Universal Vision, Soul
Evolution and the Cosmic Plan
by Scott Mandelker, Ph.D.
Doris Lessing, an author known for far more
"legitimate" work, once took a foray into the realm of
science fiction and wrote a brilliant series of books called
"Canopus in Argos: Archives". It has been around two
decades since I read these books, but I was very impressed by
them at the time. One of the themes (if memory serves) that most
intrigued me was the notion of extraterrestrial souls who
volunteer to be incarnated into human form as a kind of service.
Being born and growing up with the limited capabilities that
humans generally have, they did not directly remember who they
actually were: they had no conscious knowledge of their
extraterrestrial nature and found many sources of conflict within
their lives as a result of trying to "be" human. This
idea resonated with me greatly and over the years I have
occasionally asked myself the question "was Doris Lessing
onto something?" After many years of poking my head into
areas that most people shun, I think I now can say (with some
reservations) that the answer is probably yes.
Universal Vision is the 2nd book by Scott
Mandelker, a follow up and extension of the themes covered in
From Elsewhere. It is a book that will be embraced by a select
few and dismissed by the vast majority.
This book deals again with the topic of "Wanderers",
a group of people who feel that their inner selves, their souls,
originate from some point of origin other than Earth. This is a
group of individuals who have many idiosyncrasies in common, from
major issues such as a profound sense of separation and
alienation from the mainstream of the human species, to seemingly
trivial details such as a fascination with certain time periods (ancient
Egypt being one of them) and a tendency to have sinus problems or
to be particularly attracted to certain types of animals such as
owls.
Like Lessings incarnated ETs, Wanderers lives
tend to be beset by a myriad of difficulties emotionally,
mentally, and physically. They find it almost impossible to fit
in to human societies with any degree of comfort, and find many
of the traits that are hallmarks of human nature (like
territoriality, cruelty, and mindless aggression) both
incomprehensible and repugnant. They are propelled forward by an
underlying sense of purpose, but generally find the origin of
this motivation fairly inscrutable. They are perennial outsiders
and tend feel that home is somewhere else…that the family
that they were born into is not their real family.
So given the above, there are only a certain
amount of people who will find this book to be more than yet
another voice from the lunatic fringe and there are a certain set
of assumptions one needs to be open to in order to render this
book useful to the reader:
In addition, the lessons and teachings in this
book make liberal use of channeled material, specifically the RA
material. This may be troubling to some readers. For myself, of
all of the channeled material out there the RA material seems to
me to be some of the most legitimate and internally consistent
channeled material this side of Cayce.
This is a book that Wanderers (and those who
love them) will likely find informative and, at times, comforting…the
FAQs alone are very useful. The main text takes you all over the
map, from an overview of the Wanderers phenomena to the Heaven's
Gate disaster to the Phoenix Lights sightings of a couple years
ago. Mandelker also provides an outline for Wanderers to use to
aid in their actualization. Meditation is, of course, a central
pillar of the path he advocates. Of interest also are the various
stories of fellow Wanderers culled from The ET Journal, a
resource list, and a VERY shortened version of a Wanderer's quiz.
Unlike a lot of New Age-related writing,
Mandelker does not shy away from the shadow side of both the
human species and the various ET groups who interact with us. As
with a great many others in the New Age milieu, Mandelker sees a
spiritual renaissance immanent, a global awakening looming just
beyond the horizon. But things are not all unicorns and rainbows
in his universe: there are negative ETs who abduct and terrorize
us, there are earth changes that are likely to be traumatic to
the planet and it's creatures, and the omnipresent factor of
plain old human stupidity and denial figures greatly in his
writing. One of the qualities I most admired about Mendelker's
writing is his ability to see both sides of the duality, and also
his willingness to bare his heart and soul in talking about his
own frustrations and setbacks. Mandelker does not set himself
above it all, he allows us to see that he, a self-professed
Wanderer, is not putting himself and his fellow Wanderers on a
pedestal… however he does rail quite effectively against
many of the design flaws in human nature. Once you get going into
this book he throws out some rather engaging tirades against
humanity's willful ignorance: "the real answer is that most
people are not seeking truth and really don't care about a wider
vision of the universe" is a mild example of such. There is
a reasonable dose of realism in this book that prevents it from
becoming the standard issue idealistic fluff that most New Age
writing resembles.
Now the whole notion of the Wanderers
phenomenon is highly speculative and could be interpreted in a
far more "down to earth" way. For example, the
attributes of the Wanderers persona could just be the basic
trademarks of the classic introverted personality type. Even
specifics such as the Wanderer tendency to fall prey to far more
chronic ailments than the average extroverted Earth-bound apeman
can be explained away as the Mind/Body Connection (a concept now
almost openly acknowledged by the Flatlanders at the AMA) working
it's magic…introverts tending to be more internalized and
neurotic and all. So it is easy to pick apart this whole movement
if you take things point by point…but it's easy to do that
with anything, that's the kind of thing lawyers get paid for.
Conversely, it is also easy to piece together an entirely
imaginary worldview if you carefully use only the facts that will
fit your desired outcome…and I'm sure many who view this
phenomenon from a clinical and reductionistic perspective will
surmise that this is exactly what is going on.
On a personal level, taking into the account
my own years of research into the realms of the esoteric and what
I have learned from it, I am unable to dismiss this phenomenon
outright by any means. In fact, this whole issue resonates very
strongly with myself on a deep level…enough for me to say
that I am possibly one of them…IF this phenomenon is more
than just wishful fantasizing by unhappy people. There are a
great many similarities that I have in common with these people,
down to some very specific individual traits. Personally I have
never felt at home here with all of the cavemen and I have always
viewed my eventual passing with an odd mixture of animal fear and
a strong feeling of "God it'll be nice to be home again".
Since a VERY young age I have found that I have had to "shut
off" many parts of my psyche just to endure life amongst the
chimps, and I find the whole experience incredibly tiring overall.
The level at which 95% of the human population thinks, functions,
and communicates is appalling to me, as it seems to be appalling
to the majority of the Wanderers. Further, I was interested to
read that many Wanderers intuitively feel that this is their last
incarnation here on Earth, that their term of service will soon
be over. This is the way I have felt for years, long before I
ever heard of the term "Wanderer". Reading many of the
letters from The ET Journal with their descriptions of their
beliefs, behavior, and character traits..especially their
descriptions of their childhoods, I kept thinking to myself
"hmmm...these people are me!"
So, if you are someone who has lived with a
sense of being a "stranger in a strange land" for much
of your life, if you find most of what people do perplexing at
best, if your soul aches with the loneliness of the stranded
traveler…I recommend this book. You may find both solace and
instruction in it.
Available from: UV Way PMB201,
2130 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
Or you could get it from his
website: Scott Mandelker's Site