Nature experiences

[Eudaimonist]

I'm not certain what would count as spiritual nature experiences for you.

I have had many "Carl Sagan moments" looking up at the night sky. I'd count those as spiritual, but not as mystical.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[jacknife]

I haven't had any problems like that...the closest thing I guess was an encounter with a BIG wild turkey. He ran out in front of the car as I reached the end of the driveway and he refused to move out the way. I rolled down the window and he wandered over and was looking in (that's how tall he was) but when I tried to go again, he quickly ran back in front. He seemed to enjoy this little game and I had to throw a cookie out the window to get him to finally get out of the way. Now there's a bunch of them living in the backyard. They leave some pretty feathers behind though.

I'm not even joking here I have a crow that mimics a turkey call. I heard a turkey one day and I'm not use to seeing them around here so I went out to check. quietly I approached a tree where it was coming from. I look up and there in the tree was a crow making the call. I was stunned how does it do that? that's one smart bird!

 

[jacknife]

They aren't harmless; they increase your skeevieness level to dangerously high levels!

I think all spiders are cute. I have a colony of cross spiders outside my. I even pick spiders up and place them at ideal locations outside my house I love the way they move! there sooo cute when the skitter about.

 

[awitch]

I'm not even joking here I have a crow that mimics a turkey call. I heard a turkey one day and I'm not use to seeing them around here so I went out to check. quietly I approached a tree where it was coming from. I look up and there in the tree was a crow making the call. I was stunned how does it do that? that's one smart bird!

Hawks are predators of blue jays, so the jays will mimic a hawk cry and if they hear a response, they know to flee the area. (Jays are in the same family as crows)

 

[jacknife]

Hawks are predators of blue jays, so the jays will mimic a hawk cry and if they hear a response, they know to flee the area. (Jays are in the same family as crows)

Yeah i once watched blue jays destroy a cardinals nest. I always enjoyed the outdoors my mother taught me how to catch snakes and crayfish and took me bird watching at a young age.

 

[awitch]

Yeah i once watched blue jays destroy a cardinals nest. I always enjoyed the outdoors my mother taught me how to catch snakes and crayfish and took me bird watching at a young age.

I'd love to try some bird watching.
I recently placed suet feeders outside and then I try to identify the types of birds I see (and hopefully find a feather or two left behind)

 

[MehGuy]

Growing up I have had plenty of nature experiences. Mystical and spiritual even. Unfortunately nature has never really fit in with my Christian upbringing. The elders at church told me that being enlightened by nature was a gray area and a possible door for demons to enter in. The farthest they would go with nature appreciation was appreciating God's work. But that was a dip in the pool at best.

Nature has always made me happy, and emotional. I had the fortune of growing up in a rural/developing community. So I had woods in my backyard. Every morning I could hear the birds chirping, and sometimes even see some deer and foxes. All of this was relaxing for me. During the summers me and my friends would ride our bikes on the trails and explore the woods pretty frequently.

There were a few instances when I was overwhelmed and engaged in the spiritual feelings. For some reason appreciating nature via a Christian mindset never spoke to me. When I did feel spirituality from nature it was from an unknown source. Fearful of these strange things I would not engage in this mindset for very long. While I never felt like these spiritual feelings were demonic in nature like people in my church claimed, I did feel like I was too weak and insignificant to form my own spiritual path outside the Christian scope.

Reflecting back on it now, my inadequacy and fear seems silly and trivial. I am actually angry that I disallowed myself the opportunity of forging my own spiritual path.

 

[awitch]

Had a fun nature experience on Friday even though it wasn't exactly spiritual...

I was working at a client site (a doctor's office) and by the afternoon there was nothing going on until two med techs started screaming. Ran to see what the problem was and just missed a 600 pound black bear walking past the window.

All my bird-related experiences inspired me to order an undergraduate textbook on ornithology. Until that arrives, I've set up some bird feeders and got my bird recognition app ready to go on my phone.

 

[MehGuy]

Most of the experiences I consider to be "genuinely" spiritual involved animals in some way; ducks, turkeys, turkey vultures, squirrels, hawks, cats, deer, an occasional unusual insect, etc.

Interesting that you get many of your spiritual moments from watching/observing fellow animals. I am not sure how much I can relate, my mystical nature moments mainly come from being inundated within nature. Such as being deep within a forest and having most of my senses penetrated by ambiance. As far as animals go, I'd say the sounds they make are the most important part for me.

I'm not sure you can intentionally induce such an experience, but being outside at different times of day, and learning about the environment around you probably improves your chances

If you increase your empathy threshold I believe you can.

Unfortunately I am in the middle of a severe depression, so my ability to enjoy mysticism is very poor. Before that it was quite easy to be overtaken by the feelings. Having BPD I have always been very sensitive emphatically towards things, so growing up I was often left in emotional trances for hours/days.

Some of my earliest memories were being awe of how overwhelming emotions are. I remember looking at a mailbox and being able to see it glow in a trance like way, and everything seemed to have it's own distinct emotional personality.

If I put in enough energy I can feel more empathetic and in turn be more apt for spiritual feelings. Unfortunately doing this long term has been difficult because I have no idea how to dig myself out of my depression permanently.

When I was into druidry I had some cool experiences with the moon.

The path of the Druid is a good one if your interested in nature type mysticism. In the end it wasn't for me, but it's a cool path to check out.

Interesting. I'll need to research more about Druid. I doubt I'd become one, but conversing with such people would probably be rewarding. I'm always on the lookout in finding like minded people.

Why wasn't the path for you?

I've had experiences similar to, yet different from awitch.

One of my favorite things that I can possibly do is have pleasant weather (for me, usually early Springtime) so I can lay in bed at night and listen to the chorus of nature. I live right on a forest line so I really enjoy hearing the rustling of the trees in the wind, the animals moving about going on their nightly activities.

You're lucky. I'd never give up that easy access to nature.

I often mediate right before bed as part of the order for my rituals so I usually burn a soft incense as well for focus but many times I can pick up the scent from the forest.

That is one thing I miss. Sadly I do not have a sense of smell, and as a consequence I sometimes wonder what I am missing. Whenever I engage in nature mysticism overloading all of my senses is of utmost importance. It would be nice to be able to add the element of smell.

I have some specific rituals that I perform with groups that line up with the witch's Sabbaths and Esbats. We just performed a short rite for Lughnasadh/Lammas last night (August 1st in the northern hemisphere) and Mabon is next on the Autumn Equinox. They typically are honorifics of nature and nice times for a few pagan friends to gather around for a meal, a good drink and some fun.

That's cool that you have found people in real life who you can connect with on a spiritual level. I never had that growing up, but would still like to try. Was it hard to find these people?

 

[MehGuy]

I have always enjoyed this clip from the Simpsons which dates back to before they were a series and when they were just shorts on the Tracy Ullman show back in the late 1980s.

The clip is a little ironic considering Homer is eventually known as that guy who doesn't like church and someone who is pretty much and atheist. Which I always found to be a clever narrative. Usually on shows like this, they'll make the smartest guy an atheist; but instead they make the stupidest character one. Goes to show that simply disbelieving in a God does not take much intelligence. While other people may conceive elaborate mental gymnastics Homer can see that religion is a chore for him and he can simply turn it all off, lol.

Although early in the seasons Lisa was a goody two shoes church girl who later in the series developed into a critical thinking spiritually exploratory person.