The alien encounters appear to bring about an expansion of consciousness or identity in the sense that experiencers come to appreciate that there is much more to reality than we or they had supposed. Isabel speaks of “becoming more spirit than physical” and feeling like “I was a part of everything.” Similarly, Nona has learned through her experiences how existence is “so much more beyond what you're just seeing in the physical.”

Abductees often say they are expanding, growing, evolving or becoming whole. Karin speaks of her experiences as “not only life preserving, but life growing. Everything that you get is about moving forward, expanding. You open and you open and you open. This is the awakening, this is the flower, unfolding. This is what the becoming is.” Concomitantly experiencers know that their capacity for love, compassion, caring and service to others has grown. With the opening of her consciousness, Andrea says, comes “unconditional love, acceptance” and a sense of responsibility for “taking care of everything,” especially children.

According to Isabel, at least some of the beings seem to find our evolutionary struggles quite funny. “These creatures have an incredible sense of humor,” she noted. “We think this is all so serious. This isn't serious to them. I think they would joke about it, like, 'well, it was about time. We thought you'd never wake up.'” During one of her abductions to what seemed like a strange planet, Isabel met a being that at first she did not recognize. She says that he laughed, “and at that moment I recognized him. He thought it was funny that I didn't know it was him all along,” and “that we had known each other for thousands of years. I didn't think it was funny at all. It's a big deal for us, because we have fooled ourselves into thinking that this [i.e. the reality of life on Earth] is it.”

The reconnection to Source that many abductees speak about seems to depend on a breaking down of barriers or layers of the mind, confronting pain, terror, annihilation and death, and, above all, the surrender of control to the energy or spirit of the universe. Whatever the “aliens'” ultimate “purpose” or “intention” (I use quotation marks to recognize that such designations and concepts reflect the way our minds work), the abduction encounters seem to provide a virtually unparalleled opportunity to bring about the transcendence that so many people seek.

It can be justifiably argued that many of the phenomena documented in this chapter are familiar to students of the history of religious traditions. The longing for connection with Source or the ground of being; the anguish of separation from the Divinity; the process of breaking down the barriers to connection or reconnection with Source; the cycles of the soul's incarnation or reincarnation-are all familiar aspects of spiritual transformation. What seems to be unique about the abduction phenomenon as documented throughout this book is its reality-shocking content, energetic intensity and potentially rapid transformative power. This may enable individuals who, generally speaking, have not undertaken a path of spiritual practice to connect or reconnect with Source dramatically and quickly when they confront and work through the mind-shattering terror that often, at least initially, is produced by the encounters. (Excerpted from Passport to the Cosmos, edited for brevity).

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