My recent piece describing our possible genetic links to an alien race called the Annunaki stirred a friend to suggest a concept that takes a different slant on my theory. His idea is so plausible that I decided to include it in this edition:

In a letter this man, whom I will identify only as Joe, wrote: "Your most recent column struck a chord with me. For many years, since my first encounter with an unexplainable group of aircraft as a 10-year-old boy, a preoccupation with alien influences upon the human race has been ever present."

Joe said it was once suggested to him that the original human on this planet was doing just fine on his own. But at some point in history, "there occurred a usurpation in the form of genetic tampering.

"This tampering, in my opinion, was nothing less than the removal of a third strand of DNA. This strand served to unite left and right brain functions, and provide immediate and direct (links) to the collective consciousness. The removal of this (part of our brain) in combination with cross-breeding of alien traits, brought the counterfeit blueprint for what modern man has become."

Joe suggests that we were once a great race of humans with the wonderful ability to communicate telepathically, leave our bodies at will and enter the astral, and to use the full potential of both left and right hemispheres of our brains. We were literally a perfect race, living in what was then a perfect garden, a planet Earth that was in complete balance.

Then the alien race that we know as the Annunaki arrived and things were dramatically altered. How they overpowered a race of brilliant thinkers is unclear, but I suspect there may have been a war. In past articles I have written about the evidence of great civilizations that existed long before our own, that had the ability to operate flying machines. There also is evidence all over the Earth that there was at least one war involving nuclear bombs prior to our own disaster during World War II. I suspect we were overpowered by technology, including atomic warfare.

When you think about it, the atomic bomb would be a device that a people living in harmony with their planet would not even think of. If everyone could speak telepathically, there would be no secrets. And without secrets, there would be no reason for warfare. We would have no use for bombs and bullets.

Thus we have stories about our great utopia, sometimes called Atlantis, being suddenly destroyed and its people killed or scattered all over the globe. We also have stories about Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden.

Could it be that the legends look back at the same event; the day the Annunacki attacked and overwhelmed our utopian civilization? The day the aliens arrived and turned us into slaves lacking the will or the ability to fight back? What better way to do this than alter the DNA of every human left alive, so that the wonderful dual hemispheric brains we have were no longer able to function at full capacity.

In his letter, Joe notes that science has proved that most humans only use about 10 percent of their brain capacity. People who study the brain have been perplexed as to why we were born with so much brain tissue if we never use it. Some brain specialists have actually suggested that the right hemisphere of the brain is not even needed. People with brain tumors and other problems have had that side of the brain removed and continued living a relatively normal life.

But Joe compares this condition as "akin to a computer with rewired hardware. He says such a computer, although built to do much more, now functions only as a "dedicated" unit controlled by outside forces. In our case, he suggests that we have become slaves, controlled by the minds of aliens that either exist in another dimension right beside us, or they are manipulating us from afar. But we are being controlled.

Joe also suggests that because a number of humans are becoming aware of our situation, the aliens are involved in damage control. It seems that a few very special humans have come into existence in recent years with the ability to use both hemispheres of the brain. Whether this was by accident, or genetic intervention by yet another alien race interested in setting us free, is yet to be determined. But it seems to have happened.

Because of these dynamic changes in the way humans are starting to think about God and themselves, we are suddenly faced with a world in chaos. Cataclysmic events seem to be happening all around us. We are experiencing a heating of a sun that seems to be spewing solar storms that could threaten our lives. The Earth is heating and our environment is going wild. Storms are intensifying. Warfare and terrorism rages for no logical reason other than mind possession. We are suddenly scrambling for our very survival.

In his letter, Joe said: "It seems that the various cataclysmic events oddly coincide with periods of history when humanity is becoming aware that something is very wrong; that we are being controlled.

"By the time enough people realize what is going on, made-to-order disasters are requiring all the time, energy and resources (our) race can spare. Is it possible that some (alien) races possess technology that can influence the Earth/Sun dynamics and (create) such epic "natural" disasters?" Joe asks.

If things become bad enough, survival could become such an important issue that even the awakened humans would be willing, "in a state of desperation, to accept almost any conditions," he concluded. Joe said this would mean a return to obedient servitude.

• James can be contacted via e-mail at: jamesdonahue@lighthouse.net

• His web site is: www.jamesdonahue.com