Religious Experiences

[JustGeorge]

After a recent discussion in one of @rocala 's threads, I thought I would open another thread to discuss people's religious or mystical experiences.

These things tend to be hard to put into words, and I'm struggling a bit to do so here.

I'm talking not of a person's experience within a religion or other system, but rather experiences in which a person had felt some kind of knowledge or kinship with the Divine(as they know it).

What was it like? What prompted it? Was it something you were seeking, or did it happen spontaniously?

How has it affected you later?

 

[RJM]

On a quite trivial level: like finding yourself thinking about someone you haven't thought about for ages, and five minutes later that person texts you? It could be a coincidence. Hard scientific atheists will definitely insist that. But ... hmm ... you sort of know there's a synchronicity there.

There are deeper synchronicities too, of course.

And there are experiences that go beyond just synchronicity, that affect a person's whole being.

Just posting a couple of thoughts ...

 

[JustGeorge]

On a quite trivial level: like finding yourself thinking about someone you haven't thought about for ages, and five minutes later that person texts you?

One of my favorites was when I was driving, and a sparrow flew right in front of me. I was alone, and didn't speak, but I thought "I wonder what the spiritual significance of sparrows is."

When I got home, I had a message from my bestie about the spiritual significance of sparrows.

It could be a coincidence. Hard scientific atheists will definitely insist that. But ... hmm ... you sort of know there's a synchronicity there.

There are deeper synchronicities too, of course.

And there are experiences that go beyond just synchronicity, that affect a person's whole being.

Indeed there are.

Just posting a couple of thoughts ...

I appreciate it!

 

[rocala]

I am glad that you have JG. I am sorry that my own post was so vague.

What was it like?

The first one, I was nine, at deaths door in hospital. I can see her now outside of my window, the light incredibly bright. I can still feel the love.

The second, I was at a seance with a friend. I experienced a feeling of intense ecstasy. In the pitch dark of the room I was brought back by the medium. How he knew that I was experiencing something is beyond me.

The third was quite simply walking my dog in an area that cows used to graze in. I was walking past a pond, several very small frogs started running back to the water. One stopped. There was this moment of contact. I was aware of the frogs fear, I was aware of some previously unknown part of me telling the frog not to worry. I became very aware that all life is connected. My strong tendencies towards materialism vanished.
The strangest part, for me, was that although I had just had a life changing moment, I was not not excited at all. The strongest sensation was - that I had remembered something, not discovered it.

 

[JustGeorge]

I am glad that you have JG. I am sorry that my own post was so vague.

The first one, I was nine, at deaths door in hospital. I can see her now outside of my window, the light incredibly bright. I can still feel the love.

The second, I was at a seance with a friend. I experienced a feeling of intense ecstasy. In the pitch dark of the room I was brought back by the medium. How he knew that I was experiencing something is beyond me.

The third was quite simply walking my dog in an area that cows used to graze in. I was walking past a pond, several very small frogs started running back to the water. One stopped. There was this moment of contact. I was aware of the frogs fear, I was aware of some previously unknown part of me telling the frog not to worry. I became very aware that all life is connected. My strong tendencies towards materialism vanished.
The strangest part, for me, was that although I had just had a life changing moment, I was not not excited at all. The strongest sensation was - that I had remembered something, not discovered it.

"I had just had a life changing moment, I was not excited at all."

Yes, I relate to that... with my most recent, after the 'experience', I came in the house and sharply told my husband "I am not the same anymore, and I will never be the same again. And if you see me doing things you don't understand, you are to let me be!" (He had yelled at me during the event, though he took my words seriously, and has not disturbed me during times I'm being "off" again.)

What do you make of your events? How did they change you, either externally or internally?

 

[rocala]

What do you make of your events? How did they change you, either externally or internally?

Ooooh I wish that you would not ask such difficult questions. Changes, I loved science but now I see it as a tool, one with limitations. Sceptics love the word 'evidence'. But how much of your life is provable? Most of it was not filmed or recorded, but you know what happened.
As I said elsewhere, there is not much point in such conversations. I don't discuss great paintings with people blind from birth, so why do the same here.
As to personal change, I am far more willing to accept and consider alternative views.

 

[JustGeorge]

Ooooh I wish that you would not ask such difficult questions.

Sorry.

Changes, I loved science but now I see it as a tool, one with limitations. Sceptics love the word 'evidence'. But how much of your life is provable? Most of it was not filmed or recorded, but you know what happened.

Yes, absolutely.

This attitude is one I'm trying to use in educating my sons.

As I said elsewhere, there is not much point in such conversations. I don't discuss great paintings with people blind from birth, so why do the same here.

Fair.

As to personal change, I am far more willing to accept and consider alternative views.

 

[rocala]

experiences in which a person had felt some kind of knowledge or kinship with the Divine(as they know it).

One thing does come to mind. Some years ago I was staying in a fairly rural part of Scotland. I had got friendly with an American women staying there and she told me that there was to be a samhain celebration that evening. We both decided to go.

People gathered in a hall. We were told that one dance was compulsory, everybody had to join in. We gathered in a circle, several dozen people, all holding hands. Musicians in the middle. We were taught the dance. While the circle rotated there were three or four steps the final one was to stamp forward quite hard. It went on slowly for a minute or two while people got used to it. Then it really took off, the drummers were really pounding and the rotation got faster. People were stamping hard with the rythm and would be grunting with the effort. For some, the grunts became shouts and yells, others were laughing aloud. I lost all inihibition, it was so primitive and incredibly liberating.

After some optional dancing and then story tellers, we were led out, through the trees, towards the beach by people with torches. It was a pitch black night. A woman old us about the old Samhain customs and beliefs and then a huge bonfire was lit and the musucians began once more. My friend and I were there for about two hours and never spoke once, just sat and watched. It was mesmerising.

This strange mixture of something intensley physical followed by sitting in nature, in silence. This ancient custom, it all made me feel deeply connected to both the surrounding nature and this group of people. It was, I have no doubt, deeply spiritual.

 

[JustGeorge]

One thing does come to mind. Some years ago I was staying in a fairly rural part of Scotland. I had got friendly with an American women staying there and she told me that there was to be a samhain celebration that evening. We both decided to go.

People gathered in a hall. We were told that one dance was compulsory, everybody had to join in. We gathered in a circle, several dozen people, all holding hands. Musicians in the middle. We were taught the dance. While the circle rotated there were three or four steps the final one was to stamp forward quite hard. It went on slowly for a minute or two while people got used to it. Then it really took off, the drummers were really pounding and the rotation got faster. People were stamping hard with the rythm and would be grunting with the effort. For some, the grunts became shouts and yells, others were laughing aloud. I lost all inihibition, it was so primitive and incredibly liberating.

After some optional dancing and then story tellers, we were led out, through the trees, towards the beach by people with torches. It was a pitch black night. A woman old us about the old Samhain customs and beliefs and then a huge bonfire was lit and the musucians began once more. My friend and I were there for about two hours and never spoke once, just sat and watched. It was mesmerising.

This strange mixture of something intensley physical followed by sitting in nature, in silence. This ancient custom, it all made me feel deeply connected to both the surrounding nature and this group of people. It was, I have no doubt, deeply spiritual.

This sounds wonderful...

 

[Longfellow]

After a recent discussion in one of @rocala 's threads, I thought I would open another thread to discuss people's religious or mystical experiences.

These things tend to be hard to put into words, and I'm struggling a bit to do so here.

I'm talking not of a person's experience within a religion or other system, but rather experiences in which a person had felt some kind of knowledge or kinship with the Divine(as they know it).

What was it like? What prompted it? Was it something you were seeking, or did it happen spontaniously?

How has it affected you later?

Sometimes I'm able to look at the world around me, and feel God just on the other side of it. That's a very inadequate way of describing it, but I don't know how to do any better.

Another one is when I'm doing something that God prescribes, I can feel his power in the world in the very fact that I'm doing it. Another woefully inadequate description.

Another was one time when I was shaping a piece of metal in a tool and die shop, and I thought of God's reason for creating us being his love for us. Just like we imagine something, and we love the thought of it, so we create it. That was one of the most exalted moments in my life.

 

[JustGeorge]

Sometimes I'm able to look at the world around me, and feel God just on the other side of it. That's a very inadequate way of describing it, but I don't know how to do any better.

Another one is when I'm doing something that God prescribes, I can feel his power in the world in the very fact that I'm doing it. Another woefully inadequate description.

Another was one time when I was shaping a piece of metal in a tool and die shop, and I thought of God's reason for creating us being his love for us. Just like we imagine something, and we love the thought of it, so we create it. That was one of the most exalted moments in my life.

Beautiful.

 

[TheLightWithin]

When I was young (teens and twenties) I had some dreams that predicted the future. It was often on matters that were not very consequential.
It makes me wish I had received more useful information, that might have helped other "dreams" of mine come true, or had been helpful somehow in other ways.

 

[The Hammer]

After a recent discussion in one of @rocala 's threads, I thought I would open another thread to discuss people's religious or mystical experiences.

These things tend to be hard to put into words, and I'm struggling a bit to do so here.

I'm talking not of a person's experience within a religion or other system, but rather experiences in which a person had felt some kind of knowledge or kinship with the Divine(as they know it).

What was it like? What prompted it? Was it something you were seeking, or did it happen spontaniously?

How has it affected you later?

I'm replying briefly to get back to this later. Good topic..

 

[Bear Wild]

One thing does come to mind. Some years ago I was staying in a fairly rural part of Scotland. I had got friendly with an American women staying there and she told me that there was to be a samhain celebration that evening. We both decided to go.

People gathered in a hall. We were told that one dance was compulsory, everybody had to join in. We gathered in a circle, several dozen people, all holding hands. Musicians in the middle. We were taught the dance. While the circle rotated there were three or four steps the final one was to stamp forward quite hard. It went on slowly for a minute or two while people got used to it. Then it really took off, the drummers were really pounding and the rotation got faster. People were stamping hard with the rythm and would be grunting with the effort. For some, the grunts became shouts and yells, others were laughing aloud. I lost all inihibition, it was so primitive and incredibly liberating.

After some optional dancing and then story tellers, we were led out, through the trees, towards the beach by people with torches. It was a pitch black night. A woman old us about the old Samhain customs and beliefs and then a huge bonfire was lit and the musucians began once more. My friend and I were there for about two hours and never spoke once, just sat and watched. It was mesmerising.

This strange mixture of something intensley physical followed by sitting in nature, in silence. This ancient custom, it all made me feel deeply connected to both the surrounding nature and this group of people. It was, I have no doubt, deeply spiritual.

That sounds so wonderful. The biggest problem I have here in Texas USA is isolation. There are only a few that practice anything similar to what I do which is why the forum has been helpful. It is interesting how when you mix music with movement and in a context just how much that creates connection.

 

[Bear Wild]

After a recent discussion in one of @rocala 's threads, I thought I would open another thread to discuss people's religious or mystical experiences.

These things tend to be hard to put into words, and I'm struggling a bit to do so here.

I'm talking not of a person's experience within a religion or other system, but rather experiences in which a person had felt some kind of knowledge or kinship with the Divine(as they know it).

What was it like? What prompted it? Was it something you were seeking, or did it happen spontaniously?

How has it affected you later?

The Nordic Religion of Nature

I hope i copied this link correctly but i heard it on the podcast Lets talk about religion and the title is The Nordic religion of nature. It discusses mystic like experiences of deep connection with the land.

 

[JustGeorge]

The Nordic Religion of Nature

I hope i copied this link correctly but i heard it on the podcast Lets talk about religion and the title is The Nordic religion of nature. It discusses mystic like experiences of deep connection with the land.

It's been awhile, but I think I've watched that one.

I'm not much of a video person, typically, but he has some stuff that I enjoy.

 

[Bear Wild]

It's been awhile, but I think I've watched that one.

I'm not much of a video person, typically, but he has some stuff that I enjoy.

I loved this one which fascinated me and felt like what I experienced. His podcast is well done but spends most of its time on more mainstream religions but there were a few i liked. I just listen to his podcasts from time to time.

 

[TheLightWithin]

he has some stuff that I enjoy.

He's one of my go-tos

His podcast is well done but spends most of its time on more mainstream religions

It's prolly easier to research mainstream religions due to the volume and widespread availability of their materials - what i like about him is he doesn't hesitate to also go for less well known figures or religions alongside the well known stuff.

 

[rocala]

It is interesting how when you mix music with movement and in a context just how much that creates connection.

So true Bear Wild. I think that this is understood in Modern Druidry. I watched a documentary about early humans, anthropologists spent time with some people in (I think) S.W. Africa. The music and dance was a powerful part of there relationship with there ancestry. I am sure there are many examples from around the world.