Paul Laffoley
(b. 1940, Cambridge, Massachusetts)

The Thanaton
1996
Ink, Lettering, Acrylic on Board
23 x 23 in.

Subject: My Personal UFO Encounters

Symbol Evocation: Our Natural Alienhood

Comments: Over all the years that I have been involved with UFOlogy, in terms of my reading, what has happened to me personally, and the meeting of others with similar experiences; the only conclusions I can draw are that we are not alone in the universe and that life as we know it did not have its origin on our planet Earth. In these conclusions I agree with many, but I know that I am in disagreement with many more who hold that life occurred "creatio ex-nihilo" by God, or that life here on Earth and anywhere else in the universe evolved from simpler non-life planetary materials.

The theory of abiogenesis (the spontaneous generation of living organisms directly from lifeless matter), whether in the form of "Creationism," "Vitalism," or "Darwinism," demonstrates to me a paucity of imagination in relation to the disciplines of the theology, magic and science, which I believe are richer than that. The evidence for such a proposition comes from what could be called the more "urban parts" of the universe. The message is delivered by means of the logarithmic spiral, the most cosmic and random of forms. The spiral, defined by the mathematical expression ? or Phi the ratio of Pheidias, the Golden Section, the Divine Proportion, which is (1+ √5)/ 2 (= 1.618) or (.382/.618…), or the Fibonacki series divided by itself. This heartbeat of sacred geometry occurs in the structure of plant forms, the human body, animal horns, the periodicity of atomic elements and nebulae of interstellar space.

The message is death because Phi flowers only in the maturity of any species as a prelude to death. Thus the secret of life lies not in life itself but in death. This message has been imprinted in one of our earliest artifacts, the classical form of the great pyramid of Cheops in the Giza Necropolis (which uses Phi in numerous ways), and also in one of our most recent artifacts, the new classical from of the flying saucer. The imperative for us who wish to know the nature of life is to create a permanent reciprocal link between life and death-- a final imitation of Christ.