Thursday 10 January 2002

Pic of the day: Jumping for joy: Happy little paladin. (You can't expect me to pose like that myself, you know!)

High on religion

This is not a diary entry in the conventional sense, as this does not describe me today. I do have some experience with it, though. And it happens to a lot of people all over the world. Usually within the context of the local religion, but sometimes not. Usually we refer to it as religious ecstasy, but perhaps a more correct description would be mystic ecstasy. (In no way is it connected to use of drugs.)

Today's entry is part of a series of articles, and I recommend you read the two previous entries for context. I have a definite goal with this: To promote an understanding of how religion relates to other human needs, especially sexuality. The conclusion should come in the article "Sex - the final frontier" (God willing).

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I have shown that religion is not just a social agreement on worldview and ethics, but has also a personal dimension. This dimension is not experienced by all. Many people who enjoy being part of a congregation, and who sincerely believe in the dogma, never have any experience of meeting their god. Their experience of prayer is like sending an e-mail order, not like talking on the phone. If the goods are delivered, they know that their prayers are heard. In other cases, such as when giving praise, they can only do so in blind faith. Actually for most believers, this happens at least some of the time. But for some it is all they ever see. And they certainly don't feel the need to be condescended on by severely saved fellows who insist that "you are not a true believer until you have tasted the glory".

I won't be the judge of that. Certainly it would seem a boon to those who can get it, this mystic experience. Well, actually it doesn't always come to that. There are many who feel that they meet God (or a god, or goddess, or a savior) in their prayers. They sense a presence there, like there is someone invisible in the room with them. That someone may even be talking back, in a manner of speaking. Thoughts come to them, thoughts that seem different from their own, with a certainty which they do not have, with wisdom they did not have. In some cases the thoughts will convey information or give orders. And in some unusual cases, it is more than thoughts: They may actually hear a voice in their head. (This is where the skeptical observer will point out that there is something called psychiatry. I would agree, if they were told to sacrifice their firstborn son, or even their cat. But if people hear voices telling them to love their neighbor and pay their bills, more power to them.)

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What I call the mystic experience is a bit different from this. In it, the soul does not connect to divinity via a human-type interface. It does not meet the deity wearing a mask of a fellow human: A father, a brother, a friend, a king. In the mystic experience, the human mind interfaces with something utterly non-human, and indeed super-human. It seems to connect to a kind of nexus, in which an incredible amount of things are connected. Perhaps all of creation, perhaps more than that: The very Creator too. It is something so immense as to utterly overwhelm the human mind, in thought as well as emotion. Descriptions will typically be such as "like a raindrop compared to the ocean" or "like a spark to a flame", "feeling like an ant" or "like a newborn baby, or even a fetus". The Oversoul is so enormously great that there is no feeling of partnership being possible - the only action that seems possible is to go up in the greater entity, as part of it. And yet, this is not possible. The connection will somehow fade, and life as we know it will return. But it will never be quite the same.

The mystic experience is always awe-inspiring, and it is experienced as at least equally real as the material world. There is nothing vague, foggy or dreamlike about it. You don't wonder whether or not you have experienced it. But there is another dimension to it. I am not sure this applies to everyone, but it is certainly common among those who have had this experience: An intense, all-consuming pleasure. A delight so intense, so full of raw emotion that it seems the brain could not endure anything stronger without burning out. Imagine the pleasure of an orgasm, or of finally scratching the worst itch of your life, but devoid of the actual physical background. Imagine just the feeling in your brain of intense pleasure. There is probably just one pleasure center in the brain, so whether you activate it by fulfilling one instinct or the other, there is a certain feeling that is the same, abstract from the cause but intensely real. This almost unbearable pleasure is often found during the mystic experience, and particularly in a religious context. It is not sensual, though senses may resonate, but it is pure joy of the soul. And it goes on and on for longer than you thought was possible.

But of course there are limits. The human mind (or brain, perhaps) can only take so much. The unity fades, the pleasure fades with it, though something lingers.

It is understandable that people who have tasted the glory, long back for it. It is indeed often possible to re-establish the connection, though it is often never quite as intense as when the barrier first broke. Some mystics devote their life to seeking the unity at all times and by all means. But beware: To seek it for the pleasure is egotism; and egotism is incompatible with the very unity that causes that joy. In Christendom, we talk about seeking the gift or the giver.

The small (originally Norwegian) church commonly known as "Smith's Friends" was originally very focused on mysticism, though of course they did not use that name for it. Reading the founders, and the literature that they read themselves, has been very important for me to understand my own experiences. When people are filled with the Holy Spirit, or "baptized in the Holy Ghost" as some may call it, they usually experience an overwhelming joy and a sense of power. This power, Smith warned them, should be used to fight the sin in the flesh. Don't delude yourself and think that the sin is gone and you can just enjoy. Don't just go back for refill because you like the good feelings.

So, the sin in the flesh. We already saw some of that on Tuesday, and I expect we shall see more of it in our next installment, God willing.

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(Footnote for Christians of a theological bent: Yes, I know that experts distinguish between "baptism in the Spirit" and "being filled with the Spirit" (or Ghost, a word I dislike to use because of its current connotations). The baptism is a one-time initial experience, while you can be filled with the Spirit repeatedly. Ideally, it might become continuous. For the matter of the emotional experience, however, I will treat them as the same thing.)

(Footnote 2: I have every reason to believe that some worshippers in other religions, and even some atheists, have experiences that are very similar to what we are given in Christianity. This is not in any way claiming that "all faiths are one" or that they receive the same spirit. There are certainly differences between religions, and even between sects of the same religion. The similarity may simply be due to the way the human brain or mind is constructed. Still, it is quite real as far as it goes.)