Mar 02, 2014

The Bliss of God

46 years ago I was caught up into the Bliss of God. I may have mentioned this in the past, but I generally called it a conversation with God, but it was far more than that. Words can not explain how I felt, and this will be the first time I will attempt to explain with words that event and what happened to me. God has led me throughout these 46 years to a further understanding of how our perception of God Itself needs expansion, and my entry only the page “my Core Belief” tried to explain how I have been led since that time to an expanded view of the reality of that Being we call God, the Eternal Wisdom.

That weekend of December 1-3, 1967, I was at a workshop with other leadership personnel of a world wide Christian/Catholic movement designed to further the work of Jesus in the work world, and to bring fresh joy and love into our families and Churches. I had a two hour conversation with one of the national leaders about a shift in direction of the movement that I and other local leaders wanted to do, and I was asked the question whose answer would result in a shift or not.

I found a tiny chapel, lit by a few candles, at about 11:00 pm on December 2. I sat on a low bench, and asked God that question: “Was I doing what I wanted or was this God's will that this happen?”

Another awareness

Suddenly I became aware that I was not alone. A wonderful peace came over me, and I was lifted into a different sphere of awareness. I was still more or less aware of that small room, but I was more aware of the Immensity and overwhelming sense of Joy and Peace, and most of all the Bliss of the All in All. I was assured that I would be guided all of my life, that I would know these guides even if they were not aware of being guides, that I had tasks to perform and a role to help others in the God-discovery process all of my days, if I chose to follow. Oh yes, I would always have a choice, but I would really have to almost struggle to ignore those promptings. I would never be at a loss (at least not for long) where I was going, and no matter what I did, my Comforter, my Wisdom, my Spirit would pursue me and never let me go. Never!

I could have been in that level is awareness for an eternity, but when I became conscious of the time, it was well after 2 am on Sunday, December 3. I was still alone, and I have no idea if anyone had come into that chapel or not. I went to bed, and the next morning had a physical reaction to that event, being ill and just staying in bed until time to leave. I spent that time trying to put some kind of sense into the experience of the night before.

What now?

<

p>I returned home, and did not speak of that night for a long time except to my wife and to my spiritual guide, who assured me it was a real event, and the future would depend if I understood that this was real. My physical reaction the next day, I was assured, is not an unusual occurrence when such a soul lifting occurs, and I should be aware that this occurs to many people. The basic issue is that many think it was an aberration and not reality, but I know this was reality, the most basic Reality possible.

It was many years later, as I was led to one task and then another, sometimes many in parallel, that I began to understand the shift that had occurred in my very being. We talk about the three virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love, but this experience, as it ripened in my soul, left only Love. I understood John's exhortation that “They who abide in Love, abide in God, and God in Them.” Once I experienced God's overwhelming love, I KNOW God is Love! I have no Hope or Faith, for they have been irrevocably been changed to Knowing.

Then I have been led, sometimes pushed, other times yanked with some protesting on my part, but always given that Love that overcomes all. Have I had problems? Assuredly! I have been given a thorn, or sometimes it felt like a spear, in the side that has kept me grounded all my life. But God never abandoned me, as “His Grace is Sufficient.”

The result today is an understanding that I am but a budding of the totality of God, a branch, as are you, and you, and — seven billion times! This knowledge, that God is Love, and only Love, and therefore I, and you, are Love, and only Love, even when we do things that certainly do not seem like Love, will fill these ramblings I present as they have been at the core of all my past entries.

But the thought that fills me today, is why I was granted the grace to continue on that path, while others, who had not the problems I had, drifted away from that experience, and eventually noted it as a a good time once upon a time, but something in the past, not to be confused with life. I will be exploring that, and presenting an even more deeply introspective on my web site, www.theyoungshallhavevisosions.com over the future.

The thought that everyone has, is “What now?” “How can this be preserved?” “And even made deeper?”