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Program for Extraordinary Experience Research (PEER)
This initiative has been completed
The nature of aliens (whether or not they are "real") is secondary to PEER's primary interest in how alien encounters affect people's lives and worldview. The emergent themes documented in interviews conducted by Dr John Mack and colleagues with "experiencers" from around the country and other parts of the world, and more than ten thousand letters, reveal an experience that touches people deeply, affecting their outlook on spiritual, environmental, and social aspects of life. Therefore a central theme in our educational efforts is to convey that opportunities for personal and societal growth can result from life experiences which challenge our worldviews.
Our exploration of the "human dimension" of extraordinary experiences presents unique challenges to our organization, owing to the disregard with which Western culture treats experiences that seem to defy our understanding of the world.
Therefore, we engage the philosophical question of how worldviews evolve as knowledge expands, and how cultures adapt in the face of new information. We enter this discussion with an unparalleled body of clinical knowledge detailing the traumatic and transformational elements of this process (gathered from our clinical sessions with over 200 experiencers who have undergone this transformation in their own lives), which we can expect to see occur in the culture at large.
"What do people really want when they think about UFOs? According to John Mack, the first thing they want is for their experiences to stop. Only after they realize they have no power to stop the experience do they begin to to accept a process that is informative and transformative - a process that propels them out of their narcissistic concerns and towards active involvement with environmental values, the survival of humanity and an exploration of spiritually-based consciousness.
Perhaps Wilber, the philosopher...might discover he has more in common with Mack than he realizes."
- The Vancouver Sun
Current Status of PEER
The Program for Extraordinary Research (PEER) is no longer an active research project, however the knowledge amassed over the course of its existence continues to inform our efforts; elements of PEER's work may be found within many of our initiatives.
The decision to formally conclude the PEER project was due in part to our belief that through our explorations we have reached an informed understanding of the phenomenon of alien encounters - or, to be more precise, we believe we reached as informed an understanding as our culture may presently be capable of appreciating.
We feel that if we are to make significant new discoveries about the nature of the reported alien contact, we must first learn more about human contact - our connections to one another and to the world. Our efforts in this area have therefore shifted to promoting expanded awareness of human experience on the part of the greater culture, so that understanding of alien encounters (and other extraordinary experiences) and the context within which they occur may continue to be refined. We also remain dedicated to advancing responsible inquiry into this subject; we continue to discuss what we know of this phenomenon when appropriate, including, most recently, through support of the educational distribution of the independent documentary film Touched by Emmy nominated filmmaker Laurel Chiten, through lecture appearances by colleagues of the late Dr. John Mack, and selected media assistance.
PEER Recommended Information
Dr. John Mack | www.PassportToTheCosmos.com
An extensive selection of articles and audio presentations by and about Dr John Mack on the subject of alien encounters, as well as information about Dr. Mack's book Passport to the Cosmos
Alien encounter subject | Study Guide
An overview of the alien encounter subject, prepared for students & teachers (and also recommended for reporters).
Alien encounter subject | Touched DVD
The documentary film Touched by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Laurel Chiten, featuring Dr. John Mack and experiencers of alien contact. This DVD is recommended for undergraduate and graduate classes.
Alien encounter subject | High Strangeness
by Dr Jacques F. Vallee and Dr Eric E. Davis
An academic paper expanding upon Dr Mack's theme that alien encounters may be both physical and transcendent (interdimensional/spiritual).
Alien encounter subject | An Experiencers Guide to Therapy
A guide for people seeking assistance with the emotional impact of extraordinary experiences, prepared in response to more than 10,000 requests for help.
Dr. John Mack | Wikipedia Encyclopedia
Biography courtesy of Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia.
History of PEER
The Program for Extraordinary Experience
Research (PEER) was founded in 1993 by Harvard professor
of psychiatry and Pulitzer Prize-winning author John E. Mack, M.D.
Dr. Mack's earlier studies in transpersonal
psychology laid the groundwork for him to consider the merits of an
expanded notion of reality, one which allows for experiences that do not
fit the Western materialist paradigm. Among the most complex experiences
in contemporary society that seem to defy this paradigm are so-called
“alien encounters,” because they involve the perception of beings
or intelligences that interact with people in ways which seem physical, yet do not leave behind any physical record of
their presence that can later be validated by the tools of material science. It was to
this subject that Dr. Mack applied himself after being introduced to several
“experiencers” by New York artist Budd Hopkins in 1990.
Intruiged by the apparent cross-over of these seemingly “mystical” experiences
into the physical realm, Dr. Mack devoted twelve years to clinical investigation
of more than 200 individuals who reported repeated experiences. The portrait
that emerged shows narrative consistency, a close association with UFO
sightings, and experiences that are shared by two or more people, for
which no convincing clinical explanation exists.
Dr. Mack's two books on the subject, Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens (1994) and Passport to the Cosmos: Human Transformation and Alien Encounters (1999) suggest that our culture has much to learn
from these and other extraordinary experiences that shape our lives, regardless of their ontological
status.
This suggestion met with a spectrum of response. In addition
to widespread support, the suggestion has also encountered vocal opposition. Much of the opposition has been orchestrated by the perversely-named Center for Inquiry, which directs 11 million dollars annually into two related efforts: CSICOP, dedicated to maintaining a scientific orthodoxy which denies all that may be non-material in nature; and the Council for Secular Humanism, which fears that evidence of life in other realities may lead to a popular acceptance of a "spiritual" world, which could cause theological organizations to gain greater influence in our culture. However there is also sincere doubt from people with no conscious political agenda.
It has become clear that, in order to foster the collaboration that is
needed on this complex subject, such explorations must be accompanied
by consistent cultivation of a social environment of conscious listening.
PEER Forms a Bridge
PEER's efforts to deepen the understanding
of what we can learn from reports of alien encounters have shown that
it is difficult in our culture to credit and trust extraordinary experiences.
A person attempting to speak about an experience for which we have no
language cannot help but feel isolated. In turn, the listener attempting
to comprehend what is being communicated may find it easier to dismiss
the experience and the experiencer as irrational. PEER forms a bridge
between speakers and listeners, between subjectivity and science. Working
in the tension between direct human experience and larger scientific and
philosophical questions, PEER does not seek to prove or disprove the existence
of “aliens,” but to develop a framework for communication about
such controversial topics.
The PEER community
collaborates with individuals reporting anomalous experiences as well
as with researchers, educators, therapists, and members of the interested
public in order to expand the language of human experience to include
extraordinary experiences, so that we might come to a deeper understanding
of our identity and the larger world.
During its years of active service, accomplishments of the program included:
- Multidisciplinary Study Group on Anomalous Experiences – A panel of experts from a wide variety of fields were convened at Harvard to explore anomalous experiences in a multidisciplinary manner;
- Multiple Witness Study – Pairs and groups of individuals reporting shared "alien encounter" experiences were studied in an effort to discern the external and subjective dimensions of the phenomenon;
- Personality Study – With Human Subject Committee approval from The Cambridge Hospital, the staff of PEER designed and implemented a study of individuals describing alien encounter experiences. The study failed to reveal any distinguishing personality traits in the experiencer group that might offer a prosaic explanation for the phenomenon;
- Therapist Referral Directory and Consultation Network – At it's peak, more than 100 licensed clinicians participated in this network designed to assist individuals seeking counseling related to anomalous experiences. PEER is currently directing referral inquiries to another organization, OPUS, and encouraging people to seek out open-minded therapists in their own communities.
- Publication of PEER Perspectives, a newsletter distributed to nearly 10,000 interested scientists, researchers, experiencers, academics, clinicians, medical professionals and business people and the public in the U.S. and 44 other countries. (Current articles are being presented via the web).
- Public Education – Lectures and media appearances in the U.S. and abroad, and a range of essays and papers.
- Media Assistance – We provide accurate information about the human dimension of alien encounters to members of the media; our statements have appeared in newspapers across the country, from the New York Times to the Los Angeles Times.
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