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| Posted: Sun Nov 5th, 2006 03:05 pm |
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1st Post |
Dorothy
Member
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This is the first of two outstanding spiritual experiences I have had in my lifetime. There have been "other moments" on and off during my life that have a spiritual undertone to them but the one below and the one I wrote about prior (meditation experience to reach my father) are the two main main ones. As before, I do not need "validation" per se on their occurrence but I sure do appreciate any input and insight from you. This particular experience I write about here was not through any meditation technique but happened spontaneously and came to me on its own volition. Thank you.
My father converted to the Catholic religion during World War II and he was a "follow the book and live your life as the Catholic religion directs." He was to me a perfect father. He was 33 and my mother was 29 in 1946 when they got married at Immaculate Conception Church in Elmhurst, IL. My mother converted to the Catholic faith because that's how things were done then. My father said later in life that after the war, he was mixed on which direction in his life he should choose; either becoming a Catholic priest or getting married and raising a family. Obviously, he chose the latter. My father would have made a perfect priest. He loved animals and was a very kind person, never drank, an upstanding citizen, taking care of the family always came first. I will tell you also that during my entire life, I NEVER heard him swear! That's unheard of in this day and age. So, that's a little background on how I grew up. I had an extremely happy childhood. Being around my father, I always felt a calmness within me that was just "there."
Every Sunday, we went to Mass. In 1961, we had just moved to Rockford from a small town which I loved and we lived in a house we bought down the hill from St. Peter's Church, about two blocks away. The bishop lived on the grounds also in a very grand house. It is now St. Peter's Cathedral and is the seat of the Diocese of Rockford by the way. Well anyway, we walked to Church that morning. It was some special occasion in the Church but I can't remember those exact details (Easter maybe?). My mother didn't go that day though. It was my twin sister, my younger sister, my father and I. We sat on the left side of the church, maybe seven or eight pews up from the altar and it was a Mass performed by the bishop that day. After the Mass was finished, there was a procession from the altar towards the back of the church led by an altar boy carrying one of those high up crucifixes (high up on a pole) with the bishop and priests following behind. The bishop was swinging incense back and forth as he walked. I remember thinking how I liked the smell of the incense and my mind was in a state of a typical 13-year-old girl, kind of daydreaming. Next I glanced up at the little crucifix on the tall pole. Immediately as my eyes glanced upon it, it more or less GRABBED my eyesight. It was highly magnetic, just like a huge MAGNET taking complete control of me. It actually had a hold of my eyesight. There was a brilliant "brightness" to this experience. All the while, the procession was slowly walking down the aisle but it was as though as this "brightness" had a hold of my eyes, it seemed to pull me up and out of my body and my consciousness was going up towards it and at the same time, Jesus/God/Holy Spirit (??), coming down out of the crucifix and going in through my eyes and down into my body. It was about as an esoteric experience any person could have! This MAGNET had a hold of me until the moment the crucifix got past my ability to see the front of it. At that moment, it let go of me and I snapped back into my body and was totally as I was before it happened. I can best describe its letting go of me by comparing it to when you hold a rubberband in your fingers and stretch it as far as you can and then let it go! Snap! There was no pain involved with this snapping back into my body. It was something that happened to me that at that time I had no words to describe it! I DID try to explain to my father what happened after we left the church and were walking back down the hill but I didn't do a very good job at it so decided to keep quiet about it. In my 13-year-old mind at the time, I came to the conclusion that it meant I was "supposed to become a nun" and that was the plan I kept in my head until several years laterwhen the Beatles came along and the whole plan went out of my head faster than you could sing "She Loves You."
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| Posted: Sun Nov 12th, 2006 05:41 am |
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2nd Post |
Dorothy
Member
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ADDENDUM TO MY TWO MAJOR SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES: In the past several weeks (as you know), I have given both of my "outstanding" experiences a lot of thought and have come to the conclusion that perhaps my FIRST spiritual experience in church at the age of 13 where basically I (my spiritual self) was literally "pulled out of my body" by an outside force (i.e., not instigated by me) and may have been a precursor to the SECOND spiritual experience after my father passed (i.e., instigated by me through meditation). I say this because when I was age 13, God would have KNOWN that several decades down the road, I would ATTEMPT my meditation with a goal of reaching my father's soul. Does that make sense?
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| Posted: Sun Nov 12th, 2006 07:56 am |
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3rd Post |
Rev. TomCat
Member
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From: Dorothy
Date: 2006-11-11 22:41:03
ADDENDUM TO MY TWO MAJOR SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES:
Dorothy: This may not be what you want to hear but I feel like saying it. I think that God does not tend to the details of how you work out your life unless you ask for intervention. Jesus said Ask and you will receive. He does not interfere in our lives but will answer our prayers when asked. Divine intervention is rare. God Knows all (yes); I can agree with that but being pulled out by some outside force would probably to me be the inside force you created with your higher self. Maybe I am wrong but maybe you don't need to explain it all. It happened and was a gift. Rev. TomCat
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| Posted: Sun Nov 12th, 2006 10:09 am |
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4th Post |
Dorothy
Member
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Rev TomKat: The experience I had at 13 was a gift, I know that, but the event itself was not instigated by me. I was only 13 and pretty much a "space cadet" in the head at that time. While I am still on this earth I guess, I will be looking for answers to that experience, although they might not ever come within my lifetime. What if you were more or less minding your own business one day and some powerful "outside force" just came along and pulled you out of your body without telling you why? You'd be wanting answers too I would think. One answer I know for sure that day, God WAS in that church that day all those years ago. Since I never ended up becoming a nun, then the only other thing I can equate that particular experience to is that God would have known about my attempted meditation/communication several decades down the road. But like I have said before ".. I guess sometimes I just think too much" but one day when I pass on, at least I can tell God I tried to find answers while still here. Divine intervention is rare, I totally agree with what you say here, but maybe God just wanted "to have a good look at me" before my big event (i.e., my visit to the other side). If I don't get all the answers in my life, that's okay but someday when you and I are both on the other side, I hope I will have the answers then and I will look you up and let you know the outcome. Okay, deal?
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| Posted: Sun Nov 12th, 2006 07:26 pm |
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5th Post |
Rev. TomCat
Member
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Dorothy said> If I don't get all the answers in my life, that's okay but someday when you and I are both on the other side, I hope I will have the answers then and I will look you up and let you know the outcome. Okay, deal?
+++ Rev. says
I rely on what words in the bible tell me how to believe. I don't know if they are all correct because those who translated them were human not perfect . I can imagine they did their best to transcribe them, althought colored I'm sure. To me they have survived because they are of Goodness. Jesus said, Seek and You will find. I'm sure you will find your answers if you seek. I was only suggesting that God only gets involved when we ask or we make a mess of the world and our way could cause the world end. We have a way of doing that and he steps in to correct it when there is no other way. Then the correction is carried out by his creator sons.
I think when you felt like you were being pulled out of your body, you were having an out of body experience, you had a kundalini open or you went into a trance/daydream.
We have time capsuls that open as we are capable of receiving more light.
God only gives us no more than we can handle so it is written. One thing for sure is no one can take the experience from you and it was a gift to you to show you your possibilities and gifts perhaps. It is sad that others would discourage such a gift of communication which the church does. I have found that these experiences happen at random and for me are not controlable. I guess for some like Cos and PN, they are more developed in their gifts which to me was something they brought with them from other life times and has been evolving for centurys. Rev. TomCat
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| Posted: Sun Nov 12th, 2006 07:56 pm |
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6th Post |
Dorothy
Member
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Rev. TomKat: I agree with you on the basic beliefs of the Bible. We are thinking along the same train of thought. "Seek and ye shall find" holds a lot of merit I think. Also there is something about telling us that if we knock, God will answer us. I guess God wouldn't have given us the ability to "reason things out" if we were not supposed to use that gift. I certainly know there are many people in the Roman Church who are truly religious and caring, however, the "tunnel vision" part of their thinking is what I don't understand. They are on their own spiritual path, I understand that too. It's neither wrong or right in my eyes. One thing I wonder about in the teachings of the Christian church that go back over the centuries where men in the church PLACED their OWN doctrines under the guise of truth but instead the fact was they wanted power, authority and greed from the riches of the church. Talk to you later, I am sure! 
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| Posted: Sun Nov 12th, 2006 08:24 pm |
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7th Post |
Rev. TomCat
Member
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Dorothy said:
One thing I wonder about in the teachings of the Christian church that go back over the centuries where men in the church PLACED their OWN doctrines under the guise of truth but instead the fact was they wanted power, authority and greed from the riches of the church.
Rev . >
I am guilty of the same so called sins that other humans are. When we see something in others Dorothy, it is something we have to fix in ourselves or have fixed in this life time or others and now are being judgemental about them because we know it to be not our correct path. They have yet to learn the difference and don't forget the temptation factor that is always present unless we master our lives. Thus is why Jesus said, Take the board out of your own eye before you take the splinter out of another persons eye. Better yet, he said as you Judge, so you shall be Judged. Yikes , the Laws God put such as , Cause and Effect are written in stone so he does not have to be Judgemental, only Loving and forgiving. The hard part is when we have to look at our Akashic record and forgive ourselves for judgements of others , or other errors; that can certainily be viewed as Justifyable when such attrocities are always being displayed to us by the news media. We have to have discernment and we can defend ourselves. But, I am one who believes that everything will be revealed in these end times as the bible states. That can be scary. You are seeing that happen more and more , not just with the Catholic Church. You are seeing the great spiritual battle unfold. The great deciever and tempters at work. They attack us at our weakest point especially in the pleasure zones.
Money and Power can be very tempting and so can sex. Look how many have fallen over sexual pleasures. They make you think you are getting away with it.
We are responsible for every thought , word and deed. Remember that.
We all have our secrets, right, --- Wrong! You ahve a guardian angel and a recording angel. I have read that in the future , even our thoughts will be know to each other.
Santa is makin his list and checkin it twice.
I find it very interesting to watch it happen. I must have earned the right to be here to view it. " But for the Grace of God go I " Rev. TomCat
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| Posted: Mon Nov 13th, 2006 02:31 am |
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8th Post |
Dorothy
Member
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Rev. TomKat: Thanks again for your insightful thoughts. You sure get me thinking a lot. It must be in your nature. So now, I am thinking about spiritual warfare. I truly think there IS a spiritual battle going on in the world. Just like this week in watching Saddam being sentenced to death, what I saw in his eyes was the SAME spiritual evil presence I saw in Hitler's eyes in looking at films of him from the past. I think that perhaps this great evil "spirit" has existed for eons and perhaps when it left Hitler's soul at his death (and Hitler consciously let it into his soul to begin with), it went on to find a new "host." It waits for an "invitation" so to speak. When the host dies, it then finds "another host soul." Of course, this is just my interpretation at trying to understand what is going on. Yes, there is a spiritual war going on.
Some 15 years ago, I worked with a secretary in another department that was 70 at the time and still RAN down the halls when in a hurry; 70 but acted 45. She worked full-time. Well one day she was telling me how she met her husband, a handsome American who liberated her town in France in 1945 and who she fell in love with at first sight. I told her "I didn't know you were from France? You talk just like me with the same accent!" She said she'd been here since 1945. She knew Hitler was bad news even before they invaded her country because her cousin went to hear him speak in Germany and when she came home after that speach, her cousin was more or less "hypnotized" by Hitler's speech for the next three days. She knew then there was a great evil on the horizon. She told me she remembered the day she was canning strawberries in the French town she lived in and the Germans invaded. Do you what she did? She became an integral part of the French underground. I was astounded! This nice little lady was in the underground!
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