Science & Metaphor
 
Shortly before the presentation, Mike and Nick were discussing the best term for this type of science. The term that Mike preferred was "Frontier Science", because there's a connotation this new knowledge will eventually become part of our 'known body of knowledge about the universe'. I like the term also, but I am sticking with 'alternative-science' because I feel like a major component of Antigravity and Free-Energy Technology research comes from an intersection of cultural beliefs & modern mythology with science. It's not a pure art -- something that can be reduced down to equations and separated from the people that created it, and because of that I don't think that it will ever really fit into the same mold that traditional scientific discovery does.
 
Seeing Nick on stage presenting to the audience was a stark-reminder of some of the realities of alternative science. The problem was not that he didn't fit in, but instead quite the opposite -- he fit in very well, with an educated group of people who not only had read the book but understood the concepts that he was discussing in it. It's easy to write people off as quacks, cult-members, or whatever you want to call them, and much more difficult to realize that these are actually thinking, feeling human beings with well-informed opinions on this subject material.
 
The larger problem is a fundamental crisis in all of the sciences that we've been dodging for years - the intersection of science and metaphor. Richard Hoagland actually described the Ramtha teachings to me as "a descent into metaphor", but what he didn't tell me was that it wasn't a very deep descent -- even in conventional science new experiments like the teleportation of atoms or Quantum Computing open the door to mysticism and belief.
 
Mike's comments about Quantum Computing weren't simply an area of personal interest to him -- ideas like signal non-locality allowing clairvoyance and Quantum Computing proving the 'Many Worlds' theory dovetail nicely into new-age philosophy. In fact, in comparison to cutting edge QM or String Theory work, Antigravity is a downright bad fit with new age mysticism.
 
According to Nick, this was his first "real public speaking experience", which led me to guess that he'd probably stick pretty close to his speaking notes, and this was in fact what happened. I guess that in terms of practice experience, you couldn't get a much better venue -- a cohesive group of intent listeners who by virtue of their affiliations have open minds. The fact that Nick reported on military research was a concern of mine, but nobody seemed to attribute any blame to him for any wrongdoings that the technologies he reports on have been used for.
 
Nick received applause a few times during his lecture, but one instance that was particularly meaningful to me was his statement about 'the journey being more important than the destination'. That's perhaps the single largest connection between not only physics, but also the black-world engineering investigation that connects with students of religion & mysticism. That's also probably why his book does so well in newsgroups that usually connect more with mystical quests -- because his work involves a mixture of objective and subjective information, but unlike the hard sciences its usually difficult to separate the two. What is real, and what is myth -- and more importantly, if nobody ever learns about it, was it real in the first place? If the government builds a spy plane but nobody ever learns about it, then exactly how real can that spy plane ever really be?
 
The Missing Ingredient
 
There was a seemingly suspicious absence from the auditorium, and that was JZ Knight/Ramtha. Admittedly, it was dark and very crowded, but with photos of her plastered on the entrance to the hallways and in the bookstore, I would have hoped to recognize her if she'd been there. I was sitting in front of a raised wooden seating box, and I will admit that if she came in late that could have been one place that she'd sit where I wouldn't even have noticed her, but I'd think that for having a speaker like Nick Cook come to visit she would come out to introduce him or at least say a few words after his presentation.
 
Despite JZ's apparent absence, Nick's presentation came and went -- he wrapped up first the overview of his research, and then the hour-long Q&A period that followed. Most of the questions were the kind that you'd generally expect to hear -- people interested in learning details about what he'd found about the Nazi Bell, and a question about whether he'd been able to track down the fate of Hans Kammler. Unfortunately, while he'd been able to learn more about these subjects, it didn't appear that he'd reached final answers yet, and didn't have a ton to say about them.
 
After a thunderous applause that lasted even longer than his entrance, he finished things up and was hurried by Mike over to the hall on west wing of the auditorium for about half an hour of book-signing and audience feedback. Colby and I were left with Bruce Smith, who engaged us to spend some time eating dinner from one of the foot-court stalls. I had salad and mesquite chicken -- if I'd had more presence of mind, I would have asked for a recipe for the chicken because it was some of the best that I've ever had.
 
I took up conversation with some of the people in the food court stalls -- while I can't speak on many of the subjects that Nick had addressed, he had mentioned me in his presentation, which obligated me to at least discuss to some degree my research and the Lifter experiments. The individuals who'd asked didn't know this at the time -- in fact, the reason that they'd asked was simply because Colby and I were the only two people wearing business-casual attire at the entire event. Nonetheless, I spent some time talking instead of eating, which left me finishing off the delicious chicken but dumping the salad into a nearby trash container when it was time for us to head back to Mike's office.
 
We had about a half hour to speak with Nick before he had to leave for his flight back to London -- which obviously isn't a lot of time when 4 people are talking and asking questions at once. I'd left Nick with a bundle of CD-Rom's though -- containing hours of video footage and information on a variety of my research, as well as providing duplicate copies to Mike Wright as a thank you for inviting me to meet Nick and view the presentation.
 
Nick was eventually ushered away to his ride-share back to the airport -- on pain of missing his flight -- and Colby, myself, Mike Wright and Bruce Smith were able to talk for a few minutes about some of the day's events. I've already interviewed Bruce, but I plan on interviewing Mike for the website, and found his comments on Quantum Mechanics to be quite astute, as well as touching very effectively on some of the more philosophical aspects of the science.
 
Conclusion
 
When Colby and I departed, it was after 8 o'clock, and the sun was setting as the black gate closed behind us. The commute from Yelm to Seattle was again about an hour and a half, which we spent mostly discussing the unusual events of the day. I tend to believe that we both were surprised by the experience, and I came away with a really good feeling both about the Ramtha School as well as how smoothly the day's events transpired. In fact, I felt a bit sad that the event wasn't open to the public, because I suspect that it would be an interesting learning experience for anybody interested in attending.
 
I don't have any preconceived notions about whether JZ Knight really channels a 40,000 year old deity, nor can I make an educated guess. That's the only thing that I really wondered about before I'd arrived, and turned out to be the least important thing when I left. What's interesting is the value of the experience in its own right, and the realization that all of us as people have very similar connections, no matter what our personal approach to solving life's riddles may be.