Passport to the Cosmos | John E. Mack, M.D.

Human Transformation and Alien Encounters

Alien Thinking
by Angela Hind, Pier Productions
Not many scientists are prepared to take tales of alien abduction seriously, but John Mack, a Harvard professor who was killed in a road accident in north London last year, did. Ten years on from a row which nearly lost him his job, hundreds of people who claim they were abducted still revere him. (An article based upon a BBC Radio 4 radio program, Abduction, Alienation and Reason, originally broadcast June 8, 2005).

Studying Intrusions from the Subtle Realm:
How Can We Deepen Our Knowledge?
by John E. Mack, M.D.
In the focus on the material realm to the exclusion of the subtle realms, we have virtually rid the cosmos of nature, rid nature of spirit and, in a sense, denied the existence of all life other than that which is physically observable here on Earth.

Dr. John Mack at the Seven Stars book store
Highlights from a presentation at a favorite Cambridge book store, after the release of Passport to the Cosmos, in which Dr. Mack explains his reasons for writing a second book on the alien encounter experience. Trivia: This bookstore appearance is seen briefly in the documentary film Touched.

Witnessing: Abductees as Sacred Truth-Tellers
by John E. Mack, M.D.
The scientific method has been highly successful in giving us reliable ways of knowing about the material world as we know it. But we have yet to develop methodologies that are as reliable with respect to matters that are not clearly in the objective or the subjective realms but seem to partake of both. In this paper I will consider the elements of an expanded epistemology which might help to legitimize experiences that are giving us vital information about the cosmos but which cannot be substantiated by the ways of knowing now considered reliable in Western culture.

Science is Humbled
by Rev. Jeffrey L. Brown and Janis A. Pryor
Our mission is not to argue for or against the existence of aliens. We are saying, however, that we support John Mack's contention that as a culture, our epistomology, our way of investigating the origin, methods and the limits of human knowledge must be expanded to include that human experience can be a legitimate way of knowing.

Blowing the Western Mind
by John E. Mack, M.D.
We hear the expression "consensus reality" used to distinguish the conventional Western/Newtonian/Cartesian world view from other possible philosophies or frameworks of thought. The frequent bracketing of these words in writing and conversation implies that there is one accepted version of reality that includes a social agreement about what the mind may or may not legitimately countenance.

Thinking Like a Cancer
by Robert J. Begiebing
Are we ready to admit this lesson of the Rio+5 and Kyoto environmental meetings: that we must finally give up hoping for environmental wisdom and political will from political leaders and their conferences? Perhaps we need to look elsewhere, to reconsider those visionary, religious traditions that would transform us. Certainly, by now there is a growing scientific consensus to help us along: if we value life on Earth, we must change our lives.

The Environmental Message of the Aliens
by Robert J. Begiebing
A shortened version of the essay “Thinking Like A Cancer”.

The Outer Limits of the Soul
by Mark Gauvreau Judge, Common Boundary, July/Aug 1993
While UFOs remain mired in fifties-style science fiction imagery, increasing numbers of UFO abductees, as well as the experts who treat them, say their experiences have as much to do with inner as outer space.

The Moral Truth is Out There
by Theodore Roszak
As a historian, I have learned to take crazes like this as serious matters that can change society more dramatically than any official political policy. Skeptics find the urge to debunk such delusions overwhelming; that is understandable. But in spite of those who criticize with good sense and straight thinking, delusions change the world.

Alien Contact Experience and Ancient Traditions
by Veronica Goodchild, Ph.D.
One of the difficulties of the alien encounter experience is trying to convey to others the kind of "place" or "landscape" of these anomalous visitations. Some encounters seem to be taking place in a realm that is not clearly recognizable as either outside of ordinary reality or within one's interior world.

Exploring African and Other Alien Encounters
by Dominique Callimanopulos
The Ariel School sighting is one of the most significant in recent UFO history. Even in their state of fear, many of the children reported also being curious and fascinated by the strange beings they saw, whose eyes in particular commanded an intense attention.

Why the Abduction Phenomenon Cannot Be Explained Psychiatrically
by John E. Mack, M.D.
From the proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference held at MIT, June 1992
...Even psychosocial or cultural explanations, if they were to include all of the major dimensions of the syndrome, would force us to stretch our notions of the collective unconscious to such a degree that the distinctions between psyche and world, internal and external reality, would be obliterated.

Integrating Extraordinary Experiences
by Roberta L. Colasanti, LICSW
PEER's former clinical director, Roberta Colasanti, LICSW, describes stages of integration that are often seen in people who seek clinical assistance in dealing with life-long alien encounter experiences. Excerpted from remarks made at a mutidisciplinary meeting of academicians convened by PEER at the Harvard Divinity School in April 1999.

Remembering the Eternal:
Plato's View of "Education" in Anomalous Experiences
by Michael E. Zimmerman, Ph.D.
People over the centuries have reported being taken to strange places by non-human beings, some of whom reveal delightful or disturbing aspects of previously unknown dimensions of reality. How are we to understand the "educational" aspect of the alien encounter experience?

The UFO Abduction Phenomenon: What Does it Mean for the Transformation of Human Consciousness?
by John E. Mack, M.D.
Presented at the International Transpersonal Association Conference on “Science, Spirituality, and the Global Crisis: Toward a World with a Future,” held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 25 June 1992.

Faces of the Visitors: Stranger Than Fiction (excerpt)
by Michael Lindemann
An excerpt, circa 1998, presenting Dr. Mack's assessment of the possible nature of the human/alien “hybrid project”, including this statement: “This is not to say that the aliens or hybrids are not entirely real. Rather, I would argue that the process might be occurring largely in another realm, one with a different vibrational frequency, a kind of in-between domain — not pure formless spirit or dense matter — which, under certain circumstances, can penetrate our world, and be perceived with such vividness as to bring intense experiential conviction and even subtle physical manifestations for abductees... To some degree, then, the nature or quality of the hybrid project may reside in the eyes or co-creative consciousness of the beholders.”

My Favorite Martians
by Kathryn Robinson, Seattle Weekly, June 1994
I don't know if those of us who have never had our deepest-held beliefs dismissed as sick and ridiculous can begin to understand the overwhelming therapeutic value of simple respect. It's hard, indeed, to find a downside in Mack's trust: with nobody being sued or impugned (as in “repressed memories” of childhood abuse), his patients reportedly function better after their purgative sessions with him. If this is bad science, it may nonetheless be good medicine. ...Yet, is it bad science?

More On John Mack's Abduction
by Andrea Pritchard
John has been much faulted for not being more scientific in his book [Abduction] but the topic of abductions does not neatly fit into what is “scientific,” but strays into philosophy and realms of the spirit... John can hardly be faulted for following this subject wherever it leads, and where it is appropriate to speak as a philosopher rather than a psychiatrist.

Dr Mack Responds to Psychology Today Article
John E. Mack, M.D.
A brief response to a discussion generated by an article in Psychology Today magazine, 2003. In this response, Mack boldly declares that “The idea...that we can learn about what matters to people simply by objectifying them is wrong.”

PEER Perspectives 3 (.pdf)
The final issue of the Program for Extraordinary Experience newsletter includes coverage of the release of Passport to the Cosmos.

John Mack's Transpersonal Journey Continues
by Bill Chalker
When John Mack was in Australia I supported his research into indigenous aboriginal abduction & UFO experiences - an area we both had a strong interest in, particularly its shamanic dimensions. I recently went through the final editing of my forthcoming book, from which some discussions about John’s legacy had been deleted. This forum and this time seems like a good place to post that material....
Sept 2004.

The Aliens Are Always With Us
by Bryan Appleyard
A Harvard professor killed in London last week had been vilified for his belief in the 'third realm'. His theories may not be as mad as some think says Bryan Appleyard. Oct 2004.

Psychiatric Arts

Psychoanalysis and the Self: Toward a Spiritual Point of View
by John E. Mack, M.D.
Spiritual or religious experience calls forth the language of the sacred, words like soul, spirit, transcendence, reverence, and faith. Psychoanalysts and other dynamically oriented psychologists have tended to be uncomfortable with this language. In this essay, Dr. John Mack describes how the explicit inclusion of a spiritual point of view has significant implications for the practice of psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy.

DSM-IV: Religious and Spiritual Problems
by David Lukoff, Ph.D.
The inclusion of a new diagnostic category called “Religious or Spiritual Problem” in the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association) marks a significant breakthrough. For the first time, there is acknowledgment of distressing religious and spiritual experiences as nonpathological problems. Co-author of the category, Dr. David Lukoff, has prepared a coursebook (presented here) designed to educate mental health professionals about various types of religious and spiritual problems. Alien encounters are included in this coursebook because such extraordinary events function for some individuals as transcendent experiences.

Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision
by Frances Vaughn, Roger Walsh et al. (Foreword by John E. Mack, M.D.)
Transpersonal disciplines tend to be exceptionally wide-ranging, interdisciplinary, and integrative. Their investigations include higher developmental possibilities and what Maslow called “the farther reaches of human nature.” This investigation builds on and integrates knowledge from fields such as neuroscience, cognitive science, anthropology, philosophy, and comparative religion and incorporates Eastern as well as Western perspectives.

Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness and the Accessing of Feelings
by John E. Mack, M.D.
A review of Freud's use of hypnosis and Stanislav Grof's use of Holotropic Breathwork.

Emerging Renaissance with Roméo Di Benedetto
John E. Mack, M.D., discusses with complete candor the investigation into his work that was launched by Harvard Medical School in 1994 and ended without censure in 1995.

Defining Academic Freedom
Alan M. Dershowitz
If Dr. Mack had taught at the Divinity School, it is unlikely that any investigation [into his work] would be tolerated...The paradigm of the scientific method is not the only criteria for evaluating academic undertakings. This is certainly true in the formative, exploratory phases in the development of an idea. If Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx or Martin Buber had been required to satisfy a committee before they could continue their research, the world might have been deprived of significant insights.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Space Station
Susan Downs, M.D., reports on John Mack's presentation to the Northern California Psychiatric Association in 1996.

Messengers from the Unseen: Oberlin Alumni Magazine Fall 2002
John E. Mack, M.D.
Oberlin graduate John Mack ('51) spoke at Oberlin College in 2001 on the event of his 50th class reunion. This article expands upon his presentation. Dr. Mack was surprised by the storm of criticism that came with the 1994 publication of Abduction. He has since come to understand his own naivite at the time as well as the “misty territory” his research and writing explores. He credits Oberlin for emphasizing open-mindedness and encouraging exploration in his education.

Political Worldviews

Resisting the Politics of Fear
by John E. Mack, M.D.
“Because the terrorist danger is real, it is especially important that our capacity to assess the risk we face not be distorted for political gain.” Dr Mack's final essay. Sept 2004.

My Day in Manchester
by John E. Mack, M.D.
One week before his death, John Mack was in Manchester New Hampshire in advance of the US Presidential election. In this letter, originally composed to his sons, he shares his experience as a volunteer in “getting out the vote.”

The Responsible Warrior
by John E. Mack, M.D.
Dr Mack contrasts the leadership qualities of T.E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) with those of the American president George W Bush. A Boston Globe editorial, June 2004, written during Bush's invasion of Iraq.

Reflections on Two Kinds of Power
by John E. Mack, M.D.
The need for a sense of personal power is one of the primary motivating forces in human life. Conversely, the feeling of powerlessness or helplessness is perhaps the most disturbing of human emotions, one to be avoided at all costs. But what is power?

The Enemy System
by John E. Mack, M.D.
The threat of nuclear annihilation has stimulated us to try to understand what it is about mankind that has led to such self-destroying behavior. Central to this inquiry is an exploration of the adversarial relationships between ethnic or national groups.

A Way to Halt the Arms Race
by John E. Mack, M.D.
A New York Times op/ed by Dr. John Mack recounting his family's protest at a nuclear test site in Nevada during the height of the nuclear arms race. Reprinted in the International Herald Tribune as Nuclear Tests: People Could Stop Them.

Epilogue
by John E. Mack, M.D.
Long before the nuclear superpowers began to extend their competition into space Bertrand Russell (1959) wrote, “When I read of plans to defile the heavens...I cannot but feel that the men who make these plans are guilty of a kind of impiety”.

Trickster's Time
by John E. Mack, M.D.
A New York Times editorial by Dr. John Mack published November 30 2000. The editorial considers the “tied” Presidential election of 2000 from the perspective of the trickster archetype.

Deeper Causes: Exploring the Role of Consciousness in Terrorism
by John E. Mack, M.D.
“Without understanding what breeds these acts and drives the terrorists to do what they do … we have little chance of preventing further such actions, let alone of 'eradicating terrorism.'” Harvard psychiatrist John Mack identifies three levels of causes: immediate, proximate, and deeper. Focusing on deeper causes, he shows how they are rooted in the nature of our minds, of consciousness itself. Presented here in .pdf form as it appeared in the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) June quarterly science magazine, IONS Review, Issue 64, June 2003. James O'Dea, president of IONS, notes “In this courageous and insightful article, Mack quotes former Governor Cuomo: 'The only way to solve the terrorist problem is to change the minds of those who practice terrorism.'”

T. E. Lawrence's Vision for the Middle East: How Does It Look Now?
by John E. Mack, M.D.
Lawrence (unlike the pro-Arab Gertrude Bell or the pro-Zionist Richard Meinertzhagen) was one of the few and one of the last people in his own time and ours to achieve true sympathy for both national movements. His references to both movements in Seven Pillars are positive. He actually believed that they could be reconciled, and, although subsequent events have seemed to prove him wrong at least to date, this belief only rebounds to his credit.

Interviews

Aliens Among Us: An Interview with Dr. John Mack
by Joe Eich-Bonni, Managing Editor, Boston's Weekly Dig
Doctor John Mack is a pulitzer prize-winning Harvard professor and psychiatrist. He thought you might like to know, there very well may be aliens among us. Feb 2001

Alien Concepts
by Andrew Lawler, New Age
John Mack's research into alien abductions has thrust him far out of the academic mainstream, yet the Harvard psychiatrist and his Program for Extraordinary Experience Research soldier on, constructing a “science of the sacred.”

An Interview with John E. Mack, M.D.
by Christina, The Golden Thread, Feb 2000
“I've been interested in what is called transpersonal psychiatry, psychiatry that derives from an understanding that human consciousness is more than simply what the brain does but is a factor in the universe in which human beings participate. ...That point of view made it possible for me to then hear about people who are having experiences that did not seem to fit the notions of the material world as the predominant reality.”

Crop Circle Connector Interview with John E. Mack
by by Richard Cutting
“A Zen teacher strikes a student to get his attention. From the student's point of view it hurts. But it doesn't mean it isn't part of his enlightenment. And I'm not saying the purpose of the aliens is to enlighten us. I'm not saying that at all. But the phenomenon, by opening us up to the existence of beings, consciousness, intelligences beyond ourselves or beyond the earth may, by its very nature, help overcome some of the collective egocentrism of our species.”

Alien Enlightenment: An Interview with John Mack
by David J. Brown, editor of Mavericks of the Mind and Voices from the Edge. 21 August 1996

Passport to the Cosmos: An Interview with John Mack, M.D.
by Vivienne Simon, EarthStar
Vivienne Simon helped set up Dr John Mack's Program for Extraordinary Experience Research (PEER) in the early 90s. She revisited Dr Mack in 2000 to see where his research had led.

Alien Territory
by Sara Terry
John Mack, a Harvard psychiatrist at the front lines of UFO abduction research, is convinced that abductees are not making up their stories: “I encountered something here that did not fit anything I had ever come across in 40 years of psychiatry.”

Publishers Weekly Interviews John E. Mack, M.D.
by Missy Daniel
The psychiatrist and biographer addresses human encounters with aliens. April 1994

Japan's Weekly Playboy Interview with John Mack (in Japanese)
2002 article in Japanese magazine published by Shueisha Inc.

From the Edge of Experience

From the Edge of Experience: A Pearl
by Christopher Lydon, John E. Mack, M.D., and Guests
I was sitting down between two friends my own age, we were sitting at a sea wall. I looked up in the sky and saw a plane. I heard a loud beep and I blacked out. My friends later told me that my eyes were open the whole time...

From the Edge of Experience: The Concept of Marriage
by Program for Extraordinary Experience Research (PEER)
"They want to coexist with us, but the question is how do we do that?" In late 2000, Dr. Mack invited three experiencers to a small gathering in Cambridge to share what they have learned from their alien encounters.

From the Edge of Experience: Suspended in the Mist
by Program for Extraordinary Experience Research (PEER)
In this From the Edge of Experience entry, we present a letter from a woman whose description of certain sounds and other perceptions during an anomolous experience has similarities to a report shared in another Edge entry, “A Pearl”.

News Articles

Venturing from Shadows into Light
by Michael P. Lucas, Los Angeles Times
They claim to have been abducted by aliens. A Harvard research psychiatrist backs them. Now 'experiencers' want society's respect.

Aliens: A Positive Experience
by Deborah Warren, The Vancouver Sun
Philosopher Ken Wilber's dismissive column about experiencers, “Hick Alert,” in the Nov./Dec. 1999 UTNE Reader and Blend magazine provoked a response from the Vancouver Sun newspaper.

People Who Run with Aliens
by Roger Downey, Seattle Weekly
A reporter goes to Port Townsend and uncovers the secret of the need to believe. Sept/Oct 1999.

UFO Convention Speaker Says We Must Become 'Galactic Citizens'
by Kay Jenny, Mohave Daily News
Brief coverage of a presentation by Dr. John Mack in 2003.

Writing An ET Tale (for the Man Who Made 'ET')
by Dana Kennedy, The New York Times
An interview with Leslie Bohem, screenwriter of Steven Spielberg's epic minseries “Taken”. The article includes some comments by Dr. John Mack.

Extraterrestrials Become More Than Academic Concern
by Nickie McWhirter, The Detroit News, 1995
If you seek to rattle established authority and intellectual complacency, there's a sure-fire way to do it. First, be very well-educated, professionally accomplished and a tenured professor at some prestigious university with an international reputation for excellence in research. The Medical School of Harvard University is a fine choice. Second, announce you're pretty darn sure extraterrestrial beings have visited and continue to visit Earth.

Harvard vs. the Space Aliens
by James Smart, 1995
A committee at Harvard Medical School is investigating a prominent professor because of his research about people who say they have been abducted now and again by little gray folks from outer space.

A Close Encounter with Critics
by Fannie Weinstein, The Detroit News, 1994
John Mack is used to being ridiculed. But when critics start attacking the abductees themselves, Mack the mild-mannered academic becomes Mack the Knife, cutting down not only their arguments but their motives as well. “What they're doing, in their desperation, is attacking people who are a vulnerable minority," says Mack. “It's a cruel tactic...intimidating the experiencers themselves.”

Heretics in the New Church of Science
by Brian L. Crissey, Ph.D., 1996
Science is the new Church, and as Budd Hopkins observes, Carl Sagan is its Pope. The February 1996 Nova program on alien abductions was a Mass called to condemn the new heretics that dare to question the word of the Church.

Publicity Materials and Book Reviews

About the Author
Bio of Dr. John Mack

Abduction
Colleagues and critics respond to Dr John Mack's first book about encounters with aliens; also, a copy of the original 1994 press release announcing the publication.

Japanese edition of Abduction
Promotional material and scenes from the Fuji tv special.

A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T.E. Lawrence
Synopsis, blurbs and a 1977 interview conducted by the Harvard University Gazette.

The Alchemy of Survival: One Woman's Journey
Synopsis and blurbs for the acclaimed Holocaust survival story of Rita S. Rogers.

Cover Art
High resolution and web resolution cover art from several of Dr. Mack's books.

Photographs for Press Use
For best results we suggest you download the high resolution images
directly to your computer by right-clicking your mouse over the chosen link
and then selecting the option “Save Target As...” from the right-click menu.

Portrait of Dr. John Mack | high resolution
© 2003 Stuart Conway. May be reproduced freely; please include Conway credit.

Portrait of Dr. John Mack | high resolution
© 2002 Stuart Conway. May be reproduced freely; please include Conway credit.

Portrait of Dr. John Mack | high resolution greyscale | high resolution color
© 2000 Stuart Conway. May be reproduced freely; please include Conway credit.

Portrait of Dr. John Mack, close up with glasses | high resolution
© 2000 Stuart Conway. May be reproduced freely; please include Conway credit.

Portrait of Dr. John Mack | high resolution
© 1994 Boston Magazine (a discarded Polaroid test shot). Use at own risk.

John Mack and Budd Hopkins | high resolution
From Dr. Mack's personal photo album, circa 199. May be reproduced freely.

John Mack and Dan Aykroyd on the set of Out There | web resolution
From Dr. Mack's personal photo album, December 2001, New York City. May be reproduced freely.

John Mack rustic wood background | web resolution
From Dr. Mack's personal photo album, 2004. May be reproduced freely.

John Mack Harvard University Press Office picture | high resolution
Free for press use, circa 1995(?). May be reproduced freely.

John Mack class portrait circa ? | high resolution
May be reproduced freely.

Curriculum Vitae

Selected Curriculum Vitae
Selected highlights from Dr. John Mack's vitae, in Adobe .pdf format

Obits and Remembrances

Dr. John Mack's Obituary Notices
This page preserves obituary notices from several leading and local newspapers.

Remembrances of John Mack
A selection of remembrances written by John's friends and colleagues.

Memorial Service for John E. Mack
by Elaine A. Steblecki
A well-written account of the memorial service held for John Mack at Harvard's Memorial Church in Cambridge. Reprinted from T.E. Notes: A T. E. Lawrence newsletter.

Mack in the Arts
This page notes portrayals of Dr Mack in the culture.