'Encountering ETI' weaves together scientific knowledge and spiritual faith in a cosmic context. It explores consequences of Contact between terrestrial intelligent life (TI) and extraterrestrial intelligent life (ETI). Humans will face cosmic displacement if there are other complex, technologically advanced intelligent beings in the universe; our economic structures and religious beliefs might need substantial revision. On Earth or in space, humans could encounter benevolent ETI (solicitous ofour striving for maturity as a species) or malevolent ETI (seeking our land and goods to benefit themselves, claiming that their 'superior civilization' gives them the right) - or meet both types of species. Earth Encounters of the Third Kind described by witnesses (including Native American elders) suggest that both may have arrived already: some have been accused of shutting down US and USSR ICBM missiles to promote peace; others of mutilating cattle or abducting people, perhaps to acquire physiological data on biota for scientific study or for other, unknown purposes. Scifi movies such as Avatar and novels like The Martian Chronicles describe humans as malevolent ETI aliens: we do to others what we fear others will do to us. A shared and evolving spiritual materiality could enable humanity to overcome cosmic displacement, and guide TI and ETI in a common quest for meaning and wellbeing on cosmic common ground.

'Encountering ETI' weaves together scientific knowledge and spiritual faith in a cosmic context. It explores consequences of Contact between terrestrial intelligent life (TI) and extraterrestrial intelligent life (ETI). Humans will face cosmic displacement if there are other complex, technologically advanced intelligent beings in the universe; our economic structures and religious beliefs might need substantial revision. On Earth or in space, humans could encounter benevolent ETI (solicitous ofour striving for maturity as a species) or malevolent ETI (seeking our land and goods to benefit themselves, claiming that their 'superior civilization' gives them the right) - or meet both types of species. Earth Encounters of the Third Kind described by witnesses (including Native American elders) suggest that both may have arrived already: some have been accused of shutting down US and USSR ICBM missiles to promote peace; others of mutilating cattle or abducting people, perhaps to acquire physiological data on biota for scientific study or for other, unknown purposes. Scifi movies such as Avatar and novels like The Martian Chronicles describe humans as malevolent ETI aliens: we do to others what we fear others will do to us. A shared and evolving spiritual materiality could enable humanity to overcome cosmic displacement, and guide TI and ETI in a common quest for meaning and wellbeing on cosmic common ground.

Encountering ETI weaves together scientific knowledge and spiritual faith in a cosmic context. It explores consequences of Contact between terrestrial intelligent life (TI) and extraterrestrial intelligent life (ETI). Humans will face cosmic displacement if there are other complex, technologically advanced intelligent beings in the universe; our economic structures and religious beliefs might need substantial revision. On Earth or in space, humans could encounter benevolent ETI (solicitous of our striving for maturity as a species) or malevolent ETI (seeking our land and goods to benefit themselves, claiming that their "superior civilization" gives them the right)--or meet both types of species. Earth Encounters of the Third Kind described by credible witnesses (including American Indian elders) suggest that both have arrived already: some shut down U.S. and U.S.S.R. ICBM missiles to promote peace; others mutilated cattle or abducted people, perhaps to acquire physiological data on biota for scientific study or for other, unknown purposes. Sci-fi movies such as Avatar and novels like The Martian Chronicles describe humans as malevolent ETI aliens: we do to others what we fear others will do to us. A shared and evolving spiritual materiality could enable humanity to overcome cosmic displacement, and guide TI and ETI in a common quest for meaning and wellbeing on cosmic common ground. "We do not yet have any scientific evidence for or against extraterrestrial life. The 'not yet' here is important since the scientific search is becoming increasingly more sophisticated and the anticipation more intense. Encountering ETI manages to raise the level of anticipation significantly while respecting the need for good science, a need not always respected in the public domain." --George V. Coyne, Director Emeritus, Vatican Observatory; author of Wayfarers in the Cosmos (with Alessandro Omizzolo) "Encountering ETI goes beyond the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. John Hart presents compelling evidence that humans have already encountered an ETI presence and explores scenarios and considerations for future encounters. He reminds us of our own history of human exploitation and concludes that we must undergo a transformation as we explore extraterrestrial intelligences. I highly recommend this book for serious consideration to questions of universal ethics and behaviors as we begin a new phase in our evolution." --Robert Salas, USAF (ret.); author of Unidentified: The UFO Phenomenon "Fasten your seatbelts! John Hart will take us for a ride above the stratosphere into the outer cosmos. In the rearview mirror we'll re-examine and re-evaluate our current conduct on our home planet. We'll re-evaluate terrestrial poverty, pollution, and political strife. Holding up the rearview mirror will be UFO experiencers, those who believe they have been contacted by an extraterrestrial civilization. I am delighted to see academic colleagues recognizing the potential value of analyzing the UFO phenomenon for political, moral, and spiritual purposes." --Ted Peters, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary; author of UFOs--God's Chariots? "Encountering ETI, together with its predecessor, Cosmic Commons, will bring you right back to Earth and Homo sapiens. Sometimes it takes the exocentric perspective to clear the eyes, see our own habitat, and know ourselves for the first time. John Hart is a good fellow traveler and guide." --Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary; author of Earth-Honoring Faith John Hart, Boston University professor, links the far out with the down to Earth when teaching and writing. His innovative ideas make him a wanted man: he travels often around Earth (five continents, eight countries so far--not via spacecraft) speaking on science-religion-ecology-social justice. His most recent book was Cosmic Commons: Spirit, Science, and Space (Cascade, 2013).

This volume explores the questions and answers surrounding the 'secret of life', combining approaches from the sciences, philosophy and theology, including the emerging discipline of astrobiology.

Cosmic Commons explores terrestrial-extraterrestrial intelligent life Contact. It uses a thought experiment to consider the ecological-economic-ethical-ecclesial impacts of Contact, analyzing incidents around the world described by credible witnesses (two of whom are interviewed for the book), including Roswell and the Hudson River Valley. It discusses government and academic efforts to use ridicule and coercion to suppress Contact investigations, supports a scientific method to research ETI reports in a field that should excite scientists, and calls on academics to publicly disclose their Contact experiences. It traces Earth ecological and economic injustices to the European Enlightenment and the Discovery Doctrine by which European nations rationalized invasion of distant continents, genocide, and seizure of the territories and natural goods of native peoples. It advocates a change in humans' Earth conduct to avoid replicating in space the policies and practices that wrought economic injustice and ecological devastation on Earth, provides an innovative cosmosociological praxis ethics theory and practice toward that end, and develops a Cosmic Charter, based on UN documents, to guide humankind in space and in ETI encounters. Permeated by a profound sense of the sacred, Cosmic Commons explores a positive relationship between religion and science as humankind ventures into space.

The question, “Are we alone in the cosmos?” has been answered. We are not alone. Geologist-paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, stated, as early as the mid-1920s, that intelligent life likely exists elsewhere and distinguished scientists of today, including Harvard biologist, E. O. Wilson; Cambridge cosmologist, Stephen Hawking; astrophysicist and noted UAP researcher, Jacques Vallee; astronomer, Allen Hynek; and many others concur. The oral traditions of Native American elders teach that they have interacted periodically with Star People who are respected ancestors. Credible witness-participants today describe abductions by benevolent and malevolent Others. Discoveries by the Kepler, Hubble, and Gaia space telescopes, ground-based arrays of radio telescopes, and TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) suggest that in the Milky Way, twenty-five billion planets are in the life-friendly Goldilocks Zone. In Third Displacement: Cosmobiology, Cosmolocality, Cosmosocioecology, author John Hart links experiences with research in science-based and Spirit-focused books and articles—including narratives about close encounters with Visitors from elsewhere in space (ETI) or Others from other cosmos dimensions (IDI)—in examination of the claim that Intelligent ExoEarth life exists, that Otherkind has visited humankind.

This unique book takes both inductive and deductive approaches to the topic of extraterrestrial ethics. Inductively, it asks what kind of ethics an advanced, intelligent extraterrestrial species might display. Deductively, it asks how human beings should transform their own understanding of ethics to prepare for widespread contact with an advanced extraterrestrial species. Using the ontological interpretation of quantum mechanics proposed by physicist and philosopher David Bohm, Extraterrestrial Ethics considers how an extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) may view ethical concerns relating to humankind. The book examines two areas of concern: nuclear technologies; and the militarization and weaponization of space. The text of the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (FY22 NDAA) in the United States clearly states that Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) have been reported at sites associated with nuclear weapons, nuclear-powered ships and submarines, nuclear power generating stations, etc., suggesting that ETI is very concerned about the human use of nuclear technologies. Furthermore, the more ubiquitous level of UAP sightings by the U.S. military over the last few years, as documented in the June 2021 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in the U.S., suggest that ETI also is concerned about rapid acceleration relating to the militarization and weaponization of space. The book concludes by advocating a normative approach to de-militarize space.