Putting Words to the Experience

Richard JelusichBlog

The spiritual path is unique to each of us: we can read great works, listen to evolved teachers and we all come away with a different experience. And each of us, as we awaken spiritually, seek to give words and meaning to that awakening.

The difficulty of describing higher states of consciousness comes in two flavors;

  •  No two people will describe a physical experience in the same, exact way from the same perspective. This is greatly magnified when describing a metaphysical event; a spiritual inner revelation.
  • Because it is a spiritual experience, higher sense perceptions are involved (your higher sense perceptions are ‘on’ 24/7, whether you are aware of it or not). The higher sense perceptions do not work in the same way as the five senses, as they are attuned to phenomena beyond time and space. So, having the appropriate words to a spiritual experience may be most difficult to convey in a manner the person next to you would understand.

Even in everyday life, putting our words to our experiences can be quite a challenge because we all have a unique perspective. We all perceive differently.

Have you ever smelled a bowl of strawberries? Did you know that no one ever smells strawberries the same? Strawberries have more than 350 different molecules in the vapor, and our noses (smell receptors) only pick up some of those to make the scent we identify as a strawberry.

It is that uniqueness that defines us and our ability to identify with our spiritual experiences. It is that same uniqueness that offers opportunities as to how and what words we use to describe those experiences.

Metaphysics, by its nature not limited to time or space, does not follow rational rules. As our intuition is ‘on’ all the time, we are constantly attuning (although perhaps not always consciously) to the nuances of our environment. And as we tune in to a given circumstance or situation, our higher sense perceptions go to that place psychologists call ‘non-rational’. It is not that it is irrational; it just does not follow the rational rules.

The point is to trust that the words needed to reveal the fullness of your spiritual experiences are much like seeds: everything the seed is to become is within the seed. Given all the elements required, the seed becomes the fullness of its purpose.

Given time to integrate, patience and inner focus, the words you seek to put to the experience will show up, germinate and evolve into greater and greater realms of understanding. The understanding will give way to wisdom. The wisdom will give way to realization.

The effort you expend in giving words when uniquely perceiving your spiritual experiences will yield, in time, the fruit of a fullness of understanding and awareness. The mind does not work in the same way as the five senses; and that is why defining spiritual experiences is so much more difficult than physical ones.

And yet does it not seem to you that we are all seeking a deeper spiritual understanding of the truth of our nature? The awareness I speak of is not an academic, intellectual knowing. Awareness is a quality associated with an elevated consciousness and the employ of the higher sense perceptions. Awareness is a faculty of those who are seekers, alert to their own spiritual path, lessons and opportunities. Higher states of awareness accompany and affect the desire to put words to those states.

Then to offer those words in testimony to the beauty you have perceived from a spiritual awakening can evoke a deep desire in you to convey them in the most meaningful and eloquent way.

Always work to convey that beauty as best you can, whether it is spoke, written, sung, drawn or more. The world benefits from knowing the words you have put to your spiritual experiences.