08-16-2013, 04:40 PM
A fellow LOO seeker recently pass along information about Sun Ra, an influential African-American jazz musician who is famous for his interesting music style, "cosmic philosophy," and claims of taking a trip to Saturn.
From his Wikipedia page:
He made a movie called "Space is the Place" (link) in 1971 which supposedly uses terminology similar to that of Ra when discussion the Confederation.
I haven't watched the movie but I skimmed through it, be aware that there is a bit of nudity and possibly language, so NSFW.
I thought it was a pretty interesting story and thought I'd pass it along.
From his Wikipedia page:
Quote:"Of all the jazz musicians, Sun Ra was probably the most controversial," critic Scott Yanow said, because of Sun Ra's eclectic music and unorthodox lifestyle. Claiming that he was of the "Angel Race" and not from Earth, but from Saturn, Sun Ra developed a complex persona using "cosmic" philosophies and lyrical poetry that made him a pioneer of afrofuturism. He preached awareness and peace above all. He abandoned his birth name and took on the name and persona of Sun Ra (Ra being the Egyptian God of the Sun), and used several other names throughout his career, including Le Sonra and Sonny Lee. Sun Ra denied any connection with his birth name, saying "That's an imaginary person, never existed … Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym."
Quote:Finances and his increasing sense of isolation are believed to have been factors in Sun Ra's leaving college. Perhaps more importantly, he claimed a visionary experience as a college student; it had a major, long-term influence on the young pianist. In 1936 or 1937, in the midst of deep religious concentration, Sun Ra claimed that a bright light appeared around him, and, as he later said:
… my whole body changed into something else. I could see through myself. And I went up … I wasn't in human form … I landed on a planet that I identified as Saturn … they teleported me and I was down on [a] stage with them. They wanted to talk with me. They had one little antenna on each ear. A little antenna over each eye. They talked to me. They told me to stop [attending college] because there was going to be great trouble in schools … the world was going into complete chaos … I would speak [through music], and the world would listen. That's what they told me.
Sun Ra said that this experience occurred in 1936 or 1937. According to Szwed, the musician's closest associates cannot date the story any earlier than 1952. (Sun Ra also said that the incident occurred when he was living in Chicago, where he did not settle until the late 1940s). Sun Ra discussed the vision, with no substantive variation, to the end of his life. His trip to Saturn allegedly occurred a full decade before flying saucers entered public consciousness with the 1947 encounter of Kenneth Arnold. It was earlier than other public accounts: about 15 years before George Adamski wrote about contact with benevolent beings; and almost 20 years before the 1961 case of Barney and Betty Hill, who recounted sinister UFO abductions. Szwed says that, "even if this story is revisionist autobiography … Sonny was pulling together several strains of his life. He was both prophesizing his future and explaining his past with a single act of personal mythology."
He made a movie called "Space is the Place" (link) in 1971 which supposedly uses terminology similar to that of Ra when discussion the Confederation.
I haven't watched the movie but I skimmed through it, be aware that there is a bit of nudity and possibly language, so NSFW.
I thought it was a pretty interesting story and thought I'd pass it along.
