Things happen that seem inexplicable, then our imaginations kick into gear to try to understand what’s happening. Sometimes we come to the wrong conclusions and need to explore alternate explanations. I find that many people are quick to blame others or think the worst.
For example, if your spouse doesn’t come home when expected, and hours later you’re still waiting and worried, the mind will create scenarios based on your worst fears. If your fear is that your spouse was in an accident or is being unfaithful, these are the things that will pop into your mind and eat you alive while you’re waiting for the real explanation. So ten hours later your spouse comes home and tells you the car suddenly stopped for no apparent reason when he or she was out of cell phone range. If you have a good and trusting relationship you accept that explanation and go on with your life. All is good again, provided the car cooperates.
Recently I had a problem such as this. I wanted to communicate with the artist who is creating the cover for my novel, River Girl. I sent messages on Facebook and he didn’t respond. My prior experience with this artist was that he responded to every message almost immediately. So after a few days went by with no response I began to feel he might not want to finish the project. I though maybe I’d said something to offend him but I couldn’t even imagine what. Scenarios went through my mind – none of them happy.
Finally I sent an email to say if he didn’t want to finish I’d find someone else. And wow… I got some very nice emails in response! What really happened was that he’d run out of bandwidth for his internet connection for the month and wasn’t checking Facebook. The alternate explanation was so much better than all my fears. He still wants to finish the cover and everything is just fine. I’m excited that his art will be on the cover of my young adult novel.
It is important to look beyond the obvious and to find alternate explanations for the many mysteries of life. I wonder what the civilizations that inhabited this earth hundreds of thousands of years ago were like. I wonder if those secrets of pre-history will be revealed to us in the afterlife. Chances are while I’m living on earth I’ll never know what earth life was like for people in ancient times. I suspect it was similar to what we have now, but more primitive for most people. But look, we’ve still got many earth citizens living in primitive situations, so maybe, not so different after all.
In my attempt to understand pre-history I’ve written a series of novels set in an extremely ancient civilization. Think Atlantis and Mu. My characters lived on Mu and knew nothing of Atlantis. They lived in primitive cities and villages. Their lives were full of intrigue and mystery – because as novel characters they need to be motivated and interesting to the reader. These novels were my attempt to explain pre-history ancient civilizations – and they may have no hold on reality, or who knows, maybe I channeled them from the memories of a disembodied spirit. Either way, the stories are a gift to me — and through me, my gift to the world. The first in the series will be published this year – with the title, The Scribe of Irohila.
Some things you just can’t know. In past years I frequented spiritual and religious message boards where people argued back and forth about what happens after death, and how the world began. Those two subjects just crack me up, because there’s no way any of us can know the exact answers. People parrot things they’ve learned from the annals of their religions about how the world began. But none of us were there. Why this topic needs to be an issue of contention between groups of people, I just don’t know. Why not argue about something we can have a direct experience of – such as whether it is better to be kind and compassionate, or cruel and self-seeking? Surely we have more direct experience of that issue no matter what side of the kindness fence we’re on.
Life after death is another huge boondoggle. None of us have been there, so why argue about what happens next? I personally do believe in life after death but I won’t try to push my belief on others because it is simply silly. We’re all headed that direction and we’ll find out for sure what happens there when we arrive. Until then, how does it have any possible relevance to what we’re doing here on earth? Oh yes, I may get communications from relatives gone beyond, but who else cares but me? I can tell my psychic stories, but to everyone else it is just a “oh wow that’s strange” situation, whereas to me it is indisputable proof of life after death.
Is there an alternate explanation for reincarnation beliefs? I love this topic, and would like to leave my opinions for a future novel… yes, maybe that’s the best place. Let me think about it. Perhaps I’ll break loose and put it in another blog post one of these days.
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