| Question: |
When did you
notice you were being treated like an older person? |
| Answer: |
In 1989, when I asked for the
political asylum, an INS official, a warm-hearted African American lady started to talk to
me very loudly. I couldn't speak any English, and so she thought that speaking loud would
help me understand. She also used eloquent gestures so I could imagine her questions.
"What would you do here at your age?" And she pointed first to her gray hair and then to my gray hair. Later I learned that she
had good reason to remind me how old I was. Even at the entry level it was hard to find a
job. Then I realized that the task of starting from scratch at age 55 was no joke at all.
If I would start as a "young" journalist or film reviewer at age 55 without
English, it would look ridiculous and be impossible. |
| Question: |
Do you really believe
in reincarnation or talking to the dead? |
| Answer: |
Maybe it is better to ask, "Do you
believe in the existence of spiritual reality?" Some people call it Heaven, another
world, the higher dimension, the invisible world, the next world or the spirit world. My
answer would be, "Yes, I believe in the existence of an invisible world, superior to
our world." Yes, my entire story, my Soviet experience, my escape and difficulties
here made me ask God, "Why is this happening to me?" |
| Question: |
Did Heaven deliver you
some answers? |
| Answer: |
Strangely enough, Heaven did. Read my book.
All I know is in there. If my past-life recollections are valid, then birth is not the
beginning. And if I really talked to the spirits, then death is not the end. |
| Question: |
How do you know
that you really recalled your own past lives and that you were talking to the spirits of
deceased people? |
| Answer: |
I have no way to prove this one way or the
other. This is why I do not give people readings, but I write down what I receive, and it
makes a lot of sense. If Heaven will speak to me, I will continue and maybe write more
books on spiritual experiences. It is the duty of the scientist to study the material
basis of that phenomenon. Since the dawn of humanity there has been a connection
between the visible and invisible worlds. And there were always supersensitive people who
received information from an invisible source through intuition--psychics, mediums,
channelers, shamans, seers and healers, and probably many artists, composers,
painters, writers and actors. Sometimes the minds of children or average people also
open up to it, mostly when they are in danger. Invisible voices may instruct them how to
avoid or escape danger. Our materialist culture prefers to cut itself off from the
invisible world. And regrettably it has produced a host of unhappy people. The fear of
death and growing old is part of the problem of being cut off from the cosmic energy
sources. As a newcomer to this country, I was astounded to learn how many people were
hiding their true age almost like criminals hide their fingerprints. I met people who felt
guilty because they were growing old. The only way to accept aging is to understand what
we are doing here and accept a different picture of life, the universe and our place in
it. I believe that the study of death will bring a more meaningful concept of the reasons
we are here and may reconcile us with our worst nightmares. So, I decided to do my modest
part, to write down what I get from the invisible world. |
| Question: |
Why do so many people
from the former Soviet Union rely on the otherworldly powers? We are used to relying on
ourselves. Do you rely more on miracles? |
| Answer: |
People in Russia or, for instance, Estonia,
are no different from people here. Sometimes they believe in God, and most of the time
they don't. When they find themselves in hot water, they run to a psychic for help. At
other times they may badmouth them. But there is one aspect of the Soviet experience that
is worth mentioning. We witnessed the collapse of a Godless and materialist society, and
we had the strange chance--maybe even privilege--to learn the connection between a materialist ideology and the deterioration of
entire society. The American skeptics sound like the Communist party ideology workers. In
Russia this ideology turned out to be deadly on many levels. Thank God, skeptics here
cannot build totalitarian power, and this will save this country. Actually, American
skepticism stems from vulgar materialism that brought about the industrial revolution some
centuries ago. Maybe today, instead of "the end of times," supersensitives are
preparing ground for revolutionary changes in our perception of the world, and vulgar
materialism will give way to a much more complex and refined understanding of the
universe. |
| Question: |
Whose spirits you brought
through in the writing of your book? |
| Answer: |
Victims of the Red Terror, casualties of World
War II, a scientist who died in a Soviet prison, a Russian priest, a Jewish lawyer, both
my grandparents, and an older lady I worked for in this country. She came through
with an unforgettable story of reunion with her husband. A famous Estonian actor came
through. He suffered an untimely and violent death. He was worried that after his death,
his young friends who were involved in his latest production would lose their chance to
establish themselves. So, the famous actor asked me to contact a particular person who had
authority to convince his friends not to "honor his memory" too long, but
instead to find a new lead and go ahead with their performance. Twice a movie director
came through whom I had offended as a film critic in my country. There were both the
Communist regime's victims and servants. It seems that in the next world, it really
doesn't matter much which side you were on. What matters instead is the "weight"
of the soul; the lighter a soul is, the better. |
| Question: |
What did they tell
you? |
| Answer: |
They told me not to worry too much, because it
does no good, and only increases the "weight of the soul." We cannot take our
bank accounts with us, but we take negativity like judgments, bad conscience, pain that we
have inflicted on others, moodiness, coldness and indifference of our hearts. There is one
important sin that may hurt badly in the next world--the burden of suppressed negativity
that is hidden under the mask of good behavior. It is very hard to fit into society and
stay true to yourself. We bend, we adjust, we follow rules created by somebody else's
judgments. We watch quietly as these judgments hurt us and others in this world and
even more in the next world and do nothing about it. It seems that those who
already have crossed the border are trying to help us to be truthful to ourselves and
lighten up our souls. If my book awakens some readers to work on lightening up their
souls, it would make me happy. Then I would think that it was worth writing and producing
this book. |
| Question: |
Your exile was not
easy on you. Do you want to return home? |
| Answer: |
Since I escaped from Estonia in 1989, I have
visited Estonia twice. The first time was during Christmas 1995 and the second time was in
1996. I served as a juror at a local film festival. It was wonderful to meet old and new
friends, to witness the tremendous progress that Estonia has made since 1991 when its
independence was restored. But it was not my time to return home. Too many politicians at
key positions during the Communist regime were found at the same or even higher positions
in free Estonia. I knew they would not be happy to see me home. |
| Question: |
How did you get out of
the country in 1989, when Estonia was still under Communist rule? |
| Answer: |
Read my book. |
| Question: |
How did it happen that
psychics emerged all over the Soviet Union at the same time? |
| Answer: |
Initially, materialist ideology had no deep
roots in Russia or in any of its former republics. To be precise, it was Western
philosophers who produced Marxism at the time of the Industrial Revolution when vulgar
materialism inspired technical progress. And then Lenin adopted this new materialist
teaching for his political ends. But its application to Russia ruined that country
and hurt all the people who happened to live close to it, like Estonians and other Baltic
people.Yes, Marxism freed humanity from the Russian czarist empire with its backwardness,
but at what cost? Marxism forbade us to believe in God or to seek help from a shaman, it
destroyed churches and killed priests, but it could not change how people were used to
relating to the universe. When terminally ill Brezhnev sought help from the Soviet
star-psychic Juna, people took this as lifting the ban to believe in something invisible.
They literally jumped on Brezhnev's carriage because they were so thirsty for answers.
They needed "chicken soup" for their souls. |
| Question: |
Sometimes
it is confusing for us to understand. You talk about being on a hit list, but when
journalists from the West visit your country, they meet people who freely speak their
mind. How do you account for this difference? |
| Answer: |
The answer can be found in the American film
"Crucible": The day came when people refused to plead guilty to charges of being
in contact with the Devil, even if refusal meant to be hanged. Finally this ended the
shameful persecution. The Soviet empire did not crumble overnight. During Stalin's terror
no one spoke. After Stalin's death it was still dangerous to speak your own mind, but
people did. They talked mostly in their kitchens and shared their thoughts with friends.
Some were betrayed, arrested and sent to Siberia for their "anti-Soviet
thoughts." Many brilliant writers were sent to prison for their writings, or thrown
out of the Writers' Guild. In the Soviet Union it meant to be left without any means for
survival. But as in "Crucible," the fear of being arrested did not stop people
from talking. In the 1980s it was still dangerous to talk too much, but people did not
care any more. At the end, the birthright to speak what you really think spread so fast
that it literally destroyed the Party's authority. In spite of its absolute power to hang
or pardon everyone in that country, the Communist Party started to look stupid and
ridiculous. Maybe it was people's laughter that overcame Russian Communism. |
| Question: |
Was there some
personal reason why you wrote your book? |
| Answer: |
Of course, sometimes it is very hard to be an
outsider. The pain of being not trusted and misunderstood forced me to question who I
really am. One of my Estonian friends, Siiri Andrekson, a social worker in Switzerland,
wrote me, "Your book is about us. Write more, it helps people to understand who we
are and where we are coming from." |
