Who Here Has Never Had A Mystical Experience?

[Revoltingest]

Is that what you get, when you unscrew all the light bulbs at once?

Asking for a friend.

I don't replace bulbs.
I just curse darkness.

 

[Bob the Unbeliever]

I don't replace bulbs.
I just curse darkness.

Lucy! (of Peanuts)

 

[Jumi]

It's much more complicated than this... Anyway, it was just a simple comparison. If you could imagine how it would be if you could feel the vibe of the entire universe around you at any point in time, it's something like that.

Like a meditative state, mixing "theta" state in. Can be interesting, but not at least immediately useful imo.

Mind you, it doesn't always work in my favor. Sometimes, the information is bad, as in, you don't want to know it.

If you check for statistical accuracy of hunches or information you get from these vibes, what would you expect to find?

 

[BilliardsBall]

I can't define "mystical", but seeing how it's commonly
used here on RF, I've never had such an experience.
(A fundie I knew once said I'm "spiritually dead" cuz I didn't know God.)
Are there others here so mired in the material world?

I know there are atheists and others who've never yet had a mystical experience. I hope they will know how to respond when they have one, because the Bible teaches that God will draw every person toward Himself at some point(s).

 

[Katzpur]

I can't define "mystical", but seeing how it's commonly
used here on RF, I've never had such an experience.
(A fundie I knew once said I'm "spiritually dead" cuz I didn't know God.)
Are there others here so mired in the material world?

I pretty much am. Maybe I don't understand what people mean by "mystical" experience. Probably the closest I've ever come was a little over two years ago when we visited the Redwood Forest in California. As I was walking along the path and trying to take in the majesty of those beautiful old trees, I looked up at one of them and felt a strange kinship to it. I felt like it had a soul and was feeling joy in its existence. It was an overpowering experience and a started to cry (as in bawl). I felt pretty stupid, but I couldn't help it. Maybe that was a mystical experience; I don't know. Other than that, I can't recall anything "mystical." I've had a handful of what I'd call "spiritual" experiences, but even those I don't have often.

 

[Shad]

I can't define "mystical", but seeing how it's commonly
used here on RF, I've never had such an experience.
(A fundie I knew once said I'm "spiritually dead" cuz I didn't know God.)
Are there others here so mired in the material world?

Never had one even when I was religious. I never attached "mystical" to normal emotional reactions

 

[Revoltingest]

.....the Bible teaches that God will draw every person toward Himself at some point(s).

Hmmmm....that could never be proven wrong.
As long as a lifelong unbeliever is alive, there's
always the possibility of a later mystical experience.
But if a last minute deathbed conversion, no one
else would know.

Don't make me quote Wolfgang Pauli!

 

[Bob the Unbeliever]

I know there are atheists and others who've never yet had a mystical experience. I hope they will know how to respond when they have one, because the Bible teaches that God will draw every person toward Himself at some point(s).

And yet.... fails to do that time and time and time again.

Why IS that, do you suppose? Why would this 'god' of yours be so selective in it's "drawing near"?

Why is it that the only people who ever "drawn near" are either ill, or suffering severe emotional/physical trauma or have been indoctrincated from birth?

Why does your god never seem to draw any one who is of sound mind and body?

 

[Mindmaster]

If you check for statistical accuracy of hunches or information you get from these vibes, what would you expect to find?

I don't claim to be psychic, just to avoid confusion. That stuff on TV isn't real to me, it's too excessive. It's much more like a hunch or nagging feeling on steroids. The only difference is I know the information is coming from 'elsewhere', wherever that is. Statistically, it's nearly always 100% but that's because I'm a pretty rational fellow. I usually don't notice it in minor dealings because the volume is low and the chattering in my head will obscure it. The only way I can keep it 100% active is to meditate and consciously shut the interference patterns down, so to speak. This isn't as useful as it would seem, since your mind processes are really good at dealing with the mundane stuff.

The only uses it has had in my life are avoiding major injury, gambling, and as a bull detector. If I clear my mind and pay a lot of attention to the person I'm speaking with I'll usually start feeling what they feel. So if they're really aggro, depressed, really happy, or whatever it's sort of infectious to me. It took me a long time to "box that" when I was growing up, because imagine combining hormones of the teenage years with that. I was a mess, and the people around me were too (other kids, lol) so stability was a challenge. You really don't understand what a crazy person is until you feel like them -- imagine a mind in complete chaos. The two or three legit crazy people I've ran into in my life left me scarred, so to speak. It's truly the stuff of nightmares. I have to block them out in their presence and be completely unsympathetic or it starts invading my mind. I feel it like they feel it... Imagine not knowing that in your youth and all the trouble it will cause, lol. I've even ran into situations where someone was completely delusional and they believe their own lies. If they believe them, and I don't know better I might believe them. You still have to weigh everything you get here, because those folks exist.

The short is: It's extremely useful at knowing what is going on with people, somewhat useful at finding unknown information, but there are certainly situations where it's undesirable.

 

[Jumi]

I don't claim to be psychic, just to avoid confusion. That stuff on TV isn't real to me, it's too excessive. It's much more like a hunch or nagging feeling on steroids. The only difference is I know the information is coming from 'elsewhere', wherever that is. Statistically, it's nearly always 100% but that's because I'm a pretty rational fellow. I usually don't notice it in minor dealings because the volume is low and the chattering in my head will obscure it. The only way I can keep it 100% active is to meditate and consciously shut the interference patterns down, so to speak. This isn't as useful as it would seem, since your mind processes are really good at dealing with the mundane stuff.

I know hunches. I just see that as a separate, though interesting category.

The only uses it has had in my life are avoiding major injury, gambling, and as a bull detector.

You get that feeling that this is actually dangerous, time slows down and you feel like the matrix when you avoid it. Lots of folk look for those situations, some monks even train near a cliff to get that.

I've even ran into situations where someone was completely delusional and they believe their own lies. If they believe them, and I don't know better I might believe them. You still have to weigh everything you get here, because those folks exist.

It makes a good politician or salesman, who would believe in their product despite it being ... well, what it is.

 

[Mindmaster]

You get that feeling that this is actually dangerous, time slows down and you feel like the matrix when you avoid it. Lots of folk look for those situations, some monks even train near a cliff to get that.

Yeah, I didn't do anything for that, however, I needed the skill in meditation just to be able to sort it out. It was detrimental in every way before that. I remember watching the Challenger explosion and felt really bad about it before, then blurting out, "It's going to explode." minutes before the launch. Everyone in class looked at me like I was a *******, then boom. On 9/11, I was supposed to be working at one of the buildings that the terrorists were targeting -- I was so out of sorts I got sick and had to call off. I just felt so much dread and all the cues were telling me to miss work, but not why. Having never been exposed to something like a terror attack I just had no idea what that feeling was. I mean, who could you tell those things to where it would matter or that they would believe you? That's the frustrating part of the whole thing... They're just going to rationalize it away.

 

[Woberts]

They're just going to rationalize it away.

Reproduce them in a controlled environment, then we'll see.

 

[BilliardsBall]

Hmmmm....that could never be proven wrong.
As long as a lifelong unbeliever is alive, there's
always the possibility of a later mystical experience.
But if a last minute deathbed conversion, no one
else would know.

Don't make me quote Wolfgang Pauli!

Yes, so how would you feel if Hitchens is in Heaven now, and you miss it because you are less open to Christianity than Hitchens was? Short-sighted, yes?

 

[BilliardsBall]

And yet.... fails to do that time and time and time again.

Why IS that, do you suppose? Why would this 'god' of yours be so selective in it's "drawing near"?

Why is it that the only people who ever "drawn near" are either ill, or suffering severe emotional/physical trauma or have been indoctrincated from birth?

Why does your god never seem to draw any one who is of sound mind and body?

You want me to explain the perfect timing of an omniscient God? Can't.

But I can tell you that wise people deescalate anger by remaining silent. As long as you complain incessantly, I don't think God will speak to you, He may be timing a deathbed conversion or something. Here's hoping!

 

[Woberts]

Yes, so how would you feel if Hitchens is in Heaven now, and you miss it because you are less open to Christianity than Hitchens was? Short-sighted, yes?

What if there is no afterlife, and you've wasted a large chunk of your life praying to something that doesn't exist?
Short-sighted, yes?

 

[Mindmaster]

Reproduce them in a controlled environment, then we'll see.

I'd have to care whether you believe in it or not, and I don't.

I was just sharing a few interesting stories... Take it for whatever it's worth. If you want validation all sorts of hints were left in this thread as to how to go about figuring it out yourself. Follow the bread crumbs... I don't view any of these abilities as supernatural, psychic, or beyond anyone whom is truly interested in the venture. The only difference between me and anyone else is awareness, and some focusing gained through meditation and practice. It's all up to the individual as to whether something has value, in any case.

 

[Mindmaster]

What if there is no afterlife, and you've wasted a large chunk of your life praying to something that doesn't exist?
Short-sighted, yes?

If your whole in this thread is to troll, take it somewhere else. Your lack of belief in an afterlife doesn't mean it doesn't exist, only that you don't know that it does. Which isn't exactly the same thing.

 

[Woberts]

The only difference between me and anyone else is awareness, and some focusing gained through meditation and practice.

Sorry for not noticing your supreme awareness.

 

[Revoltingest]

Yes, so how would you feel if Hitchens is in Heaven now, and you miss it because you are less open to Christianity than Hitchens was? Short-sighted, yes?

I have no feelings about artfully constructed hypotheticals.
There are others....
What if entry into an afterlife paradise depends upon following
a different path, & Christianity is an anathema to the gatekeeper?

So regarding things I don't know...things which are unknowable,
I'll not leap to faux knowledge on the off chance that picking one
religion from many might benefit me.
Also, I lack the ability to believe in something I don't believe.

 

[Mindmaster]

Sorry for not noticing your supreme awareness.

Did I say that it was supreme or special? No... Stop putting words in my mouth. The mechanism by which it works is available to anyone, last and final statement. That means even you, bucko, if you bother.