What is it like to be hijacked by the spirit world or by some of its residents? This was the crucial question he asked himself repeatedly near the end of his difficult but productive life. Thoroughly confusing! That was his invariant conclusion. Indeed, ‘Why me?’ was his initial reaction when he came to realise, with some scepticism, that some members of the spirit world had indeed decided to have a say in his life-chances, and his lifestyle.
In spite of being a seeker of knowledge, with a propensity to seek or make patterns which would lead to some understanding of whatever he was examining or experiencing, his grasp of the major causal determinants of his life-path tracked a sluggishly insidious route. This process could be compared with the way water from a below-ground source could seep up towards the surface, thereby increasing the fertility or productivity of the ground.
He now hopes that, while fertility and productivity are of no interest or relevance for him, his intellectual equanimity might be enhanced through understanding what it is (was?) all about.
He accepts that more introspection about significant experienced-events is needed to obtain a necessary overview of intent, its operational pathway, and the outcomes. Issues which need to be dealt with are:
• Is there an uncontested pattern of primary influences on human life-chances which can be considered near-universal?
• Are these influences persuasive, even while those affected have a degree of free will to accept, reject, or modify the thrust of these influences?
• Could higher beings in the spirit world have a role to play in shaping some humans? If so, which humans? How would they qualify?
• Is this role also to ensure that life-paths broadly predicated by past lives are followed? That is, to assist the individual in his moral progress?
Ah, the mystery of it all!
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 