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Author Topic: Suddenly Spiritual Moments  (Read 6145 times)

Keiyaku

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Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« on: November 01, 2011, 07:56:34 pm »
Tonight, minutes ago as I was walking home from a Boy Scouts meeting, I was pseudo-meditating. I was mostly thinking about my relationship with the Kami, and what people would think about a Westerner practicing Tao-Buddhist-Shinto, since my Japanese and Chinese blood isn't readily evident. As I was mulling over these things, I stared up into the sky.

At first I thought it was a satellite, but as i watched I realized it was a shooting star. a Big one at that. I watched it soaring across the heavens, set against a beautiful background of stationary stars. The thing had to last for at least seven seconds. It had a beautiful trail behind it too.

It was such a profoundly spiritual experience, I just had to bow and say "Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Kami-sama!"

So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?
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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2011, 09:15:48 pm »
Quote from: Emrys;28574

So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?

 
I'm not sure if this would qualify as a deity revealing hirself, but when I was a senior in high school, I did have a profoundly meaningful experience. We were on a field trip for our Marine Science class, to Sea Life Park. (Somewhat similar to Sea World, but much smaller.) This was less than a year after our rather famous "wholphin", Kekaimalu, was born.

Because we were students, and our teacher apparently knew someone with the facility, we got a "behind the scenes" tour of the non-public areas, including the nursery area. We were standing a few feet away from the holding tank where Kekaimalu and her mother was swimming, which had viewing "bubbles" set in it so the dolphins could see out at ground level.

While our tour guide was talking about some of the other performing animals in the park (I think she was telling us about the penguins), I was at the outskirts of the group when I felt someone looking at me from behind. I looked around, and saw Kekaimalu watching us.  

I have cats, so I know what being stared at by one feels like. This was completely different. Some people will say dolphins aren't equal in intelligence to humans, but it felt exactly like being watched by a human.

That was, and still is, one of the most profoundly moving moments of my life. (And it has completely convinced me that there is more intelligent life in the universe than just humanity.)
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Celtag

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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2011, 12:39:54 am »
Quote from: Emrys;28574
Tonight, minutes ago as I was walking home from a Boy Scouts meeting, I was pseudo-meditating. I was mostly thinking about my relationship with the Kami, and what people would think about a Westerner practicing Tao-Buddhist-Shinto, since my Japanese and Chinese blood isn't readily evident. As I was mulling over these things, I stared up into the sky.

At first I thought it was a satellite, but as i watched I realized it was a shooting star. a Big one at that. I watched it soaring across the heavens, set against a beautiful background of stationary stars. The thing had to last for at least seven seconds. It had a beautiful trail behind it too.

It was such a profoundly spiritual experience, I just had to bow and say "Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Kami-sama!"

So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?


Most of my experiences with the Deities have been in my dreams. Cerridwen usually come to me in dreams to relay messages or to make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
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Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2011, 06:04:06 pm »
Interesting! I've never had a person experience with god or a deity, but I think this is to do with the fact that I see god as a kind of metaphor for nature? If that makes sense lol
« Last Edit: November 18, 2011, 06:07:51 pm by Skylark »

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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2011, 08:48:26 pm »
Quote from: Celtag;28597
Most of my experiences with the Deities have been in my dreams. Cerridwen usually come to me in dreams to relay messages or to make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

 
Likewise.  In dreams I have met and conversed with Brighid, Ogma, and Persephone.  Then there is a silent figure who has never been named, but he is a warrior/hunter spirit.  He wears chain mail, a blue tabard, and a helmet adorned with antlers.

Brighid gives me advice, and I can consult with her when I need some direction.  The silent figure never speaks, but occasionally shows me flashes from previous lives.
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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2011, 03:10:30 am »
Quote from: Skylark;30808


 
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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #6 on: November 19, 2011, 09:58:48 am »
Quote from: Emrys;28574
Tonight, minutes ago as I was walking home from a Boy Scouts meeting, I was pseudo-meditating. I was mostly thinking about my relationship with the Kami, and what people would think about a Westerner practicing Tao-Buddhist-Shinto, since my Japanese and Chinese blood isn't readily evident. As I was mulling over these things, I stared up into the sky.

At first I thought it was a satellite, but as i watched I realized it was a shooting star. a Big one at that. I watched it soaring across the heavens, set against a beautiful background of stationary stars. The thing had to last for at least seven seconds. It had a beautiful trail behind it too.

It was such a profoundly spiritual experience, I just had to bow and say "Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Kami-sama!"

So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?

As  I look back in my time here, I realize how many spiritual moments I have had on this Earth. A very large horned owl that swooped in front of my car just across the windshield 24 years ago, the extremely large buck with a head of antlers so large I could not count them that stood in front of my car for 5minutes looking at me, the two wolves walking In tandem that stood approximately 30 feet from me at the boundary of our property looking at me in the half moon lit area. They just stood and looked, never did I fear any of them, wasn't 100 percent on the path at those times, but I believe came to show me the way. I marvel at the sunrise and sunsets now, at crows, and how they always seem to travel in three's, at the moon and all her cycles. I believe spiritual moments happen daily, between people and animals and life. I notice things more as I age I think. So the message is, doesn't matter what your path, there are so many moments. Just watch.  Luna
« Last Edit: November 19, 2011, 11:06:04 am by Tana »

Maps

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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #7 on: November 30, 2011, 02:42:04 pm »
Quote from: Emrys;28574
So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?

 
I've had many, but none of them involved gods. Mostly just being overwhelmed by nature and the universe.

Lots have happened while walking out on some of my family's rural properties; one out in the desert in New Mexico, another, a ranch, up in Oregon. I've gone on countless hikes into the mountains behind my house in So Cal where I've had "moments". Most of those I'd gone out with the intention of having a spiritual experience, though.

I've had run-ins with entities indoors; I'd call those "moments" too, but of a markedly different kind. Some of those felt hostile too. Nothing in dreams, though. And I've never been "thwapped" or nudged, or called by any deity before either.

Rowanfox

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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2011, 03:53:06 pm »
Quote from: Maps;32368
I've had many, but none of them involved gods. Mostly just being overwhelmed by nature and the universe.


One moment happened as I was out for an evening walk in our local park. This is not a man made park but a piece of land set aside at the edge of the city as a wild/nature preserve. The fog had rolled in rather quickly (in an part of the world where fog is pretty rare) and as I was wondering pondering my gods, a huge buck stepped from the fog. We sort of stared at one another for a few moments, then he kind of snorted and faded back into the fog. I never heard anything else, no steps or grass rustling or anything.....just that snort.... as if to say "Pffft, duh. I'm right beside you!!"

Another more "nature" event came when our family was out in the country to watch meteor showers. The meteors were not as plentiful as we had hoped and the kids were getting a little bored and cold. We were just packing up to head home when the sky lit up with northern lights. Not just the streaks of light we sometimes see, but great flashing whirls of colour. It looked like the wormhole effect from DS9! So cool, and it lasted almost half an hour. Kids all decided that was way cooler than meteors.

Fagan_the_Pagan

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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #9 on: December 01, 2011, 06:27:10 pm »
Quote from: Maps;32368
I've had many, but none of them involved gods. Mostly just being overwhelmed by nature and the universe.

Lots have happened while walking out on some of my family's rural properties; one out in the desert in New Mexico, another, a ranch, up in Oregon.


Oregon is good for those kind of Nature-based spiritual experiences.  I grew up there, but didn't fully appreciate what it was like until I had moved away.  In the times I have visited since, I have made a point to revel in it.  One significant experience occurred at the Japanese Garden in Portland.  A day or so previous I had been sitting in front of the fireplace at my brother's house, watching the way the flames moved.  Watching a small waterfall at the Japanese Garden I was marveling at the similarities in the ways fire and water can move.  At times is seemed almost identical, except that fire flows upward, and water flows downward.  

Currently I live up in the mountains of Southeastern California.  It's desert all around.  I was driving towards Riverside a few days ago, when I started to notice that the landscape on the west side of the mountains were covered in greenery in a way I haven't seen before.  I couldn't give it my full attention because, well, I was DRIVING, and didn't want to crash.  But it was a powerful tingling in the air, nonetheless.
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Maps

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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #10 on: December 02, 2011, 11:43:17 am »
Quote from: Fagan_the_Pagan;32574
Oregon is good for those kind of Nature-based spiritual experiences.  I grew up there, but didn't fully appreciate what it was like until I had moved away.  In the times I have visited since, I have made a point to revel in it.  One significant experience occurred at the Japanese Garden in Portland.  A day or so previous I had been sitting in front of the fireplace at my brother's house, watching the way the flames moved.  Watching a small waterfall at the Japanese Garden I was marveling at the similarities in the ways fire and water can move.  At times is seemed almost identical, except that fire flows upward, and water flows downward.


Ooh, I'm writing that last bit down somewhere.

But yes, totally agreed that the northwest is one of the most amazing places I've ever been, and Oregon is definitely a pretty magical place. Southern OR reminds me a lot of California, so it feels a lot like home... albeit a much quieter, rural, home. I'm going to be moving to Vancouver BC in a year or two, and I love it up there as well... going to be different because it's so wet, but the region definitely has a powerful pull on me.

Quote
Currently I live up in the mountains of Southeastern California.  It's desert all around.  I was driving towards Riverside a few days ago, when I started to notice that the landscape on the west side of the mountains were covered in greenery in a way I haven't seen before.  I couldn't give it my full attention because, well, I was DRIVING, and didn't want to crash.  But it was a powerful tingling in the air, nonetheless.

 
I've totally had that too! I grew up in the Crescenta Valley, so there were mountains on either side of us that were normally dry, dusty, and brownish. After the rains they'd green up a little bit, but this one time the western mountains, the ones separating us from Glendale/Burbank, go so incredibly green, and the air was so clear that I swear I could see every tree on the slopes from however many miles away I was. I could have stood and stared at it all day.

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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #11 on: December 05, 2011, 09:12:39 am »
Quote from: Emrys;28574
So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?

 
Not so much a nature experience as such, but at my high school we used to do meditation exercises sometimes in PE classes, and they were the usual sort of things; be calm, walk through a door and down some stairs, imagine a forest, sort of stuff.  This particlar day, we were to be sitting on a beach and relaxing.  What they said was that the sun was out and shining, the beach was warm, and the weather was calm.  There was a cool breeze, and we were supposed to be just lying on the soft sand.
Something in my mind said no.  Suddenly, it was nighttime, I and I wasn't on the beach, I was out standing on the waves.  The sky was dark, and the sea was green grey and stormy; there was lightning and thunder.  It was incredibly invigorating, I had so much energy when the meditation time finished.  A few months later, I realised that I was supposed to look into Manannan, and I think that was probably my first clue.
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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #12 on: January 18, 2012, 05:35:26 pm »
Quote from: Emrys;28574
So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?

A bit of an older thread, but I know this feeling quite well, and so I wanted to post.

My religious experiences are typically nature-based.  As I observe the world around me, I like to take note of all the little details and think on them.  Once during a major change in my life, I came across a frog sunning itself by a stream, and used it to meditate on how frogs change so drastically during their lives (going from tadpole to adult).  When living in southern Utah, coming across a hidden canyon with beautiful sandstone hoodoos was like stepping into a sacred space.  Catching glimpses of deer walking right beside the trail I'm hiking on is like being graced by some other worldly presence.  Even hearing the neighborhood red tail hawk pair while out walking the dogs is inspiring.

I have a few memories that stick out as being the strongest, most moving experiences, though (I'll only post two to save you all from me babbling ;) ).  

The first was when I was living in Kansas, while hiking at night through the local park - I heard a coyote calling.  I mimicked the sound, and we called back and forth.  Before I knew it, his whole family was calling and I was singing with them (and a few times I heard rustling leaves like animals moving through them around me).  I know they were probably wondering who and what I was, but it was exhilarating for me to interact with them like that.  Once they found out I was human, they went silent and moved off, leaving me giddy and giggling.  I've called at coyotes many times since then, but it was never as an intense experience as then.
 
Then when we moved to Alabama, my hubby and I were hiking out in the woods, and got lost - ended up missing a trail and 8 miles away from our car on a very tough trail (very rocky terrain).  It was getting on dusk, and we were exhausted.  Sitting down to have some water and rest, we quietly listened to the forest around us.  

And that's when a pair of barred owls started calling.  They were so loud and so close, it was startling.  I didn't know Alabama had barred owls, and I had only ever heard them distantly before - I was so surprised and excited.  Their voices are amazing, I get chills whenever I hear it (if you don't know what they sound like, there's a video on Youtube ).  They called for a while, and then went silent when we got up to move on.  

That little adventure was like our initiation into our new home.  We were exhausted, filthy, and very sore by the time we got back to our car... but the barred owls were totally worth it.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2012, 05:38:09 pm by The Grumble »

herenow

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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #13 on: March 01, 2012, 11:44:41 am »
Quote from: Vella Malachite;33166
Not so much a nature experience as such, but at my high school we used to do meditation exercises sometimes in PE classes, and they were the usual sort of things; be calm, walk through a door and down some stairs, imagine a forest, sort of stuff.  This particlar day, we were to be sitting on a beach and relaxing.  What they said was that the sun was out and shining, the beach was warm, and the weather was calm.  There was a cool breeze, and we were supposed to be just lying on the soft sand.
Something in my mind said no.  Suddenly, it was nighttime, I and I wasn't on the beach, I was out standing on the waves.  The sky was dark, and the sea was green grey and stormy; there was lightning and thunder.  It was incredibly invigorating, I had so much energy when the meditation time finished.  A few months later, I realised that I was supposed to look into Manannan, and I think that was probably my first clue.


Parts of this thread sound similar to an experience I often have.
It is an intense feeling of consciousness, I guess. In fact it is like really waking up, even though I'm already awake.
I can be anywhere, and if I'm relaxed and not having to interact with anyone and not distracted, I can
get this intense awareness, and I find myself thinking "I'm here, right now". And every time I do that,
time slows down more and more. I get an intense awareness or realization and it kind of accelerates.
It is like I had been in a dream but I am now awake. It only lasts a few seconds at a time, but it is an awesome, exciting feeling.

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Re: Suddenly Spiritual Moments
« Reply #14 on: March 12, 2012, 03:02:23 pm »
Quote from: Emrys;28574
So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?

 
Barely half a block away from home, I heard a crow cawing and saw it perched on a telephone pole. I said hello to it, since I count crows and I like being polite just in case it's the Morrigan('s messenger).

But it kept cawing its head off and flew over from where it was to the telephone post that I just passed by, and so I asked, "Are you trying to tell me something?" with no small amount of discomfort, given all the "one for sorrow" superstitions in the counting-crow poems.

And then a hummingbird flitted over after I asked. It chirped a few times and fluttered around the crow, then flew to the plum tree in front of my apartment before leaving.

The crow left as well, and I was extremely relieved.
On hiatus, but might pop in now and then. Just making it official.

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