How to have a religious experience?
A former atheist I know described to me what it was like for him to have a profound spiritual experience, and it was compelling enough that I no longer call myself agnostic like I used to. I think I understand what religious people are talking about, but I still just feel so spiritually dead inside. I've always wanted to know what it's like to "talk to god" or whatever, so to speak. I am fully convinced that the experience is real, and I find the theology persuasive and compelling.
But I just don't know how to replicate it. I don't know I can ever experience it. On a purely intellectual level, it all really does make sense to me, but I've never felt that profound connection people describe. I don't know what's wrong with me.
Maybe I should read the bible or something.
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this is not the religion board
Yes it is, b***h
Ok anon this is really scary and i feel like im going schizo. Please read.
A couple months ago i started doing meditation/prayer for long periods of time which included trance like repetitive motion using music.
A month ago i attempted suicide and had a near death experience in which i was told to resume to do these meditations on february 16.
This is actually scary. You describe my method almost exactly here. I would add that once you are comfortable with this you should keep experimenting by adding even more influence. Shamanic/ using different substances ( caffeine/tobacco whatever you need ) to help you prolong this.
Actually pretty scary anon
How does it feel to finally be a bootlicker? God gave you suffering, he put you in a world that left you to rot inside, a world that will very likely reincarnate you as a caterpillar who gets eaten from the inside by moth maggots and you are so grateful that you want to connect with him
No different from Amazon workers wishing to experience the profound connection of their tongue on jeff bezo's toes
>amazon workers
Is working there worse than work at Walmart or any other factory/warehouse setting?
https://news.sky.com/story/14-hour-days-with-no-break-and-no-bathroom-amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-sued-by-his-former-housekeeper-12737828
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/09/20/tnvl-s20.html
Amazon is trying to remove the bathroom, thats all the evidence you need that walmart cant compare
I don't care for the metaphysical or supernatural claims of religion. God doesn't have anything to do with the creation of the physical world, or in "putting me here". In my estimation, God is a spiritual entity, found by introspection, it's an abstract ethical order, it informs your actions, and it feels like an unchanging rigid external agent which is extremely powerful. That's what I've been told, and I believe it. I'd like to communicate with this thing, but I have no idea how to do it, as silly as that sounds. I've never done prayer or meditated, and the profound experiences people describe seem to be thrust upon them when they are in some kind of moral torment, or in a very dark place, which I am not in at the moment.
Thanks. What you've said makes sense to me.
>Practice stillness of the mind on a regular basis.
I could use some guidance on how to do this. I have never really tried this kind of thing before.
Oh well, i take back everything i said then
stillness of the mind on a regular basis.
>I could use some guidance on how to do this. I have never really tried this kind of thing before.
I will take this from someone else:
>Finding a quiet spot where you will not be disturbed, away from the telephone, the doorbell, and other likely interruptions, is a must. The mind will not be still at first, and I concentrate on my breathing, thinking ‘breathe in, breathe out’, which at least takes the mind into a somewhat disciplined routine. As other thoughts enter my mind, I don’t fight them, but just let them pass, then I once again return to the regular breathing regime.
>Even a fifteen-minute session each day will soon become much easier to do, and one can gradually add a few more minutes. Meditate no more than is comfortable for you. And after a week or so of this practice, begin listening for other thoughts that seem to come to mind, when you may not recognize these thoughts as your own. One of the first things I noticed was that words being used in these thoughts were different than the words I ordinarily spoke. Many people call this ‘that little inner voice’. You will not hear a big booming shout coming from out of nowhere, but rather an impression of thoughts that form words. Again this is a new exercise for the mind, and you will naturally wonder if they aren’t somehow your own words, or even your imagination.
>Anytime you feel any uneasiness, just cut off the communication. You are always the one in control. Be yourself, and joke around and have some fun with this. After a few practice sessions you will find that your questions are being answered, and the process will make more sense. I used to write out what was recorded so I could read the words, and better understand the concepts. I believe most people can channel if they banish the thoughts that something fearful might happen.
>It truly never will.
>It is just a matter of listening for that small inner voice.
That's very interesting. Thank you, I will do these things.
I am here to tell you all once again that GOD is real. If you're searching for the answers, you're actively experiencing the return of the Christ CONCIOUSNESS, which is an awareness of our true nature as, quite literally, GOD. It's ALL GOD. The only thing there has ever been. It's *******all******* GOD. That's how any of the "listening to the small voice" works. The only way anything could ever know EVERYTHING about ANYTHING would for it to *be* that thing. Do you understand what I am saying? This is the fun part, the cosmic joke- GOD is all around you and in you, all of the time. Nobody can find it because the truth is so close to your face you can't see it- that's the idea of "hiding in plain sight".
The thing you think is "just you" thinking is actually the voice of GOD, just perceived through your vessel. The triangle on the dollar bill, the Eye of Providence, actually represents GOD'S conciousness and how that little voice came into fruition- a literal "I think, therefore I am." situation. From one wholly developed creature, to a partner from that creature, to the spawn. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit (do we see why misogyny has ruined everything yet). Everything is a microcosm of a macrocosm and vice-versa. Today we know those voices as Id, Ego, and Super-Ego.
Wow, if I was God I wouldn't want to talk to you.
>No wonder
🙁
1/2
I can speak from my own experience as someone who has been introduced to and inspired by christian religion at relatively young age and then raised in it until later I became atheist and ultimately settled with whatever it is that I am today.
When I was a kid I had been introduced to prayer and the concept of God and holy Trinity and for me as a kid it has been unquestionable fact that a higher power exists and is with us, personally, at any moment of our life and that by good behavior, being kind, genuine and meaning no harm to others, being helpful and good, that by that that power will keep me in its grace and will keep me safe and will guide me through life, so in doubt it will make me choose right and ultimately even when things will be bad it will help me get back to normal and will make things be right. So from my perspective, my faith was my personal relation with a higher power that promised me, and I trusted it, to be there for me at all time. And as such I had personal conversations with it in my head or spoke to it out loud when no one was around as to a dear guardian, kind spirit who had nothing but my wellbeing in mind. And I felt/knew that if I directed my thoughts to it it will listen, that it is receptive to what I say and so almighty that it has the power and ability to listen to every one of us attentively and up close. I had only one dream about god in my life where I interacted with his power in a palpable manner, but I saw god responding to me in other ways, like by bringing good things to my life, for which I felt grateful, or by giving me various signs or by drawing new paths ahead of me. I was certain and confident of what was right and that god was real.
That was until my mom, who was the main source of religion in my life, died and despite me being aware of the concept of god's tests often being cruel and painful, this one was too big, real and too impactful on my life to let me look past unfairness and cruelty of it. That rendered me resentful and hurt and for many years I turned away from religion completely, my partner who became very close to me in my life, and to this day is the most important person in me, isn't religious, I don't speak with him about god or spirituality. We often discuss philosophy and like studying people and life and we indulge in creating imaginary scenarios, but god isn't present in our life.
My own spirituality is currently at the stage where I don't resent it and at times of great sadness I turned to prayer and pleading for mercy from god. I pray sometimes and when I do i create a space in my head and commit it to the one I speak to. I say prayers that I know and think of them actively as I do. I don't try to rationalize it or make it into anything else than my personal relationship and interaction with God and although I don't blindly adore him as I used to I pay my respects sometime and let him be a presence. Other than that I just try to be wise and good, for my own and the world's sake.
So yeah, this is how god's presence looks and feels and felt for me. Maybe some of it might inspire you in finding your way to interact with him.
It is an error to try to approach religion from an intellectual standpoint. With religion I am referring to true religion; that being a personal one-on-one relationship between you and God.
The futility of the intellectual ramblings of the ego comes from the fact that God listens to the soul, not the mind. As you currently are, you are merely the ego of the material mind — a limited part of your consciousness chiefly concerned with material affairs and survival in a troubled world. To have a religious experience, you need to tap into the source of that ego —the soul—, which is your true identity that lies dormant during the day.
Practice stillness of the mind on a regular basis. Try to do it for at least half an hour a day. Attempt to silence the incessant ramblings of the mind and become aware of your own soul, and of the fragment of God within. God already lives in you, and would be overjoyed to be able to speak to you directly, should your mind eventually allow it.
I'm not religious, but I sometimes pray and feel something from it.
I just put my hands together and ask to connect to the good, the loving. I imagine it as a kind, serene presence that's actually around us all the time. It makes me feel at peace, like I'm transcending something. I sometimes wonder if I should do more with it, but I'm not really interested in religion.
It could definitely be just psychological, but I don't mind. Even if it is, isn't that kind of the point? It's helped me from the worst time I've had emotionally. I think it was this board where I read once that when you worship a polytheistic god, you're actually activating the part of your brain associated with what that god does. Maybe if you just worship 'God' you activate your own lovingness and goodness.
>How to have a religious experience?
So the way it works is--
>Maybe I should read the bible or something.
Wut? You didn't even *try* reading *any* of the instructions? gtfo.
New testament, at least finish Matthew Mark Luke & John preferably the whole thing
Allow yourself to be humbled to the point of trying to pray and ask for guidance in the answers you seek.
God will be patient with you, he already has been while you're steadily making progress towards seeking the truth and being in the creators hand
This is the first step you've got this
Lol no.
Matthew and Luke are poor fanfictions on Mark. (Acts is a poor fanfiction on Paul.)
All you need is the originals: Mark, Galatians, 1 Cor, 2 Cor. John has a different theology but is also interesting in its own right. Then Eph, Col, Philipp if you want to get gnostic
>i want to believe but I can't replicate my religious wants into reality
You don't say...
The first and foremost thing you need to understand is that God is talking to you and guiding you all the time, just not in a way you might understand. You need to learn how to read the signs. Do you ever get thoughts pop into your head that don't seem to be your own? What about gut feelings that warn you away from things? In hard times you can pretty much ask for signs and they will appear, you just need to open your mind and heart. The better you get at this the more you will see how you are being guided all the time. I would recommend taking up as many spiritual practice's as you can, anything that feels comfortable to you and try your best to commit to it. It might take a few years but after a while your life will be in harmony with God.
>I've always wanted to know what it's like to "talk to god"
I'm going to freak you out, perhaps. I wouldn't be telling you this if it weren't for the fact that I am telling you, knowing that everything has a purpose, so it is purposeful that I do tell you. Let me bring you to the head of the line.
There you go, have a seat. Now............ WHAT THE FRICK ARE YOU DOING??? !! YOU'VE BEEN HERE DOZENS OF TIMES !! I'VE GOT TO BAIL YOU OUT AGAIN ??!! WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GET IT ?? !! WHEN ??? You are GOD.
Believe it or not.
Meditation.
Thinking or reading tons of books won't give you any profound experience.
Only the absence of thoughts makes room for the experiences you are looking for.
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Life is a religious experience. If you want to see miracles, look around you. Live it. You don't need to melt your brain with drugs or meditation. Just have eyes to see and ears to hear.
OP. The kangaroos are right on the money. You will have one soon.
Just delude yourself. Think it's real as hard as you can and it'll feel real. Any normal coincidences or experiences, assign spiritual import to them for no good reason. All the time. Keep doing this and you'll be strapping bombs to your chest in the name of the Lord in no time.
Before one will ever have a truly transcendent experience of God, one must make the first step towards him in absolute faith -- it cannot be a conglomeration of reactive emotions or a loose framework of a system patched together with reason. You need to step off the cliff edge while in your whole being understanding that the only thing that will stop you falling is God, and if that happens to kill you then that too is perfectly acceptable.
I guarantee you if you embody that requisition, the very next thing you experience will be God; and it will be lasting.
Dying is a spiritual experience... you'll get there eventually, and faster, perhaps while still alive if you follow Christ, Buddha, or even a Crowley. The spiritual experience itself is always at God's discretion, it descends from the Divine, and you cannot self-will or imagine it.
It is best to meditate on absolute nothingness.