Awakening Moments

Today in church the focus of our service was on Buddhism, and the awakening of the Buddha - or perhaps, the awakening process itself. Hard really to tell - since some would see it one way, and some the other. Aside from the fact that I thought the service was fantastic, it reminded me of my own process of awakening as it continues to this day.

My awakening moment came in a prison cell in Eastern Oregon in 1994. I was sitting on my bunk, watching the sunlight dance, as sunlight is inclined to do, on the dust particles as they drifted in the air.

At that moment I realized how perfect and beautiful the moment was. And that no matter where I was, perfect moments were there for the taking. Since that time I have been able to move to that awareness pretty much at will.

Some spiritual experiences are profound and inconceivable, deep and vast as the ocean. Other spiritual experiences may be simple things like inspiration, a deep sense of hope, and the feeling of meaning or purpose. A sense of interconnectedness. These experiences help form the very foundations of our lives and choices. Regardless of belief or perspective, spiritual experience is essential to our health and a full experience of life. The secret lies in allowing the spiritual experiences, recognizing them, reflecting on them, and drawing their wisdom and peace into our daily lives.

Today we thought about emptiness. For example how an empty cup is the best possible vehicle to receive tea. If there is already something in the cup, then there's no room for the tea.

Our minds are like that - if there's already a tightly woven belief structure - or a worldview very rigidly set - like the best firewalls, nothing will penetrate it. Opening to the possibility of spiritual experiences means that we are willing to consider that just because something doesn’t fit our religious upbringing, or what we’ve been told to expect or told is "true" - doesn't mean it may not have great value to us.

Generally speaking, spiritual experiences are moments that transcend the ordinary mode of perception, meaning, and sensation. Spiritual experiences are typically absorbing, when we are involved in one we aren’t thinking about it. When we become self-aware of a spiritual experience it often causes it to change or end. Spiritual experiences are not necessarily of God or religious content, but they do typically connect you with a sense of relationship to something that defies or transcends the ordinary. Strange as some such experiences may be, they frequently feel as “real” as any ordinary experience of day to day life. Intensity, sensation and emotion are usually altered in a very distinct or dramatic way. Different types of spiritual experience have different qualities and manners of seeing and feeling. In some spiritual experiences we have insights about our life path, in others we may encounter sacred beings, and in others we experience a Divine Presence so infinite and self-evident that we are instantly transformed.

There's an AA slogan, "Let go and let God." I think that relates well here. And, like this morning - we learned that a space of some emptiness means not only that there is more room for our gifts to be presented, but more room for the gifts the transcendent has to offer us to be received. Perhaps in this instance it's the taking that really matters (rather than the giving). We can not help but awaken to the amazing amount of gifts filling our lives on a daily basis. And, the most natural response to that wonder, beauty and gift is to simply say, "Thank you God." And so I do.