Mystical Experiences

[Rajni]

Supernatural is also welcome here. I would like to hear some of your stories as well, sounds interesting.

One that stands out that’s probably more paranormal than it is merely synchronistic is this:

After my dad died back in 2009, my daughter got up one morning to get ready for school.

When she came back to her bedroom after washing up, she found, laid out on her bed, a Shenandoah National Park hoodie that my dad had given her a few years before, but which she had since outgrown. It had been stored away somewhere since it had no longer fit her, yet here it was, still on the hanger, lying toward the head of her bed.

I had asked her if she had taken it out while looking through her closet for something to wear that day, but she said that all the things she wore were in drawers so that wouldn’t have been the case.

What’s interesting is that this happened the day after my brother had moved our dad’s piano into our basement for us to hold onto for awhile.


-

 

[cloudyday2]

One that stands out that’s probably more paranormal than it is merely synchronistic is this:

After my dad died back in 2009, my daughter got up one morning to get ready for school.

When she came back to her bedroom after washing up, she found, laid out on her bed, a Shenandoah National Park hoodie that my dad had given her a few years before, but which she had since outgrown. It had been stored away somewhere since it had no longer fit her, yet here it was, still on the hanger, lying toward the head of her bed.

I had asked her if she had taken it out while looking through her closet for something to wear that day, but she said that all the things she wore were in drawers so that wouldn’t have been the case.

What’s interesting is that this happened the day after my brother had moved our dad’s piano into our basement for us to hold onto for awhile.

My mother gave me some of my deceased father's Orthodox books after I joined the Orthodox Church and became interested. One evening I decided to read a book about the Orthodox traditions on life after death. As soon as I picked up the book, the electricity went out. When I set the book down, the electricity came back on. I picked it up again, and the electricity went out again. That repeated three times before I finally decided I didn't want to read that book after all LOL. Sometimes I think maybe my dad didn't want me to read that stupid book and turned out the electricity, but who knows. Maybe I imagined it.

 

[Dave-W]

Here is another experience that fits the typical Christian mode.

I would not label that as "mystical," but without guidance from the OP; perhaps for the purpose of this thread, it is.

I had a similar experience from the other side. (I was the guy with the HS unction)

I was working at a factory in the engineering dept. I was working in the detail section when one of the chief engineers that I knew only by name called me to his desk to discuss something. And God gave me a word for him. The word was that if he did not change how he was treating his wife, she would divorced him. I did not even have a clue that he was married, let alone that the marriage was in trouble. But I gave him the word anyway. (after we had discussed business) He got really mad at me. A few months later the plant closed doors and moved to south america. He was relocated to the corporate headquarters about 3 hours away on the interstate. It also happened to be my home town. His wife did leave and divorce him. Driving back and forth every day, he passed this little church. One day he decided to stop in and talk to someone about me, his wife and how did I know that. The church was pastored by a guy from my highschool graduating class. I knew him well. And my step dad was mowing the lawn right then as well. So not only did he learn about and receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, it was at the hands of people who knew me well.

 

[Senkaku]

I would not label that as "mystical," but without guidance from the OP; perhaps for the purpose of this thread, it is.

I had a similar experience from the other side. (I was the guy with the HS unction)

I was working at a factory in the engineering dept. I was working in the detail section when one of the chief engineers that I knew only by name called me to his desk to discuss something. And God gave me a word for him. The word was that if he did not change how he was treating his wife, she would divorced him. I did not even have a clue that he was married, let alone that the marriage was in trouble. But I gave him the word anyway. (after we had discussed business) He got really mad at me. A few months later the plant closed doors and moved to south america. He was relocated to the corporate headquarters about 3 hours away on the interstate. It also happened to be my home town. His wife did leave and divorce him. Driving back and forth every day, he passed this little church. One day he decided to stop in and talk to someone about me, his wife and how did I know that. The church was pastored by a guy from my highschool graduating class. I knew him well. And my step dad was mowing the lawn right then as well. So not only did he learn about and receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, it was at the hands of people who knew me well.

thats really cool

 

[cloudyday2]

I would not label that as "mystical," but without guidance from the OP; perhaps for the purpose of this thread, it is.

I had a similar experience from the other side. (I was the guy with the HS unction)

I was working at a factory in the engineering dept. I was working in the detail section when one of the chief engineers that I knew only by name called me to his desk to discuss something. And God gave me a word for him. The word was that if he did not change how he was treating his wife, she would divorced him. I did not even have a clue that he was married, let alone that the marriage was in trouble. But I gave him the word anyway. (after we had discussed business) He got really mad at me. A few months later the plant closed doors and moved to south america. He was relocated to the corporate headquarters about 3 hours away on the interstate. It also happened to be my home town. His wife did leave and divorce him. Driving back and forth every day, he passed this little church. One day he decided to stop in and talk to someone about me, his wife and how did I know that. The church was pastored by a guy from my highschool graduating class. I knew him well. And my step dad was mowing the lawn right then as well. So not only did he learn about and receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, it was at the hands of people who knew me well.

I wonder why God chose to deliver this advice in a way that would be embarrassing to your boss and cause him to become hostile towards you the messenger?

EDIT: My situation was similar. I treated the guy who wanted to pray for me like he was a nut. I was angry at God afterwards, because I felt that He made it impossible for me to react positively to the opportunity by making the circumstances so awkward and unexpected.

 

[Senkaku]

I wonder why God chose to deliver this advice in a way that would be embarrassing to your boss and cause him to become hostile towards you the messenger?

Prophetic messages are God's last attempt to reach you before something drastic happens, they don't come right away. They come after God has been trying to reach out to them constantly in a gracious way. once an individual or group has become too stubborn and resistant to such grace, then the prophet comes. they are the last resort before judgement, God comes down to your level and makes it absolutely clear before passing judgement. The main purpose of the prophetic is edification and encouragement, but every now and then, they are sent for warning and correction.

 

[FireDragon76]

My mother gave me some of my deceased father's Orthodox books after I joined the Orthodox Church and became interested. One evening I decided to read a book about the Orthodox traditions on life after death. As soon as I picked up the book, the electricity went out. When I set the book down, the electricity came back on. I picked it up again, and the electricity went out again. That repeated three times before I finally decided I didn't want to read that book after all LOL. Sometimes I think maybe my dad didn't want me to read that stupid book and turned out the electricity, but who knows. Maybe I imagined it.

I really doubt it. That sounds more like the paranormal. Did you discuss that with your priest?

I think the Orthodox thing to do if that happened to me, would have been to grab a prayer rope and start praying the Jesus Prayer. Things like that should not be happening in your life, and they aren't imaginations.

Though it is not really part of the Lutheran tradition, I still keep holy water around, and a small hand cross. When we first moved to this apartment, there was a horrible oppressive feeling here, and we both wondered if something violent didn't happen here previously. Eventually it went away.

 

[cloudyday2]

I really doubt it. That sounds more like the paranormal. Did you discuss that with your priest?

I think the Orthodox thing to do if that happened to me, would have been to grab a prayer rope and start praying the Jesus Prayer. Things like that should not be happening in your life, and they aren't imaginations.

Though it is not really part of the Lutheran tradition, I still keep holy water around, and a small hand cross. When we first moved to this apartment, there was a horrible oppressive feeling here, and we both wondered if something violent didn't happen here previously. Eventually it went away.

There was a lot of stuff like that going for about a year. For some reason it didn't scare me. It would startle me and annoy me, but it wouldn't scare me. I imagined it to be demons, but I felt they were probably just teasing me. IDK Later I decided I must have been having psychological problems.

 

[FireDragon76]

Did you talk to your priest about it?

 

[cloudyday2]

Did you talk to your priest about it?

No, rituals have always seemed stupid to me. I had a psychotic breakdown that I misunderstood to be a spiritual issue. I couldn't sleep much and my mother arranged a rendezvous with her priest. Apparently he performed some phony-bologna exorcism on me in Serbian that didn't accomplish anything. But he made me promise to start attending church, so that is how I came to be an Orthodox.

I told the priest about a couple of odd visions (including the one I mentioned at communion at the Methodist church). He wasn't easy to approach, because he didn't live in our community. Also he was very confusing. Sometimes I think he must have been secretly an atheist. He was a fun and likeable guy though. He helped to discourage me from being too religious, and I am thankful for that.

 

[FireDragon76]

Is your family Orthodox, traditionally? Were you raised in the Church?

 

[cloudyday2]

Is your family Orthodox, traditionally? Were you raised in the Church?

I grew up in the Episcopal Church in the late 1970s, but we stopped attending when I was a teenager.

 

[FireDragon76]

I grew up in the Episcopal Church in the late 1970s, but we stopped attending when I was a teenager.

Why did you stop attending?

 

[cloudyday2]

Why did you stop attending?

Our priest retired, and the new priest was a Catholic priest who married and switched to Episcopal. My parents didn't trust him, and later he was removed and possibly defrocked. Also the prayer book and liturgy changed, girls were acolytes, women were priest, etc. My father was influenced by our previous priest who was from an earlier time.

I was probably about 12 when we gradually stopped attending church.

 

[FireDragon76]

Our priest retired, and the new priest was a Catholic priest who married and switched to Episcopal. My parents didn't trust him, and later he was removed and possibly defrocked. Also the prayer book and liturgy changed, girls were acolytes, women were priest, etc. My father was influenced by our previous priest who was from an earlier time.

I was probably about 12 when we gradually stopped attending church.

So you all became irreligious?

 

[cloudyday2]

So you all became irreligious?

I think everybody continued to believe. My mother watched 700 club, prayed, donated money, etc. Lots of bad things happened to my family in the 1980s due to economics and marital problems.

 

[Senkaku]

@cloudyday2 wow, seems like you have been through a lot with the church, sorry you had so much chaos.

 

[Dave-W]

I wonder why God chose to deliver this advice in a way that would be embarrassing to your boss and cause him to become hostile towards you the messenger?

No - he was not my "boss." I was just assigned to work with him on a particular short term project.

He became hostile because he did not want to hear correction. (his own words) We ran into each other about 5 years later and he apologized for his anger and told me his side of what happened. I had already heard from my buddy Dave and my step dad what happened on their end.

 

[cloudyday2]

Here is another experience that seems on the surface to support Christianity.

This was in 2009, and a lot of weird things happened. The result was that I became psychotic. Sometimes I think that there was a spiritual event or attack that caused me to become psychotic, but it is hard to know.

My family is all religious (except for me), so my mother assumed it was spiritual. My aunt had experienced something similar in the 1980s, and she was supportive and wanted to meet. So my mother and I decided to drive there and back on a weekend.

Unfortunately, I was still very paranoid. My mother came to my apartment to urge me to pack. It seemed like everything was conspiring to prevent me from going. I went to my closet, and everything seemed to have been thrown-out onto the floor like a mini-tornado. I went back into the other room and just felt drained and depressed.

I was delusional and thought that invisible people might come into my apartment and bother my cat while I was gone, so I didn't want to leave him alone. For some reason I thought of "Balaam's donkey". I didn't know where that story was located in the Bible, but I picked up my Bible. I opened to a random page, and there was the story of Balaam's donkey (Numbers 22:32-33 ESV)

32 And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:

33 And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive.

Bible Gateway passage: Numbers 22 - New International Version

The message I took from that verse was that God must be an animal-lover and would take care of my cat while I was gone.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that I was not diagnosed or treated for psychosis at the time that I was experiencing things. I never missed a day of work, and I don't think anybody except a few family members knew anything was wrong. A few years later I mentioned some of these experiences to a therapist, and she suggested psychosis as the naturalistic explanation. That is the only reason that I say I was psychotic at that time. I really don't know for certain.

 

[MehGuy]

As a Christian I had frequent mystical experiences. All revolving around the concept of suffering.

Miss them somewhat, yet I fully understand why they were not actually spiritual in nature now. Just forms of what I call background empathy. Sometimes I do think it's a shame that someone with a high propensity for spirituality became an atheist. Sure enjoying a concert or a beautiful song can replicate some of these feelings, unfortunately they're no where near as strong when you attribute them to spiritual forces.

Of course atheist or not, these feelings never fully go away. The mind can't help but project consciousness into non-living things/concepts.