Has anyone here ever felt the presence of God, Being, Divine energy

[stopschoolpaddling]

(whatever you might call it) for any sustained amount of time? If so, for how long, 5 seconds, one minute, an hour, days? What was it like? What do you think brought it about?

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[elocs]

3. I have to say that response pretty much epitomizes the DU attitude toward religion.

In spite of the fact that there are likely thousands of DUers who are actively religious and their religion is important to them. But then they must be part of the weak minded. Thank God I'm not like them.

[Peregrine Took]

5. Yes, it was truly sad and depressing. n/t

[darkstar3]

10. And for every post that feeds the complex, I see just as many complaint posts.

Here's a tip: There's an alert button, and it might keep you from sounding like the whining victim of a persecution complex.

[elocs]

15. Let's put it this way--I don't go into the Guns Forum and rag about guns.

Some people get off on that kind of thing. And one person's legitimate complaining is another person's whining. It simply depends upon your perspective.

[darkstar3]

16. I stand by what I said. n/t

[cleanhippie]

45. WHy not?

If you have a valid point, then you SHOULD rag about guns. But if all you have is supposition and unsupported conclusions, like the religious do, then you should not.

Perhaps you should review the motivation you have for not "ragging about guns" and apply it to this forum too.

[JerseygirlCT]

2. Often

And usually when I'm praying - which might just mean consciously thinking about God. I've felt this as long as I can remember, and it's a sense of comfort.

[Peregrine Took]

6. You are very fortunate. Can you share any tips?

See my post above -but that was only one time for me.

[JerseygirlCT]

21. I don't know

It isn't something dramatic. Sometimes it feels like an ongoing conversation, sometimes it feels as if no one is listening. Sometimes it's me who needs to be quiet and do the listening.

As much as I can wonder about almost every aspect of theology, I don't think I've ever seriously doubted God's existence. I'm sure that helps my mindset, you know? And I'm sure it's along the same line as those who practice meditation - at least from a physiological point of view.

I'm not a formal pray-er. Only occasionally do I feel the need for formal prayers. And it's not as if I walk around in a God-given state of bliss. Not in the least! I'm at least as anxious and busy-brained as any of us. But bottom line, below all the noise and worries, I have a sense of God's presence, and it's comfortable for me.

[Peregrine Took]

4. WHen I was meditating last week, towards the end, I went into a kind of zone

or mindset like - BOING!!

I knew I hit on something totally different than anything I ever had encountered before. I don't know how to describe it exactly other than it seemed like a different frame of mind and, for once, I didn't have to be fighting off intruding thoughts. I was past doing that.

I couldn't tell at the time how long I was "there" but when it was over I looked at my watch and it was 2 minutes.

It was a very pleasant feeling/place - I felt safe.

I've tried to go back there this week but no luck.

I had been doing a religious mantra prior to experiencing this sensation and I have been meditating, on and off, for years.

[JerseygirlCT]

22. Sounds like what people describe

from meditation. I'm sure it will be back.

And I like your name!

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

7. Sorry, the only presence I've felt was big-brother watching us at work at Albertsons

Big manager didn't trust us and watched us one night. But all of us knew he was behind the mirror up in the cat-walk.

Of course he denied being there...

[DesertFlower]

8. i'm not sure how to answer. i'm not a

religious person. i used to do a lot of self hypnosis and visualization. one night i was at work and i didn't feel well. i told the lawyer i was working with that i didn't think i could stay. he said "why don't you lie down in jerry's office for awhile". i did.

i did self hypnosis and used a silva technique. i called on a person that my mind had created. i put my hands on my abdomen (that's where i was feeling ill). i said you (she) have the healing power of the universe in your hands. i little while later i got up and went into the lawyer's office. he said "are you feeling better"? i said "yes" and worked until midnight.

so what did i experience. i don't know.

[darkstar3]

9. If you had asked me this question when I was a Christian, I would have said yes.

Singing in church, prayer and fasting, and even reading the bible in a quiet place...during all of these times I thought that I felt the presence of God.

I have since learned much about human behavior and psychology, and thus understand the feelings I once had. I also know how to recreate them through proper meditation, exercise, and yes even mind-altering substances such as alcohol and tobacco.

I have never felt the presence of God. I HAVE felt the presence of changing levels of various neurotransmitters, but even if I once believed they were "god", I know differently now.

[demosincebirth]

11. Standing in Yosemite Valley. If you don't feel anything, there is something wrong.

[EmilyKent]

12. It's called 'full consciousness of the moment'.

[FedUpWithIt All]

13. Yes, a few times ranging from minutes to a couple of hours.

I had a type of near death exp. as a child and have always been in search of whatever that was.

I have had a few serendipitous moments in my life and usually they lead to a state like you've described.

One of these moments led me to a book called "Many Wonderful Things" by Robert Huffman and Irene Specht. It is a rare and interesting book for people interested in such things. It deals with a hypnotic experiment that led to Mrs. Specht revealing a "resting place" and the state she is in as the "I am I".

[Ozymanithrax]

14. No. n/t

[ZombieHorde]

17. I used to meditate twice a day and I have felt some similar sensations.

I have always just assumed it was an occasional natural result of regular meditation. I have hallucinated a few times while meditating as well. I never really thought much of it. Unusual pleasant feelings and hallucinations were never my meditation goals, that is what drugs are for.

[daligirl519]

18. I was on a morphine drip for a couple of days after some knee surgery. . .

Even the Flintstones can seem divine then! Seriously, however, I am an amateur astronomer, and every time I see something amazing in the sky, I feel what I think is God.

[Oregone]

19. Sure, but it was nothing compared to smoking a joint

Now thats a real high man

[raccoon]

20. These 2 occasions in my life come to mind.

I was walking in my neighborhood one spring day and saw a squirrel as it just climbed down from a cedar tree. The squirrel spotted me, and as I approached, hopped over to an oak tree and climbed up. I felt such joy in that moment. It’s hard to describe, but the best I can do is to say it was like the most favorite scene of my most favorite children’s book come to life.

I had another of those experiences one morning last spring. I was sitting at my desk at work, and I was alone in the lab then. I was looking out the window at a large oak tree, and the light green leaves of that tree and others, and suddenly I had this feeling of joy and peace.

I'd like to have those moments more often.

If anybody knows how to invoke that feeling, PLEASE check in!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

48. Such moments are gifts

You can't make them happen.

[piratefish08]

23. yup - for 4 - 5 hours.

though it was mushrooms and not god that brought on the state of mind......

[jdp349]

24. I did once, but then it just turned out to be gas

[Lost-in-FL]

25. Clothed or unclothed? nt

[frogmarch]

26. No, but

I often feel very emotional when I hear certain music or am in the mountains, surrounded by nature. The feeling is overwhelming sometimes. Maybe it's similar to what religious people experience when they think they feel the presence of some deity or another.

[kwassa]

27. Many times.

and, no, I don't care to describe it, this is not the forum for it.

[The Traveler]

28. I would say yes

but saying so would have little meaning for anyone. Have I had experiences that I found profound, even revelatory? Sure. But was I experiencing, as another poster put it, the activity of neurons, or where the neurons activated by the experience? My training is in science, specifically physics and I see no way to successfully apply the scientific method to the question. I see no way to design an experiment that could, in concept at least, definitively reject either hypothesis. (Others might be able to do so ... I read a paper purporting to achieve this in the subject matter of near death experiences last year, for example, but the fallacy in their method was gaping and obvious.)

Nor is it all that useful to share the experience by means of a web posting. Words on a screen ... why the hell should you believe the testimony of an anonymous poster?

I have come to the following philosophical position. The human mind is a small thing. We have really small brains. The Universe is vast, complex, and stitched together by various mysteries. (Dark matter, for example ... WTF is that?) It is unlikely that any single approach to human experience and phenomena will satisfactorily yield understanding or useful results in all cases. We just ain't smart enough to devise such a method. ( Godel's theorem seems to apply ...) Science is a damn useful branch of philosophy, but it is not the only useful branch, and it just isn't useful for approaching certain experiences. It will never eliminate the need for art, for example.

(And one of the reasons Science cannot be used to reject the "God hypothesis" is that we have no definition of "God" suitable for the design of an experiment. Does "God" exist? How the hell should I know? Do certain experiences make me suspect there is something of a divine-like nature ... well, yeah. But that does not mean I actually understand my own experience. Though I did find it very, very, useful.)

Thus, my best advice to you is to simply practice meditation (reception) and prayer (transmission). Talk to whatever it is that is "out there" and see what responses you get, but make sure to spend more time "listening" (meditating) than "talking". Remember always that the voices in your head are almost certainly not God talking to ya, but patiently wait for intuitions, experiences ... and if what happened for me happens for you will also experience a series of "meaningful coincidences" in the events of your daily life. Jung has a lot to say on the subject.

Drawing actually helped with a lot of this ... I am so left brained, and my mind is by nature restless and linear ... I recommend a small book called "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". I found myself slipping into that state of "choice-less awareness" when drawing using those techniques. It was easy to segue into a deep meditative state from there. Portraits of the elderly where especially useful in this regard. Hands were another good subject.

Hope this quick note is at least semi-useful, but it probably wasn't. In any event, best wishes and happy trails.


Trav

[onager]

29. Yes, but as an atheist, I don't need to call it any of those things.

I'm very lucky that my job has taken me all over the world, so I've seen some truly bizarre and often quite beautiful things worth contemplating.

One of the most peaceful places I've ever been was a Buddhist monastery. But that had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with surroundings. It was up on a wooded mountain in South Korea. OTOH, one of the damn noisiest places I've ever been was the big Buddhist temple in Tokyo. I noted, with delight, that the Buddhist temple was a lot like the Vatican in one respect - both were surrounded by tacky little shops hawking religious geegaws and gimcracks.

In a fishing village in northern Taiwan, I watched the annual ceremony propitiating the Sea Goddess. Colorful, highly entertaining and impressive, but it didn't make me any more inclined to believe in the Sea Goddess.

In Cairo, Egypt I climbed to the top of a minaret (after tipping the mosque's caretaker). I reflected on the essential - and often sudden - transience of humanity as I noted that the mosque was built in 1472, and also noted still-unrepaired damage from the 1992 earthquake. It was a rare clear winter day in Cairo, and far off in the distant haze from atop the minaret, I could see the Giza Pyramids. Oh, and I also saw an actual footprint of the Prophet Mohammed, magically preserved in stone. At least that's what the caretaker insisted.

Then there was the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. At that stunning memorial to human labor and ingenuity, a modest little sign on the door, in many languages, for a moment made me feel closer to all my only-human brothers and sisters. And also made me reflect, despite the grandiose claims of all the Popes and preachers, about exactly how much effect religion has had on human behavior. The sign read: Beware of Pickpockets

[trotsky]

30. And we are lucky, onager...

not just that you have been an extensive world traveler, but that you are so damn good at telling the stories.

[GliderGuider]

40. Very nice. Thank you for sharing. /nt

[Jokerman]

31. Yes, once. Then the acid wore off. n/t

[GoneOffShore]

32. No and no

But I've seen oceans and forests and mountains and stars. Far more impressive.

[AlecBGreen]

33. yes, many times

At least 'God' is the name that I give it. One time in particular stands out.

A friend of mine and I traveled to China to teach English for a year. We flew 17 hours, slept in a train station for who-knows-how-long then took a train for another 36 hours. We finally arrived at our destination at 2am whereupon we were told that, so sorry, our jobs had been given to someone else. Much anger & swearing ensued. Despair & indecision. A young lady whom we had met on the train invited us to come back to her home for a meal and a nights sleep so we could decide in the morning what to do. We went with her and her father, her mother cooked us a FEAST (3am by now) and we fell asleep.

I woke up on the couch a few hours later, groggy & jetlagged. It was 6am and the city was still dark. I leaned out the window to smoke a cigarette and contemplate our situation. A thousand thoughts ran through my head, though the biggest sensations were hopelessness, helplessness, and most of all indecision. I had recently begun to feel called by Christ so I had brought my bible with me. I prayed "God, help me." I opened the book at random and the very first passage I saw was in Luke. It said: "He who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God." At once an OVERWHELMING feeling of calm came over me. It was unbelievable! I am a person who is constantly plagued with indecision, never settling on anything, always bouncing from one idea to another. This was like a freight train straight to my brain. I thought to myself "I will stay here, I will find a job, and I will not look back on my choice." I felt peace and serenity like I had never felt before. It lasted all morning and all throughout the day. We found a job the next day. I met my wife 5 months after that and we have been married for 5 years now.

I look back at that moment as a turning point in my life. I give thanks that God granted me the ability to make a choice, stand by it, and never waver in my decision.

[uberllama42]

34. Neve in my entire life

have I felt something that I believed at the time to be the presence of God. Even when I was a child and believed in God, there were many times I wished I could feel it. But it never once came to me. This is one reason why, when believers talk about their "relationship with God," I am utterly baffled by it.

[FDRLincoln]

35. yes

I have had a number of odd and deeply personal experiences in my life that have convinced me that consciousness is not merely a byproduct of the physical brain, and that there is far more to the universe than we are commonly aware, different levels or layers of reality, a spiritual realm that co-exists with the material. I don't expect an atheist or firm materialist to agree with me, but that's cool.

But consider this: it was the impact of these experiences that led me AWAY from organized religion and towards, for want of a better word, what I call Love/God/Goddess. I suppose theologically I am a pan-entheist.

Ultimately I believe that we should love our neighbors to the best of our ability, decrease the amount of pain and suffering in the universe, and increase the amount of love/joy/pleasure.

If there is an afterlife and a God worth worshipping, She won't care about my theology, She will care more about my behavior to others and how much I have loved. If there is a God who does not care about Love, I would not want to worship him. If there is no God and no afterlife, well then I haven't lost anything, but will live on in the memories of my friends and family, will be remembered as a good person, and at least didn't make the universe suck more than it already does.

[Nihil]

41. +1

Especially these three points:

> I don't expect an atheist or firm materialist to agree with me, but that's cool.


> Ultimately I believe that we should love our neighbors to the best of our
> ability, decrease the amount of pain and suffering in the universe, and
> increase the amount of love/joy/pleasure.


> If there is an afterlife and a God worth worshipping, She won't care about my
> theology, She will care more about my behavior to others and how much I have
> loved.


:thumbsup:

[RagAss]

36. I am God !

[GliderGuider]

44. And so am I!

[AsahinaKimi]

37. I learned Meditation at an early age

I really don't do it anymore, however, there was a time, I felt, I went very deep into myself. I was very aware, though my body seemed asleep. I felt for a brief period this wonderful connection, as if the air connected me to everything in my room, everything to the house, the outside, the other houses, the birds, the clouds, the entire planet.. and I felt a deep sense of peace as I took it a step further to include the Solar system, the galaxy and the universe.

It was at first an odd feeling, but became a kind of Joy.. that I could never really get back to, later. I hit something in me that connected me..and for a brief moment, all was really one. I will never forget that feeling. I was just sad, I could not go back.

[Nihil]

42. I can empathise with that "connection" feeling

> I felt for a brief period this wonderful connection, as if the air connected
> me to everything in my room, everything to the house, the outside, the other
> houses, the birds, the clouds, the entire planet..

I have experienced a similar "connection" or "awareness" on a number of occasions
in the past. I've found it hard to describe properly but it seems similar to what
you wrote - a brief wonderful connection.

> It was at first an odd feeling, but became a kind of Joy.. that I could never
> really get back to, later. I hit something in me that connected me..and for a
> brief moment, all was really one. I will never forget that feeling. I was just
> sad, I could not go back.

I have never found *how* to get that feeling - it always "just happened" - and so
I've sometimes felt the sadness at not being able to "return" in that sense.
On the other hand, that sadness is still greatly outweighed by the memory of the
joy of those moments and the knowledge that it *can* happen (thus so might well
do so again in the future).

:hi:

[AsahinaKimi]

47. Breathing may have been a major part of it

Air is life, its our first breath..when we are born. Air is also all around us. I have heard of different methods of breathing, from long drawn in breaths to breathing fast and at a pace. I once talked to someone who did "Rebirthing" and tried to follow a breathing technique that starts with a cycle, of long deep breaths to faster controlled breaths, to harder and faster breaths followed by abrupt long deep breaths (in and out). I have tried it... but the hard part is keeping your mind focused on the sound of your breathing at the same time. The mind tends to wander.

[Nihil]

49. Possibly but I think that relaxation has a lot to do with it also ...

... not in the sense of being totally stress-free (though that would be nice!)
but by having a moment of just being (rather than doing).

The events have happened in different places - lying on a bed after doing
some drawings, standing at the top of a Scottish peak whilst on a geology
field trip, sitting in my car in the rain, walking around the industrial
estate on my lunch-break - but none were after any particular breathing
"practice" (for want of a better word).

In most cases I'd idly focussed on some particular facet of the world
around me (the outline of a tree against the December sky, the drops
of rain moving down the windscreen) - not for any particular reason (such
as looking for a perching bird or trying to see what was happening in the
car park) - and then *wow* ... suddenly things were different: I was aware
of so much more, the connections between *everything* became apparent,
there was a tremendous sense of knowledge, of understanding in a way that
was deep inside me (rather than being "consciously thought") and of recognition
that this was within everyone's grasp (i.e., it wasn't *me* being magically
all-powerful or something, this was an awareness that *everyone* could
have - and that many did/do).

Although the events were apparently fairly short duration, enough of the
memory of each experience stayed with me to make me want to experience it
again. Perhaps it also made me try too hard - and thus self-defeating by
destroying the very relaxation that was needed - but it did encourage me
to notice much more of the world in my normal waking state: to appreciate
the beauty in nature across all scales (from the night sky down through
the insect life in the soil to the patterns in mineral structures through
a microscope), to listen to sounds rather than disregard them as "noise",
and, in general, to enjoy life that little bit more than before.

:-)

[GliderGuider]

43. I've had that sensation of complete nonduality once in my life

A couple of years ago during a meditation I was looking at a very small flower and trying to really SEE it without labeling it in any way. Suddenly the whole event -- the observer, the thing being observed and the observation itself -- collapsed into a single undifferentiated point of being. I have no idea how long the experience lasted, though it was probably thirty seconds or so.

I get echoes of that experience today whenever I open my focus of attention and try to simply be with whatever is happening around me at the time.

That half-minute changed my life.

[Ian David]

38. Yes. The first time I sat down and smoked pot by myself. While listening to The Beat Farmers.

Apparently, god is Country Dick Montana. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Dick_Montana

The feeling lasted for about three minutes.


See also:

Beat Farmers- High On Life (w/Monkees intro)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TogcZb03Kg

Country Dick Montana & Mojo Nixon Pt. 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pt12AdANKU&feature=related

BEAT FARMERS Hollywood Hills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iquVd12M4lQ

Reason To Believe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF9H7Cn6Kco&feature=related

Although I think this would have also worked:

God helmet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

God helmet refers to an experimental apparatus in neurotheology. The apparatus, placed on the head of an experimental subject, stimulates the brain with fluctuating magnetic fields. Some subjects reported experiences using the same words used to describe spiritual experiences.<1> The leading researcher in this area is Michael Persinger.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet

Anyway, I haven't smoked that stuff since College, but I still listen to The Beat Farmers.

[GliderGuider]

39. Yes. It's a normal state for this atheist.

I feel the presence of "Being" very strongly throughout meditation, typically for half an hour or so. I also feel it whenever I stop and open the focus of my attention during the day, so I guess I would say that it's there all the time. I usually call it Personal Essence (the name given to it by Kuwaiti teacher A. H. Almaas) instead of Being, though they're both the same thing. The perception is becoming more consistent because I try to abide as non-dual awareness most of the time these days.

[golddigger]

46. Only when I'm at a Paul McCartney concert.

[grantcart]

50. Yes in high school at the end of a long week work retreat we had a spontaneous

sighting of Jesus at the chapel where we were all at. About 50 of the 60 could clearly see the image of a risen Christ.


Later it occured to me that the image that was seen was the Eurpean image of Christ that was frequently seen in paintings and could have borne no similarity to a Palestinian Jew. Study of psychology later revealed that common dellusional events among adolescent teenagers in a hyper emotional atmosphere is rather common.

It was very instructive to analyze something that I was so certain that happened to something that I learned to realize was a complete fabrication, innocent or not, later.

Any personal experience anyone has with God has to be reconciled with the lack of personal experience that millions of prisoners in Nazi concentration camps had. You can't have God getting personal in one case without holding Him/Her accountable in the next.