"If I had us talking here in a story and I allowed a ghost in from the 1940s, I might be more interested in it. It might be because they are in fact here, he says, gesturing to the hotel lobby around us. Or even if it's not ghosts, we both have memories of people we love who have passed. They are here, in a neurologically very active way."
"A ghost story can feel more truthful, he adds: If you were really trying to tell the truth about this moment, would you so confidently narrow it to just today? Ghosts also invite us to confront our mortality and, in so doing, force a new perspective on life: what remains once you strip away the meaningless, day-to-day distractions in which we tend to lose ourselves?"
"About 25 years ago, Saunders was on a passenger plane that was hit by geese shortly after taking off from Chicago. There was a loud bang, the plane began making terrible noises, black smoke filled the cabin, people screamed, the lights of the city appeared to approach very fast, and Saunders believed he was going to die. At the time he was at peak spirituality, a Tibetan Buddhist who meditated for three hours a day, and yet he experienced pure terror. It was like all"
The novel Vigil follows an oil tycoon who spent a lifetime covering up scientific evidence for climate change and is visited on his deathbed by spirits that force confrontation with legacy and responsibility. Ghosts and memories are portrayed as neurologically vivid presences that expand perspective beyond the immediate moment, allowing a more truthful reckoning with life and death. Ghost stories function as a way to strip away everyday distractions and probe what remains. Death becomes an increasing preoccupation, and a near‑death plane incident illustrates how terror can overwhelm prior spiritual practice, highlighting mortality's pressing reality.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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