We seem to be living in a world with a curious double standard: If, much to his own amazement, someone reports that he has just perceived the ghost of his dead father giving instructions regarding the estate, we will say, “Oh, that isn’t real – that’s just that person’s experience.” But when we just hear, simply hear, of a rape or a murder or the agony of the homeless, we say, with great satisfaction, “Yes, that’s reality.”