Who’d be a pioneer?!
If you’ve been wondering why we know what we know - and our “About us” page isn’t enough - here’s a little bit more to ponder.
We find ourselves in an unenviable position, trapped between a rock and a hard place. We’re not moaning; it’s just how things are at this very early stage.
You could say that we most closely identify with those who appreciate the reliability of logical reasoning and an evidence-based approach. This includes the mainstream scientists and other academics who would nevertheless look the other way if a UFO hovered immediately overhead, rather than open-mindedly try to work out what was happening. At least they’re facing reality, most of the time, in their professional work. Other examples we feel some affinity with are surgeons and car mechanics, who diagnose illness or the cause of vehicle breakdown, then work to fix the problem. And farmers, who just get on with their jobs, day after day, in all weathers, come rain or shine.
Our modus operandi is practical. We’ve got a long, established track record of tackling difficult situations - such as running nature reserves and a medical clinic, amongst similar projects - doing all of the thankless hard work ourselves. We’re unusually successful, although we shy away from publicity, totally uninterested in personal recognition.
We’re outliers - a long way “out”.
We’ve got an acute clarity and understanding of psychology, which can be summarised as the need for self-transcendence. We know that almost all of the problems in the world are caused by the ubiquitous and normalised self-orientated mindset. We’ve developed and demonstrated an exact, no-nonsense, know-how for achieving an authentic shift from the self-orientated psychology to the significantly better option of non-selfishness. Last but not least, we absolutely know that psychological avoidance frustrates any and all attempts to unfold our human potential, and that it cannot be ignored as part of a solution for evolutionary progress.
We shy away from those who are interested in what might be loosely described as a “higher consciousness” or “spiritual development”. This is because most people want to play at “changing” themselves. The practical reality of needing to look at their own psychological baggage, not to mention unravelling the complexity of psychological avoidance, is too much like hard work for the majority who express interest in transforming themselves. They find it “easier” to wallow in nonsense, getting nowhere other than sliding further into the smelliness of self-indulgence.
Academically, since the encouraging days of Richard Maurice Bucke, William James, and Abraham Maslow - who made a good start getting to grips with self-transcendence - transpersonal psychology has gone nowhere, a sad reflection of the limited mindset of those who claim an academic interest in this subject. So there’s little worthwhile support from there. In fact, it’s embarrassingly shallow when it should be the complete opposite.
Richard Maurice Bucke, William James, and Abraham Maslow
Overall, wherever you look, there’s an appalling lack of integrity, even when you might reasonably expect better. We’ve repeatedly seen this over many years in the fields of nature conservation and humanitarian aid, with other charity or not-for-profit organisations heavily focused on self-interest and flag-flying, resulting in shocking levels of ineffectiveness and inefficiency. Where there should be caring, you find that self-orientated considerations still dominate.
Our own motivation has been, and remains, simple: to genuinely serve others as capably as possible, knowing that the “me, first” mentality limits delivery. We’ve purposely developed a different approach. We’ve steadfastly refused to join in with the usual shoddy way of doing things - which, to us, is unacceptable hypocrisy and mere lip service to a worthy cause - instead taking a stance against what needs to be changed. The considerable benefits we continue to demonstrate have been praised by others who’ve come across our work, but few wish to bother to find out more so as to improve what they themselves are doing. Psychological avoidance is an extremely effective strategy for defence - even if this attempt at self-protection simultaneously limits exposure to aliveness and togetherness. It’s a hard nut to crack.
As people aren’t completely stupid, with some searching for that “something more”, they stumble onto bits and pieces of knowledge that have been accumulated down the ages. The problem is that it’s incomplete - as well as being contaminated with mumbo-jumbo, half-truths, and irrelevancies. It’s a case of the blind leading the blind, albeit sometimes doing their best, but it’s still a jumbled mess.
So we’re not starting our educational mission with a blank sheet of paper. The waters are already muddied - and polluted. There’s already considerable fuzziness in the minds of those who are interested.
If you point out that someone is seeing double, they respond saying: “Impossible! If that were so, there’d be four suns in the sky instead of two!” This madness is accentuated when individuals have prematurely grouped together to “help” others, when they’re actually incapable.
We’ve maintained our independence, so as not to have the purity of what we know tainted through association with others. Those who claim a belief in something similar offer a muddlement of vague sentiments. In practice, they’re lousy examples, hypocrites, and actually know a lot less than they believe they know. Meanwhile, we have a responsibility to maintain integrity, otherwise why should anyone want to look at what we have to offer? If we linked up with others for whom we have little respect, why should we expect someone seeking something better or deeper to then consider what we bring to the table?
What we know and understand - the mechanical key factors for being the best you can be, plus the psychological avoidance syndrome that constantly threatens to fuck up anyone’s good intentions to change - applies across the board of life. I’ve already mentioned above that it’s central to the aim for the development of human potential or self-transcendence. But its practical application extends to the areas of nature conservation and humanitarian aid, for example, in which we’ve had decades of experience and involvement.
As one of the main focuses here on EvolveFirst.org is UFOs or UAP, we again immediately hit the same old problem. The majority of those who are interested in what might be going on are full of it. Shit, that is. Belief. Lack of critical thinking skills. Self-promotion. Arrogance. And so on. Therefore, we’ve never gone anywhere near becoming part of the smelly rabbit hole that’s “ufology”. It’s better that we remain outsiders, even if what we know reaches fewer people. We prefer any impact we make to be based on quality, even if quantity suffers. We have a responsibility to maintain the calibre or worth of what we know. We refuse to dumb down, join in, and play the sick games of pretence - because what’s viewed as “normal” is not okay. Which brings us back to the conflict of being between a rock and a hard place.
We’re holding a lot back, but that’s probably sufficient to constitute “a bit more to ponder”.
Happy New Year (2023), to everyone, from the EvolveFirst.org team.
Written by Iain Scott, 2nd January 2023