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Can God be Experienced?
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
osgart
Nothing my eye, Something for sure
If you take to an expression of a created God in your subjective experience and buy into that expression of a God that you took in, then that God takes on life in all sorts of ways. Of course I believe that people can create their own realities internally.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Definitely in the world of the imagination. It's where God was born.
Reality makes for a notably different take on things.
Reality makes for a notably different take on things.
PureX
Veteran Member
Yes. As many have.
We can't know for sure. We either trust the experience, or we don't, ... if it happens.
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My answer to question 1 is yes.
Since I'm a very ordinary person, I don't know through experience. Rather I accept the testimony of individuals including Ramana Maharshi, Kabir, Rumi, Ramakrishna, Hafiz, Meher Baba and many many others.
The followup question is naturally asking why I accept their statements.
Part of the answer is that they're saying the same thing albeit in different words. So there's clearly something common in their experiences.
The second part of the answer is not intellectual. An image is that I've faintly smelled something very sweet and have been told that the source is a rose and that I can experience the reality of the rose.
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Interesting topic!
I try to live by the motto of trying to see God in the eyes of everyone I meet.
Not so easy to do as to say! But practice makes perfect and some people definitely make it awfully challenging!
Cheers.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Yes.
This is the explanation I like out of many:
“When we are talking about god, we are talking in translation. All experiences, words, and all else will not be able to describe the nature of all reality.”
“God is the feel of the unnameable, unknowable, holy mystery, that flows through all things, flowing through your veins,'
'....that you know a moment of awe that changes your life.”
-Aaron White
God is experience: the moment of awe that changes your life.
Polytheism probably has a different approach though I wouldn't know since no one explains other gods but abrahamic. Even then, I don't understand it.
Ancient Soul
The Spiritual Universe
That's what always confuses non-spiritual people when I say I met God.
The Christians often jump all over me as the saying goes, throwing out the one verse that says nobody can SEE god.
And the atheists mock me and demand to know what he LOOKED like.
But they both did not read what I stated. I always say I "MET" God.
They don't understand that God is purely SPIRITUAL in nature, so cannot be SEEN, he can only be EXPERIENCED thru one's soul.
As all souls can "read" the energy of all other souls, even God's, thus tell who they are.
The Christians often jump all over me as the saying goes, throwing out the one verse that says nobody can SEE god.
And the atheists mock me and demand to know what he LOOKED like.
But they both did not read what I stated. I always say I "MET" God.
They don't understand that God is purely SPIRITUAL in nature, so cannot be SEEN, he can only be EXPERIENCED thru one's soul.
As all souls can "read" the energy of all other souls, even God's, thus tell who they are.
Spirit of Light
Be who ever you want
Of course, it depends on how you look at what God is. I think if people see God as energy and not a personalized identity maybe they can realize that what people call God is everywhere In every plant every stone every three in the forest then they could see god too. (in my understanding that is) God is energy
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Can God be Experienced?
In my Advaita (non-dual Hinduism) philosophy the answer is 'Yes'! It is called 'Self Realization'. Per Wikipedia: In the Indian understanding, self-realization is liberating knowledge of the true Self, either as the permanent undying atman , or as the absence (sunyata) of such a permanent Self.
This stuff is in the realm of the Self-Realized saints.
In my Advaita (non-dual Hinduism) philosophy the answer is 'Yes'! It is called 'Self Realization'. Per Wikipedia: In the Indian understanding, self-realization is liberating knowledge of the true Self, either as the permanent undying atman , or as the absence (sunyata) of such a permanent Self.
This stuff is in the realm of the Self-Realized saints.
Yes.
Experience.
PearlSeeker
Well-Known Member
Yes.
Had a glimpse there is "something". We experience reality every day but usually we realize only the surface.
PearlSeeker
Well-Known Member
What is reality?
Jedster
Well-Known Member
If we look deep enough within ourselves, there is an experience there which is recognisable and unchanging yet enormous (and totally mind blowing).
I believe that many people in the past have discovered this and called it 'god', because that's probably the best word they had at the time, assuming they were sincere.
My best(i.e. most positive) read of most of the world's religions(that I have come across) is that the originators had this strong experience, took it 'as a message from god' or similar and when people heard it became followers and trusted the person(instead of seeking said experience themselves).
I also strongly suspect that these people had strong personalities/charisma that made them attractive.
I know this from my own years of meditation; I have no doubt that meditation is not the only way. It is just something that has suited my type of mind and gives me a type of anchor..(I'm not sure how to express it otherwise).
I just looked up the word theist and got this
a person who believes in the existence of a god or gods, specifically of a creator who intervenes in the universe.
I cannot call myself a theist.
All the best to you @Sunstone
I know something beyond one's day-to-day perception can be experienced, but I no longer refer to that something as God, as it just confuses people. There is always at least one that relates the term to the Abrahamic God.
Which one?
Surely, by "we" you mean you and the mouse in your pocket.
Guitar's Cry
Disciple of Pan
If something is definable, it is already experienced in some form, even if just as a symbol.
I define God in a couple of different ways, most frequently as our relationship with the Universe (our environment, perception of reality). Based on how people discuss God, this makes sense to me and fits mystical definitions of God. We certainly experience this: Creation through mysterious variables and processes we can never quite understand, a sense of meaning and structure as our senses and brains process information, and a distinction between Self and Not-Self that is sometimes blurred to give us experiences that suggest a hint of a reality beyond our typical understanding of it.
I define God in a couple of different ways, most frequently as our relationship with the Universe (our environment, perception of reality). Based on how people discuss God, this makes sense to me and fits mystical definitions of God. We certainly experience this: Creation through mysterious variables and processes we can never quite understand, a sense of meaning and structure as our senses and brains process information, and a distinction between Self and Not-Self that is sometimes blurred to give us experiences that suggest a hint of a reality beyond our typical understanding of it.
The human imagination is capable of many things.
How do i know? I have one and use it regularly.
Nice sounds