| We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| The Paranormal and Spirituality | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 26 2005, 09:00 AM (477 Views) | |
| psyfi | Aug 26 2005, 09:00 AM Post #1 |
|
psyfi
|
Do you think it is important that as part of one's spiritual grow, they have one or more paranormal (for lack of a better word) type experiences such as: out of body experiences, miracles, mystical visions, precognitive dreams, etc. If so, why? If not, why? |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| Fesarius | Aug 26 2005, 11:14 AM Post #2 |
|
Admiral
|
I don't think it is necessary, but it may be important. I've experienced at least two miracles in my life thus far. I think if a person is predisposed not to believe in any power higher than him or herself, then these types of experiences will have no effect on their spiritual growth. Some people are offended at the mere mention that they might not be in control of their own destiny. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| psyfi | Aug 26 2005, 12:30 PM Post #3 |
|
psyfi
|
Do you think that the fact that there is a higher power necessarily means people are not in control of their own destiny? I do think that people have a hard time coming to see that there is One who knows a lot more than they do and to whom they should be turning for their every decision. Is that what you mean? |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| Fesarius | Aug 26 2005, 03:43 PM Post #4 |
|
Admiral
|
^^^ Psyfi, Yes, that's just about it.
|
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| who | Aug 26 2005, 04:52 PM Post #5 |
|
Have light saber. Will travel.
|
I think it really depends on the person. I think I can only speak for myself. I think I really needed all of the ones I have had. I was brought up to believe in God but then became an atheist as I pursued science. I began having spiritual experiences in my teens so there was a strong pull in this direction as well. As I continued to pursue both I became an agnostic. I believed in the spiritual in terms of there being a higher state of being, of enlightenment, but did not know if there was a God or not. I just could not believe in the God that had been presented to me as judgmental and vengeful. I then had a Revelatory experience in which I had direct mind to Mind contact with God. I then KNEW that God existed and that He is not judgmental or vengeful. So, for me, these experiences were necessary. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| Swidden | Aug 26 2005, 06:37 PM Post #6 |
|
Adm. Gadfly-at-large; Provisional wRench-fly at large
|
I can't really say that I have had any such experiences. I'll just go with Christs words to Thomas on the subject... |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| psyfi | Aug 26 2005, 09:22 PM Post #7 |
|
psyfi
|
Thomas is an interesting case regarding this point. If you saw a dead man walking and breathing, that would be a paranormal experience. Thomas was actually doubting the paranormal experience in the way that people often do. They have a precognitive dream and poo-poo it as nothing much. They walk into a room and have a feeling that they have been there before long ago but instead of exploring that feeling and going with it as perhaps something meaningful, they quickly dismiss it and go on to focus on the everyday regular stuff. In their dream, they see an angel but instead of reflecting on what the angel said, they dismiss it as the stuff that comes with eating too late in the evening. In other words, they doubt. They want proof before they believe in the supra-normal experience they are having. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| 24thcenstfan | Aug 26 2005, 09:51 PM Post #8 |
|
Something Wicked This Fae Comes
|
I can't speak for other people, but it would be important for my own spiritual growth to experience something concrete that proves the existence of God. However, I have never considered myself worthy of being presented with that proof (in whatever form). So I don't ever expect to receive it. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| who | Aug 26 2005, 10:35 PM Post #9 |
|
Have light saber. Will travel.
|
It was important for me to have that particular experience to believe. I really, really wanted to know. I think we have to have a certain amount of faith for anything. If there is a small stream and we believe we cannot jump across we will not. I believe we are all worthy. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| psyfi | Aug 27 2005, 01:16 AM Post #10 |
|
psyfi
|
I think that all of us have very few of these experiences precisely because we do not feel worthy. In A Course in Miracles it is noted that the habit of "engaging" with God is easily formed IF we do not allow our focus to slip away from that goal. However, it goes on to say that we tell ourselves that we grow tired, that it is hard to concentrate so steadily, and so forth but that none of these reasons are true. The true reason that we find ourselves unable to main the focus is that we feel we are not worth the effort. I do believe this. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| Franko | Aug 27 2005, 04:22 AM Post #11 |
|
Shower Moderator
|
I suppose that if I were to take random sampling of people I know who believe in God, about half of them would confess meaningful "spiritual" experiences, and about half of them wouldn't. I think some people are just inclined that way; where conciousness is able to link into different levels of perception. Mainly my relatives on my Mother's side were people who had or were capable of paranormal experience. Her grandfather was apparantly able to clot blood by laying on his hands, and even find lost objects by dreaming about them. My grandmother (again on my Mom's side) was very religious and could sometimes out of the blue give me mysterious advice that would only make sense later. And, like, a lot of sense. On my father's side of the family, who also come from a general Christian and friendly tradition, however, there isn't really a whole lot in the "paranormal" department. Just regular folk from rural or farming backgrounds, like most of us on this board likely have. (as ancestors) Which makes me wonder whether an aptitude for "supernatural cognizance" could be genetically inherited. ? As to my own personal experience, I think that I've inherited some capacity for this from my Mom's family background; and certain experiences I've had in my life I consider very important for attempting to understand aspects of "higher reality". I also at times find that they may be linked to the creative process, as music is able to express things that cannot be communicated semantically; either as a listener or as a player. I'll have more to say about this subject later. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| who | Aug 27 2005, 09:16 AM Post #12 |
|
Have light saber. Will travel.
|
I am also "A Course in Miracles" student. In the course it defines the ego in a different way that psychology normally does. It is, as I understand it, a thought system in our mind. Its purpose is to maintain the apparent separation between things, people, and God. I think these feelings of being tired and so on are mechanisms of the ego. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| who | Aug 27 2005, 09:20 AM Post #13 |
|
Have light saber. Will travel.
|
Franko, it may be that some are able to pass on a larger awareness. It may not be on a genetic basis. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| psyfi | Aug 27 2005, 09:30 AM Post #14 |
|
psyfi
|
It also describes the underlying foundation of the ego as that of a pervasive feeling of unworthiness. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| Dandandat | Aug 27 2005, 10:29 AM Post #15 |
|
Time to put something here
|
Or perhaps it is that they had eaten too late in the evening, or that there dream seemed to be precognizant because most dreams are a jumble of images and sounds that can be interrupted in many many ways and because of this it is a trick of the mind that something seemed to be precognizant, or maybe the room they walked into was similar to another room they walked into along ago that they don't quite remember and their memory is playing tricks on them.
Or maybe it is that people have a hard time coming to see in something that is not real. The way I see it your posts in this thread are arguing form the stand point that there is absolutely a god (an understandable position since you believe in it) but then you try to project your own beliefs on to others that may not see things as you do. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Spiritual Journeys · Next Topic » |


1:50 PM Jul 11