Have You Had a Spiritual Experience?

Ziggy Pankowicz pokes his crew-cut head into my Air-Force-furnished research-and-development cubicle. He’s sporting a characteristic grin that warns he is about to unleash one of his dry, humorous insights. Ziggy, a bright and entertaining co-worker, wears a faded number on his forearm. It betrays his World War II prisoner-of-war status. In his thick Polish accent, he quietly spins a yarn about a computer programmer who needs to test his new story-writing program. The programmer instructs his cyber-child to write a short story that offers an element of religion, a touch of class, a hint of sex, and an aura of mystery. Lo and behold, out pops this little gem: “My god,” cried the Duchess, “I'm pregnant! “I wonder who did it.” Well, one can safely say the story-writing program in this yarn met its creator’s rules! Entertainment value aside, though, you would never confuse such a story with a work of artistic value. In fact, the story might remind you of the literal and cramped “thinking” that computers have done in the past. Things are changing, though. As of this writing, computers that use artificial intelligence are overtaking humans in many cognitive tasks. But not to worry. Humans are special—more than just robots. Or are they? Well, just sneeze in a room full of people and note how many “God bless yous” pierce the air! The “God bless you” response to sneezing is an unconscious social custom. At least that’s how it is in my culture. Many blessers and recipients will tell you—and I’ve asked—that they like the custom and would not part with it. But there’s more to consider. Even though you might not bless sneezes, haven’t we all adopted automatic, follow-the-crowd behaviors that slip right around our critical judgment filters? Best-selling authors write about it. Is it possible some of those automatic behaviors are more harmful than sneeze-blessing? And possibly more suppressive of our spiritual perceptions and thoughts? Common Thoughts that Suppress Our Spiritual Natures We express many automatic responses of a spiritually suppressive nature. That’s because we’ve picked up negative thinking habits. Here’s a sample list of common negative or suppressive thoughts: • I’m afraid to die because that will be the end. • You only live once. • God loves others more than me. • Life is a random walk and I have no control over it. • There’s no proof spiritual experiences are real. • Why can’t I have proof of life after death? • If I can’t see it, it’s not real. • We must pray for peace. • I can’t conquer fear. • My job is to tell it like it is. • Dreams are imaginary fantasies. • I must fight evil. • I should do my best to raise others’ states of consciousness. • I should do more to help save the world. • Clerics and ministers and popes are closer to God than I am and I should defer to them on spiritual matters. We might want to know about usual habits, thoughts, or other automatic behaviors that stifle our spiritual perceptions and growth. We might want to know about what prevents us from experiencing life to its fullest. We can then plan for changes that won’t upend our lives or the lives of those close to us. The Soul in the Machine There’s hope. No matter how much time we spend practicing mechanical awareness, we “carbon-based life forms” have something going for us that computers and story-writing programs never will: Our spiritual identity. That’s the non-material, permanent part of ourselves that moves on to the “next experience” when our bodies stop working. This part of us is the Perceiver, the Knower, the Overseer, the Director, the Be-er, the Experiencer, and the Chooser of Life Opportunities (or Decider, for short). It’s the only part of us that can consciously discriminate. It’s the one that can veto the mind’s habitual choices that take place under “automatic pilot.” Most people in our Western culture call this identity a “soul,” and they refer to it as “my soul.” But, there’s a sneaky problem built into “my soul” imagery. The following, sometimes-humorous adage captures the problem well: “I want to go to heaven, but I don’t want to die to get there.” See? The wrong “I” has the lead. That’s the ego speaking. A delusion hides in that little adage. It goes something like this: “There’s me, and then there’s my soul. But I’m not the one who gets to make the trip when the last traces of life force vacate my body. Only my soul gets a pass out of this place!” Not encouraging for me, eh? That delusional view of oneself creates a picture that misleads and scares people. It promotes a temporary spiritual blindness that delays Self-knowledge. The ego is just a machine. It has nothing to do with the real me. Getting Our Self-Images and Expectations Right, First “Know thyself,” the ancient Greek aphorism, is the foundation for creative and spiritual discovery. To know oneself as a spiritual being involves attitude, attention, experience, and grace. If I hold the attitude I’m something I’m not, and I keep my attention riveted on that falsehood, the falsehood becomes my temporary reality. Then I cannot know the real me. It’s simple. This means it’s crucial to shift gears to discover the right self-imagery. We want to support an attitude that doesn’t hamper Self-knowledge or limit our creativity. If I have experiences on the inner planes that show I continue to exist independent of the physical vehicle I now inhabit, I no longer fear the time when I must drop the body. Many near-death experiencers have reported this. A steady progression in spiritual unfoldment from one life to the next becomes clear. That’s the principle of continuity of life. Fortunately, we don’t need a near-death experience to come to this realization. Who Am I? Seeing the Forest from the Trees I relate this experience because it may remind you of one of your own. On about a half-dozen occasions now, I have either awakened from sleep or from a contemplation exercise, have opened my eyes, and not known who, where, or what I am. I’m just peering out into the room through physical eyes, conscious of what I’m seeing but not knowing what it means. This may continue for a minute or two until all my senses return. It’s possible to explain such occurrences in different ways. I’m confident I understand why it happens, but that’s not at issue here. The point is this: Despite the missing pieces, I still know that I AM. That perception has always been present. A Preliminary Introduction to “Soul” Now and for the rest of this book, I urge you to stop picturing yourself as having a soul. Instead, picture yourself as being Soul, with a capital “S.” This could easily kick-start your creative exploration. “Soul” is a generic word—a descriptor for a “spiritual species” of the highest order—a spark of God. Soul has the general qualities of intelligence, individuality, and self-awareness. It comes equipped with all the creative qualities of Divine Spirit with one exception: It cannot create individual Souls as Divine Spirit can. But other than that, Its creative palette offers no limits. It is a state of being close to Divine Spirit, Itself, in lineage. In contrast “a Soul” is a singular member of the species. Like you and me. “A Soul” has Its own identity and permanent experience history that accents Its individuality throughout eternity. Breaking through Illusion The shift in imagery from “I have” to “I am” carries power, but the power doesn’t come from the imagery itself. Rather, it comes from new doorways that open within our creative imaginations from having adopted the imagery. These doorways offer us a chance to distinguish the mechanical, unconscious human from the spiritual being that can embrace Its innate creative potential. The doorways have great spiritual potential. Do we have the will to step through them?