Spiritual Experiences

[tenet_2012]

Watch This

Does anybody have any profound spiritual experiences?

I would like to read about them. I am on a kind of spiritual quest. I have no faith in anything spiritual and I would like to develop this aspect of my existence.

[maggot]

Sorry, man. They assumed everything, and none was true. I guess I'm a steadfast atheist.

The new age music didn't help much either

But if this helps any, I think of every human like links of a chain. All seperate, yet connected. There'se no one you have nothing in common with. Like one organism, but all scions.

Oh, and do you for some reason dislike me? I'm not sure why, but I get a bitter vibe from you. I might just read with wrong tones, though.

[tenet_2012]

Originally Posted by maggot

Oh, and do you for some reason dislike me? I'm not sure why, but I get a bitter vibe from you. I might just read with wrong tones, though.

I think it's your screen name.

There are some words I'm repulsed by and your screen name is one of those words. Another word that makes me sick to my stomache is "cluster". *gag* Reminds me of that flying dog from "The Neverending Story". I couldn't even watch that movie. That shit on his back literally made me puke when I first saw it. *gag*

Nothing against you; just my OCD showing through.

I feel sick.

[Saya]

When I was deep into my practice, I had spiritual moments like that. I'm not sure what happened, I think it was after my cat Chang died (please don't laugh, he was very dear to me) I got really depressed and stopped meditating, and I never picked it up again.

I remember I had one when thinking about how when I like people, they appear beautiful to me, and when I don't like people, they appear ugly. I realized that beauty is constructed in the mind and so it isn't real. I had another one when reading a book called No Death, No Fear by Thich Nhat Hanh, and he said how there is no birth, there is no death. I went on to read The Heart Sutra and it used to be my favourite text. Not to mention when I took walks out in the woods, it felt very peaceful if I did walking meditation while doing so. I'm in the city now, so I guess the seperation from nature doesn't help.

I called the source of such moments the Tao.

[Sanctus Dei]

Well Tenet, as ridiculous as it sounds... I often take time to connect with nature, a druid style or wiccan like meditation, I'll listen to the trees, the wind, the creatures around me... it's soothing and humbling all at once. I know you're living in Minne, so maybe this isn't such an easy task for you, but honestly if you ever felt comfortable enough you're more then welcome to visit where I live (about 25/30 mins north) and just bask in the silence I guarantee you will make inner connections with your own soul and gain some form of structure and calm.

[Empty_Purple_Stars]

I'm closing this thread for a bit Tenet.

Will re-open after he's gone.

[corporalaccident]

I'm on the same page as Sanctus. Going outside and sitting alone in the woods is really wonderful, just feeling at ease with the world. I've had a lot of experiences, and sometimes I feel totally ready to open up about them, but now isn't one of those times. Sorry, I'd love to share what's happened to me, but I'm nervous that someone will think I'm just silly or crazy. It's great that you want to find your spirituality, though. It's a beautiful thing.

[Sanctus Dei]

Corporal, If you ever hear shit you shouldn't... I'll hug you.

[emeraldlonewoulf]

Finding a genuine faith, and sensing how your spirit connects with it is a life defining thing. I wish you the best in your search, and not to sound corny, but try prayer along with meditation. Kind of like prayer is the asking, and meditating is the language of the answer. Your questioning shows that the idea of an all powerful, supernatural being is a possibility to you, find that, if you can, and how it connects with everything else. Treat each idea presented to you with questioning, feel for truth, and try to trust that as a foundation. that is the real part of faith. Truth, trust, and then, love come through from that. To me, that is how faith is built in anything.

[emeraldlonewoulf]

In regard to your actual question, I have had spiritual experiences, and answered prayer. My present life and circumstances are a testament to that fact. But to see it as answered prayer, or a genuine experience, it has to be felt, to be experienced to really believe. It isn't something one can convey properly. All I can say is the above, and define it for yourself.

[corporalaccident]

Nah, Sanctus, my experiences don't really involve hearing things. It's more of actual visual stuff, like...willing it to rain, then it rains. And then willing it to stop, and it stops, and THEN willing it to rain really really hard and it does that too, and having it continue like that till it's rained on and off about four or five times. It's something I'm not incredibly comfortable getting into, but there's a little hint.

[psychopenguin]

If you're looking to have your own spiritual experiences check this place out:

Pagan Spiritual Gathering

If you get the chance to come I'm sure you'd love it. It's a week long camping event where people of all faiths (even though it's called 'Pagan Spiritual Gathering' it's open to anyone- the curious, the learning, or the experienced of any religion) from all over the country get together to join in rituals, meet new people, learn different paths (obviously most of these are of the Pagan denomination) and just have a grand time. There are workshops for crafts, rituals etc as well as tons of vendors, lots of music and the like. It's essentially a giant festival. Read the "memories" section. There'll are lots of personal experiences in there about attending the festival that I'm certain you'd enjoy reading. I've never heard a bad experience here. ^_^ Hope it helps some!

[Shi'ark]

Originally Posted by psychopenguin

If you're looking to have your own spiritual experiences check this place out:
Pagan Spiritual Gathering

I tried psychopenguin, but is didn’t come up on my PC. Is it the link or just my computer?

I never had a Spiritual Experiences by the way.

[psychopenguin]

Hmm.. I tried the link and it didn't work for me either.. perhaps I got the url wrong.
http://circlesanctuary.org/psg
there's the url. hopefully it will work. >.<

[Shi'ark]

Originally Posted by psychopenguin

Hmm.. I tried the link and it didn't work for me either.. perhaps I got the url wrong.
http://circlesanctuary.org/psg
there's the url. hopefully it will work. >.<

It works. *Kiss*

[psychopenguin]

Yay it works ^_^ and Yay I gotta kiss ^_^

[tekajo]

i'm not quite sure if my little tale consitutes as a "religious experience". i'll just recount it and let you decide.

Around four years ago i began a transition away from Christianity and towards something that closely resembled my own belief system which turned out to be Paganistic in nature. Luckily, for me, i had some help in the form of an online friend who sent me dozens upon dozens of books on the subject as well as the vast amount of knowledge that could be gleaned from the World Wide Web.

After giving much thought, research, and meditation i centered my focus on Celtic Paganism. By this time i had lost internet access, in effect i had lost my online help. But i had the books and the knowledge that i had gained thus far.

Before i fled the confines of organised religion, my life was in constant chaos. Moreso mentally/emotionally than anything else. Soon after i began meditations, it was as though i was in a state of perpetual bliss. Sure, i still had those "bad times", but the good far outweighed the bad.

A couple of weeks before Beltane in 2004, i decided it was time to make myself a wand (no, i haven't been watching too much Harry Potter), so i ventured off into the bottom land behind my house. i found a nice Oak sapling, said a simple prayer, and cut it down. i took it home and fire cured it then put it away until i would need it.

The next week all of a sudden i had the need to go back into the woods to get myself a staff. A strong one. It wasn't as though i wanted one, the feeling was that i needed one. It took me no time to find the young Sassafrass that i would use.

i took the tree home, delimbed it, cut it again to the appropriate height, and then brought it into my room to be stored until i had time to carve some decorations into it.

A few days later, i woke up and i could not move. For no apparent reason, a muscle or something was hurt in my back. i have gotten into many fights, had my ankle broken, both knees torn up, and many many other wounds but i have never felt such pain. The first two days i could not get out of bed. Literally. On the third day i managed to sit up and make my way to the living room recliner. Which took all of twenty minutes.

The pain lasted five days. On that third day i began using the staff that i just had to have seemingly for some odd reason just a few days prior. Even with using the staff as a walking stick/crutch movement was very limited but it did make me feel better emotionally.

The pain subsided and has never been back since.

Once i got a chance to evaluate everything, i became quite unnerved. It was like a slap on the rump saying "There is something to what you were doing", but instead of continuing my "training", i simply put it down for the time being. i've decided not to go back to it until i have the proper people around me that can help when certain situations arises.

But was it a "religous" experience? Or an "experience" at all? Or just a matter of coincidence?

i don't know. i do know that that little piece of wood helped me a great deal and it is still leaning in the corner in my kitchen. Waiting.

[cannibalnuns]

I have felt at peace and I have felt connected in only a few places. I would not call it spiritual in a religious sense however. I felt things that I either had not felt or forgot a long time ago. But they made me feel at peace and calm for once, as if I could dissolve and become lost in that one moment forever. Some of the places were strange, some are typical and some are unexpected.

The Beach at sunset, I love the beach and to smell the salt air. It might not qualify but I would get a few beers and sit there for hours alone and just stare and think. Let the cool winds blow away all thoughts, just to relax.

Graveyards, I love graveyards and to walk amongst the dead. Not to be totally Gawth, but to clean off headstones and sit down and just look around. To take care of graves others might have forgot, to sit there in a place where silence is almost always about. The trees and the nature around make it seem more alive than most places. And you sit and wonder and think about things. You drift off at times and you just do not worry so much. It is not as scary as it seems and there is nobody to impress.

Culloden, it might be the history and it might be the exterior of the land. But something hits you while you stand among the old battlefield. You feel connected with it in some way or at least I do. It speaks to you so it seems and you drift off in your own world and think once more of what this was like hundreds of years ago. You can feel eyes watching you yet you do not feel uncomfortable but at peace and it welcomes you.

In the arms of another, sometimes you know there is someone who can make you feel whole and even make you see things you neglect in daily life (though you know they are there). You feel at peace in that one personal embrace, someone you are connected with and you suddenly have different views on things that you had not even given a second thought about. You lose all anger and all worries and nothing really matters in that moment. You do not think, you only feel. You are relaxed and comfortable. You can't really think when you lay there you just sink in saying nothing. Almost as if nothing needs to be said in that moment, things speak for themselves. That is the beauty of it too is that you do not even have to think. You just feel and the surroundings depending on where you are can amplify it ten fold. Perhaps this might not qualify as you are not alone but I think it has had a profound effect on me.

I am not a spiritual person so much, so I might be off but I feel this can qualify as an experience that is close to being spiritual. At least it makes and had made me feel whole and one with everything. I might be shallow on this subject but hey, I think these mean a lot and well they bring back a lot I lost.

[Engulfed_in_darkness]

I have been demonically attacked and paralyzed to the point where I could not breathe. This happened at my friend sleepover. I never went to his sleepovers again. Did I survive? Yes. Someone walked in the room and thee torture stopped.

[Sobeh]

Originally Posted by tenet_2012

Watch This

Does anybody have any profound spiritual experiences?

I would like to read about them. I am on a kind of spiritual quest. I have no faith in anything spiritual and I would like to develop this aspect of my existence.

Very interesting flash video....

I'll tell you Tenet, I got into comparative religious study because I was looking for the same thing. I'm highly intellectual and grew up intensely introverted, and with the fact of certain home experiences not to be detailed here I subjugated my emotions and went through life this way for a very, very long time. This lack manifested in so many negative ways that I eventually started looking for some sort of spiritual experience, all with the hope that I'd find the one that was 'right'.

Of course, as I began to understand the truly wide variety of religious and spiritual beliefs, I questioned whether there was anything to 'get', or if in fact the existentialists had it right that all Meaning was determined subjectively. Philosophically, you can never derive an infinite from a finite, never an 'ought' from an 'is'. Because of this, the life presented and absorbed thorugh the five senses is never able to provide us with the moral 'oughts', the Meaning, that the craving for spirituality is.

Had I grown up with a religion, any religion, I would likely have been keen on choosing one, whether the one of my parents or another, and been content. Starting out from scatch and, later, being academically trained in the field has suggested to me that most, if not all religions started with charismatic founders, those individuals who had a spiritual experience and told others about what it Meant. Of course, at the death of these founders the solution to the existential crisis also died, and religious institutions arose in an attempt to make the feeling of Meaning a renewable resource.

The fact remains, however (and in my opinion only) that spiritual experiences are our own responsibility. We can't rely on the paths others have walked, nor can we walk with others the same direction they are going, because neither of those ways allows us to understand ourselves. The routinization of experience that religions are is the routinization of someone elses experience... I can accept this, live life with the answers that someone else had work for them, and in other words tranquillize my existence, or I can seek out that which they found, but yet not go at all where they went (because while they may have had their experiences, they are completely different people and as such, what they say can help my motivation but nothing else).

To this end I have read and studied and prayed and meditated a LOT, and I have what I feel works for me, which I can relay if you are interested, but suffice it to say, this could only hope your motivation, and increase your understanding that, whatever else might be True, all people are stuck in this existential crisis together. The poem Thanatopsis portrays this feeling very well, I think.

---

That's my take, in a nutshell, which is to say a big nutshell, it must surround a pretty big nut...

One last thing.

My wife was about 4 or 5 when, crowded around the hospital bed, she and her sisters awaited, and were there for, the death of her grandmother. The heart monitor stopped, the nurses did their thing, and her parents and such were all very sad.

Her youngest sister, aged about 3, looked up into the corner of the hospital room at this point, nodded and smiled and said "Okay grandma." She never did say what she heard or experienced, and to this day doesn't remember this particular event, though everyone else does. Take that for what it's worth.

[WolfMoon]

I don't know if it's a spiritual experience or not, but I go out on my porch and think to the tree that grows in front of my balcony. Talking out loud to it might get some weird stares.

I know that I'm actually just 'talking' to myself, but it helps. I feel peaceful when I'm out there with the tree. Thankfully she doesn't answer back, yet.

[Engulfed_in_darkness]

Talk with the nature spirit within the tree.