The year 2017 saw what appeared at the time to be a sea change in ufology when a key piece published in the New York Times made clear that the U.S. military had footage of aerial vehicles of unknown origin. In other words, not only were UFOs - now referred to as UAP - a “thing”, something those intimately familiar with the topic had long known to be the case, but the U.S. government, to some degree or another, was now publicly acknowledging this fact.

Many within ufology assumed this was the turning point we’d all been waiting for; the historical event that would send this topic fully into hyperdrive, and not just in remote corners of the internet, but, more importantly, within the mainstream. In the end, that wasn’t what happened. The article made waves, to be sure, dragging the topic beyond X-files land, and tantalizingly closer to mainstream acceptance. Still, what many enthusiasts and researchers were left wondering was, why weren’t these revelations enough to really bring us past the threshold into widespread, conventional recognition of the validity of this topic?

That question has lingered, largely in a static status, until this past week, when a new article by the same authors has brought to light startling allegations that take this topic well beyond the matter of strange lights in the sky. According to an article by Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal, a former intelligence official turned whistleblower named David Grusch has alleged that elements of the U.S. military are in possession of “intact and partially intact craft of non-human origin.”

Because Grusch has provided this information to Congress and the Intelligence Community inspector general, filing “a complaint alleging that he suffered illegal retaliation for his confidential disclosures,” and because officials have received these concerns as “credible” and “urgent”, once again we seem to be at the precipice of a word ufologists have been bandying about for decades: disclosure. True disclosure. Not hearsay. Not rumors; but true widespread acknowledgement by government officials and widespread acceptance by the populace of the world that not only are we not alone in the universe, but that various beings who represent vast, sophisticated intelligence are here, in our very midst, and, in a collective shock to the system, perhaps have been all along.

As things stand right now, this is a dynamic situation, evolving daily as the story makes its way across the media landscape, inevitably landing anew in the awareness of untold numbers of the general public, and on the desks of government officials all around the world. But where do things stand, really? Is there no turning back at this point? Have we crossed the proverbial event horizon? Is the end result, while still rolling out as we speak, already a foregone conclusion?

Put simply the question is this: will these remarkable recent events finally catapult us into a new era in human civilization, where we recognize we are part of a cosmic neighborhood teeming with life forms we’ve as of yet been largely unaware of? And, if so, what comes next? How will we be changed by these revelations? These are the very pressing and profound questions we’ll seek to find some clarity around on this, the 85th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

WETF Show - Teddy Wilson solos 1934-41