I have had what I believe are a few encounters with the Living God: once to provide assurance of presence and support; once to provide a sense of purpose; once to provide a sense of awe; and once to provide a pointed question.

I am curious in regards to the encounters... what impact on your grasp of God... what impact on your person?

(audience aside:

interesting that today is 3:16 in america (with their bizarre MM/DD/YY, in difference to canada's reasonable YY/MM/DD...)

)

Hi Aldo,

I believe that I have had multiple experiences of spiritual realites which are both benevolent and malevolent.

In the encounters with the benevolent spirit.  I am immediately overwhelmed with my own lack of power.  I am eclipsed by something so much more capable and perceptive than I am and yet, that something poses no threat.

It is akin to being in the water with a whale.  Pound for pound I am outmatched, I am nowhere near at home in the water as is the whale and even though I pose no threat I am aware that the whale passing by innocently has the ability to knock me for a loop.

This benevolent spirit comes and leaves as suddenly as any whale I have encountered has and as far as I am aware there is no commercial sonar available which allows me to hunt down this spirit or warn me of its approach.

When this spirit recedes I am spent as if I have had a fairly pleasant work-out.  I'm not sore but there is some sense that I have exerted myself.

What I learn about myself is humbling.  I am not as big nor as powerful as I need to be to live in the world that being lives in.  My world is smaller and I lack the means to explore it deeper or fuller.  Which is not, to my mind, a bad thing.  Knowing limits gives me a starting point for finding the means to compensate for those limits.

Encounters with the malevolent are a much different matter.

In these I am immediately overwhelmed by the sense of threat.  Again there is the sense that I am in danger of being overwhelmed yet I will be forced to resist.  It isn't about breaking me or forcing me to surrender either.  If that is all it was submission would be the end of it.  It is about destruction.  Whatever this being is, whatever reality it represents, my existence is in its way and if it can get rid of me it will.

It is not at all like the whale in its approach.  It wants me to know it is coming and it wants me afraid of what it will do when it finally arrives.

This being scares me like nothing else ever has.  I suspect that is because it is never corporeal.  Fighting and losing is not a problem.  I can learn from that provided in losing I am not killed.  There can be another battle another day and maybe the outcome could be different.  I'm still outclassed but in my wrestling days I saw that sort of thing happen a lot.  The superior wrestler defeated by their own overconfidence.

What does encounter with this being teach me about myself?

First and foremost it has taught me that unlike past wrestling matches where it was me against a single solitary opponent I can call upon a champion to take my place.  I'm getting better at doing that sooner.  Fear of the one is teaching me to place my trust in the other.

While I don't know how quickly the whale comes when I call this anti-whale seems to know it is coming long before I am aware the whale has arrived.

Apart from that I'm still learning.

I'm grateful that the malevolent being does not appear much interested in me or, if still interested has decided to stay away.

I'm becoming better at sensing the proximity of the whale even if it doesn't come uncomfortably close.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Every time I gaze at the stars, wander in the mountains, or read up on the latest scientific discoveries, I encounter a Living God in the form of the Divine Cosmos. In the people I meet, in the conversations and other encounters that I have with them, I encounter that Living God. God, as I conceive of God, is present in every breath we take, every move we make (with apologies to Sting).

That said, I'm often far more aware of that presence at some times than at others. Most notably, I am often too distracted, too immersed in, everyday life to notice or be aware of Divine Presence. Thus, the moments when I am, however briefly, aware of it are my experiences of "God". I suppose that it is possible to be perpetually mindful of Presence, to make all of Life an experience of this Divinity, but I am not there yet. Indeed, I am a long way from it.

Mendalla

It is my experience with a living God that makes it impossible for me to ascribe to the athiest viewpoint no matter how considered and reasoned that is.

I have those moments now and then .... very personal ..... most often not even when sought.....

That is sufficient for me....

Regards

Rita

I encounter the Living God in the form of a Divine and Unified Cosmos all the time. If I don't experience IT directly or intuitively, all it takes is a little reflection or contemplation, and, "Eureka!", there IT is!

But it took a transformative experience for me to become aware of the Cosmos as a Unified and Divine Whole. This experience occurred thirty years ago, almost to the day, on the eve of the Spring Equinox of 1984, when I prayed for a revelation of God, and saw, or rather was, the unfolding universe. The vision began with utter nothingness or blackness, became an outward/inverse ex/impansion of bubbles of light, along the familiar quantum states. The bubble continuum was eventually ripped into chaos, and out of the chaos emerged the world as it is today. During this experience I perceived the unfolding universe as Self-Creative, Unified, Godly or Divine, and have so ever since.

This is what floors me about you. You are an excellent representative for the trangendered community, which is one of the most misunderstood groups of people in the world and one which has certainly endured more than their share of shaming at the hands of so-called Christians. And though you will agree with me time and again about religion, you will essentially end your post with, "But you're wrong."

If I was a betting person, I'd wager that you've been successfully indoctrinated. Your head was filled with religious instruction from a young age, and these seeds grew into "experiences" you've had in your mind. I can't prove that, but the idea makes sense to me. I never had any religious instruction as a child, and I never had any religious experiences or visions. But, we're just two people. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how it looks to me.

I have observed that people tend to be unwilling to accept the reality of experiences of others if they have not had those experiences.  Doctors denied the reality of PMS for many years until there were enough female doctors to give credence to its reality.  I suspect there are still some male doctors who do not believe women really do experience PMS.  Wealthy people who have always been wealthy often demonstate a terrifying capacity to completely deny the experiences and feelings of many of the poor.

None of my experiences fit my Sunday School/church learning, and I suspect the same is true for Rev John and Rita TG.  This, I am certain, was also true of all the great mystics such as Meister Eckhart or Julian of Norwich.

Jim, there's also the possibility that they're having delusions. People have visions and "experiences" within the framework of what they know. Muslims will have Islamic experiences, etc. Cognizant of how damning that looks, some people will go out of their way to claim that someone with no prior knowledge of Christianity had a Christianity-related vision. That was a favourite theme of Berserk's NDEs, and we all know how credible those are.

Plus, there are plenty of Christians waiting for similar experiences, who grow tired of waiting and walk away. If some Christians claim these experiences, but other Christians don't have these experiences, how the hell does that look to the ones who are "denied"?

When you use something that happened in your mind as your reason to believe, you're on really, really shaky ground.

Chansen, I recognize the possibility, but the circumstances and events were such that it is harder to believe they were delusions.  I am not limiting spiritual experiences to Christians, and do not understand what is so damning about Islamic experiences.  I am not one of those who would go out of my way to make the claim you describe.  Anyone who is waiting for a similar experience is engaged in time-wasting behaviour.

It's damning because largely, people have visions about what they've been taught to believe. Ancient Greeks would have had visions about the Greek gods. Name the religion or cult, and believers will have visions about it.

And, with just as much evidence behind it, Joseph Smith had a vision of the angel Moroni (which is a name that is impossible to satirize), who lead Joseph to unearth golden plates in New York state.

I will reply to some of the comments later on...

For now, I wonder whether people can consider the following in regards to their encounters or apprechensions (of course those who do not apprehend God are in no position to provide consdieration...)

Historically thinkers outline epistemology more or less within the following ways we apprehend or know:

1. images or imagination
2. senses or sensation
3. perceiving or perception
4. idea or ideation
5. cognitive or cognition
6. emotive or emotion

             and lastly

7. intuit or intuition

How would you describe your self or grasp your self given your awareness of your self?

How would you describe your self's grasp of or awareness of God?

Hi chansen.  Only one of the four events important to me was a vision, and it was not of God or anything heavenly.  It was also the only event with no words or sensations.

I think I experienced what I later thought was the unfolding universe. The experience itself was beyond subject/object or observer/observed distinction: I did not think: I merely saw what I was, and I was what I saw. I would describe it as an experience of the non-dualistic, undifferentiated, unified or wholistic nature of the universe. I actually experienced myself as the unified cosmic whole.

My interpretation that the unified cosmic whole is in itself divine or godly is because the experience, as well as the afterglow, were so ecstatic, even rapturous. And I perceived no separate creator. The unified cosmos that I saw, was, and am is its own creator, and is the same universe as chansen's, only that I regard it as divine and he regards it as mundane (if he does :-)

I think in discussing theism, the atheistic viewpoint is as essential as the theistic one. After all, the thesis necessitates the antithesis, and vice versa, and, like all diametric opposites, the two constitute one inseparable whole.

Atheism in the name of God, eh?

Great, and that was your experience. Other Christians have different "experiences". Some will get a message from God. Others will get a message from God that contradicts the message the other person got.

What is the observer to conclude from all this? Does anyone think this is convincing?

For the believing Christian who has no such experience, that must be swell. God visits everyone else. In fact, how many Christians with low educations are blessed with "experiences", vs. the number of Christians with high educations? Anyone look at that?

Was it just an uncooperative lawn chair?

Sorry, that immediately popped into my head. Had to type it out. Had no choice.

Your atheism seems to be in the name of salvaging something of God. I just don't agree there's much there to salvage.

As for the cosmos, that's extremely cool. It's the most obvious example of how much we don't know. If you believe God created it, then you think you know. That's what can kill curiousity - the stultifying belief that "God did it."

No, chansen, none of it is convincing. It is just what people experience, and how they interpret their experience.

The interpretation of personal experience is not a science but an art. As far as personal experience goes, every one of us is a unique experiencer and a unique interpreter. As I said, I think the interpretation of personal experience is an art. We share our artistic expressions with each other, and everyone's expression is as valid as everyone else's. Those who claim that their expressions are absolutely valid or all-applicably true, and other people's are not, are not artists but absolutists, and don't belong in a forum where ideas are freely shared, in the spirit of artistic sharing.

Aldo is trying to say this experience translates into knowledge of God. I'm saying it's more likely that people are having predictable daydreams about things they want to be true.

There's a whole area of study about the subconscious mind. I'm not going to go all psychoanalytical on anyone here - I don't pretend to know about that stuff. But to translate a vision or mental experience into knowledge about a deity is not going to win people over, and I know you get that.

Well, chansen, I don't believe that "God did it." I think the universe is self-creative or self-generative. In other words: no God! But, if one regards the generative force that set the universe in motion as "God," and this force as an integral part of the universe, then the universe—and every part thereof if the universe is indeed an inseparable whole—is self-godly.

Hey Aldo, that's great. Fuck you, too.

Yes, of course. If people have experiences for which they have no ready interpretations, then they interpret them according to their pre-conceived belief system or framework of interpretation.

But sometimes someone comes up with a rare and totally new thought.

And gives birth to Scientology!

No, not Scientology! They didn't come up with anything new. Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, just copied what he took with him when he defected from the Ordo Templi Orientis.

What is new about Scientolgy, though, is that they charge an arm and a leg for an old hat. But maybe this isn't new, either.

From what you described, I take it that you encounter a presence or spirit? But which faculty bring that awareness to you?

Fine, then JWs, or Mormonism. Or any other sham religion.

So, if they're based on "experiences", what's to separate these "new thoughts" from outright scams?

It seems there is a commonality which you recognize in perceptions, sensations and conceptualizations. If so, what is it that is recognized and how?

What catches and holds that experieince for you?

Several things...

You seem to have a capacity to recognize the experience as experience of the same thing... I expect this removes some of the subjectivity for the thing being experienced

Perhaps this is mundane... but what or who was grasping or holding the experience? I wonder whether we know by means of the whole of oneself and not just through partial sensation or cognitions... This is what leads me to suggest that Light is within and it lights itself and the dark... this is the light that reveals our self and also our apprehension of God...

I am wondering... Is the experience of one's self as a self... i.e. a person, comprable to the experience of God as Being... I imagine people could argue that personalities are just myths and fictions we create and are not really "real" at all?

Hi Aldo,

At present "presence" is perhaps the most accurate way to describe what I have encountered.

Good question.

I knew something was there in the same way I get around fairly well in the dark.  Not that I have excellent night vision.  Aquaintances I had at W. Ross MacDonald, a school for the blind here in Brantford spoke of facial vision, a form of human echo location but I am unaware of any deliberate auditory signal I transmit to recieve back.  It is also not a phenomenon limited to my face.

I felt things.

Whatever faculty is responsible for sending those signals is firing on all cylinders in these encounters.  I am convinced that something "big" is near though I cannot "see" what that big thing is.  I also read the general disposition of this big thing and there is a clear (at least clear to me) sense of whether I am in good company or bad.

I have had these experiences at various times of day from bright light to dark night.

I won't say I touched either presence.  I definitely got the impression that both were close enough to be touched.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Is it at all like how you know youself... perhaps not as 'partial'?

Hi Aldo,

I would say no.  It is not like how I know myself.

It is like how I know another.  There is familiarity and there is mystery.

In relationships with most others there is some form of communication involved.  Even my dogs, who do not speak my language have shared enough of their own so that I get the gist of what it is they want or how it is they are feeling.

With both the benevolent and malevolent presence there is little that passes for dialogue.  With the benevolent there is a sense that I have nothing to fear.  With the malevolent I get the sense that my fear is very much what is sought after.

There is no ability to reason with either, at least not when the presence is most powerfully felt.  I accept the benevolent and resist the malevolent.  Both eventually pass.  Neither are present lately to the same degree as in our first encounters.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Thank you for the compliment chansen ...... I am thankful that you regard me as a good representative for the transgendered community...

....... now to address your suspicions...

I grew up on a farm ... 2nd of 8 siblings...

My dad ... a man's man ... and my mother a woman's woman .....

Both very strong personalities and she was very much his equal....

We were nominal catholics ...... church only on special occasions and those mostly avoided when they could be...

My dad called the priests "Father Grabitall"..

His big thing with us was not to let anyone play mind games with us and the motto on anything we were told was "says who??"     In other words .... back up what you say..

Not exactly what I would call an religious indoctrination upbringing.

Later in life after I was out on my own my dad returned to the catholic church.

It was about then that I had my personal experience with God .... and not one that I had been seeking....    That is when things changed for me.....

My dad was hard nosed and because I would not return to the catholic faith he put me out of his life.   We never spoke for the last 13 years of his life.    I never cried at his funeral ... and I have yet to cry ..... I was determined he would never make me cry again...

There is lots in here left out .... lets just say I am just a bit too familiar with mental abuse of a child.

I have lots of reasons to mistrust religion and many other things ..... I was self contained and self sufficient ... thick skin ... and called exasperatingly honest (a kind way of putting it)

When I had my experience I sensed something quite unlike anything I had heard about.   I became a devout pentecostal and I studied and learned.    The "says who??" always came back and niggled at my brain.

I am sorry to say it was my having to face the truth of how I have been created that finally knocked me out of the comfortable zone where all my questions were answered from one book.

But the initial experience remains.... for me .... very real ... very personal....

I sense a god that is not like anything I was told god was......    I am still in that new discovery process and I don't know where it is going....

In my heart all I know is this ..... there is something there ... and I have to find out what it is all about...

Religion has done immense damage to trans persons and all LGBT persons... and it should not have.    Someone should do something about that .... and I happen to be a someone.....

This I know ...... there are so many involved in religion that really do want to know what is right and do right ..... and I intend to help them come to terms with the truth about LGBT persons.

Here is the one gift the United Church has given me ..... I have been given the freedom to doubt.    Doubt leads to better questions and demands better answers.   Doubt is an uncomfortable and necessary ally in the hard work of mining and refining truth.

Thank you for helping me doubt in better and deeper ways ..... and yes ... belief in God remains.    I take your posts seriously and consider them as honestly as I can.    I find no need to defend and a growing need to explore.  Again .... thank you for that ... time will tell where that leads....

Sincerely

Rita

A difficult and important question Aldo ....

Goodness ... how to answer that ....... my words will stumble so please make allowances as I try.....

Presence ..... I sense a presence now and then ......   Its not like the presence leaves and then comes back ..... its like it is always there and once in a while the fog thins just enough to catch a glimpse.... but it is always right there .....

That is what I sense ..... its just there......

I will relate one special time ... 

I had an accident at home in 2009 and ended up in the hospital paralysed from the neck down.   There I was holding it together ... reassuring family .... not knowing what the outcome would be....    All alone in the little bay in the emergency department .... all alone..     The emotions hit ..... now what? .....   A calm sense I can best describe as a presence and the overwhelming feeling ..... its ok ..... nothing more.   No assurance that I would regain anything ..... no assurance about the future .... just ... its ok..... calm ...

I settled down and knew I would face whatever ..... I would face it .... its ok....

Now the type of injury I suffered was one that within days that significant recovery was expected and indeed happened.   That I did not know in the emergency department because the testing was still ongoing.   That knowledge came later......

Its ok ..... presence ..... that is the best I can describe it...

Regards

Rita

I mean...seriously. This is just too much.

chansen ..... I do hope you are not missing my intent...

I am not saying that I was promised any sort of healing or whatever....

That is what I was clearly trying to convey.....

My recovery went as expected for the type of injury I sustained.... typical ...expected..

The experience was not one of being promised anything in the way of healing or what would happen in the future....  it was just "its ok" ..... calm .... a sort of peace...

No promise implied or expected....

I hope that clears up what I was trying to say....

Rita

Amen Rita, 

its always Presence, no matter what Our failures are , Gods Spirit is always there waiting for us .

I have the same experience :)

One thing I share with Rita and John is that the presence was personal with no message for anyone else, no glorious visions of other worlds or grand projects; just mysterious presence.  The experience of that presence pushed, and pushes, me to try to be loving and to not let fear dictate my actions. 

True, 

it is the same for all born of the Spirit 

Could it be that you received great care in Emerg? Could it be that your family did a great job of keeping you calm and positive? Could it be that you're a strong and optimistic person?

This week, a probable natural gas explosion killed 8 people and leveled an apartment block and a church. 5 of the victims were in the church.

Days later, out of the rubble, they pulled the singed and waterlogged church bible.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/god-protected-it-histor...

"God protected it."

This is the crap we get when people start looking to God for answers to perfectly understandable tragedies. God protected a bible from a collapse and nominal fire which was quickly doused with water from the fire department, but fuck those 5 people inside.

If you want some kind of miracle, have the fire department pull the book out dry. That would be amazing after the church was mostly under water.

This sort of thinking gets a pass, but it's some of the most awful things I think Christians regularly say. In this case, it's obvious that some think the bible was spared. Five people died in there? That's terrible. But look! The bible! God saved it!

Similarly with these visions and experiences. What of the Christians who don't "receive" them. What are you telling them? God reassures you and comforts you, but for those who need it, and it never comes, then what? You're setting yourselves up for losses, because young people aren't that stupid. They're going to clue in that some people, maybe most people, maybe all people, are making these stories up or simply having delusions.

Or, again, God is a dick and only appears and helps some believers. The rest are on their own. God only gives you what you can handle? Tell that to the people who died in the collapse.

Those are the options that are being presented to people. All these visions and experiences, once related, aren't helping. They create a problem for Christianity. You can satisfy one question at a time from a curious child using the bible. A truly inquisitive one armed with a series of questions will tear it to shreds.

What separates new thoughts from outright scams?

Speculative philosophy is at the leading edge of all new thought. Many a breakthrough discovery has been perceived in a mystical experience or an intuitive flash. If the new idea holds up to scientific scrutiny, then it is not a scam. Even if the new idea is not a scientific one, and therefore does not hold up to scientific scrutiny but is of benefit to the human species, or life on our planet as a whole, then it is worthwhile and not a scam.

There has been, as yet, no scientific proof for supernaturalism. "Knowledge" of supernaturalism is purely subjective. Supernatural explanations may, at one time in our past, have been our only explanations for natural phenomena, but this is no longer the case. The natural sciences give us plenty of explanations of what once was deemed to be supernatural. And some of what science can not yet explain it will, in due course.

There is, however, plenty that will always remain scientifically unexplainable. But that does not mean it is not natural. To my thinking, everything that is is natural.

"Spiritual," to me, does not mean ghostly or supernatural. To me, unity, oneness, inseparableness, non-duality, synthesis—these are the spiritual aspects of being.

I believe the universe to be in an ultimate state of non-duality or synthesis. Although synthesis is antithetical to analysis, and can't be adequately explained in analytical terms or concepts, it is perfectly natural because this is how the natural world is. IT is the ultimate isness of being and, because of this, can be experienced, and is being experienced, in the pure, unmediated experience of reality.

Any interpretation of such experience, however, is no longer the pure experience itself but our logical and conceptual creation or re-creation of the experience. And, if the pure experience of ultimate reality is regarded as whole or holistic, then the analysis of the experience constitutes a fragmentation of its wholeness. This is an important distinction that is often overlooked.

That which is logically unknowable is just that: logically unknowable. But, thank God, (sorry, chansen :-) it is very experienceable.

The TAO that can be told is not the TAO.

-Lao Tsu

For our knowledge is fragmentary, and our prophesies are fragmentation.

But when that which is perfect has come, then the fragmentation will end.

1Cor13:9,10 (Martin Luther Version) 

I will try one more time chansen so please bear with me....

Did I receive great care in the hospital? .... YES!!!!

Did my recovery follow the expect course based on that care and medical history for the type of injury? .... again ... YES!!!

Did I ascribe that healing process to something extraordinary done by God? .... NO!!!!

In no way was I claiming some sort of supernatural healing or premonition of the future.

Did I have an extremely supportive and helpful family that worked hard and diligently to keep me positive? ... YES!!!!

Am I a strong and optimistic person? ...... there I must admit that the level I see myself at seems to be nowhere near what others see.    I see less ...but .... yes I know I have strength and I know I have a determined positive outlook that I work hard at maintaining.

All that said ...... all alone .... I hit the enevitable low point when I felt vulnerable, alone, and of no useful strength, and the future was something I could no longer even comtemplate.   It just no longer registered .    Not even self pity ..... just a kind of done..... a kind of out of gas ......    Even that does not express it right ...... not an end of the line sort of thing .... more of a feeling of no longer knowing ..... a curious kind of knowing ..... not about knowing what would happen...   That was quite secondary....

Lost is the best I could describe it .... a certain kind and shade of lost...

It was in that that I had the experience...

It never promised anything.....

It never healed me....

It never promised me any sort of future....

It never helped me find my place again and balance in life....

It just said ... its ok ...... in such a calm and peaceful way....

There was plenty of other help to accomplish the rest...

Excellent medical care ...

Amazing help and support of family including the requisite kicks in the pants when times of self pity tried to take root.   Just good solid family stuff...

My own sense of self and self worth, personal strength, and a practiced positive outlook.   I did a lot for myself too ...... Indeed it has to start there.    The preparation beforehand was so very important.

But that ... its ok ..... that is what helped me at that low moment to once again grasp all that I already had and move forward.

Thats all ...... not the usual God stuff I would have expected...... just .... its ok....

What if things would have gone differently and badly???

Great question ....... what if ...

As you have pointed out that is the way it usually goes.   It follows the natural course of things.  No one exempt.....

I still think the "its ok" would have been sufficient for me...... even with a very bad outcome.

The experience happed for me and it worked for me .... thats all I know....

I have tried to be as honest and open about this with you as I can chansen...

In no way do I offer this as evidence nor is it any attempt to convince you of anything.   I think too highly of you to ever consider doing that.   All I am doing is relating my experience as the thread as asked and as best I can.

I wouldn't believe this from someone else either .... 

Sincerely

Rita

...double post...

My spiritual experiences have been both positive and negative. On one hand- things are not okay with the world- it is in distress. We are called to do our part and recognize our shortcomings. On the other, everything's okay with the universe. That's what it taught me.

Close your eyes and picture the border between where your physical self ends and where 'space' begins, no longer there. Do you see light sparkles, like specks of star dust, even with your eyes closed? Being held in that- no matter what troubles you're going through- material, impermanent, unimportant stuff. Just a part of everything. And it is okay. That's the closest I can describe the good spiritual experience that I experienced profoundly. I was 'warmed' by it. And every so often- when I am feeling anxious about something, that warming, calming, will come over me- but not like the first time I had the 'vision' experience described- because it happened without even trying to imagine it.

You're walking a tightrope. You're trying very hard not to attribute this newfound feeling of the ability to "move forward" to anything supernatural, but here it is, in a thread about people's experiences with God.

You want to have your God, and deny him, too.

I'm simply reminding you that you can't have it both ways. From what you wrote, maybe you felt that way because of something you ate. What was on the hospital menu that day? Eat more of that.

And, of course, I'm saying that if you were reassured, somehow, by some spiritual presense instead of digestive process, then those who believe as strongly and are not provided with reassurance are left wondering why they were not reassured.

You can jump up and down and insist that I'm not understanding, but to me it looks more like you're unhappy that I refuse to be politely satisfied by your explanations and your balancing act. I'm one of those awful people who just doesn't see the need to walk away or stop asking questions because we're talking about personal faith. Sorry.

Thanks Rita...!

It takes great heart to speak of our deep experience in the hearing of others. There is nothing I admire or appreciate more than integrity.

George

Hello each and all...

Let me say a few things about my experience with the word God. Things that I have reflected on. Things I have tested by all available means. Things that have shaped me to be the person who I am.

I have nothing supernatural in mind when I speak about the word God which is present to my understanding. God is simply a word that has been part of my life from before I was born.

The word God was presented to me by a great variety of persons and groups. Again and again I was told to conform my understanding to the understanding of others.

By adolescence I was asking hard questions about the word God, devoted to finding for myself what others offered second hand.

My early adult years were spent as an itinerant in the Canadian landscape. For ten years I read everything I could find on the subject of God. I processed every encountered text, separating the useful from the useless by the test of experience.

At the age of thirty I re-integrated with society at large. A person transformed by my struggle with the word God.

I have relinquished every definition for the word God.  God is a word that now stands beyond the threshold of my capacity for definition. Further, I am quite persuaded that any definition of the word God that pretends to be the whole truth is in error.

I welcome the critical flame. By it all dross is stripped away and precious substance revealed.  

In the word God I am, have always been, and always will be,

George

"Language is the house of being."

- M. Heidegger

Just curious... of what you know, do you know it passively or do you actively pariticipate in acquiring knowledge of what you sense? I take it is not sensory... and I take it that you sense 'good' in the encounter....

As  have inquired with others, your 'sense' of it is not sensory, for example as an image or a touch sensation... ? Interesting, that what you describe mioght also be called an intelligence... the grasping of a dynamic situation so that the situatoin makes sense and makes sense in a good way...