PureX
Veteran Member
I mean myself, and many others who have had similar experiences, and said so. But there is no way for a human to validate, or invalidate their perception of such an experience, as an experience of "God".
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Can God be Experienced?
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
Most definitely.
Hard to explain other than bootstrapping or using circular reasoning and saying you have to experience it.
For me, I cry. I mean, it’s annoying. I cry in temple at darshan (viewing the deity”s image) and turn so no one sees me; I cry during my own puja (personal worship); reading or listening to scriptures; certain devotional music. There’s one in particular I cry at every time. I want to say it’s because it’s in a minor key (damn you, George Harrison!
) but that’s only part of it. So yeah, it’s deeply personal and individual.
Thanks for qualifying who you meant by “we.” For a moment there, I thought you were trying to speak for me.
But to be clear, you’re comfortable speaking for everyone who has said they had such an experience? You know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what they know and don’t know? If so, surely you can demonstrate this...
PureX
Veteran Member
It is possible to know THAT we don't know without knowing WHAT we don't know. In fact, it's not knowing WHAT we don't know that tells us THAT we don't know.
Or to put it simply; I don't have to be omniscient to know that none of us is omniscient.
Vrindavana Das
Active Member
The human mind is capable of many things. But is it black or white, hard or soft, light or heavy, has anyone seen it?
The mind can be experienced through perception, by it's working.
Similarly, God is there but He cannot be experienced by our gross senses. Thus He is called 'ádhokshad' in the scriptures.
If one follows the right path, He can be experienced.
The mind can be experienced through perception, by it's working.
Similarly, God is there but He cannot be experienced by our gross senses. Thus He is called 'ádhokshad' in the scriptures.
If one follows the right path, He can be experienced.
You have no way of knowing what another does or doesn't know without them volunteering that information.
Now by "us," you mean you and the others who had experiences of "God?" Or is it just you and the mouse? If it's the latter, the correct phrase is 'neither of us.'
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PureX
Veteran Member
If you are human, I know that you are not omniscient. And if you are not omniscient, I know that you have no way of validating that your presumed experience of God was an experience of God, and not some other inexplicable phenomena mistaken for an experience of God.
Again, you have no way of knowing what I know unless I've volunteered what I know or don't know.
Please speak for yourself. Don't presume to speak for me. I find it rude an annoying.
PureX
Veteran Member
This is simply not true. I know you are human, and that means you have a whole set of limitations that preclude you from knowing a whole lot of things. One of them being "God".
As a human, I can and will speak for the limitations of humanity (when we are otherwise being too arrogant or foolish to admit to them).
Incorrect. Unless you've shared all the experiences of another or unless they've shared those experiences with you, you cannot know what they know their limitations with regard to their experiences or understandings thereof. All you can do is make an assumption based on the current information you have.
Come on now. Science doesn't even know the "limitations of humanity." Do you know more than has been discovered by science? Or are you just claiming to share the same consciousness with all of humanity?
PureX
Veteran Member
What science DOESN'T KNOW only serves to prove my point.
Only if sciences has nothing more to discover with regard to humanity or consciousness.
Looking at today's world one might be tempted to conclude that only an inexperienced god could create this mess.
QuestioningMind
Well-Known Member
From, what people have described to me what they call 'god experiences' are specific chemical reactions that take place in the brain, similar to what happens when a person views a breathtaking nature scene, experiences the birth of a child, or alters their state of conscious via psychedelic drugs. I suspect that due to indoctrination into a religious belief they interpret this psychological state as interacting with whatever god entity they were raised to believe in.
Our conscious awareness or experience of ourselves and our environment.
There's an objective reality only a few experience. Two conscious, subjective realities plus an apparently unconscious one that we experience; and several others rarely experienced.
Ancient Soul
The Spiritual Universe
Ok, so how do you expect us to believe that a raccoon can experience God???
Ancient Soul
The Spiritual Universe
Well, you suspect wrong.
During a drowning when I was just a TODDLER, I had an NDE/OBE. My soul went into Heaven and there I met God. There I was shown what my soul was, was judged, and then shown many other things, with everything I needed to know about them directly imparted to me. All of which I had NO possible way of knowing about any of it beforehand since I was way too young. So your opinion falls flat.
QuestioningMind
Well-Known Member
With all due respect, you have no idea if my suspicions are true, since I stated that the types of experiences people have told me about were similar to viewing a breathtaking nature scene, experiencing the birth of a child, or altering their state of conscious via psychedelic drugs.
What you describe is something completely different, a NDE that occurred when you were a toddler. How old are we talking, 3-4 years old? My question would be how accurate can a memory from that age, especially a memory of what images your brain projected when deprived of oxygen and near death, actually be? Memories are a funny thing. What we remember is often distorted over time. In fact, the more we recall a memory, the more distorted it becomes, because we tend to forget certain details that did happen and add certain details that actually didn't happen. Any memory you had when you were 3-4 has been filtered over time by what you've learned and been taught since the incident actually happened.
Yes -- just last night I found an unopened package of Twinkies in your trash.
Heaven....
Like the wind that can't be seen but you see and feel the effects of it... so God can be experienced.