The Appointment in Samarra
It has been four weeks since my friend was knocked off her bike by a car. Although she is able to walk around, her broken ribs still give her pain and she is short of breath and easily exhausted. She told me of her thoughts before the accident. After enjoying two wonderful days in the company of her young grandson, a vision of a white car running into her came to mind. She quickly dismissed this thought as a negative one; the sort that sometimes comes unbidden when you reflect on a happy experience. Less than five minutes later she was flying across the bonnet of a white car whose driver had not given way to her. Conscious that she had just envisioned this event, she asked herself why she hadn't imagined winning the lottery instead.
We discussed the possibility of whether we were all capable of prophetic visions. Â How do we discern between prophecy, morbidity and daydreams? Assuming it is possible to divine the future, how do we know when our 'visions' Â will take place and whether it is possible to allay them. While we were not certain of our psychic abilities we agreed on the power of a near death experience to sort out what was really important in our lives and clarify our purpose. And I am thankful that she was spared an appointment in Samarra.
