Is it Possible to Experience God?

[outhouse]

How about one's ability to differentiate between reality and illusion?

Absolutely,,,

This would apply to both the person who sees God where there is no God or the person who does not see God where there is God.

But, what if there is no god, only a perception of one.??? Is there a way to know.???

For me, I find that we can only perceive at different levels.

 

[no-body]

Richard Dawkins sees that everyday. If that's God, how can there be any Atheists at all? Answer: Thats not God. Those are clouds, a product of natural processes. It is absurd to just look at anything that looks wonderful and say "hey, that must be God!"

That's what you see on an intellectual level. Experiencing "God" would be experiencing it without all your mental screens. Being in the here, now.

Of course it is a waste of time trying to explain to someone a personal spiritual experience so I would say the answer to the OP is maybe. It depends on the individual. Whether it really is God is another thread but I contend even if it is delusional, it still has spiritual value to the individual.

 

[sandandfoam]

Richard Dawkins sees that everyday. If that's God, how can there be any Atheists at all? Answer: Thats not God. Those are clouds, a product of natural processes. It is absurd to just look at anything that looks wonderful and say "hey, that must be God!"

Tomatoe tomato

 

[Father Heathen]

Tomatoe tomato

If you spread something too thin it becomes meaningless.

 

[sandandfoam]

If you spread something too thin it becomes meaningless.

Perhaps. But my God experience is not without meaning to me. It might seem meaningless to you but that is not the same thing.

It depends what one wants I supppose.

 

[Primordial Annihilator]

Yes you can experience God in some rather peculiar ways...

I experienced being somewhat Godlike once...in a very mundane way...allow me to explain.

I was idly playing a computer game one night, funnily enough called Deus Ex Machina or God out of the machine.
This game is a first person shooter/rpg where basically you go around killing baddies and sneaking past security systems.
Now...for the wierd bit...in order to get into various rooms and areas you need to override the security devices you can do this with codes found in datacubes (items that contain game information) or using specialised tools that circumnavigate the security system in a small amount of time.
I came to one door...I did not have the tools to bypass the door nor did I know the four digit code to open the door...I checked through my datacube recordings (all are stored) there was no code for this particular door, I had not found the relevant data cube yet.
So annoyed that I had no option but go back and search for tools or a code and as it was getting late I started randomly inputting 4 digit numbers...which was fruitless...so I stopped to a breath closed my eyes (i dont remember why I did this) and imagined the numbers in green in my head...I typed the numbers into the keyboard..the door opens.
That surprised me as the odds of that happening are about 10000 - 1.
I had a feeling also that I knew the code was right....a hunch....before I typed it in.

I have never been able to properly understand what happened there...in some ways that was the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me.

 

[crocusj]

Yes it is. To my mind God is experience.
I took these this morning. High seas, raw weather and tall mountains. They express God to me.

Schistosoma mansoni. Seriously disables 20,000,000 million as we speak and kills 280,000 a year. Does this express your god to you also?

 

[outhouse]

Perhaps. But my God experience is not without meaning to me. It might seem meaningless to you but that is not the same thing.

It depends what one wants I supppose.

I think your looking for more of a word like spiritual experience

nothing wrong with that. experiencing god is supposed to tuen all your hair white like mosses isnt it???

 

[Madhuri]

But, what if there is no god, only a perception of one.??? Is there a way to know.???

I don't think that we can know either way. Our whole life could be some sort of delusion for all we know. But sometimes an experience is so profound and real that we can't help but believe it. I haven't experienced God the way that some people claim to- but if I did have such an experience, I wouldn't care if others didn't believe me. And I certainly wouldn't assume that I was delusional, just like I don't assume that I am delusional now in my daily experiences.

 

[zenzero]

Friend PA,

I have never been able to properly understand what happened there

That is the actual fact,
When someone is able to connect/understand such an individual is said to be enlightened and they too are part of God or as you mentioned godlike but never experience God as then you are there as a separate entity to perceive God of which you are a part only.

Love & rgds

 

[chinu]

*god* concept is that where both the seer and the seen are ONE.

This means it is possible to experience.

When the seer becomes one with seen, & after coming back from that state Seer is can say that it is possible to experience God.

_/\_Chinu.

 

[Surya Deva]

Nobody here is experiencing god everyday of their life. If they really are, then please PM me and I will accept you as my guru.

God is a fact of human nature. Human nature is to become god. Otherwise why would this god concept arise at all? The god concept comes from human nature and it is verily a sign of the god nature of human beings. Nobody needs to be taught the god concept, it is natural to humans.
There is not a single human being on this planet that does not have the concept of god. Even the atheist has a concept of god. They believe in ideals like freedom, justice and love. This ideal aspect indeed is the god concept and only humans have the god concept. Animals do not have ideals. One must penetrate deep into their being to find the source of this god concept. That will be an experience of god.

 

[chinu]

Question: in your own words: Below

How do you know that it's possible to experience God, when you say that it's absolutely impossible to know it happens? How did you reach the answer "yes" to the first question if you also believe that we have no idea that it happens when it happens?

Something Similarly
Answer: in your own words: Below

I know that I was sleeping because there's a big memory gap between last night and this morning, and dreams and observations from people I know all tell me that I slept. So I can now define very accurately the difference between being asleep and being awake.

Their is a big difference between accurately & Surely or exactly.
Thats all, Nothing more than this i can explain.

But even if I can't tell the difference between sleeping and being awake, I still don't think this is a valid argument.

Ok, you can do anything:
Take the help of anybody or anything.
Just tell the exact time of your sleep, with sec & minitues, but with a condition that you can take unlimited time for sleeping, But! your deep sleep should not be more than 15 minitues.

How do you know it's the exact same thing as being awake or sleeping? How do you know that you're simply not being awake all the time, and are confusing moments of confusion with the feeling of God?

If you are well realized than me, than why are you asking me ?

_/\_Chinu.

 

[nrg]

Yes you can experience God in some rather peculiar ways...

I experienced being somewhat Godlike once...in a very mundane way...allow me to explain.

I was idly playing a computer game one night, funnily enough called Deus Ex Machina or God out of the machine.
This game is a first person shooter/rpg where basically you go around killing baddies and sneaking past security systems.
Now...for the wierd bit...in order to get into various rooms and areas you need to override the security devices you can do this with codes found in datacubes (items that contain game information) or using specialised tools that circumnavigate the security system in a small amount of time.
I came to one door...I did not have the tools to bypass the door nor did I know the four digit code to open the door...I checked through my datacube recordings (all are stored) there was no code for this particular door, I had not found the relevant data cube yet.
So annoyed that I had no option but go back and search for tools or a code and as it was getting late I started randomly inputting 4 digit numbers...which was fruitless...so I stopped to a breath closed my eyes (i dont remember why I did this) and imagined the numbers in green in my head...I typed the numbers into the keyboard..the door opens.
That surprised me as the odds of that happening are about 10000 - 1.
I had a feeling also that I knew the code was right....a hunch....before I typed it in.

I have never been able to properly understand what happened there...in some ways that was the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me.

Think of it this way: how many times in your life have you been forced to choose something at random (like when you're searching for your car keys and you choose the places in your house to start in a pseudo-random way)? How many times out of those have you gotten the result you wanted on the very first time?

You see, statistics is governed by two laws, the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem. Even though every other time you choose things randomly are totally independent of this event, when you collect a sufficiently large enough pool, they will tend toward the mean. That you will find the right four digit code is not that extraordinary if you think about all the times you've heard someone say "hello" behind you, and you look over your right shoulder only to discover that he's not there and you have to look over your left.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Is it possible to experience god?

Would you be able to know whether that question had a definite answer without having experienced god? Why or why not?

Hi Sunstone,

If one understands the concept of God to represent the omnipresent oneness (as is my understanding), then all apparent diversity is illusionary due to ignorance (limited perception) inherent to the human creature, and it therefore follows logically that all activity is that of God, and that there is no experience that is not of God.

However in the maya world view of human perception, the absolute wholeness can't be realized directly so relativity 'rules'. Therefore the responses to your question will be as diverse as the relative range of experiences and beliefs held in the mind of the participants...mine included...and yet they each, regardless of apparent contradictory and conflicting viewpoints, constitute a valid and real expression of God.

 

[zenzero]

Friend ben,

Therefore the responses to your question will be as diverse as the relative range of experiences and beliefs held in the mind of the participants...mine included...and yet they each, regardless of apparent contradictory and conflicting viewpoints, constitute a valid and real expression of God.

Agree with you in Toto that its all expressions of God,however can then one experience oneself which he already IS? Logically not possible unless one is outside God or is a a part which has no links with the essence God.

Love & rgds

 

[zenzero]

Friend Chinu,

When the seer becomes one with seen, & after coming back from that state Seer is can say that it is possible to experience God.

When it is not TWO then where is the divide. This is the same point friend ben is trying to convey that all our expressions itself are expressions of God itself in its own uniqueness.

Love & rgds

 

[nrg]

Their is a big difference between accurately & Surely or exactly.
Thats all, Nothing more than this i can explain.

You mean that there's no margin of error if there's complete accuracy? I wasn't stating that we can determine it with complete accuracy, that's really hard and impossible for many things. However, we can determine something within a margin of error, and at least that's something.

Ok, you can do anything:
Take the help of anybody or anything.
Just tell the exact time of your sleep, with sec & minitues, but with a condition that you can take unlimited time for sleeping, But! your deep sleep should not be more than 15 minitues.

Can I use EEG recorders? Because then it becomes very easy.

And what's your point? I confess that there's a margin of error when it comes to determining when you fell asleep, but at least I can explain why there is and give a rough estimate of how large this error of margin is. You haven't provided anything that can be verified in any way when it comes to experiencing God, you just keep referring to the sleep process.

 

[chinu]

You haven't provided anything that can be verified in any way when it comes to experiencing God, you just keep referring to the sleep process.

The pleasure which one gets for a few sec at the time of sexual intercource or mastrubations, but this pleasure is for a few seconds.

Similarly "Mind" feels an "Endless pleasure" when it comes in contact with divine sound which is flowing inside everybody.

As a result "Mind" starts dancing, and dancing and dancing means no other work.

This divine sound is only the medicine to destroy "Mind".

_/\_Chinu.

 

[nrg]

The pleasure which one gets for a few sec at the time of sexual intercource or mastrubations, but this pleasure is for a few seconds.

Similarly "Mind" feels an "Endless pleasure" when it comes in contact with divine sound which is flowing inside everybody.

But I know this pleasure comes from masturbation or sex, because I can disprove it by analyzing the same circumstances and remove sex and masturbation from them, and lo' and behold, I don't feel the pleasure and excitement.

Can you do the same thing with divine experience? What is it that you're removing in that case? Will you deprive this person from that pleasure every time? And will this person feel this excitement every time the circumstances needed for a divine experience to work are there?

And what logical pathway made you draw the conclusion that this pleasure is in fact evidence of a divine experience? Asking someone if they felt pleasure last night is not the same thing as asking for evidence that this person had sex or masturbated last night.