Further Light And Knowledge

[GhostPuma]

Last night I was watching the NBA finals and as expected like any sporting event they sing the national anthem before the game. Every time I hear it, when it's sang correctly and not too much variation, my hair stands on the back of my neck and I can feel my tears wanting to escape. A little background to this, I was fortunate to be in the military and serve a few rotations on Honor Guard providing various military honors so things such as our national anthem and the playing of taps are very humbling and a source of reflection for me.

I mention all of this because these are very similar emotions as to what the 'spirit' felt like while TBM. I really can only recall two experiences while in the church that matched that same emotional level and that was getting sealed to my wife and daughter and the hymn 'Nearer my God to Thee' always seemed to choke me up. I must say watching my two little girls grow up provides me many moments of that spiritual high, as long as they're not fighting with each other.

Obviously these spiritual experiences are not solely trademarked to TSCC so I was wondering what experiences everyone else had outside the church that mimicked that same feeling of the 'holy ghost'?
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Lead me not into tempation
I can find it myself

[Chino Blanco]

I'll bite ...

- Ditto: Welcoming our kids into this world

- Ditto: Patriotic and pioneer hymns + Beethoven, Satie, Einstein on the Beach, Elis Regina

- Mike Nichols, Werner Herzog, Godard

- Camus, Bellow

- Tending an early morning campfire while the sky fills with color and my wife and kids sleep in the tent

[Vahn]

I'll share a small experience somewhat on topic.

I remember the dread I felt in my heart when I realized I'd have to tell one of my very best TBM friends I was leaving the church 18 months ago. We had grown up embracing the gospel together. I didn't want to confront the issue with this person but after I did I remember walking around my house contemplating the phone conversation that had just taken place, and remembering that there was a light feeling on my shoulders, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. I immediately identified the feeling as the same sort of "comfort" that came after confessing some sort of grievous "sin" to a bishop. It was the feeling I had been taught my entire life to identify as the calming feeling of the Holy Ghost, and here it was, comforting me, after I had just spilled such a heavy confession out into my personal life among my friends and family.

By all technicality there is zero chance that that feeling could have been the Holy Ghost. I was very unreserved (though as respectful as I could be), in my disdain for the church and it's leaders in my conversation. In that exact moment it reinforced my decision to leave the church and I knew I was doing the right thing. The "spirit" couldn't be trusted. Period. I had given it way too many chances, and it had betrayed me numerous times.

~Vahn

[junesu]

[I am Laura]

My biggest spiritual high (in or out of the church) was when I was driving across the US all by myself for the first time. I had been to a family reunion in OK and was on my way to visit my brother and his wife in Utah. I stayed with a cousin north of Denver and decided to go through Rocky Mountain National Park and then on to Utah. I got a very early start and got to watch the sunrise in the park then did a lot of driving and hiking by myself (very empowering for a single female that had been raised in TSCC). It was one of the most incredible experiences in my life.

At that point in my life I was very inactive and well on my way out of TSCC and knew it had absolutely nothing to do with it (even though I was on my way to Utah).

As an aside, when I got to Utah, I found the first store that sold liquer and bought a bottle of wine. It was my way of giving the finger to the church. It wasn't very good wine but I enjoyed every sip.

[mamato4]

When I see old war veterans wearing their medals.

When I witness a birth.

When I hear bagpipes.

When I hear an awesome choir.

When I hear the national anthem in Maori (we're in New Zealand now.)

When I see a haka (warrior chant/dance)

When I'm with people I love that I haven't seen for a long time.

[Goldarn]

Laugh if you want, but much of the music of Boston does that for me. Their first 3 albums, anyway.

The ending of On Golden Pond also left me feeling peaceful and happy and all that.
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Profanity cheapens the soul and weakens the mind. — The Middleman

[aerin]

[HighMaintenanceMe]

Caption notwithstanding . . . this image brings tears to my eyes and makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck more than anything I ever experienced in the LDS church.

[Spicy McHaggis]

The first time I saw The Shawshank Redemtion was probably the best 'spiritual experience' I've ever had.
Right up there is rafting the Grand Canyon and backcountry skiing/snowboarding.

TBM who think "The Spirit" is anything but an emotion are completely fooling themselves.

[Sunstoned]

most spiritual times:
• Changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown solder
• Anywhere in Arlington
• The fields of Gettysburg
• The American Cemetery at Normandy
• Sunrise in Moab, shared with my tribe (mt. bikers)

[Spicy McHaggis]

[quote="• Sunrise in Moab, shared with my tribe (mt. bikers)[/quote]

You and I are of the same tribe. And sunrises in Moab are as spiritual as it gets.

[Reuben]

I am the same way, I still get very sensitive when I hear taps. Even when you leave the uniform, it stays with you.

I had an experience when I was in the military that made me realize that guilt is totally conditioned, and not the "spirit." I went to the gym for PT in the morning and packed my uniform in my bag, only I had forgotten my uniform hat. I ended up wearing the uniform, and running out to my car from the gym without my "cover." (for those not in the military this is totally forbidden and a huge violation of a norm of behavior). The feeling I had doing that was exactly the same feeling I had when I grabbed a boob, or watched an R rated movie. At that moment, I realized guilt was mearly the mind telling you that you had broken a rule. It is all social conditioning. It had nothing to do with god or the spirit.
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"Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who."

Gordon B. Hinkley at the dedication of the Mountain Meadow Massacre Memorial, quoting the King of Swamp Castle from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[Subversive Asset 2.0]

mine really sucks in comparison to everyone else's, but I felt the best I did in...ever...when Ayreon's album 01011001 leaked out and I first heard it.

I listened to that album up to 80 times in a row at once. It was the weekend so i could do that.

I still would listen to it later, and I went deep in the story. It was incredible.

and then I started noticing the flaws of the album. It's not even my favorite from Arjen and friends anymore...

Now if only I could have a profound reaction to something that *mattered*...
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I blog a lot more than I post, so you might want to check out Irresistible (Dis)Grace sometime.

[Goldarn]