Seek and You Shall Find

How do you seek and find?  Everyone’s journey is different, singular, but universal at the same time.  The journey is usually full of stones of difficulty and at the same time wonderfully full of surprise and even joy.  

It is difficult to describe and put into words what I or anyone experiences, especially when that experience involves the spiritual or mystical.  

Think for a moment what confusion abounds when two persons witness the same accident and then, in some level of certainty, try to explain it to someone else.  The description may vary greatly or, even if they generally coincide, one person may be influenced by the other’s perception or description.  

At the least, part of the problem is that each of us brings our own experience and knowledge to that particular situation and this can color our very definitions and use of words and concepts.

In attempting to describe mystical experiences that are abstract and otherworldly in the first place, probably the best that we can hope for is to present a commonality of experience.  The immediate problem arises in communicating the idea to someone who has not experienced the mystical phenomena in even remotely the same way that you have.  

A larger problem may be that there is an attempt to overreach in explanation through the use of too many words or analogies in order to explain what is actually experienced in the simplicity of that integrating moment when we encounter Mystery.  

Mystery as used here, capitalized, is defined as a direct encounter with God or the Universal Being, however named. Not capitalized, the word is used to mean that which is unknown, defying explanation, and subject to a myriad of other explanations; some scientific, some spiritual.

God is “Spirit” and as such can open the mind and heart to the spirit within each of us. Whatever your belief system, whether the traditional Father/Mother image, or Higher Power, or simply Universal consciousness, etc. I chose to call my Higher Power, God. I will refer to God throughout my writings but of course please feel free to substitute “God” for whatever name you feel comfortable connecting with within your heart.

Whatever we choose to call our connection, this should not limit the openness to spiritual growth, meditation and contemplation can inform and enrich our experience in a continual and direct encounter with the unknown.

It is my firm belief that we all encounter God in many different ways and moments, but often shield ourselves from God’s action in our lives because of the unknown.

Each of us has probably experienced a moment, perhaps in a natural setting, when all seems harmonious and the usual conflicts within us meld into a harmonious whole.  Suddenly, we are at peace within ourselves and with the rest of the world.  

Others may have experienced a dramatic event when God has suddenly intervened at the moment when we seem enlightened with a clarity of understanding or joy.  At those moments, we wish that we could suspend time and enjoy the experience endlessly.  

This has happened to me and that is why I am sharing my spiritual experience with you.