Spiritual Experience

[Full Steam]

@Full Steam - I went on the exact same journey in the exact same order but was at it for about 12 years! I went through physics (for my degree), which was just a series of observations and explained diddly squat, I specialized in quantum physics, still nothing, I looked into paranormal, abductions, near death experiences etc and still came up blank. The best thing I found however, were a set of books called "seth speaks" and elias forums, Elias Digests – you create your reality, pt. 1. They make a really interesting read. I take it all with a pinch of salt because I am a natural skeptic, but what I really liked about the elias digests is there is an occasion spark in there that actually attempts to explain WHY. And it was the why that I found missing from my science studies: the Elias forum: Digests – Table of Contents

Wow, that's a coincidence.

Or maybe it not, maybe it's a natural progression if you intently follow the bread crumbs.

I've read some Seth stuff and liked it. Like you I take these things with a grain of salt, but it doesnt matter how authentic it is, only the truth in the message matters.

I like conversations with God books too.

I'll check out the Elias stuff, I never came across that before, thanks.

 

[Bella Pines]

Elias is the new age Seth for the cool kids Some of the underlying ideas are interesting and the digests even refer to Seth in a few places. I think it probably is a natural progression, it was a logical path for me.

 

[tducey]

I consider myself religious. I attend church services. My belief is that there is something out there bigger than any one of us here on Earth.

 

[AspieWatchmaker]

You could program AI to think as well as any human can, but it still wouldn't have this thing that's along for the ride (a soul).

Why not? This is an interesting thing to assert to me. How can you be sure?

I'm deffinately one who who does not equate agnosticism as being the mid point between theism and atheism. I am an athiest, in that I don't believe in divine beings, but I am also agnostic in the sense that I would never assert 100% confidence in any statement other than cogito ergo sum. I don't know what my true form is, or how much there is to this reality outside my infinitesimaly narrow slice of perception, but so far I haven't heard or seen anything that would lead me to believe that anyone else does, either.

There have been many great replies and I thank everyone for being open, honest, and civil.

I have miscommunicated my primary desire in creating this thread. What I mostly want to know is, what do you feel like when you have an experience that is spiritual/religious/transcendent? What about it made it different from normal experience?

I had violent hallucinations and night terrors when I was a child, while recovering from surgery. These experiences led to my mother attempting to comfort me by telling me that god would protect me, which is the time I was 7 that I mentioned in my OP. I could not get my head around the concept then, even though as a small child I was biologically inclined to believe anything my caregivers told me, and I was severely distressed and vulnerable. My desire to understand what I was being told led to a discussion in which I asked many theological and epistomological questions that my mom had no hope of answering. The subject was never brought up again...

Since being diagnosed I am trying to fill in my educational and developemental holes.

 

[Full Steam]

I had hallucinations and night terrors as a child. The hallucinations were caused by cough medicine, and I used to dream I was covered in bees and wasps, and when I woke up from the nightmare I could still see them.

My night terrors or sleep paralysis episodes, we're very weird. I used to have to physical sensations that every atom in my body was being rejected by the universe. Or that it felt like every nerve ending had a needle stuck in it. I also felt like I was a black ball , void like space. All that happened at the same time. It only happened on the edge of sleep. It started further back than memory goes, and went on well into my 20s, but got very rare by then. No explanation or cause was found, and I couldn't describe them as a kid so never talked about them.

That's a bad explanation, but the best I can do as they defy description.

Ive wondered before if they made me open to spiritual interests, or maybe they were a glimpse into somewhere else.

I was brought up to choose my own path, and never as this or that denomination. In my experience, that often leads to agnostism, wheras having religion forced down ones through leads to atheism.

Ok, back to your question;

I'll describe a spiritual experience that significantly increased my belief.

I had started meditating, and was doing so to try to find my true nature, and was having some success. I watched a video where a teacher showed someone how to find the limits of the mind, and then look beyond into the emptiness. I did so, and discovered the emptiness.

After that I started getting headaches. I've never suffered from headaches, even when I get a cold, and these were very strange.

It felt like pressure was building inside my skull, and was getting stronger and stronger. At times it felt very painful, but in a weird way it was also quite nice. Very strange sensation.

I did a search on you tube and the very first video I watched by the same teacher, completely explained what was happening, but the explanation was through something I didn't believe in.

He said that sometimes when people become spiritually awake there can be a large release of energy. I think he said this was Kundalini, but not sure.

When this dormant energy starts flowing it can reach chakras that are blocked, and the energy and build up as pressure, and this can be dangerous.

I didn't believe in chakras.

This energy is the reason why yoga takes people so slowly to enlightenment.

I had been impatient and was doing "direct path" and neo-advaita, and it was happening in months, not in ten years.

So I thought I'd let my body figure it out. While meditating I thought about the pressure, and started doing what felt natural. I started pulling energy out of my temples with my fingers. It came out in threads that I flicked away from me.

It felt really nice, and released the pressure bit by bit. I also pulled it out of my palms too.

After a few weeks the pressure had been dissipated and it never returned.

The whole thing changed me in ways I can't even identify. It was like waking up, and inhabiting this body properly for the first time.

I still have problems believing in chakras, but the above happened, so maybe that's just my conditioning getting in the way.

 

[SplendidSnail]

You could program AI to think as well as any human can, but it still wouldn't have this thing that's along for the ride (a soul).

Why not? This is an interesting thing to assert to me. How can you be sure?

You're absolutely right. I can't be sure.

That's the basic difference between Science and religion. Science is about beliefs that can be proven. Religion is about beliefs that can't be proven. My bridge between the two is my absolute certainty that there's something in me along for the ride, something that Science doesn't know exists, but that something being my soul, the true me. I know this, but I can't prove it.

That you have a soul is something that I can't even say that I know. But I do believe it. To me, the fact that I believe it even though I don't know it for a fact, that there isn't a shred of evidence proving it to me makes it a religious belief. And it branches out from there, into belief in God, etc.

I don't believe that machines have souls. But once again, I have no evidence to support me.

But yet, when I watch Star Trek, I'd be very hard pressed to make the statement that Data, if he actually existed, wouldn't have a soul. One one hand, I say that you can't program a soul into a computer. And on the other, I don't try to make the claim that a real life Data couldn't have a soul. And so I contradict myself.

I have miscommunicated my primary desire in creating this thread. What I mostly want to know is, what do you feel like when you have an experience that is spiritual/religious/transcendent? What about it made it different from normal experience?

Sorry for misinterpreting the point of the thread. I'm assuming you still wanted me to answer your questions to the best of my ability.

 

[AspieWatchmaker]

The responses have been good whether it was what I asked for or not. Thank you for sharing. I think I will simply have to re-accept that I have no spiritual aspect to my personality and that most others have a side to themselves that I will just never grasp.

You're absolutely right. I can't be sure.

That's the basic difference between Science and religion. Science is about beliefs that can be proven. Religion is about beliefs that can't be proven. My bridge between the two is my absolute certainty that there's something in me along for the ride, something that Science doesn't know exists, but that something being my soul, the true me. I know this, but I can't prove it.

That you have a soul is something that I can't even say that I know. But I do believe it. To me, the fact that I believe it even though I don't know it for a fact, that there isn't a shred of evidence proving it to me makes it a religious belief. And it branches out from there, into belief in God, etc.

I don't believe that machines have souls. But once again, I have no evidence to support me.

But yet, when I watch Star Trek, I'd be very hard pressed to make the statement that Data, if he actually existed, wouldn't have a soul. One one hand, I say that you can't program a soul into a computer. And on the other, I don't try to make the claim that a real life Data couldn't have a soul. And so I contradict myself.


Sorry for misinterpreting the point of the thread. I'm assuming you still wanted me to answer your questions to the best of my ability.

 

[SusanLR]

I had hallucinations and night terrors as a child. The hallucinations were caused by cough medicine, and I used to dream I was covered in bees and wasps, and when I woke up from the nightmare I could still see them.

My night terrors or sleep paralysis episodes, we're very weird. I used to have to physical sensations that every atom in my body was being rejected by the universe. Or that it felt like every nerve ending had a needle stuck in it. I also felt like I was a black ball , void like space. All that happened at the same time. It only happened on the edge of sleep. It started further back than memory goes, and went on well into my 20s, but got very rare by then. No explanation or cause was found, and I couldn't describe them as a kid so never talked about them.

That's a bad explanation, but the best I can do as they defy description.

Ive wondered before if they made me open to spiritual interests, or maybe they were a glimpse into somewhere else.

I was brought up to choose my own path, and never as this or that denomination. In my experience, that often leads to agnostism, wheras having religion forced down ones through leads to atheism.

Ok, back to your question;

I'll describe a spiritual experience that significantly increased my belief.

I had started meditating, and was doing so to try to find my true nature, and was having some success. I watched a video where a teacher showed someone how to find the limits of the mind, and then look beyond into the emptiness. I did so, and discovered the emptiness.

After that I started getting headaches. I've never suffered from headaches, even when I get a cold, and these were very strange.

It felt like pressure was building inside my skull, and was getting stronger and stronger. At times it felt very painful, but in a weird way it was also quite nice. Very strange sensation.

I did a search on you tube and the very first video I watched by the same teacher, completely explained what was happening, but the explanation was through something I didn't believe in.

He said that sometimes when people become spiritually awake there can be a large release of energy. I think he said this was Kundalini, but not sure.

When this dormant energy starts flowing it can reach chakras that are blocked, and the energy and build up as pressure, and this can be dangerous.

I didn't believe in chakras.

This energy is the reason why yoga takes people so slowly to enlightenment.

I had been impatient and was doing "direct path" and neo-advaita, and it was happening in months, not in ten years.

So I thought I'd let my body figure it out. While meditating I thought about the pressure, and started doing what felt natural. I started pulling energy out of my temples with my fingers. It came out in threads that I flicked away from me.

It felt really nice, and released the pressure bit by bit. I also pulled it out of my palms too.

After a few weeks the pressure had been dissipated and it never returned.

The whole thing changed me in ways I can't even identify. It was like waking up, and inhabiting this body properly for the first time.

I still have problems believing in chakras, but the above happened, so maybe that's just my conditioning getting in the way.

I do energy work and Reiki.
What you experienced @Full Steam , is very accurate.
The rise of the Kundalini experience can be very unpleasant unless you have cleared the blocks in the chakras, and what you felt in your head, the 6th chakra, was a block of the energy rise.
What you did to correct it, pulling out energy with your fingers and palms in threads is part of how an energy cleanse works. I perform this on others in pain or need of healing.
I practiced full chakra body meditations for weeks before attempting to let the Kundalini rise and I still got the headache.
It was bad, yet I knew it was the energy going through that area collecting all the negatives and blocks. I didn't fight it and let it reside for a day.
When it did break through, I felt it suddenly go out through the top of my head via the 7th chakra.
My whole body felt so energized and alive after this.

There are many ways to do energy cleansing and healing work with Reiki techniques.
Doctors are even using Reiki with animals.
Horses in particular.

I have a degree in metaphysics and have had many experiences that science can't explain.
I like to consider metaphysics a type of science as we
try to find a physical scientific answer to all we can.
Some things can't be explained by science at our point
in spiritual knowledge though.
It is a science in the ways of using instruments for detecting and measuring different energy levels, sound
waves of places and paranormal phenomena.
Heat sensory photography and yes, EVP.
I have many EVP recordings as I've done paranormal investigations also. I am not afraid of a spirit encounter.

Perhaps my answer to the original question of this thread regarding how does it feel to have a spiritual or transcendent experience?
I would use my feelings when experiencing astral travel
or channeling for EVP to answer.
Elation and a feeling of happiness as the energy comes through me as the conduit.
Also in Astral travel there are many feelings.
A surge when you go through the astral gate.
All things during the experience while asleep feel just
as real as when awake only you can do things you can't in your physical body.
The happiness happens when you can prove the things you saw, experienced, or in some instances were prophetic, are proved.
I feel very excited when dreams really do come true.
The Disney jingle, yes.
But, true. And when you can physically stand where you were in an astral projection, that is truly an amazing sensation.

 

[pjcnet]

I do energy work and Reiki.
What you experienced @Full Steam , is very accurate.
The rise of the Kundalini experience can be very unpleasant unless you have cleared the blocks in the chakras, and what you felt in your head, the 6th chakra, was a block of the energy rise.
What you did to correct it, pulling out energy with your fingers and palms in threads is part of how an energy cleanse works. I perform this on others in pain or need of healing.
I practiced full chakra body meditations for weeks before attempting to let the Kundalini rise and I still got the headache.
It was bad, yet I knew it was the energy going through that area collecting all the negatives and blocks. I didn't fight it and let it reside for a day.
When it did break through, I felt it suddenly go out through the top of my head via the 7th chakra.
My whole body felt so energized and alive after this.

There are many ways to do energy cleansing and healing work with Reiki techniques.
Doctors are even using Reiki with animals.
Horses in particular.

I have a degree in metaphysics and have had many experiences that science can't explain.
I like to consider metaphysics a type of science as we
try to find a physical scientific answer to all we can.
Some things can't be explained by science at our point
in spiritual knowledge though.
It is a science in the ways of using instruments for detecting and measuring different energy levels, sound
waves of places and paranormal phenomena.
Heat sensory photography and yes, EVP.
I have many EVP recordings as I've done paranormal investigations also. I am not afraid of a spirit encounter.

Perhaps my answer to the original question of this thread regarding how does it feel to have a spiritual or transcendent experience?
I would use my feelings when experiencing astral travel
or channeling for EVP to answer.
Elation and a feeling of happiness as the energy comes through me as the conduit.
Also in Astral travel there are many feelings.
A surge when you go through the astral gate.
All things during the experience while asleep feel just
as real as when awake only you can do things you can't in your physical body.
The happiness happens when you can prove the things you saw, experienced, or in some instances were prophetic, are proved.
I feel very excited when dreams really do come true.
The Disney jingle, yes.
But, true. And when you can physically stand where you were in an astral projection, that is truly an amazing sensation.

It surprises me that doctors are sometimes backing Reiki which is effectively spiritual healing even though it's officially not proven, but in my opinion it is a good thing.

Many people looked at tribes and civilisations with traditions that date back to ancient times as primitive, E.g. the Native Americans, but many were and still are extremely advanced spiritually, this is something that most people have very sadly lost in the modern world. Some people are now starting to realise this and are rekindling it, overall it's a good thing, but as with anything there's always people using it for commercial gain and worse there are people using it to scam people.

EVP can be absolutely amazing, I remember one paranormal investigation where absolutely nothing happened all night and we were starting to suspect that all the reports of noises were just an old building creaking with expansion and contraction Etc., but we decided to attempt one more EVP experiment at around 5am in the morning. We all sat around a table and as my colleague started recording onto a dictaphone, we all heard knocking sounds, like something was fidgeting around us, I have become accustomed to this noise happening when there is alleged activity. He then started asking various questions as usual and we even briefly heard a noise that is very difficult to explain, but it's like voice that isn't in the distance, but doesn't sound like it's right there with you either, but again I've heard this type of sound a few times in allegedly active locations when something appears to be going on. Immediately afterwards my colleague played back the recording and we actually had answers to the questions with a female voice that was so clear that you could just make it out even without headphones or any enhancement on the dictaphone itself, it was absolutely unmistakably a women's voice and this kind of evidence is truly incredible, sadly sceptics will think we doctored the evidence or that there could have been a real women there answering the questions in the distance, but I was there and I know the truth, the whole building was locked down and everyone was accounted for, plus a women in the distance wouldn't have sounded like that anyway. Once I heard a similar sound in another location and I actually got one of my clearest EVPs yet, unfortunately it clearly shouted "F*** off!" and "what do you want?" in an unpleasantly aggressive voice, I revisited the same location on numerous occasions afterwards, but I could never get a result ever again. Often you have to be very lucky and patient to obtain evidence, unlike on fake TV programmes like Ghost Adventures where they appear to constantly get evidence even better than this, TV shows like this really annoy me, but sadly if they don't grossly exaggerate and fake "evidence" on such programmes to make them more "exciting" they won't get enough viewing figures.

Astral projection is also an incredible experience and it's something I'd like to get back into again.