Out of the Blue

On an exceptionally sunny February blue-sky day in Michigan I was out doing errands. With only one more stop at the grocery store the errands finished, and I would be off to speak in Ypsilanti about a wonderful divine avatar who is renowned as being an incarnation of God’s mercy and the maintainer of the universe. This avatar is Nityananda Gosai, who appeared in Bengal some 528 years ago. We say “appeared” because such divine personalities are not forced to take birth here like you and I. As I was driving I was thinking about the significance of his being in this world and what it means for people.
The thoughts were speeding along as was the car, but as so often happens when we are lost in thought I took a mental detour, and began to muse on the fact that every one of us has the opportunity to be a positive significance in the lives of others – if we will. Yet there are many who go through life taking whatever they can get. Years ago Daniel Quinn wrote a captivating little book Ishmael that categorized people as either givers or takers, this being one of the prominent characteristics that make this world what it is. I flashed on how I had written about that in my book Spiritual Economics. Next I was tallying how well I was doing in terms of giving what I could, and could I do more? Moreover, how could I multiply those efforts by encouraging others to experience the happiness of giving? Such were the travels of my mind as my body traveled down the road.

Then, suddenly, I was startlingly forced to the present. A truck had turned into my lane, and right in front of me. I mean RIGHT in front of me. In a flash I looked for some way to go to avoid him. He was so close it would be impossible to avoid smashing into him. I went for the brake but am not even sure if I hit it before the impact! Amidst the hair-raising apprehension I heard an authoritative voice in my head – “There is no way out of this. This is something that you have to go through.” Somehow that voice gave me such confidence that I experienced no fear. I just bucked-up for the impact.

It was a surreal experience of heightened perception. The last thing I saw was the hood of my car about to meet his wheel and fender. Then everything went white, while at the same time my chest was compressed with the most extreme violence. The car violently spun around and “like that” it was over.

After the airbag deflated all I could see was the wrinkled and buckled hood of the car out of the windshield. I realized that the car was totaled. But was I? It took about five seconds to regain my composure and take an inventory of myself. Somehow, miraculously, I felt myself in one piece, but in quite a state of shock.

That changed my day.

Crawling out of the car and looking over the crunched fenders and shattered parts scattered along the street I next wondered if I was actually dead, and that it was my spirit standing there, amazed by the tortured steel. But miraculously I was there still within the flesh, seeing everything through the periscope of my hazel eyes.

We live in a fragile world characterized by change. Usually the changes are so gradual we don’t notice them. But sometimes the changes are instantaneous and out of the blue. Two very short seconds and everything can change. Despite the destruction of the car I was thankful for being intact, although for the next 30 hours every single move was excruciatingly painful – a reaction to the severe impact.

We take our lives so much for granted, expecting life to go on in the same way that it has been going on in our oftentimes dull routine. But that experience bore out the Vedic aphorism that there is danger at every step in this world of change. There really are no guarantees of continuity.

This incident has strongly reinforced something I learned from my spiritual master many years ago – not to waste time chasing useless things that can be taken away in an instant. Human life gives us the opportunity to realize our spiritual nature and evolve spiritually. Whatever we do on that account becomes a permanent asset that we can never lose, even in the final event of death. ​