The Mystical Experience
"The mysteries of life become lucid ? and often, nay usually, the solution is more or less unutterable in words." -- William James, "The Varieties of Religious Experience"
I don't remember who came to my door. I don't remember what he said. I do remember he was angry.
I had just finished reading a book called "Summerhill" by an English schoolmaster, A.S. Neill. Its theme was 'freedom, not license'. Each student in Neill's school was free to do what he wanted as long as the conduct didn't hurt someone else. The community Neill had created was a free, creative, loving, respectful, responsible interaction of unique human beings.
Recently, I'd been involved in disciplinary battles with one of my preschool sons. The battles resulted in increasingly destructive behavior in him and increased frustration in me. I decided to give Neill's methods a try, with my own children and with other people in my life.
The man at the door wasn't hurting me. I decided to allow him to vent his anger. I didn't do it because it was something I ought to do. I did it because I chose to do it. I experienced acceptance of the anger and no desire to retaliate. Suddenly, the anger stopped.
Nothing changed. My house, the door, the living room, the man, were all still there, just as they had been five minutes before.
Yet everything changed. Suddenly, I understood the meaning of words I'd been taught as a child: "But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matthew 6:39.
My five-year-old son Bill began wetting the bed after his youngest brother was born. At first, I ignored the bedwetting. Perhaps it would disappear. When it didn't, I explained to Bill why he was too big a boy to wet the bed. The wetting continued. I reasoned with him, threatened him, screamed at him, and spanked him. The wetting continued. I felt angry and frustrated.
Neill frequently dealt with problem behavior by rewarding his students. While rewards for bad behavior didn't make sense, nothing else had worked. Neill's ideas worked with the man at the door. I decided to try them with the bedwetting problem.
The next time Bill wet the bed, I gave him a penny. He stared at me in confusion. The following morning, his bed was dry. He never wet it again. My anger and frustration disappeared.
What a powerful tool! I began using Neill's ideas with neighboring children.
One day, two children were calling each other names in the back yard and threatening to fight. Instead of trying to stop them, I took each aside and asked him if he wanted to fight.
"I don't want to fight," each responded, "but he's making me do it. He's calling me names."
"Do you want to fight?" I reiterated. "If so, go ahead and do it."
The boys mumbled to themselves and looked at the ground. Two minutes later, they were happily playing together.
What I was doing contradicted everything society had taught me, but it brought the peace and harmony I desired. Society had taught me to punish people for 'bad behavior', but I didn't punish them. Society had taught me to resist 'evil', but I no longer resisted. Society had taught me to fight for peace, but I no longer fought.
Instead, I simply detached from the anger and turmoil around me and allowed it to happen without responding to it. The anger and turmoil dissipated, and my life and relationships worked. By allowing myself to remain peaceful and harmonious, everything around me became peaceful and harmonious.
I had always understood Matthew 6:39 as an unattainable moral commandment, requiring subservience of my own needs to the needs of others. It wasn't that at all. It was extremely effective action I could take all by myself, that benefited both me and others. There was no self-denial in that action. There was only self-affirmation and life affirmation. I had never before felt so free, so strong, so powerful, so integrated, so fully in control.
Nothing outside me changed. The only thing that changed was my own perceptions, thoughts, actions, and emotions.
What I experienced has been called a "mystical experience".
As a child, I had been taught to doubt, question, and trust my own judgment. My upbringing didn't include education about mystical experiences, but I knew that many religions included words about these experiences.
As I read William James' "Varieties of Religious Experience", and texts from Christianity, Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Hinduism, Plato, and existentialist philosophers, I could recognize my own experience in all the different words. It was as if different people were describing the same beautiful flower garden. Some talked about roses, some spoke of delphiniums, some noticed the color patterns, some focused on the trellises and paths. If I hadn't seen the flower garden and were just listening to the words, I would have thought the people were talking about different things. Having seen the flower garden, I knew they were all giving verbal structure and form to the same underlying experience, just as our minds give form and meaning to the fixed lines of optical illusions.
I couldn't stop playing with these ideas. Was my life the same or was it different? Did I know or did I know nothing? I wasn't sure.
Are the religious words true, or is each set of words simply a finger pointing toward the moon? Is there a sense in which words are false idols? Does the meaning of each set of words depend on the human consciousness that hears them and uses them? Do words have meaning only in the context of particular experiences and mindsets?
"Neither an outside observer nor the Subject who undergoes the process can explain fully how particular experiences are able to change one's center of energy so decisively, or why they so often have to bide their hour to do so. We have a thought, or we perform an act, repeatedly, but on a certain day the real meaning of the thought peals through us for the first time,..." -- William James, "The Varieties of Religious Experience"
Janet Smith Warfield is a powerful word sculptress who knows how to bring peace into troubled lives. As wife, mother, grandmother, lawyer, mediator, poet, and author of creative essays, she has been honing her words and wisdom for 40 years. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Rutgers School of Law, Camden, cum laude.
For more information, see http://janetsmithwarfield.com
Questions? E-mail http://janetsmithwarfield.com
ohare limo service Grand Rapids ..Why do we have an Ego?Almost all spiritual guides say... Read More
I have sent out hundreds of press releases for my... Read More
We want to hear from God so that we may... Read More
With those words recorded in Exodus 15:26, God proclaims to... Read More
Every soul that is currently experiencing life on any level... Read More
Feeling restless? Is part of you calling out for change,... Read More
Can you imagine being sent out into the wilderness for... Read More
Jesus said, "No one can see the Kingdom of Heaven... Read More
Realisation and repeated memorization of the true knowledge is the... Read More
1. Gabriel means: "God is my strength" or "God is... Read More
Matthew 3:1-3 The Preaching of John the Baptist1 In those... Read More
The human body is surely a miracle of God's creation.... Read More
It would be nice if the planet - like so... Read More
"Mama, save me!"My six year old son jumped into my... Read More
The contrast between the two men could not have been... Read More
In the movie "A Beautiful Mind" John Nash (played by... Read More
Talking about your "soul" and the deeper things in life... Read More
The term spirituality is a confusing term. Usually, when one... Read More
Judgement; What does this mean? The encyclopedia definition is, "The... Read More
Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt love the... Read More
Yes, we are living in a world where we are... Read More
Ever wonder what happened to the family dinner hour? Or... Read More
I know eyebrows are probably raising about now, but let... Read More
What the Animals Tell Us"I am the Sun's son. I... Read More
Sundered Knight:Although the world, Denies the weak aid and justice,... Read More
executive chauffeured services Barrington Hills ..Do you want victory in your life? Do you have... Read More
Echo was a flea-bitten gray horse, with brown speckles everywhere,... Read More
"I learned I was not, as most Africans believed, the... Read More
It's the most powerful weapon on Earth. It can turn... Read More
By invoking an external God to whom we look for... Read More
I am disturbed by the tendency of some people to... Read More
Yesterday, a marketing guru asked me a question that left... Read More
Who among us really understands the chakras? For all that... Read More
Each time our children graduate from one stage to another... Read More
There is no incident in the life of Moses which... Read More
Freedom....The cherished goal of humanity throughout its history.No society has... Read More
What does it take to live life holistically?It definitely does... Read More
Some of us might hear from time to time that... Read More
Good morning Roy, good morning JosethWhat about me, were do... Read More
"Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as... Read More
"Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my... Read More
In the make-believe world, too, fiction and films are filled... Read More
As more and more alternative and spiritual healings are being... Read More
One cannot read the account of Benhadad and Hazael in... Read More
Religion is "absolute truth of life" of the physical manifested... Read More
The essence of the Christian faith is the good news... Read More
Hello, My name is Mellody Davis and here is my... Read More
Of the many individuals who were touched through the ministry... Read More
1. Raphael means "God heals." Raphael heals physical, emotional and... Read More
In the movie "A Beautiful Mind" John Nash (played by... Read More
Spirituality |