We live in a huge universe with tremendous amounts of energy being expended in quasars, black holes, comets, etc. and yet a large swath of humanity believes itself immune to the same forces that drive bears to hibernate and dragonflies to migrate. To me, that's the great mystery - how so many are unaware of their true nature.
Haters and disbelievers are not worth the energy expended to convince them otherwise. They will find out on their own or not. It's not your 'karma' to educate them.
I had a ghostly encounter at an older home in Boston during my college years in the 70's. I rented a third floor room in a brownstone in the South End and had become close to my landlord and his wife, Polish immigrants who came here after WWII. They often fed me with the family and during one of these dinners, I found out that they had a son, their oldest child, who had become involved with a local gang and was 'lost' to the family.
During my sophmore year, on the night before Halloween, I came home late from a party and crept up the stairs past the landlord's rooms as quietly as I could so as not to wake them. It was about 2:30 am since the bars closed at 2 in Boston. I crawled into bed, just slightly drunk since I had class in the morning, when I heard someone in the hallway outside my door. "Mr. K, is that you?" I called out, thinking my landlord was checking on me in the fatherly way he often did when I came home late. I heard a growly voice say "Who are you?" in reply, and thinking Mr. K was a little sauced on apricot brandy, I replied "It's me, of course...who do you think?" and laughed. No one answered me, I heard steps going down, and so I rolled over and went to sleep. The next day I came down late and headed right out to class. I did notice how eerily quiet the house was.
I came home late that afternoon to prepare for another party when I turned the corner and saw a crowd outside the house. Mrs. K came out and herded me into the kitchen where the family was gathered, all grim, some crying. Apparently the prodigal had been shot and killed in another section of the city the night before. Mr. K sat stone faced and seemingly angry. I apologized for coming in late and waking him when he looked up at me in surprise. "You didn't wake me" he said. "Sure you did!....you even asked me who I was!" The whole family grew silent and stared at me. Mr. K got up from his chair and gripped my shoulders, practically shouting in my face "I was not awake, who did you see!!!!???" Mrs. K began to weep, and puzzled, I turned to her, asking what had I done, what was wrong? "Your room was Karl's room" she sobbed, "he must have come home that night, when he was shot, at 2:45am."
I'm wholly convinced he did come home, saw a stranger in his room, and left. May he rest in peace despite the torment he obviously gave his family. Perhaps it was a blessing I was there.
