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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Spirituality & Beliefs > Spirituality

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  #11  
Old 18-05-2016, 12:46 AM
SparkPlug SparkPlug is offline
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So CrystalSong, how many of us "eternal souls" are there then? And what is our purpose?

I know my dad reached out when he died and woke my (sensitive) wife up from a deep sleep, then the phone rang informing us. He hung around a while after that too, made his presence quite known to all of us and not at all bashful about it, what's up with that?

Thanks
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  #12  
Old 18-05-2016, 02:03 AM
WabiSabi WabiSabi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SparkPlug
So does having a "spiritual experience" make one "spiritual" or is it just that they are aware of the existence of a "spiritual" component outside of the understanding or day to day regular life? And on the concept of "Higher Self", and "the rest of what they are", can there be communication there as well?
Thanks

I don't like the term 'spiritual' as a label. What does it mean? Does it mean that someone has had a spiritual experience? Does it mean that someone is aware of their spirit? Does it mean that they act in a spiritual manner? What even is spirit? The issue is that the word means all of these things, and none of these things. Words are subjective, and mean different things to different people. I can bring up the word 'God' to 1,000 different people, and they will each have their own unique notion of what that word means.

I see it like this... each and every one of us, each and every living thing, and even the universe itself is, in essence, spiritual in nature. In that sense, every single thing that occurs is a spiritual occurrence. Every single human being is spiritual, and acts in a spiritual manner, simply by virtue of existing.

As far as having a spiritual experience, it means everything, and it means nothing at all. Such an experience can clarify and provide insight, or it may confuse and befuddle. For some people it brings peace, bliss, endless love, and for other people it brings suffering and heartache. The experience itself is just an experience, like a word is a word. How such an experience is interpreted is up to the audience.

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Originally Posted by SparkPlug
And with the "Higher Self" concept, in that case, what is the point of this "physical" life, is it just to be used as a training ground, a playground, or a test environment of some type?

As many live a life far removed from blissful, what is the point and reasoning of that model? Basically, "Why?".

Many people believe in a soul, or a higher self that is still separate or lesser than what one may call God. I have not experienced such a self, so I cannot speak of it.

My experiences revealed to me what I would call the highest self, which I call God, or Root, and what many call Source. This highest self, is, quite simply, all that is. So many of us look at the universe around us and think we are IN it. This implies that we are separate from it. In reality, we are OF it. We are fundamental parts of a whole, and that whole is the highest self. And that highest self, that whole, is infinite. And within that infinite self exists infinite realities, an infinite number of ways in which the universe may be arranged. Our reality is one of them. And we are here simply to experience. To experience the good, and the bad. To experience all that is.

I hope that my words may help you.
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  #13  
Old 18-05-2016, 02:46 AM
SparkPlug SparkPlug is offline
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I am more familiar with experiences of the physical world, those encounters of what I refer to as "spiritual" are the issue for me, that's what I don't understand.

I also hope if we are here by a higher design it is for more than just to "experience" actually.

Thanks for your reply.
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  #14  
Old 18-05-2016, 07:01 AM
dianamadalina dianamadalina is offline
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Originally Posted by SparkPlug
Hi Diana
So what did this woman say to you?
she asked me if I was ok and she was wearing a kerchief
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  #15  
Old 18-05-2016, 08:01 AM
Crystal Ambassador Crystal Ambassador is offline
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My personal belief is that the physical world is a way for spirits to heal parts of themselves that have accumulated damage during their other incarnations, as well as to experience life from as many angles as possible. And also to settle energy echoes (karma) they have accrued in their past incarnation. While it's possible for a spirit to heal themselves in spirit-form, the progress is much slower. In regard to explaining why a spirit would want to incarnate physically, it's a bit... tricky to grasp. I'll give an example.

Let's say a spirit is new to incarnating, and has chosen to because they have never experienced physical life before. In their first life, they choose to live in a remote rainforest village tribe. Over the course of this life, they learn how to navigate a physical body, the instinctive elements of a human one, and how to communicate physically with other spirits. In that life, they kill one person out of aggression. Finally, they die by drowning.
In the second life, they are a Japanese businessman in a medium-sized town. Now they have a better understanding of how to use a human body, and are more in tune with how to communicate and understand their instincts. They have an unexplainable phobia of water and an unshakable sense of guilt for no apparent reason. Over the course of their life, they become very successful, and their sense of guilt drives them to donate large amounts of their profits to charity. They are able to slowly confront and overcome their fear of water, and are killed by a stranger who is enraged and decides to lash out at someone they don't appear to know.
Now, in the third life, the soul chooses to take the form of a woman in Canada who struggles to stay financially stable. She has a deep sense of attraction to tribal cultures, and specifically is drawn to tribes in the Amazon but doesn't know why. She is fortunate enough that one of her friends starts a business that becomes very successful, and who chooses to support her financially. With that money, she begins to study becoming an archaeologist.

In this trio of lives, there are a lot of events that happen. The karma of murder that was gathered in the first life is balanced in the second life by an equal death, and the spiritual knowledge had created a sense of guilt they couldn't place. The drowning in the first life created a wound - fear - in the spirit, and the spirit chose to incarnate with that fear in the second life to confront and heal it. In the second life, the karma they accumulated by donating to those in need was balanced in the third life by having their finances taken care of through the charity of their friend. And the positive associations they had with the tribe of their first life carried into their third life, giving them something to focus on that likely helped them through the hardships of financial struggle. In all those lives, the spirit was choosing to incarnate to have very different experiences (Being an Amazonian tribesman, then a successful Japanese businessman, then a struggling Canadian woman who becomes an archaeologist) at the same time they were settling and benefiting from their karma. This cycle continues for a very, very long time, especially if the soul has many incarnations in which they are unable to overcome things like the fear of water. In those cases, the fear carries over into future lives until it's dealt with.

Eventually, a spirit can progress to a point where they have so much spiritual knowledge and experience that they choose to put off incarnating for a while. In this time they may elect to become spirit guides, or visit other realms such as that of the angels. And when they get to the point they know absolutely everything - essentially returning to the state of oneness that is the Source, God, or Higher Power - they may elect to go through a process to erase all that information and start their incarnation cycle over again.

So the experience of life is a complex one, with many elements coming together to influence the events of a spirit's incarnation.
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"Sometimes you will act as an angel to others, perhaps without even realizing it. One day a woman comes up to you and says 'You saved my life'. You look at her astonished, trying to remember the last time you even saw this person before, the meeting meant so little to you at the time. 'Don't you remember? I was standing on the bridge, staring at the water, and you passed and said 'Good morning'."
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  #16  
Old 18-05-2016, 11:36 AM
SparkPlug SparkPlug is offline
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Nice example. Then it is a way of letting a spiritual entity live thru "free will" then, learning the value, impact and cost of each choice in a physical environment? And there is a vast array of these souls that go through this journey as they evolve? That sounds amazing like what the Hindus believe.

Thanks for your thoughtful example.
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  #17  
Old 18-05-2016, 12:36 PM
Shivani Devi Shivani Devi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SparkPlug
What's the deal with spiritual experiences folks claim to have? Does that happen to all types of people, in all types of situations or what?
Greetings. I think the first order of the day is to get over all of this 'claim to have' part. We don't in any way own our experiences, they are just something that happens.

It can happen to anybody and often when they are least expecting it. It can steal up on you like a thief in the night and turn your whole world-reality view upside down. It can bring you to a closer understanding of whatever you conceive 'god', 'spirit' or a 'higher self' to be.

A lot of people get hung up on these 'claims' but a 'claim' generally means something that can be 'proven' and this onus of proof must therefore rest with the 'claimant', however a real spiritual experience isn't anything that can be 'proven' and I guess that's why it's called an 'experience' to begin with. Everybody can say they are enlightened and that would be true. The next part comes in realising it both for and within yourself.

Peace.
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  #18  
Old 18-05-2016, 01:15 PM
SparkPlug SparkPlug is offline
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I understand your point about "claims", as it pertains to "ownership", what I was saying is more to saying "supposedly" have, I have had experiences that were shared by two or more people, we accept it that it happened, it was an obvious event, but that does not guarantee that anyone else is going to accept the retelling.
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  #19  
Old 18-05-2016, 01:59 PM
Shivani Devi Shivani Devi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SparkPlug
I understand your point about "claims", as it pertains to "ownership", what I was saying is more to saying "supposedly" have, I have had experiences that were shared by two or more people, we accept it that it happened, it was an obvious event, but that does not guarantee that anyone else is going to accept the retelling.
I have learned, very recently in fact that whether people 'accept the retelling' of it is irrelevant, truth be told any 'spiritual experience' that can be spoken about isn't a 'spiritual experience'.

This is something that cannot be shared by 'two or more people' albeit any other single person out there.

There's no way you can tell if somebody has had a 'spiritual experience' although you may notice the subtle signs of it, like their charity and humility, their acceptance and tolerance and their uplifting and inspiring presence around other people.

What others 'accept' as being a 'bonafide experience' is often far away from the actuality of it and in the end, all one can say is 'accept it or not, it has happened'. It's a subjective experience only relevant to the experiencer...until there's no experience...no 'experiencer' no 'event'...no 'witness to it'...that's all I can speak on it.
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  #20  
Old 18-05-2016, 02:34 PM
SparkPlug SparkPlug is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Necromancer
I have learned, very recently in fact that whether people 'accept the retelling' of it is irrelevant, truth be told any 'spiritual experience' that can be spoken about isn't a 'spiritual experience'.

Me: Well it places a stigma on the topic and that discourages conversation, so I think that is relevant.


This is something that cannot be shared by 'two or more people' albeit any other single person out there.

Me: Well if you had been there when my dad, who had just died, kept letting us know he was still around you might feel differently I think.


There's no way you can tell if somebody has had a 'spiritual experience' although you may notice the subtle signs of it, like their charity and humility, their acceptance and tolerance and their uplifting and inspiring presence around other people.

Me: Or you are sleeping in the same bed with someone when they bolt up, turn on the light, and sit staring ahead with a blank expression and then the phone rings with the news maybe? When my wife has a bad night I know we will be hearing about a family member in distress or a death very shortly, her mother was like that too, I can try to deny it but I am too old to play such games on myself, I just accept that it happens.


What others 'accept' as being a 'bonafide experience' is often far away from the actuality of it and in the end, all one can say is 'accept it or not, it has happened'. It's a subjective experience only relevant to the experiencer...until there's no experience...no 'experiencer' no 'event'...no 'witness to it'...that's all I can speak on it.

Me: Well thanks for your reply, I appreciate your viewpoint, I certainly don't have answers, just questions.
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