The World Is More Than We Know: How Small Shifts in Perspective Can Create a Greater Understanding of Our Place Within It

When a dear friend's beloved dog passed away, in an honest intention to comfort her, I said, "But don't forget, you'll be able to see her even after she's gone – maybe as a shadow outside the corner of your eye, or you might feel her jump up on the bed, or hear the tags on her collar jingle. My dog does this kind of stuff all the time." Far from being comforted, she replied flatly, "I wish I could believe that, but I don't. You can do it because you're just lucky." Her comment astonished me, not just because she believed that she would not be able to see her dog in Spirit, but because she chalked it up to "luck" that I could. Moreover, she was convinced that she would never be able to connect with her dog because she would never have "my" luck. That's when I started asking myself a lot of questions. Am I lucky? Is it really just blind luck? Or is it something else? And, if it isn't luck, then what makes one person able to talk to dead people, while another person can see angels? Are some people actually just born this way? And if it IS something else, is it something that anyone can learn how to do? And, if they can, what's the point? What's in it for them? It certainly won't bring back their loved ones. My friend's remark about belief also made me think there might be an element of choice that is fundamental to someone being willing to change their view of the world around them and of how they experience "reality." Perhaps without that willingness, without having an openness to what can't be easily explained, the possibility of having a non-ordinary experience is not possible. And then I started asking lots of other people how they felt about the blind-luck concept.