Friday, August 22, 2008

Summertime Spiritual Experiences

Including but not limited to:

- biting into a sweet juicy peach from the local orchard when thirsty.

- hearing the thud of the earth beneath my tennis shoes on the hiking trail.

- seeing the shoe prints and bicycle tracks in the dirt on the trails and imagining who the other body-carrying souls were that were on the trails before me.

- hearing the sound of unknown animals scurrying away in the green growth beside the trails.

- imagining invisible benevolent centaurs protectively following me through the woods.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now you are on the right track.

Remember to observe that you are there while these experiences are occuring.

eg this experience.

Jim said...

Interesting and sensitive, awareness atuned? Sounds, sounds good, lol.

Jim said...

On second thought, being me, I would forget the imagining stuff, but that is me.

Sophia said...

Mossy, this reminds me of something that happened to me last year. As I was sitting in my chair in my cubicle at work, I suddenly "saw" myself sitting in my cubicle, in my mind or imagination, as if I was looking at myself through someone else's eyes. It was a startling and somewhat disorienting experience. I would say it's as disorienting as imagining that someone else is the other half of my soul, and that together we make up one being.

Jim,

"Imagination is more powerful than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

I used to fret that my imagination was more than a grown woman ought to have, but I think imagination is like a subconscious language that can be interpreted much like dreams can.

Anonymous said...

Sophia,

That may not be what I meant. That sounds more like astral projection. Self awareness seems very simple and ordinary.

Usually when I am in a very high state I am convinced that; "this is my normal state and I will never return to that other state". Then I realize from memories of past experience that I must go back. Then I want to cry.

I know (intellectually) that I am there now,(asleep, suffering) and I am not even able to see it. :(

re: Imagination

We only exist as spiritual beings in those moments when we realize that we exist.

Day dreaming, however useful, takes away self awareness. If one allows one's self to daydream for say, two minutes, then there is little harm done. However if one day dreams all day long then that is a day with no self awareness.

There are other kinds of imagination that may not be harmful.

Jim said...

Well, Sophia, I stand corrected, I should have known in advance. Yes it is.

Jim said...

And, like mossy says, these languages have their places and uses relative to reality.

Sophia said...

Mossy,

What do you mean by "very high state" and "that other state"? Are you referring to what others would call the bipolar highs and lows?

I don't daydream all day long, but I like to do so every once and a while.

Sophia said...

Jim,

You don't have to agree with me. :) I'll like you no less or no more whether you agree with me or not. In fact, I'll respect you even more for your honesty!

Anonymous said...

Hello Sophia,

A higher state means simply more complete self-awareness, compared to which, the usual state seems like the absence of existance.

It is not related to being happy or sad or feeling good or bad.

I am glad that you do not day-dream all day. Actually it only takes a few minutes of self-awareness a day to change one's life.

Sophia said...

"Before enlightenment, chop wood carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood carry water." ~Wu Li

It's probably easy to become addicted to these higher states, but I think we should appreciate the simplicity and beauty even in mundane states.

I can't imagine anyone staying in an enlightened state full time, so everyone has to come back down to face the world sooner or later just as they had to face it before enlightenment.

It's like the Zen saying above.

Anonymous said...

The only difference is that after(or during) enlightenment you know that you are chopping wood while you are doing it.