We have experienced them. A moment that does not fit our construct of reality. A puzzle piece that does not fit the opening for it. We think linear, but the moment is outside the lines. I had one of those moments when I thought, regarding our ‘Leave It To Beaver’ house in the suburbs of Chicago, ‘At least we have a good house this time.’ I was 3 or 4 years old. What was my frame of reference? What was I comparing it to? A thought that has remained unexplained to me and has stuck with me for my entire life.

I visited the University of Oxford a few years ago. When I entered the Library, I felt I had been there before. Now, the Oxford Library did not remind me of any Library I had seen nor read about. MJ Aaron, Jonathon, and I had visited London previously, but not Oxford. Yet I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I had not only visited the Library before, but the University. I felt at home.

I have known many people of faith who say they have seen angels and visions. I have not. My faith’s empirical reality is seeing Christ in other people.. Yet the feeling of familiarity and place has struck me on more than one occasion. There was a candidate for Chancellor of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale that I knew the moment I met her. We had not met, but somehow we had. I knew I must help her where I could. I understood she was right for our campus. I am a bit of an introvert, but I reached out to work for what I understood our people needed.

As the Assistant Superintendent of our department, I was told by one of our crew leaders that a member of his Malaysian student custodial staff had seen a ghost in Anthony Hall. The young woman had been checking to ensure that she had turned off the lights and locked the doors on the third floor of Anthony Hall, which began as a women’s dormitory named for Susan B. Anthony in the early days of the last century. The student saw a woman dressed in a white blouse and a dress to her feet sitting in a chair with her hair in a bun on the back of her head. When the strangely dressed woman did not respond to the student, she left in fear. The custodial crew leader took me into the attic of the renovated former dormitory and showed me an old photo of the women who stayed in the building. There were women all dressed in white blouses and dresses to their feet with their hair in buns on the back of their heads…

So we search for answers when we do not know the questions. Who are we in the grand theatrical production of life? Are we learning as we go, or do we come with a carpet bag full of experiences? As we look upon our surroundings, what evidence do we have that our neighbor is seeing the same things that we are seeing? Scientists tell us that our brains make sense of the molecules and atoms that make up everything our eyes see.

Could it be that once in a while, we get a peek behind the Veil? Is there another reality or dimension walking alongside us? Perhaps we have the occasional visitor from the other side of the Veil. Maybe they wonder about the unexplainable moments as we do…