Extraterrestrial Contact from Iarga: their Origin and Philosophy

Due to the planet conditions, a human is willful and disobedient. He obeys no God, no commandment, and no conscience; he even pretends that he doesn't have one. -- the Iargans

You do not have the values, the ethics, of a developed civilization. Because of this, the human race has, as yet, no chance of eternal survival. It blocks the way to cosmic integration. -- the Iargans

I just read one of the most interesting and detailed extraterrestrial contact cases from a book, UFO Contact from Planet Iarga. The contact occurred in the 1960s, when the yacht of a wealthy Dutch businessman collided with a partially submerged flying saucer off the coast of the Netherlands. As the flying saucer had a magnetic field, the hull of the yacht could not break loose from the saucer. He then saw a humanoid figure with a helmet floating in the water, and he was able to quickly launch a dingy boat and save the person from drowning. As this occurred in the middle of the night, he at first did not realize he had saved an extraterrestrial humanoid until he was in the middle of the rescue. Whereas the contacts of the 1950s were intentional and were with extraterrestrial humans who warned about our atomic weaponry, this one was a complete accident. The extraterrestrials were humanoid in form, but had evolved into the human form from amphibians from their home world, which for the most part was covered with an ocean. They called their planet "Iarga" and could not breathe our atmosphere.

On their part, they did not know what to do at this point because they stated that there is this universal cosmic law which forbids that a higher civilization should interfere with the culture and development of a lower civilization. Moreover, they knew he had taken photographs of their saucer. They offered him two choices: a piece of metal that would provide him proof of the contact, or to spend two days in their ship where they would teach and answer all his questions about their civilization. He chose the latter, but as a condition had to destroy his film. This has got to be the most interesting extraterrestrial contact case I have read: for by reading it, one gains an outside perspective on our society. And not just our society, our economy and base materialism. And reading it, one can see why our government has a strong interest in hiding extraterrestrial contact: for on other advanced worlds their economy is based on a form of communism, where there is no money. They said this kind of economy is a universal economy found on other worlds that are more advanced than ours, and I have seen this kind of economy independently described in a couple of other contact cases. Obviously, as this occurred during the Cold War, there is no way the U.S. would want this to be publicized. Even now, such a theory would upset our entire economic system. However, it is not exactly the same as Communism: it was combined with "trusts" - large corporations for each industry segment which competed with each other according to the laws of supply and demand. This is perhaps one of the reasons why it succeeded and Communism in Russia collapsed. The Iargans also indicated that their economic system would not work of Earth at this time due to the selfish egotism of many of the inhabitants.

Some have stated that this story is obviously debunked since the story was first published as a work of fiction. I do not see it that way: it was published as a work of fiction to hide the reality of the contact and to get the ideas out: the Iargans made it clear that they wanted to plant a seed of knowledge. They did not want proof of their existence published, as authority behind a system of knowledge would infringe on the freedom of choice to accept or reject it. And if someone is going to make up an extraterrestrial contact the subject matter is not going to be on economics, maximum efficiency, and manufacturing. The fake extraterrestrial contact stories are the ones that typically talk about pseudo New Age religious concepts. The contactee was a wealthy businessman for a company that produced auto parts, and had much to lose by publishing the story, which he published under the name of "Stefan Denaerde." Moreover he did not actively promote the story, thus hardly anyone has ever heard of it. Some of the ideas are so foreign to our way of looking at the world I cannot see how he made this up, for even the communist-like economy is not completely communistic. Who can imagine a world without money? I still find that hard to grasp, coming from the financial world.

What about evidence? When published there was no evidence, but when examined by the author Wendell Stevens he uncovered some corroborating evidence, including other witnesses, that this extraterrestrial contact case is real. After the original contact, the contacts continued for several years by means of some telepathic communication:

"These communications continued and ultimately developed into a sort of mechanical transmission from a technical device aboard the spacecraft to the mind of the witness, something like the way it was done during his visit aboard the spacecraft in the Oostscheld, except that now the pictures were transmitted to his mind instead of viewing them on a screen. Unknown to the witness however, and this will be news to him when he sees it in print for the first time, communications experts working with NATO in defense systems had picked up a strange incoming RF (radio frequency) electronic signal in the vicinity of a high security NATO defense installation in the Netherlands, and became very disturbed about the nature and purpose of this transmission. It was in an unusual bandwidth and had a strange character. It also was only detectable within a limited area in Den Hague (The Hague near where the sensitive installation is located. NATO Intelligence, believing this may be an attempt to interfere with the defense installation and its equipment, moved hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of highly sophisticated detection equipment into the area to try to find out what was happening.

"It seems that this strange signal would begin about 4:00 PM and continue for an hour or more several days each week. Now, before this information came to light, my interviews with the witness had shown that his contacts were coming in several days each week on a more or less regular basis. The witness's habit was to come home from his office about 3:00 PM daily, read his personal mail and relax in his living room for a while. Often, when he was contacted, the "telepathic" transmission would begin about 4:00 PM, and would continue for an hour or more. This strange coincidence became of paramount importance when I learned that the search for the strongest signal was taking them only a few blocks from this man's home where he was receiving the contacts!"

Wendell Stevens described this in a lecture, where it is also revealed that he was tailed by some CIA agents (they seem to always pop up) on his way to visit Stefan:




The phenomenon of UFOs underwater in the oceans is known as "USO" - Unidentified Submerged Object. The reports of these are quite extensive, going back at least 50 years. So this is by no means the only case of this. It makes sense: we have hardly explored our own oceans, and it is a perfect place to hide. See the following documentary for other cases:




The following videos contain an actual interview with Stefan Denaerde. They asked the technical illustrator for the book, "Could he have made it all up?" His opinion was no, there was just so much detailed information that was quite foreign to our way of thinking. When he began to realize it might be real, it gave him the creeps, and said "it is weird". The interview is in Dutch, but there are English subtitles:

THE ORIGIN OF THE PLANET IARGA

One of the first questions that arose in my mind is where is their home world, the planet Iarga? During the two days he stayed with them, he was instructed with a succession of holographic images that were imprinted into his memory. In this way, they could show him everything about their home world, without having to travel there. The first thing he saw was planet Iarga, which had a permanent white and pink cloud cover. It had two concentric rings around it, similar to the planet Saturn. It also had a moon similar to ours. The diameter and mass of the planet was much greater than planet earth, thus it had greater air pressure. The rotation of the planet was slower, causing the days and nights to last longer. Most of the surface is covered in water, and the wind speed can be as much as three times as powerful as on Earth.

There is one key piece of information they gave: their home world is a little more than 10 light years away from our solar system. That narrows down the location considerably. We have the following possible star systems, listed with their distance in light years from Earth:

Ross 248 (HH Andromedae) = 10.30 light-years 

Epsilon Eridani = 10.52 light-years 

Lacaille 9352 = 10.74 light-years

Of these three star systems, only Epsilon Eridani is known to have at least one planet known as Epsilon Eridani b, discovered as recently as the year 2000. It has an orbital period of about 6.85 years with a mean distance of 3.4 astronomical units (AU). Its mass is thought to be 1.2 (plus or minus 0.33) times that of Jupiter. In addition, the star Epsilon Eridani has two belts of rocky asteroids one at 3 AU and another at 20 AU. A second hypothetical planet, Epsilon Eridani c, is thought to orbit at about 13 AU with an orbital period of about 50 years to account for this. In addition, the star Epsilon Eridani has an extensive Debris disk - similar to our Kuiper belt, but with much more dust. So there are two pieces of data in agreement with the information from the Iarga contact: first, the planet is much bigger than our planet Earth. Second, the asteroids and dust surrounding Epsilon Eridani could indicate that such a planet has rings like Saturn. Here is an artist's conception of the planet Epsilon Eridani b:

Not only does the artist show rings around the planet (with a moon!), but the artist comes close to the pink and white cloud cover! Coincidence? One other interesting note - here is a picture of the constellations Eridanus and Cetus:

Cetus is a sea monster. What prompted the ancients to assign a river and a sea monster to thest two constellations? Could it be that the ancients had knowledge of amphibian humanoids from Epsilon Eridani? Another bizarre coincidence: the great fish or whale that swallowed the prophet Jonah after being thrown overboard is known as ketos in the Greek Septuagint, which is the equivalent of the Latin Cetus. This happens to be a very similar story to this extraterrestrial contact, where a ship collides with a saucer and the contactee spends 2 days inside of it - just as Jonah spent 3 days inside the belly of the fish.

The reason I bring up this line of speculation is that the Babylonian historian Berossus records how in ancient times mankind lived in wretched conditions, until a fish-man emerged from the sea and taught mankind the principles of civilization:

"At first they led a somewhat wretched existence and lived without rule after the manner of beasts. But, in the first year appeared an animal endowed with human reason, named Oannes, who rose from out of the Erythian Sea, at the point where it borders Babylonia. He had the whole body of a fish, but above his fish's head he had another head which was that of a man, and human feet emerged from beneath his fish's tail. He had a human voice, and an image of him is preserved unto this day. He passed the day in the midst of men without taking food; he taught them the use of letters, sciences and arts of all kinds. He taught them to construct cities, to found temples, to compile laws, and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge. He made them distinguish the seeds of the earth, and showed them how to collect the fruits; in short he instructed them in everything which could tend to soften human manners and humanize their laws. From that time nothing material has been added by way of improvement to his instructions. And when the sun set, this being Oannes, retired again into the sea, for he was amphibious. After this there appeared other animals like Oannes."

That the account of Berossus is ancient is shown by earlier myths and archaeology. In earlier times Oannes was known as Adapa (from Wikipedia):

"Adapa, the first of the Mesopotamian seven sages, was a mythical figure who unknowingly refused the gift of immortality. The story is first attested in the Kassite period (14th century BCE), in fragmentary tablets from Tell el-Amarna, and from Assur, of the late second millennium BCE. Mesopotamian myth tells of seven antediluvian sages, who were sent by Ea, the wise god of Eridu, to bring the arts of civilisation to humankind. The first of these, Adapa, also known as Uan, the name given as Oannes by Berossus, introduced the practice of the correct rites of religious observance as priest of the E'Apsu temple, at Eridu."

Adapa was a mortal man, a son of the god Ea/Enki, god of the waters. He brought civilization to the ancient city of Eridu, and is identified as an advisor to the first king of Eridu in Babylonia, Alulim. The city Eridu was once regarded as the oldest city in the world. Archeaological layers of the city go as far back as 5300 B.C. (see Eridu circled on map below)

The city name of Eridu is Sumerian, could this possibly explain the Greek name for the constellation of Eridanus? From Star Names Their Lore and Meaning, some research indicates that the constellation Eridanus was originally identified with the river Euphrates in ancient Babylonia:

There is much in the Euphratean records alluding to a stellar stream that may be our Eridanus, — possibly the Milky Way, another sky river; yet it is to the former that the passage translated by Fox Talbot possibly refers:

Like the stars of heaven he shall shine; like the River of Night he shall flow;

and its title has been derived from the Akkadian Aria-dan, the Strong River.

This is not all, some regard the city as the original location of the mythical tower of Babel. According to Stefan, the amphibian extraterrestrials from the planet Iarga were able to speak telepathically, and they made this interesting statement:

"The language we speak is not your own language, although it seems to be. It is the language of all living species in this universe. Even a plant or an animal will understand it. This language was spoken on Earth before the Babylonian confusion of tongues. You don't hear words but sounds that are directly reflected by your emotional structure, the life-field. Therefore, don't try to understand words, but listen to the reflections of your soul."

Here is an Assyrian representation of Oannes:

Here is another depiction:

The head underneath a fish-head is probably how the ancients viewed he head of the being in an enclosing helmet. The myth was so prevalent, remnants of it survive to this day. The myth of the Oannes fish priests is probably the origin of the Pope's mitre:

Stefan Denaerde never made the association of his extraterrestrial contact with Epsilon Eridani or with the ancient myth of Oannes. While this is circumstantial, the distance in light years and the description of the planet makes Epsilon Eridani as the most likely origin for these extraterrestrials from Iarga.

EXTRATERRESTRIAL PHILOSOPHY: FREEDOM, JUSTICE AND EFFICIENCY

I will skip over a discussion on the economy, society, and technology that was described in detail by the Iargans through a holographic projection (according to the author). I may get to some of that later in this blog. For now, what struck me was their philosophy, which they summarize in three principles: freedom, justice and efficiency. I should make it clear here: whereas here on Earth philosophy and religion is mostly a matter of belief, for Iarga it is a way of life, influencing even their society and economy. So once this philosophy is understood, everything else becomes clear in the way they view things as it is so foreign to us. How they applied it is described in detail in the book, and it is very pragmatic and utilitarian in nature, yet in many ways superior to the simple concept of pragmatism and utilitarianism.

I will summarize the three principles as follows. Freedom is the value one places on free will and free thought. It is freedom to pursue one's love. Justice is the value that everyone must be treated equally, and they express this in their egalitarian society with a disdain for individual status. There is no rich, and no poor: everyone is equal across their entire planet. Long ago they were able to destroy the boundaries between families and nations, until they became united as one race. The last value is one of efficiency: this is to be maximally productive or useful with the least amount of waste in effort. On Earth they see us doing a lot of wasted effort and wasted time because we are extremely inefficient. Efficiency is practically a religious value in their lives: they are so efficient that they have released themselves from material cares unlike us, which gives their society a lot of free time to just enjoy life and be happy. They see us rushing around, wasting time, and forgetting what is most important: how to enjoy life and be happy, and seek closer union with God. They thought efficiency was so important that they would probably consider W. Edwards Deming a prophet. Deming's philosophy of quality control had completely turned around the Japanese auto industry in the 1980s. These extraterrestrials even think like Deming: they placed a number on everything, to ensure it was efficiently done without waste, and that all things were made with the highest quality with least amount of failure. If this is a work of fiction, who in the world would have thought that up? When I read it, I realized there was quite a bit to learn here from the insights.

These three values - freedom, justice, and efficiency - were given to them in some Divine revelation in the past, which they either had to follow or die out as a race. For most of the surface the planet Iarga is covered in water with very little land: this forced them to be very efficient in managing their resources. Initially they were not, they were care-free, until the population began to outstrip the available land resources. They were forced to organize, and different tribes of Iargans fought with each other over the land resources. In my opinion, on Earth we are at this stage - except for us it is different, the limited resource is oil, as the entire world economy is based on the availability of oil as an energy source. Then God intervened, which Stefan describes as follows:

"At this low point of their history God stepped in and a huge natural disaster took place, which they call the fire of sin; a mysterious fire in the atmosphere which created enormous increases in temperature and wind speed and as a result of which a large part of the life of the planet was destroyed. The survivors were divided over twelve islands and received a new Divine Law which regulated their society much more strictly than before. It was the Law which prescribed freedom, justice and efficiency as the highest standard of their behavior... In this the woman received the executive power in the control of the observation of the Law."

By applying these three principles of freedom, justice and efficiency, their society was transformed, until they became an advanced spiritual civilization that represents a possible later stage in our evolution. However before I proceed, one thing the Iargans stressed was that just because an extraterrestrial race tells you something is so, do not blindly follow it. So they wanted to be sure that Stefan would not seek to prove their existence and publish his work initially as a work of fiction. They wanted no hysteria or unneeded publicity, but wanted the idea to speak for itself. They said any knowledge should come from independent thinking:

"If as a result of this knowledge you should find yourself forming any convictions, do so with care. Make sure that they are lasting convictions, born of independent creative thinking, and not the sort of passing convictions that the impact of strenuous visual emotions tend to provoke. These pseudo convictions paralyze individual freedom and make men rigid and dogmatic."

Dogmatic religious thinking, where people believe something just because someone told them so, they view as infringing on the freedom of thought for the individual. The same goes for religious convictions based on emotional experiences: such convictions do not last. Since some level of proof has been given that this extraterrestrial contact may be valid, at this point I am going to switch the discussion and take note of something I noticed in the philosophy or Divine revelation of the Iargans: a very similar doctrine appears in the revelations as described in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. And this is completely independent - when one reads the second half of Stefan Denaerde's book, it is quite obvious he knew absolutely nothing about Emanuel Swedenborg.

IARGAN PHILOSOPHY AND EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

The three principles of the Iargans - freedom, justice and efficiency - appear in the revelations given to Swedenborg, but using a different vocabulary. Most people are familiar with the scientific concept of cause and effect. Swedenborg took this concept and applied it to the human soul, but extended it to the triad of end, cause and effect. Whereas the principle of "cause and effect" implies a mechanical world, the principle of "end, cause, and effect" implies a world where everything has an intention behind it. There is no such thing as an accident or coincidence: there is a reason for everything. The "end" is the intention, the "cause" is the thought to execute that intention, and the "effect" is the act or outcome of those thoughts based on some intention. Said in another way, in each person there is intention, thought, and action. The principle of "freedom" is applicable to the value of free will or fulfilling one's purpose, the principle of "justice" is applicable to true thought, and the principle of "efficiency" is applicable to the act or outcome of one's thought. This principle of theology of the New Church described in the writings of Swedenborg is very similar to Iargan philosophy. The main difference is Swedenborg describes it in high level abstract terms, whereas Iargans apply it directly and prefer to describe it by providing concrete examples of their advanced civilization. Their teaching method is by example, repeated over and over again.

That the Iargan philosophy may have originated from a Divine revelation is shown in the writings of Swedenborg, which also originated from heavenly visions. The vocabulary is different, the application is different, but the underlying idea is the same. Swedenborg states that end, cause and effect correspond to the spiritual, rational and physical aspects of each person:

Celestial and spiritual things form the internal man, rational things the interior or middle man, sensual things — not of the body but derived from bodily things — the external man; and this not only with man, but also with spirits. To speak in the language of philosophy — these three are as end, cause, and effect. It is known that there can never be any effect unless there be a cause, and never any cause unless there be an end. Effect, cause, and end, are as distinct as exterior, interior, and inmost. Properly speaking, the sensual man, that is, he who thinks from sensual things, is the external man, and the spiritual and celestial man is the internal man; but the rational man is mediate between the two, and by this, or by what is rational, there is communication of the internal man with the external. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 978)

The intention or purpose of every thought and action we make originates from our higher spiritual selves, which receives life from a Divine influx. This Divine influx, or spirit, can only flow freely when the sins of the lower self are removed, as sin will block the flow of the Divine:

All things in general and in particular in man, nay, all things in general and in particular in nature, succeed one another as end, cause, and effect; and, when they thus correspond to one another, they act as one; for then the end is the all in all things of the cause, and through the cause is the all in all things of the effect. As for example, when heavenly love is the end, the will the cause, and action the effect, if there is correspondence, then heavenly love flows into the will, and the will into the action, and they so act as one that the action by correspondence is as it were the love; or as when the faith of charity is the end, thought the cause, and speech the effect, if there is correspondence, then faith from charity flows into the thought, and this into the speech, and they so act as one, that the speech by correspondence is as it were the end. In order however that the end, which is love and faith, may produce the cause, which is will and thought, it must take administering means in the rational mind that will correspond; for, without administering means that correspond, the end, which is love or faith, cannot be received, however it may flow in from the Lord through heaven. From this it is plain that the interiors and the exteriors of man, that is, what is rational, natural, and sensual in him, must be brought into correspondence, in order that he may receive the Divine influx, and consequently that he may be born again; and that it is not well with him till then. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 5131)

End, cause and effect correspond not only to the human being but also to three levels or spiritual degrees in heaven:

So also it is in the spiritual world; as the end, cause, and effect are distinct from one another, so in the spiritual world are love to the Lord, charity toward the neighbor, and the works of charity. When these three become one or exist together, the first must be in the second, and the second in the third. As in the works of charity, unless charity from affection or the heart is interiorly in them, they are not works of charity, and unless love to God is interiorly in charity, it is not charity. Therefore if you take away that which is interior, the exterior falls away; for the exterior exists and subsists from its interiors in order. So is it with innocence. This makes one with love to the Lord, and unless it is interiorly in charity, it is not charity; consequently unless charity in which there is innocence is interiorly in the works of charity, they are not works of charity. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 5608)

In this passage, Swedenborg associates end, cause and effect with the will, thought and action of each person:

...the end is the first in order, the cause the second, and the effect the last. Thus they proceed successively, but still the cause is presented at the same time in the effect, which is last, and the end in the cause; wherefore, the effect is a filled containant, in which interior or prior things are also brought together and exist.
The case is the same with the willing, thinking, and doing in man; willing is the first, thinking second, and doing last; this last also is the effect in which things prior or interior exist together; for so far as a man's doing contains in it what man thinks and what he wills, so far interior things are held together in their form and connection. This is why it is declared in the Word that man will be judged according to his deeds, that is, according to his works, which means that he will be judged according to his thinking and willing, inasmuch as these are in his deeds even as the soul is in its body. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 9824)

This doctrine of end, cause and effect is one of the main reasons why there needs to be a New Church, separate from the Protestant churches which are based on the false teaching of salvation by faith alone. The two theologies are in exact opposition to each other (see Was Swedenborg a Cult Leader, and is the New Church a cult?). Not only does end, cause and effect allow us to have a better understanding of what it is to be truly human, but it gives a better understanding of God: it corresponds to a trine of the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the proceeding Divine spirit, all in one Supreme Being. It is a mistake to divide God into three persons, which originated from an ignorance of higher spiritual concepts and dogmatic literal thinking. Such an irrational theology leads to either blind belief or secular societies and naturalism.

FREEDOM AND THE WILL, OR FREE WILL

One's intention or purpose in life is the true essence of one's soul. One's intent or purpose is guided by free will. The Iargans stressed the importance of free will, that there should be no compulsion in the free will of humans. While the Iargans eventually discussed their concept of freedom my starting with lower level concepts of society based on efficiency, Swedenborg always begins by talking about the highest concept, God, and then approaching lower level topics. The will and thought in each person corresponds to the Divine Love and Divine Truth, which are symbolically portrayed in the gospels as the Father and the Son. But what is free will? Philosophers have been debating this, but Swedenborg spells it out: free will originates from the equilibrium between heaven and hell, which plays out in every moral choice a person makes in their intention. I already discussed this in a previous blog post, see The Spiritual Origin of Free Will.

Although it is often said that there should be no compulsion in free will, Swedenborg stated what is not so readily apparent: there is a hidden freedom in self compulsion against what is evil towards what is good:

...they who have compelled themselves against evil and falsity — though at first they thought that this was from themselves or from their own power, but were afterwards enlightened to see that their effort was from the Lord, even to the least of all the particulars of the effort — these in the other life cannot be led by evil spirits but are among the happy. Thus it may be evident that a man ought to compel himself to do good and to speak the truth. The hidden truth within this is, that a man is thus gifted with what is heavenly for his own by the Lord. That which is heavenly of his own is formed in the effort of his thought; and if he does not maintain this effort by compelling himself, as the appearance is, he certainly does not by not compelling himself. That it may be plain how this is, let it be observed that in all self-compulsion to good there is a certain freedom, which is not discerned as such when one is in the work of compelling, but still it is within; as in one who is willing to undergo the risk of death for the sake of a certain end, or in him who is willing to suffer bodily pains for the sake of health, there is a willingness and thus a certain freedom from which each acts; although the dangers and the pains, while he is in them, take away his perception of the willingness or freedom. So it is with those who compel themselves to good. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 1937)

Freedom, or free will, does not simply mean one can do whatever one wants: it is a moral choice. For the Iargans, the concept of freedom goes further: their goal was to create a society where one was free to pursue whatever interest or love one had towards the good. To do this, an economy and society was created where each person had to do as little servile work as possible, had no worries about material matters, and jealousy and greed were eliminated by creating an egalitarian society. The civilization became so advanced that every citizen in reality became rich, and everyone had more free time on their hands. More free time means more freedom to pursue one's interests and one's love toward others. What blocks our path towards this? Selfish egotism.

THE PRINCIPLE OF JUSTICE

As the principle of freedom states that everyone should have the right to pursue their free will, the principle of justice states that everyone should be able to pursue their free will equally. What is justice? Not only is everyone treated equally under the law, but also equal rights for everybody. That means, no one can own anything more than anyone else, just what one needs. They see that we have large imbalances of wealth in this world due to lack of not only efficiency, but also discrimination which goes against the principle of justice.

Now, when Swedenborg talks about justice it is always in the context of the phrase "judgment and justice" which appears in Hebrew scripture. Unfortunately this leads to some confusion as the Hebrew word for "justice" (tzedakah) is more accurately translated as "righteousness", or simply doing the right thing. Judgment is rendering the proper decision of the law according to the truth, and justice is doing what is right according to charity. Judgment is related to the concept of truth or the law, and justice is related to doing what is right. Thus when Iargans talk about justice that is more comparable to the Hebrew concept of rendering proper judgment based upon righteousness. For example:

Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven. Yea, Jehovah shall give good, and our land shall yield its increase (Ps. lxxxv. 11, 12). Here truth, which is of faith, is used for judgment, and justice for love or mercy. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 2235)

All things in scripture relate to the concepts of truth and love. Thus in the first sentence the first half relates to truth or judgment, and the second to justice or love. The phrase "our land shall yield its increase" is related to the efficiency of the outcome, to put it in Iargan terms. The point is, the Iargan principles of freedom, justice and efficiency are related to end, cause and effect, which in turn correspond to the will or intention (love), the thought (truth), and the action (efficiency). The Iargan principle of justice is based on the truth or just laws from the truth.

THE PRINCIPLE OF EFFICIENCY

When we come to the principle of efficiency as described by the Iargans in how they do everything, there is a close correspondence in the writings of Swedenborg. In the following passages, Swedenborg mentions the "efficient cause" which brings about the effect or outcome:

These three goods follow in order, as end, cause, and effect; and as the end is the soul of the cause, and the cause is all that is efficient in the effect, so celestial good is the soul of spiritual good, and spiritual good the all in natural good. That which is the soul and the all in another thing, is interiorly in it, just as endeavor is in motion, or as will in action. That will is the soul and the all in an action, is plain, for when the will ceases, the action ceases. From this it may be evident how the case is with the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural, namely, that inmostly in natural good there must be celestial good, that is, the good of love to the Lord, which also is the good of innocence. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 9812)

if the efficient cause should cease, the effect would immediately become none. (Heavenly Arcana, n. 3498)

The term "efficient cause" is not the principle of efficiency per se, but rather it is to indicate that the cause or the thought in action which brings out the effect. The Iargan principle of efficiency is to measure the outcome of the effect: how effective was the act? What is the return of investment (ROI)? How productive was the person or business? The Iargans constantly measure the outcomes in terms of numbers. In spiritual terms, the principle of efficiency is more related to self examination: examining one's deeds in life, and then correcting them to be more "efficient" towards that which is good. Self examination and correcting oneself is the act of repentance, and it is a continual process of improvement.

THE RELIGION OF THE IARGANS

The Iargans never really talked about religion like we do: for them, the way they lived was their religion. There is no dichotomy between the society and the religion. But they first expressed things in terms of efficiency of the manufacturing process. They loved to talk about how efficient was their manufacturing in the areas of housing, transportation, and farming. Everything was measured in numbers. By the time they got to talking about the manufacturing of their cylindrical house structures, Stefan in reality started to get bored which really disappointed them. It is the weirdest extraterrestrial contact I have seen: who would have expected a contact to discuss manufacturing and concepts of quality control? Despite the weirdness, it is quite applicable to one's life, and the principles can be used to improve a business. When I came to think about it, the principle of efficiency is very important: it can be used to help save and preserve the natural resources of this planet. When they observed how inefficient we were, it must have driven them nuts.

Stefan was however interested in the propulsion system of their flying saucers, as well as their holographic learning system. Exact details of this they would not give: to give us technology innovations would be dangerous, as we would immediately use those technologies for the effort of warfare. It would be immoral to transfer technology to us considering the state we are in:

"The most dangerous natural law governing the development of an intelligent people states: a highly technological society does away with all discrimination or self-destructs."

"The only information you need lies in the field of societal standards."

What was more important was to improve our society and our culture. They kept using the word culture a lot. Here is their definition of the word "culture":

Stefan: "What's your definition of culture, then, exactly? I'm beginning to think that we define the word differently." 

Iargan: "That's a very important question, Stef. Culture is the measure through which a society caters to the least fortunate man. The measure in which the sick, invalid, old or poor people are taken care of. In short, the measure of collective unselfishness." 

Stefan: "But what has this got to do with immortality?" 

Iargan: "Just this, that unselfishness makes an intelligent race immortal. But before you can understand this, you will first have to climb the ladder with Us to the misty heights of comic integration." 

Stefan: "Unbelievable! I thought that you practiced efficiency as a sort of religion, but now I see that your economic system is a religion of sorts as well." 

Iargan: "You are beginning to understand, but the word 'religion' is not well chosen." 

Stefan: "Something like it, then?" 

Iargan: "Correct."

In order to have the culture they have, the Iargans had to eliminate evil from their society. How did they do it? I am not exactly sure, but they mention a strange concept known as "reincarnation selection" (as this contact was done over a kind of thought transference, some of these thoughts are theirs, others are Stefan's):

"Every intelligent race is dualistic, and as absolute necessity, contains an extremely evil consciousness component that now and again comes to the surface in the form of lies, deceit, sadism, homicide, etc. etc. One of the reasons for the terrible murder of millions of women and children in gas chambers.
"A detailed explanation will come later, so let it suffice here to say that beings on Iarga that possess this mentality are denied reincarnation. This selection is the cause of the continuing improvement in mentality, generation after generation, which enables a race to become unselfish.
"On Earth, this selection was blocked some twenty centuries ago by extra-terrestial intervention whereby we cannot improve our average mentality. This system is therefore unsuitable and undesirable for us because it would stimulate the egoism. The lazy and the profiteers would disrupt the system. The universal economic system is just an utopian dream for us.
"The beginning of this system is their world order. The unity of such a race comes from the fact that they obey a set of Godly laws and therefore have a uniform legal system."

Again, the concept of reincarnation comes up. Races that are spiritually evolved tend to believe in reincarnation, and this came up before among a group of human extraterrestrials which was described in Extraterrestrial Contact in 1952: the Case of Orfeo Angelucci. But reincarnation is not what most think it is: we are born once, but after death spirits are able to participate and merge with the memories of the living to the point they think the memories are their own. For that see Christianity, Reincarnation and Emanuel Swedenborg. So what do the Iargans mean by "reincarnation selection"? I think that means they mentally examine each of their race at a certain age, and determine if they should be given the right to have sex. Yes, apparantly not all Iargans are allowed to sexually reproduce. As for the extraterrestrial intervention that occurred twenty centuries ago, they are talking about Jesus Christ. So was Jesus an extraterrestrial? No, that becomes apparent later. As to how "reincarnation selection" was blocked is not clear. The Iargans do explicitly talk about Christianity, which interests them greatly:

Iargan: "Our understanding of religion is so far evolved that it is incomparable with yours. Have you a religion?"
Stefan: "I am a Catholic."
Iargan: "How strange, a Christian! We are familiar with the work of Christ and the Bible. After you've eaten, you must explain to us how someone with so much property can seriously call himself Christian. We are intrigued. On the other hand, it simplifies the explanation of the two cosmic selection laws. The first confirms Christ's condemnation of social discrimination. A high level of technical development liquidates every discrimination and compulsion under pain of chaos and eventual self-destruction. The Earth demonstrates the justice of this law in a convincing manner. The social chaos exists already and the threat begins to manifest itself. At the moment, only the great powers have nuclear weapons at their disposal, but the smaller nationalist groups will soon be in the same position. The situation becomes more dangerous every year.
...The second selection law compels the correct understanding of human relationships. It poses 'Christian love' as a condition for cosmic integration. Only unselfish behavior that restores the original efficiency of natural order can give an intelligent race the certainty of survival until cosmic integration is achieved."

As for the Iargans, what is their opinion of Jesus Christ? As they are spiritually evolved, and seem to be familiar with the spiritual planes above the material, they know exactly who He is. I am again surprised because before I was of the opinion other extraterrestrial races would have thought that Jesus was just another teacher. Instead we get the reaction, we know who He is, how come you do not, and do not do what He says? Towards the end of the contact, the Iargans told Stefan this:

"Never say anything in conflict with the Christ insight such as it appears in the Bible. His authority is unassailable in the whole universe. He is the only way; the only truth and the life. 'No one comes to the Father except through Him.'"

OUT OF THE DEPTHS

I have hardly touched upon this extraterrestrial contact, it has been ignored and buried for far too long, probably because 50 years ago nothing was offered in terms of proof. There is actually a lot to learn from it. Stefan saw that the Iargans were excellent swimmers and could dive underwater for long periods of time. The fish of their planet are similar to ours, and like dolphins, they are able to accelerate underwater and ram other large fish. Perhaps there is some hidden truth to the legends of mermen and mermaids?

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD (Psalms 130:1)

Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high,

You who have done great things; O God, who is like You?

You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, Shall revive me again,

And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

You shall increase my greatness, And comfort me on every side. (Psalms 71:19-21)

Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light!

Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created.

He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away.

Praise the LORD from the earth, You great sea creatures and all the depths (Psalms 148:3-7)