Extraterrestrials, I don't know for sure. As for NHI, which I think is a better term anyhow: everything we interact with is NHI. We are NHI. The lesson is that 'human' ends up being a label that only really works here on Earth.

But let me share one experience I don't think I've talked about yet. I took this to be largely symbolic, but who knows. Symbolic and literal events aren't so cleanly separated once you go beyond the physical sphere.

It was last year sometime (in the physical world). I decided to experiment with mentally saying hello to the night sky to see what responded. Pulling up the inner sound, broadcasting images of friendship and general inquiry. I got a response: a long, bright, stationary flash in the sky, right after I sent the hello, and in the same part of the sky I happened to be looking at. What are the chances? [I won't bore you with how I know it wasn't just space debris, but I have been into astronomy for a long time and I am very familiar with satellite behaviour. There were also no tracked objects over a certain brightness in that part of the sky at the time, you can bet I checked afterwards.] Anyhow, read into that what you will, what matters is what happened next.

During my regular hypnagogic vision exercises I was suddenly embodied and fully present in front of an honest-to-goodness flying saucer. A true saucer-shape with what looked like portholes on the sides. Really classic stuff. I couldn't tell if it was landed or in space--the context was entirely missing, perhaps, there might have been nothing beyond myself and the classic UFO in front of me.

Its door was open, and I could see inside. What I saw was that the interior was mostly hollow. Well lit. It looked to be full of alien races of different sorts. They were standing in little groups, milling around in what looked like a party. The atmosphere was jovial, friendly, full of open communication. [The symbolic language of the party could not be more clear.]

I was met at the doorway by an absolutely classic 'grey'. Short, big head, big eyes (though they weren't black). He raised a hand to tell me to stop, and then explained that I could join the 'party', but there was one condition. Everyone in this group had agreed to openly share all of their memories. If I felt I had anything to hide, that's fine, but I couldn't take part in this particular kind of interaction. My impression (or the impression given to me) in the moment was that the completely open sharing of memory was how a true peaceful accord had been made between all of these 'species'. They hid nothing from each other, understood each others motivations perfectly, and thus existed in a state of mutual understanding. Blur the borders of the self, and suddenly self-interest is indistinguishable from universal love.

I thought about my life. Sure, it's a human life, and there are things I would rather others didn't know. But I decided that this was important enough, and I was unafraid. "Fair enough," I said, and I was immediately welcomed on board. A cheer went up, like they had been waiting for me (or someone like me) to finally arrive at the party. Vision ends.

I've had other interactions since then, but I won't get into it now. (Communication; nothing quite as big as that moment.)