2012: Peter Gersten's "Leap of Faith"

Lawyer Peter Gersten has been a well-known figure in UFOlogy at least since the 1970s. He filed suit against the CIA in U.S. District Court in 1977 for release of documents concerning UFOs. This resulted in over 900 pages of documents being released, although there was little in them that wasn't already known. There were 57 pages that were held back due to "national security" concerns. UFOlogists made a big stink about this, claiming it's proof of a government cover-up. However, the files were held back because they might allow other nations to gain information on U.S. capabilities in electronic and signals intelligence. For example, there was one document where the CIA listened in on a Cuban pilot discussing a UFO sighting. The problem wasn't the UFO sighting, it was that we didn't want the Cubans to know we'd been able to hear their pilots' conversations.

Now retired to Sedona, Arizona, a center of a supposed 'New Age energy vortex',  Gersten says that he plans to take a "leap of faith" from Bell Rock, a well-known vortexy place in Sedona, at the moment of the solstice: 11:11 UT on Dec, 21, 2012. This will be 4:11 AM in Arizona, and according to a reference I checked (http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html target=BLANK ), is within 1 minute of the time of the actual solstice.

Gersten writes, "On the Winter Solstice of 2012 at exactly 11:11 UT a cosmic portal will open in Sedona Arizona and a leap of faith - from the top of Bell Rock - will propel me through its opening.... My two principal beliefs are: 1) that our reality is an intelligently designed cosmic holographic program and 2) that on the Winter Solstice of 2012 at exactly 11:11 UT – a Trans-Dimensional Event (T-DE) will occur... an article on my web site discussing the Mayan calendar end-date states that: There is no reason not to take a leap of faith imagining what may be in store (10). So by now you must have an idea of what I plan to do on the Winter Solstice of 2012 at exactly 11:11 while on the top of Bell Rock – a place only a few miles from my home.... Most of you will think that I am delusional and that my insane act will certainly result in my death. Death is inevitable - at least nowadays - and 100 years from now it won't matter whether I died in 2012 or 2013 or even 2020. But I believe that some type of cosmic portal will be opening at that time and place and that an opportunity will present itself. I fully expect that it will either lead to the next level of this cosmic program; freedom from an imprisoning time-loop; a magical Martian-like bubble; or something equally as exotic. In March 2012 I will reach 70 years of age and nine months later we arrive at the cosmic coordinate. I think it will then be time for me to move on - in one form or another. I'd like to see what else our Cosmic Computer has to offer." (http://www.pagenews.info/commentary/wintersolstice2012.php )

When I first read about this, I could not believe that it was true. Perhaps somebody with a grudge against Gersten made this up? Yet in the YouTube video above, we see and hear Gersten telling, in his own words, about his plan to (hopefully) leap into the portal that he believes should be opening up. He explains that, even if he dies in this leap, it is probably good Karma to die at such at the time of such special cosmic energy.

Bell Rock, Sedona, AZ

What Gersten and so many others do not seem to realize is that from an astronomical standpoint, there is nothing special or even a little bit unusual going on in December of 2012. Nada. There will be a Transit of Venus across the Sun on the afternoon of June 5, 2012 (the morning of June 6 in Asia and Australia), which is a really special and rare celestial alignment (the next one won't occur until 2117), but clearly that is not what the hoopla is about. No "alignments" are going to happen around the 2012 winter solstice that do not also happen every other December. Supposed "Bible Codes" and "ancient calendars" simply don't cut it. No matter how many times nonsense is repeated, it still remains nonsense. Echo chambers do not contribute to truth.

I've briefly met Gersten a few times, and he is a pleasant fellow. I hope he is not serious about this, and finds reason to change his mind. If he's in good health at age 70, he can easily live at least another ten or twenty more years. I hope he doesn't give up the rest of his life because of babblings about "ancient calendars" and "trans-dimensional effects."

[For updates on this story, see the posting The Apocalypse Made Easy, November 17, 2012.
Gersten did not jump. He is still alive in 2013. ]