Some thoughts on direct experience of God

[Steven Caro]

Some ideas to think on perhaps...

For me the human is overly obsessed with the past and what will happen in the future. In other words the answers are looked for in the past (who said what when) and the future (how will I be punished or rewarded and who is right), all at the expense of the great vision of now, wherein the ALL resides. For the eternal 'God' is present now, not back at the beginning or waiting in the future. This moment is eternally renewed right now from source (God). The past or future, don't actually exist for there is only the now dividing within itself. When this duality of future and past is cancelled out, the boundless presence of 'God is revealed. In other words, the two streams of duality that feed this present experience can be transcended and that which informs, creates those two rivers can be found, i.e. the UNITY. Then Eden is regained even on Earth.

For the religious, even if they get to heaven, they will be in the PRESENT. The wise have learnt to quieten their bodies and minds to commune with 'God' even in the Earthly realm, the Kingdom (they experience the timeless moment freed of conditions right now). The idea of being still mentally and physically for an hour whilst in the waking state sounds easy; surely a man can do this if his species can split the atom? But for most, sitting, not lying, perfectly still for an hour without thinking so as to become receptive is difficult. Why?... besides the pain the body starts to experience, it is because of the habitual division of the eternally present mind into past and future. Therefore, it may take some time before the veil opens. Still, men battle on caught up in the divided mind, hoping doctrine will show them when it's right with them ever now, in life and in death, which are another of the set of twins born of the boundless and present ONE /NOW.

If the human is able to surpass the conception of ‘I’ ending at the apparent physical body as well as recognising his ego identity (disregarding its necessity on a purely everyday level) limits his/her awareness, he/she learns to see the MOMENT, i.e. his/her TRUE BODY which CONTAINS infinite space and direction and ALL the qualities of existence. Then, when all is INSIDE, will the eternal ‘God’ be revealed.

 

[aaj]

God is not a mysterious being that you have to go searching for someplace physically. Your notion of searching for God through meditation and self denial is not the way to seek Him. In Islam, we know He is above the heaves, above His throne as befits Him. Also we know by His names He is All-Knowing, All-Seeing, etc. All time one would see God in person is in the Heavens, that will be the highest reward for the believers.

Allah Almighty says in the Qur'an:

"And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, then (answer them), I am indeed Near (to them by My Knowledge). I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me (without any mediator or intercessor). So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright" [Qur'an 2:186].

The above verse was revealed as an answer to a question addressed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) by some of his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). They asked him: "Oh Messenger of Allah! Is our Lord near to us, so we can secretly talk to Him [munaja], or He is far, so we should call upon Him [loudly]?" Thereupon Allah Almighty revealed this verse: "And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, then (answer them), I am indeed near (to them by My Knowledge) "

This is because Allah is The Watcher, The Witness Who knows what is in the hearts [the secret] and that which is more hidden; He knows the treacherous (look) of the eyes and whatever the hearts conceals. Allah is Near to whoever supplicates him and immediately responds as He says "I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me".

 

[Steven Caro]

Thank you for your comment. There is no need to search...'He' is here now...it is a matter of perception. Being still will make your belief actual. You wait for death to enter the heavens. The heavens are present, death is present, ALL is present now. It is a matter of perception. You expect a physical experience in heaven where duality still reigns. I understand why you expect that, the every day desires are manifold in the heaven you aspire to perhaps. You expect what you already know.

The Watcher you talk of is here now. You believe in Him, you will experience Him on greater levels the closer you come to the PRESENT. Death will bring you closer, for death is the cessation of the illusion of time; the breaking away from the fixation with past and future and the solar system we are held within. This will happen in meditation or in physical death. But ultimately in death there is no guarantee of no further dualities ( desire for women, food etc, sorrow - happiness) unless the Unity is recognised. There are many mansions within the worlds hidden within the present. Death is not unity but a passing yet again into the NOW which divides eternally. I understand you do not unite but stay in connection through belief and so stay in the lower dualities of this and that. I recognise that.

No one religion holds the complete truth, each is a different angle to view the same universal experience just as 3 men all viewing an apple see it from different angles. To say otherwise is to be twofold, divided, diabolical. You have chosen to submit to you particular belief and so that is as it shall be. Belief in another man's experience is not the way to seek him either. I would rather taste the fruit myself than hear of its flavour from another. But you might say your faith is food enough for you to which I shall not attempt to argue. It is as it is.

 

[M.I.A.]

weeeelll.. I've "perceived" a lot of things but to be fair.. none are worthy to be "direct experience" of God.

seriously, I must have a que outside my door from here to timbuktoo.. and in fairness I wish I could send em all home with a slap to the face.

..although everytime I get an excuse I'm not with my angry face.. (bit slow really)

and everytime they get an excuse.. I'm too busy sleeping.. no que's...

...as it is, everyday is a new slap to the face.

slap fights a thing yet?

God sure does have a sense of humour, although I hit a wall when I couldn't reconcile..

omnipotent, omnipresent, all controlling.. destiny providing..creator..

and thieves..

I must be really generous.

get a life already.

....will the real slim shady

 

[noraina]

In Islam, something which I noticed when I looked into it, is that it doesn't divorce the soul from the body completely, it doesn't completely separate the physical from the spiritual world. I always say, it is a religion of balance and its beauty lies in that, to become obsessed with material objects isn't good, but then things such as completely abstaining from the world is discouraged as well.

Whilst on earth, we cannot 'directly' experience Allah swt. Even the Prophets (as) could not see Him, and I think it was only Musa (as) who actually spoke to Allah swt directly, that is without the need for dreams or an angel or divine inspiration, and even he did not see Him. But inshaAllah, for those who were righteous, they will see the Face of Allah swt, as it says in the Qur'an, and He will tell them to enter Jannah....that is as direct as it can get.

But something I love is how we can still in a small way experience Allah swt whilst on this earth, no matter how much we sin. Just go in sujood before Him, raise your hands in dua, read His Book, you can communicate with your Lord without the need for an intercessor or some high spiritual status, just with a pure and sincere heart. Our Lord, the Lord of the Worlds, is the Most Magnificent yet He is also closer to us than our jugular vein, and He not only listens but also responds to our every call. I think it's unique to Islam how each and every person can have such an experience of Allah swt. How amazing is that...

Allahu alam...this is something learned after many years of study.

 

[Search]

:bism: (In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful)

@Steven Caro

This is a very advanced topic, not for beginners. However, rest assured that meditation is real and Islam does teach meditation. That said, everything has a Way.

Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him) said, peace and blessings be upon him, “One hour of meditation is sometimes better that one year of praying” (Suyuti, Jamiu’s-Saghir, 2/127; Ajluni, I/310).

That said, teachers are vital in learning this medium. For the Sahaba (Companions) (may God be pleased with him), that teacher was Prophet :saws: (peace and blessings be upon him). For us, that teacher must be a sincere scholarly Guide so that we experience Islam, which is submission. If you want to meet such an individual, ask Allah for you to be guided to that person so that you learn this knowledge and practice properly and all success in any endeavor is from Allah.

 

[Steven Caro]

Thank you all for the comments. I hope you don’t mind if I relate my understanding further. All I know is that when I meditated, after a couple of years, I firstly experienced great rivers of bliss running up and down my body. This would stop once I stopped meditating. Then as I progressed, I had visions, great visions, angelic visions as well as experiences of other godlike intelligences, both male and female. A couple of times when relatives died I was able to see their spirit-body leaving their bodies. I similarly had out of body experiences where I could travel to different realms. Then I had a vision beyond all this. I was sitting quietly breathing deeply when I could suddenly see my room in front of me with my eyes shut. There in front of me was a being so beautiful. There was no time anymore. No space either. This being radiated pure love, pure bliss and was surrounded in a rainbow aura. The Being was not unlike what the Hindu's refer to as Krishna. I had not devoted to Krishna at all or any Hindu deity (I had devoted to a god from a different religion. It seems to make no difference. That god or goddess IS, and if the devotion is strong will lead the aspirant). I knew at this point that there was no judgement at this level. Duality still reigned but at a very reduced level. Here was the divine expressing itself in a form I could understand. This was no dream, but a full bloodied vision.

I continued with my meditation, the bliss came and went over the next couple of months until finally I had a vision when I was just sitting in a camp site in Australia. The whole universe became internalised. The stars were not out in space but upon the film of my eye. All came down as ‘I’ (my consciousness) went out and where we met was the door to Eden. I remember being stupefied, awed, amazed. It lasted for about half an hour. A month or too later the same thing happened but to a far greater extent. Sitting at home I stared at the apparent outside world and great fear over took me. Slowly, the universe came in. This time though it dissolved before my eyes (physical eyes). There behind all form, space and time, was the First Cause. It was so empty yet somehow full. A light so bright yet so cool and soft that I was able to see it. As bright as a million suns yet as cool as the moon. It filled the universe. I stared and stared trying to understand its age. I reverted to childhood thinking…’Is it as old as the dinosaurs?’ That was my earliest understand of time. No, this wasn’t good enough. I realised it was timeless. It hadn’t been born and it hadn’t died. It was always there. It was, is and shall always be. I recognised it was all potential, omnipresent and uncorrupted by form yet it was the mother of form. It was eternally now. Time was irrelevant. This was Vast Countenance, the Ancient of Days. That which precedes ALL yet is ALL ever NOW. I stared into the uncorrupted light Eden, of which the sun and stars are the conditioned children. This was beyond any religion, race, or book. There was no bliss here, no heaven, no hell, no love, no hate, no pain, no joy etc. Just the boundless NOW revealed, beyond time and space. Uncreated IT IS. I know that ultimately there is no death, just the unlimited ever flowering eternally now.

I eventually stopped looking into it and went to sleep I didn’t dream but was fixed on this light as a white small dot. There was no duration in sleep. On awakening I was filled with bliss, and joy. Bliss now came spontaneously, bliss beyond happiness. Love poured out unconditionally without need for return. My consciousness had become solar. (Ordinary consciousness is like the moon. It needs light from an external source. We need to be praised emotionally and intellectually. We need love back in a relationship. All perfectly ordinary and necessary, but this was another state completely. This was like the sun. It shines from its own light). The Mercury had been fixed to use an alchemical term. I received many revelations which I wrote down, as many do who experience this. I recognised the flesh as spirit and the spirit as flesh…there was no difference now. All was Light! Death and Life were one. There was no separation. It is very difficult to express this idea of unity. I won’t attempt to express it anymore. I don’t feel driven to make anyone believe it. I don’t expect any to believe. All I can do is present the method and share an experience that persists to this day. Although life still goes on and duality still exists, it is now not a tyrant but a child. My Earthly body is not imperishable as a result but that which informs it is immortal and present of which I AM. The unity comes at will and the connection still persists. The circle has been squared.

All the great teachers spent time away in contemplation, meditation: Jesus in the desert, Buddha under the Fig tree, Lau Tzu and Moses up the mountain, Mohammed in the cave, and various other seers around the world. I am relaying my experience merely to show those who are interested that there is communion beyond what we think we understand through others experiences. We all have a choice to come to the divine as we feel is correct for us. For me it was shown that there is no eternal hell waiting for those who fail to believe (Hell isn’t even mentioned in the Old Testament, only in later commentaries. It is what is in your heart that is most important whether you are Muslim or an Atheist or Aboriginal Australian ). Christ mentions Gehenna which was a physical place where rubbish burnt. It was translated as a post-mortem punishment. The Greeks came up with the idea of Hell, called Hades, and it was adopted after the Gospels by the Quran and Catholic Church). Yes there are Hellish realms, on Earth and in the spiritual worlds. It is not a punishment in the spiritual dimensions, but a place of ignorance and separation that can be transcended. Hell sits in our conscience right now, a, heavy weight that keeps us isolated. It is our own ignorance and fear, our intolerance of difference, our cruelty and our self-loathing for never being good enough as well as our lack of levity and a sense of humour. When we drop these things the spirit can rise. Ultimately, ALL beings do return to the source eventually. It is unavoidable as it is our very being. I understand that for some the source, God etc, is always separate from the creation. On one level this can be seen as so but on a higher arc this is understood very differently. This is too difficult to express in a short post. But this God however he/she is represented by various cultures will lead the aspirant to the Light that IS.

 

[eesa the kiwi]

Maybe if you stop taking magic mushrooms your posts will make more sense
#just a thought