Have You Ever Had a Spiritual Experience?

I have had spiritual experiences -- twice! The first one occurred in 1990. I awoke one morning in July of that year, and in a matter of seconds, discovered that I could not go on living the self-destructive, alcoholic way I had been living all my adult life. What I experienced that morning was sudden, intense, brief and totally unexpected, but it set me on a path of profound personality change. My old way of living began to fall apart at once. In the years that followed, my life changed in every possible way, and I became a totally different person.

My second spiritual experience occurred ten years later in the year 2000. My father was dying of cancer that year. Suddenly and inexplicably, I became interested in near-death-experiences, and that interest in NDEs quickly evolved into an interest in all things spiritual. The Internet became my window to a spiritual universe. I found myself on a quest for spiritual knowledge and wisdom that continues to this day.

Spiritual experiences are sometimes referred to as mystical, transcendental, or paranormal experiences. Some people call them epiphanies, peak experiences, or “white light” events. Whatever you choose to call them, these experiences take you beyond the normal limits of the physical world.

People who have had these experiences say that, during the experience, they felt an overwhelming sense of oneness or unity with everything that exists, accompanied by feelings of ecstasy, love, insight, well-being, and loss of fear.

These experiences are often sudden and unexpected and may only last a short time. Normally, they are spontaneous, though spiritual practices like meditation and yoga may prepare us for their occurrence. They normally happen when we are alone. And -- perhaps most importantly -- they nearly always have a lasting impact on our lives.

William James
(1842-1910)

In his book The Varieties of Religious Experience, published in 1902, psychologist and philosopher William James identified four general characteristics of spiritual experiences:

1. They are ineffable. That is, they are difficult to describe to others.

2. They are noetic. They give us a sense of knowledge, insight, awareness, revelation, or illumination that we could not have gotten by other means.

3. They are transient. They are typically fleeting in duration, perhaps lasting only a few seconds or minutes, but they usually have a life-long impact on us.

4. They are passive. The timing of their occurrence is beyond our control. We cannot turn them on and off.

People who have had a spiritual experience may undergo a complete change in lifestyle or personality. They often become:

   - less dogmatic, less authoritarian, and more relaxed.

   - increasingly interested in spiritual matters.

   - convinced that the mysteries of life can be revealed to us.

   - less fearful of death and more interested in the afterlife.

   - more connected to others.

   - more joyous and serene in life.

   - less depressed and anxious.

A spiritual experience almost always precipitates an increase in our level of consciousness and a life-long desire for further spiritual growth. It sets us on a conscious spiritual journey which we wouldn’t want to stop, even if we could.

So, my first spiritual experience occurred in 1990 and the second one in 2000. The first set me on a path of profound personality change. The second put me on a conscious spiritual journey. Together, they changed my life completely.

Since these experiences occurred in 1990 and 2000, I concluded -- perhaps facetiously -- that they might occur every decade for me. I further concluded that I should therefore experience one in 2010. But time is running out. Only a few days remain until the end of 2010.

How about you? Have you ever had a spiritual experience? If so, how did it impact on your life? Indeed, couldn’t it be said that all of life is a spiritual experience? I invite you to share your thoughts and describe your experiences below where it says “post a comment.”

In the meantime, I invite you to watch an insightful YouTube video on spiritual experiences by clicking here.

584Q95H6DS4U

Are You a Spiritual Seeker Like Me?

Do you ever wonder why some of us become spiritual seekers, while the rest of humanity continues to languish in darkness?

Dr. David R. Hawkins tells us why in his book Discovery of the Presence of God: Devotional Nonduality. In this book, he explains how we become spiritual seekers and how this transformation affects our lives. This book qualifies as an instruction manual for seekers like you and me.

According to Dr. Hawkins, some people are born with what he calls “a spiritual propensity.” The rest of us awaken later in life. A dramatic event -- such as a near death experience or “hitting bottom” -- can awaken us. Or we might experience a spontaneous awakening in what A Course in Miracles calls “a holy instant.”            

So a spiritual awakening can be gradual and subtle. Or it can be sudden and intense. Regardless of the form it takes, it launches us on a conscious spiritual journey. We become interested in all things spiritual and less interested in material things. We begin to ask questions like: What am I? And what is life's real purpose?

As our awakening continues, we undergo a personal and spiritual transformation. We no longer want to be what we used to be. Nor do we want to do what we used to do. A quest for spiritual knowledge and wisdom now motivates us. We want to know the Truth. In pursuit of this Truth, we undertake spiritual studies through books and on the Internet. We begin to attend spiritual workshops, seminars, conferences and courses. We start to seek out spiritual teachers, like-minded friends and discussion groups. In short, we become dedicated to our spiritual search.

Let me tell you about a Panamanian man who became my spiritual teacher in early 2003. I will call him “M” here. I had been doing intensive spiritual studies alone for three years when this teacher suddenly and unexpectedly appeared my life, precisely when I was ready for him. At the time, I was reading Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda, along with The Holy Science by Sri Yukteswar.

“M” began to meet with me nearly every Saturday afternoon and continued to do so for ten months, teaching me what he himself had learned in India. He called me “a selected one” and said a time would come when I would have to share with others what I was learning on my spiritual journey. He also told me of "another" like me and assured me that I would someday meet this "other" here in Panama.

“M” taught me many things that year. He taught me about the importance of Pythagorus, Melchizadek and Enoch. He taught me about Rennes-le-Chateau, yoga and tai chi, dreamwork, inter-dimensional travel, the true story of Jesus and Mary Magdelene, the pyramids, the Pleiades, and the physical symptoms of ascension. I'm sure he taught me many other things which I have long since forgotten.

It was an exciting time in my life! I was surging spiritually. But at the end of 2003, “M” disappeared from my life, just as mysteriously as when he first appeared, and I never saw him again. Because of what he taught me, however, I became totally dedicated to my search for spiritual knowledge and wisdom.

As a result of this kind of spiritual dedication, our level of consciousness can rise dramatically. In fact, Dr. Hawkins says that it can rise by hundreds of points on his Scale of Consciousness in a single lifetime. By contrast, most people’s calibration changes only five points or so during their lifetime.

Because of his spiritual dedication, a seeker can lose interest in other activities that once seemed important to him. These other activities may now seem shallow, irrelevant, disappointing, silly, or even irritating to him. Perhaps he regrets that he wasted so many years of his life on them. He now has better things to do and is no longer willing to waste his precious time on nonsense that fails to satisfy his longing for personal and spiritual growth. I, for example, became entrapped in a well-known social fraternity at the very end of 2003 just as “M” was leaving, and it took me five years to extract myself from its grip, despite my early disillusionment with it. It practically destroyed the spiritual progress I had previously made.

The spiritual seeker works to free himself from the oppressive bondage of this world, even though he knows he incarnated into it to learn valuable lessons. In contrast to his old ways, he now seeks to change himself rather than trying to change the world. He now knows that there is nothing wrong with prosperity and abundance, but at the same time, he also knows he can only find lasting happiness in spiritual endeavors and not in material pursuits.

The spiritual journey is seldom easy, and the seeker discovers this sooner or later when he encounters blockages, temptations and his own character defects along the way. He often experiences frustration, spiritual stagnation and “dark nights of the soul” when God seems remote. The ego clearly does not want him to learn the things he is learning.

But all of this can be transcended, and Dr. Hawkins tells us how in his book. Dr. Hawkins also cautions against getting caught up in spiritual sideshows and guru worship, cults, sects, and secret societies. These kinds of things can divert us from our spiritual goals, as happened to me. Further, he discourages us from trying to develop psychic skills such as divination, clairvoyance, channeling and mediumship, psychometry, and telepathy. These skills may occur spontaneously later in our spiritual growth, but early on, they can amount to what Dr. Hawkins describes as an attractive but potentially harmful “astral circus.”

There are two spiritual practices which Dr. Hawkins recommends. First, he encourages us to practice contemplation, which is a variation of meditation in which we consciously focus on a spiritual thought. Second, he encourages us to practice “random acts of kindness” at all times with no expectation of reward or recognition.

Life as a spiritual seeker is the greatest adventure that I can imagine! But what about you? Are you a spiritual seeker, too? How did you become a seeker? How has it affected your life? Please share your thoughts and experiences with the rest of us below where it says “post a comment.”

*********

Discovery of the Presence of God: Devotional Nonduality is Dr. Hawkins’ sixth book. I read this book and enjoyed it immensely. The teachings in it served as the basis for our Hawkins study group meeting on December 6th.

“Devotional nonduality” -- which Dr. Hawkins teaches -- may be described as a profound dedication to raising our level of consciousness, seeking enlightenment, and discovery of our one true nature as Self.  This book is available at the Quest Store, along with other books by Dr. Hawkins.

Why is Time Accelerating?

Do you remember how summer vacations seemed to last forever when you were a kid? I certainly do. I spent endless hours sitting on the front porch, reading science fiction books during summer vacations. Time had no meaning for me back then.

But, goodness, how that has all changed! Now I never seem to have enough time to do the things I want to do or have to do. I often wonder where my days go. I just put away the Christmas things for last year, and now it’s time to get them all out again. Each morning, I get up and have my coffee. Then suddenly it’s time to go back to bed, and I can’t account for what I did all day long. Have you been experiencing this, too?

Time, it seems to me, is accelerating. And this apparent acceleration of time has been having a profound impact on us. It has led to chronic stress, urgency, confusion, irritability, anxiety and even fear and panic. Along with these emotional effects, we have been experiencing physical symptoms as well, especially chronic headaches, fatigue and nervous system disorders. The acceleration of time is having its greatest negative impact is on those of us who don’t know what’s going on.

Some people claim that the apparent acceleration of time occurs when we are doing things we enjoy. Others say it happens as we get older. Still others argue that it’s a consequence of the rapid pace of technological innovation.

All of this may be true, I don’t know. But I would like to share with you two other possible explanations for the apparent acceleration of time: a scientific explanation and a spiritual explanation.

First, the scientific explanation...

Years ago, scientists discovered that the earth’s electromagnetic field has been vibrating, or pulsating, at a frequency of 7.8 cycles per second, and it has been vibrating at this same frequency for thousands of years. They named this phenomenon the Schumann resonance after the German physicist Winfried Otto Schumann who predicted it mathematically in the 1950s. More recently, however, scientists have discovered that the earth’s vibration is rising and now stands at 12 cycles per second. This may provide a scientific explanation for the apparent acceleration in time. Einstein himself said that time can speed up.

And now, the spiritual explanation...

The earth is vibrating faster in preparation for the global ascension to a higher dimension. We who inhabit the earth must likewise prepare for the ascension. And we must do so now, because time may be running out. 

We are awakening from thousands of years of fear and ignorance. Like the earth itself, we who have chosen to awaken spiritually at this time are now vibrating more rapidly than before. Spiritual growth that once took years or perhaps a lifetime to accomplish can now be accomplished in months or even days. In fact, A Course in Miracles tells us that we can experience a “holy instant” in which we awaken immediately. As we awaken and actively pursue the truth, there occurs a “time of revealing” along with a “time of quickening.” And as we have awakened individually in recent years, we have begun to meet others like us who are having similar experiences. Together, we are discovering that we are part of a rapid global awakening.

The great shift which we are now experiencing seemed to begin in the 1960s. At least that’s the way it seems to me in retrospect. But the shift really exploded after the Harmonic Convergence in 1987, marked by an alignment of the Sun, Moon and six of the planets. This convergence ushered in a 25-year period of earth “cleansing” with global and human turbulence that will culminate in 2012. The year 2012 is not the end of the world. Rather, it is a time symbolic of new beginnings. It is a time by which, I hope, we can achieve the kind of critical mass we need to propel humanity as a whole into an awakened state of consciousness.

So, we now find ourselves in between 1987 and 2012. We find ourselves in a time “between worlds” when our purpose is to deal with our problems and prepare for the ascension to a higher level of consciousness.

Have you noticed lately how often you may have been seeing “11:11” on your digital clock? This number symbolizes the global awakening. And have you noticed how quickly your desires and intentions have been manifesting into reality lately? Indeed, we have been learning how to become better creators of the kind of reality we would like to experience, and that may be the main reason why we incarnated on earth in the first place. Have you noticed, also, how much more quickly you are now confronted by opportunities to pay off karmic debts? It seems like we can now pay off our karmic debts almost immediately, rather than having to take them with us into future incarnations. I believe all of these experiences are a consequence of our accelerating vibration and the apparent acceleration of time.

As you probably know, I am a devotee of A Course in Miracles. This is what ACIM has to say about time...

Time, it says, is an illusion, just like everything else here in the physical dimension. We created time to separate the events in our lives. We invented clocks and calendars to “measure” time. The ego takes advantage of our belief in the existence of time, to convince us to repeat the past and avenge the injustices we think we have suffered. But the only time that really exists is the Eternal Present Moment. And, in fact, we are merely reviewing everything we believe has happened to us in this lifetime, much like watching a movie.

Until now, we’ve been enslaved by time, just as we’ve been enslaved to our physical bodies which demand so much of our time. But our priorities are shifting from trivial to spiritual matters as a consequence of our spiritual awakening. We can now discard burdensome possessions and tiresome beliefs. We can now focus on our inner transformation. And when we do that, the world we see around us will be transformed as well.

So I ask: Have you felt this apparent acceleration of time? Why do you think it is happening. How has it affected you?

It’s an exciting time to be alive, isn’t it?