, they become more spiritual." (Pg. 183)

Ring's book will be of lesser appeal to those focused on NDEs, but will perhaps greatly appeal to those interested in a wider range of paranormal phenomena.

[Marina Quattrocchi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kenneth Ring is Professor Emeritus of psychology at the University of Connecticut, and a researcher within the field of near-death studies. Ring is perhaps the most respected academic in the field of near death studies and UFO's a field where most academics are still afraid to tread. He's made significant contributions to the field especially with his book "Lessons from the Light" which was excellent--a man well ahead of his time. Near death experiences are more common than we think. Ring tells is that in the 1980's there were over 8 million people who had a near death or NDE experience. He tells us in his preface that "NDE's are a kind of experiential catalyst for human evolution...these experiences that we now know have occurred to many millions of persons across the globe are serving the purpose of jump-stepping the human race to a higher level of spiritual awareness and psychophysical functioning." He feels this is part of our advancement as a human race toward an end state of evolution that Teilhard de Chardin called "the Omega Point." He is one of the few researchers who has studied the long term effects of NDE's. Over time he's found these people have; a greater appreciation of life, greater self-acceptance, concern for others, concern for social issues, quest for meaning in life, and a greater religious but more often spiritual orientation. One of his volunteers Gina summed up her insights by explaining that she's come to understand that the whole meaning of life is to understand LOVE.

[Dan Zarfati · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts well, but then for his theory to take effect he has to reduce UFOs to imaginary things, that and not real, and for that you have to throw half of the evidence away because it doesn't go your way.
Funny how the author's cousin, Dr. Leir presented evidence that there were some metallic objects in association with abductees, the so-called IMPLANTS....

[MrFuckTheSystem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and thought provoking book ! Although I don’t ascribe to all of the theory’s in this book they all have one common effect. The effect on the human consciousness and the implications of which are evolutionary !

[Lamont S · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do NDEs and UFO Encounters have in common?

Good case reports of both phenomena and a fascinating study of the manifold similarities of the aftereffects, often life-changing, despite what are quite significant differences in content. Enjoyed the empirical journey.

[Brent Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The topic of UFOs desperately needs to become interdisciplinary. This book is a prime example. Lots of credit to Dr. Kenneth Ring for such exploration at the expense of his professional credibility.

[Johan Pretorius · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read!

An insightful thesis on the commonalities between NDEs and UFO encounters and their meaning and implications for humanity. Well written and accessible!

[Gatekeeper The · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthwhile read dealing with the very under-researched topics of near-death experiences and UFO encounters, and the even more under-researched issue of the connections between them. Some humans simply seem to be more naturally wired to experience paranormal occurrences, including NDE's, as if the dividing line between the seen and the unseen is not as dense for them.