Spiritual Experiences

Spiritual Experiences

If you have had an experience that may be considered a spiritual or breakthrough experience in which you go beyond a previous state of consciousness or ability, you will certainly see it as meaningful ...and it is, to you, an event with "deeper meaning". When you describe it to others, we may or may not understand, depending on our own experience and knowledge. 

[Note: You are invited to participate in our Sundance Center Research on the Varieties of Spiritual Experiences. Take the research Survey at www.PPT5/com  ...there is also an introductory article to the research at: http://sundancewellness.blogspot.com/2010/11/research-survey-comparisons-of.html ... We appreciate you taking the time to be a part of this research and, if you wish, you will receive a copy of the results.]

Defining a "Spiritual Experience"

• "Experience," for our purposes here, is defined as any personal involvement in an event or series of events that have occurred or are occurring within your own life circumstances;
• "Spiritual," for our purposes here, is defined as some actual personal experience that is 'beyond' your ordinary everyday consciousness which may include, and is not limited to:
1. Expanded awareness - We are conscious forms of Life and we grow and evolve through our journey in the world. We find that our awareness as well as our knowledge usually increases through experience. At time we may experience breakthroughs that expand our way of seeing and significantly affect our way of viewing Life in general.
2. Special Emotional Content - Whether in darkness or light, we may experience heightened emotions. Some who may have repressed emotions and have a cathartic expression of trapped energies may consider this a spiritual experience. 'Energy' and 'Spirit' can often be equated.
3. Expanded Body Sensations - Whether during a dream,  imagery, or simply spontaneously, a spiritual experience can be accompanied by heightened or different sensations experienced physically in the body. People report having very specific energy shifts and movements within the physical form.
4. Beyond Thoughts and Beliefs - Reports of spiritual experiences include a kind of suspension of thought forms and beliefs as if the thinking aspects of our mind are parted and there is a calm still presence without any thoughts. Later the thoughts come to try to interpret the experience.
5. Healing and Wholeness - At times people report some actual physical shift and healing... a release of pain... along with a greater feeling of body integrity, balance, and wholeness.
6. Synchronicity and Meaning - Coincidences beyond chance may have a spiritual quality or point to a larger intelligence and connectedness beyond the definitions imposed by our thinking process.
7. Timelessness - People in heightened states of awareness later report a sense of timelessness, or being in eternity, or totally in the present moment. Timelessness can also be experienced in the creative process with full attention in the activity of the present. Other traumatic or life threatening experiences can bring consciousness to the present moment with the sense of time standing still. Athletes report times that are 'almost spiritual' when they are in the zone and performing at peak levels... beyond time and in the moment.
8. Qualities of Love, Joy, Peace, Beauty - Breakthroughs in meditation or spontaneous in nature may be accompanied by the super-conscious qualities we call Peace, Joy, Love, Beauty. These qualities can also be elicited through contemplation using our cognitive and creative processes.
9. Sense of Oneness - Spiritual experiences can include the sense of openness and one with all Life... awareness beyond ego and that Life is totally interconnected and one unified interacting energy called LIFE... Personal identity dissolves in the oceanic soup of being.
10. Traumatic or Life Threatening Experiences - Sometimes those experiencing traumatic incidents or survival threats will experience a spontaneous shift to a calm awareness and sense of presence in which response is automatic and without thinking. Later, a spiritual experience of sorts is reported, along with reverse projections and interpretations of what occurred...
11. Near Death or Out of Body Experiences - people have reported transcendent experiences in a matter of fact way in which they have seemingly separated from the physical form and observed their body from above, often noting details of what occurred, even though they were "unconscious" from the perspective of others on the scene.
12. A Breakthrough to New Abilities - People report experiencing spiritual and energy highs when a new ability or step in growth occurs. It may be a mentally identified client being able to express feeling and develop emotional expression to learning a new skill or increasing a talent that propels a person into a new life or occupation. These can be transcending experiences that are at the personality level and equally spiritual. We use the term "level" for teaching purposes while acknowledging and affirming the continuity of consciousness beyond any system of "levels".
13. Creative Inspirations - Often those involved in creative endeavors such as inventors, writers, scientists, artists, and other ordinary people like you and me find their way to another level of experience which can be experienced as spiritual and inspirational. In the creative and cognitive processes, a point of tension is built through focused attention. Sometimes when though is suspended during sleep or other activities, the new thought or idea or "answer" pops in from "out of nowhere"... At times, the new "idea" may appear in different locations at the same about the same time.
14. New Choices and Actions - The act of making a decision can release new energies that propel a person into unknown territory and into a new adventure. The clarity of choice is often experienced within the context of spiritual struggles and wrestling with the "angels" in one's consciousness. It is often suggested and reported that the 'best' choices emerge from connecting with a sense of Life's being... and through a more direct intuitive 'pop.'
15. Light, Illumination, Clarity - Reports of being in the light, seeing the light, seeing clearly, from darkness to light, life being illuminated in a new way.
16. Truth - "The truth shall set you free" ... can be connected with the previous aspect; Truth refers to truly see "what is"... not some absolute set of rules ... truth is letting go of projections, justifications, excuses, denials, and the acceptance of "What Is" right Now.
17. Heightened Intuition or Psychic abilities - Those who have had extraordinary experiences may report an increase in psychic abilities and knowing what is happening with others, particularly those close ties through family and friendships. Those who are naturally more intuitive see these abilities as more normal than those who experience the 'mother's intuition' less frequently.
18. Para-normal and extra-ordinary perception or experience - other forms of para-normal experiences and abilities may increase such as: mediumship, channeling, precognition, bi-location, a new understanding of a paradigm shift of the "bigger picture."
19. Everyday Miracles - Some report the events of each day as "miracles" as they see life through a new "lens." This usually involves a more conscious appreciation of Life along with a sense and expression of gratefulness, gratitude, and thanksgiving.
20. Super-human experience - Most have read or heard of occurrences in which people have performed physical acts, that, under normal circumstance, would seem impossible to do.... such as lifting a car off of a child ... or the ability to save one's life by severing a limb where most would simply go unconscious from the pain or trauma.
21. Other - More to come...

Disclaimer: "Spiritual" means different things to different people. More characteristics of spiritual experiences will be added as they are presented to us. Indeed if we equate "Spiritual" with "Life Energy" as many have done, then of course even the everyday and ordinary experiences are spiritual in nature since all of Life is One... and in this sense truly everything is an "Everyday Miracle" called "Life." The distinctions I make are simply for being able to focus the discussion on various aspects.

To summarize:

• Spiritual Experiences transcend or go beyond our ordinary identity and state of consciousness, whatever that may be. The 'new' can become our new "ordinary" state of consciousness.

You are invited to help us with the Sundance Center Research on the Varieties of Spiritual Experiences. Visit http://www.ppt5.com/ to take the anonymous and confidential online Survey. You may read the posted introduction at: http://sundancewellness.blogspot.com/2010/11/research-survey-comparisons-of.html  ... Please invite your friends, family, and other contacts to also take the survey and share their experiences as we hope to receive responses from various nationalities, religions, and cultures from around the globe.

All the best!

John Hutchinson

Sundance Center for Conscious Living
http://www.sunhutch.com/