Cathartic & uplifting

The Stranger at the Pentagon, by Dr. Frank Stranges, a theologian, psychologist, and criminologist who also happens to be the founder of a national committee dedicated to the investigation of UFOs, is an astonishing account -- complete with photos -- of an "alien" landing in Virginia in the year of 1957. According to his account, the ship was captained by an extra-terrestrial named "Valiant Thor," who came with guidance and instructions for our planet in its post-nuclear era. Commander "Val" allegedly remained for three years, as a guest of the Pentagon, and spoke to various members of the Eisenhower administration, including then-Vice President Richard Nixon, who apparently greeted him with the quip, "You certainly have caused a stir -- for an out-of-towner." The information contained in Strangers' account was supposedly classified, although much of it is available in other classic accounts of alien sightings/encounters following the explosion of the first atomic bomb in New Mexico in 1945. Stranger's story coheres with the claim that President Kennedy was assassinated in order to prevent him from exposing the military cover-up to the public, and also with the claim that as president, Nixon was poised to stake his place in history by disclosing all he knew just before the Watergate scandal pre-empted both his statement and any credibility that it might have carried. After three years, alien Val's invitation to reside at a sumptuous, Pentagon-based suite expired, and he was requested to go back to his own planet. According to the author, he nevertheless returned to earth many times, and personally oversees many others like him who continue to infiltrate and observe our planet. The author also claims to have visited one of their spacecraft, and relays the information he has learned from them in an earnest, straightforward manner infused with the religion he claims that they share. It goes without saying that we need to keep an extremely open mind about this last point especially, but if there are extra-terrestrials, there is no reason to assume that they would be any less religious than "earthlings." And given that the extra-terrestrial described here was tasked with infiltrating our society, it seems reasonable to assume that he would couch his knowledge -- which after all defies the laws of physics as we know them -- in terms that his audience could understand. What cannot be disputed is that the factual information conveyed here coheres nicely with accounts from hard-line World War 2 Army Air Force pilots, engineers, and scientists of the era, and is equally fascinating. The photos, also, are compelling.

The Seven Storey Mountain tells of the growing restlessness of a brilliant and passionate young man, who at the age of twenty-six, takes vows in one of the most demanding Catholic orders—the Trappist monks. At the Abbey of Gethsemani, "the four walls of my new freedom," Thomas Merton struggles to withdraw from the world, but only after he has fully immersed himself in it. At the abbey, he wrote this extraordinary testament, a unique spiritual autobiography that has been recognized as one of the most influential religious works of our time. Translated into more than twenty languages, it has touched millions of lives.