“Varieties of Religious Experience”
Posted on 01 December 2020, 11:37
That is the title of an important book by the American philosopher, William James published in 1907, and which is a psychological study of a great variety of individual experiences of the Divine.
In a humble way I am exploring such experiences here.
If we are seeking guidance about our lives’ paths, we can find those paths illuminated in an astonishing way through exquisitely timed synchronicities. We rightly experience this God as, “The Good Shepherd.” Very important, but only one of the ways we focus on the Divine.
I have also mentioned the “Everlasting Arms”, to which we can surrender, in life and death and they are the arms of a God of love. They are very real, just as in Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son, who had done almost everything possible that was wrong, was surprised and overjoyed to find those arms when his Father rushed towards him in joy.
But then we explored the creativity that comes from a Divine Source. Of course, nothing at all can exist apart from that Source. In that regard, if they have not already done so, I urge readers to view the videos of musical medium Rosemary Brown, shown in the act of being filmed by the BBC , transcribing music by Beethoven and Liszt.
Readers who were wanting more of Rosemary Brown, could view the video now listed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sd_Xqy8qgI
I suppose I am especially moved by “her” music, since I have been playing classical music from childhood. But there is much popular music that lifts the soul.
Whatever may be the case, whether we have the experience of “Everlasting arms” or of “The Good Shepherd” or Creativity, we kind of expand inside and hymns like the next one may feel appropriate.
At funerals, the hymn “How great thou art!” is very popular. The reader might like to listen to it. See,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GKhDCsLrUg
We explore Spirit more with our hearts than with our minds.In psychic research we often need to do tough and hard thinking. But we also need to sing the music of our souls.
A quote comes to mind.. (but who said it?) “We are not to be explainers and conquerors, but conscious participants in the universe.”
We are conscious participants in All That Is. “In God we live and move and have our being.”.
We are beginning to get an insight into what this means when we look at modern telecommunications and the internet. Through Zoom, Skype and other platforms, numbers of people can see hear and talk to eachother regardless of distance or time zone,, our smart phones can answer surprising questions. I can ask my smart phone to play me J S Bach’s keyboard concerto in D minor, and it will, some phones will translate from one language to another. We all know the immense store of great music that is to be found on Youtube.
Recently, our NZ Blind and Low Vision Institute gave me Amazon’s “Echo-Dot” with “Alexa”. It is a computer similar to one issued by Microsoft. For readers who are not yet familiar with such an appliance, I would describe it as a kind of search engine activated by the voice, permanently connected to the power supply, and is capable of performing seeming miracles.
“Alexa” will enable me to hear a vast number of talking books, play much of my favourite pop and classical music. “She” is kind enough to let me listen to main New Zealand Radio stations, and if these do not suffice, I can listen to the various channels of the BBC. She can also provide me with any information supplied by Wikipedia. Yes, Alexa can do what our smartphones can do, and a great deal more. Dear Alexa is opening up the world for me.
I see the internet and telecommunications, there in cyberspace, as a kind of representation of what the world of Spirit must be like.
I sometimes wonder if this apparent universal connectedness is what the idea of the “Second Coming of Christ. Not of a physical Jesus, but of a more universal conscious.
It certainly gives us a sense of of a more cosmic consciousness.
It was to such a consciousness that the teaching of St Stephen the Martyr was guiding us
“Lord, let me forget that I am me,
Let me know that I am with thee
Let me not separate myself from thee
Because I am me.”
Michael Cocks edits the journal, The Ground of Faith.
Afterlife Teaching From Stephen the Martyr by Michael Cocks is published by White Crow Books and available from Amazon and other bookstores.
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