I wanted to, um... resurrect this thread because I had something interesting to add. I would really like to hear from people who still feel that something weird happened who now ascribe it to something else other than the Holy Ghost.

For example, I feel that I almost definitely witnessed some kind of natural phenomenon at The Hill Cumorah Pageant back in the 80s. The ground lights went out before a performance one night, hundreds of lights that were timed with the soundtrack. No ground lights, no performance.

Except that there were eight spotlights run by a bunch of amateur 18-year-olds, who were on headsets with the lighting director (the only professional). They were hundreds of feet away from much of the staging area, high up in the towers, in pitch-black darkness. There was no prior rehearsal, and no Plan B to operate from; just whatever the lighting director came up with at the spur of the moment, and only the verbal directions given to them through their headsets.

It was astounding. And I wasn't the only one who knew what was going on. Several people in the audience area who were conversant with the entire production, many of them theater professionals, were all amazed at what happened. Not a single flaw; just a minimalist, and truly beautiful performance pulled off by eight spotlights.

I took it as a sign from a loving Mormon god at the time. I am now an atheist, but I still feel that what happened that night was no coincidence. Something similar was taught to me as a musician, working with other musicians to make better music. I now feel that there is some external energy, or intense focus from within the mind, that humans are capable of using that, even in a crisis, can enable us to do truly amazing things. Some kind of baptism by fire that night. I don't know.

Anyway, I'd like to hear more.

Nope....I was in the presence of Pres. Eldon Tanner once at my aunt's funeral (he was her brother-in-law) where he spoke. There was nothing going on spiritually there for me that day. He being right next to the Profit and all, I kinda expected to feel something...but nah...nuthin'.

Ron Burr



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2013 09:47AM by Lethbridge Reprobate.

Our first visit to the Hill it poured rain all day long.One of those humid wet days of summer.We went to the local hardware store and purchased some plastic sheets so we would be relatively dry during the performance that evening. We arrived early to get a good seat. All the seats were wet from the days weather and the ground was just sopping,There was a small break in the rain but the sky was pitch black and we just knew we were in between weather patterns.We took the plastic wrap out of the bag and wrapped it around ourselves getting ready for the down pour.The prelude music started and slowly the drops of rain started(for our whole time at the Hill people kept saying it had never been cancelled due to weather) and it rained for 5 minutes. The pageant started the rain stopped and the sky opened up just over the Hill while the surrounding area was still pitch black.It made quite the impression on the group enough to become cast members the next year.I believe the next year was the beginning of the end for me as an active member when I actually had to live and breathe Mormonism for one month..some pretty nice folks but quite a few weird ones with some crazy ways

I am an atheist, but I have had inexplicable experiences--when I was young my entire family was having the same dream. Someone mentioned their dream at dinner and I was shocked because I had been having the exact same recurring dream. And then everyone said they were having it.

I do believe there are many parts to the human subconscious that extend beyond ourselves and interacts with the subconscious of others. Things like gut feelings and intuitions--these come from someplace real--inside of us. There is simply more to us than we know. Believing it is some Holy Ghost rather than trusting in ourselves inhibits its development I think.

I'm with blueorchid 100%.

I am an atheist and have amazing experiences all the time that as a TBM i would force into the context of "something from god" or would attribute to the "veil being thin."

Now I just let the experiences stand on their own. I no longer feel the need to pretend to understand things I very well know I don't understand.

Observing phenomena and observing the source of the phenomena are 2 very different things.

But I realize the Church is so selfish that it makes everything about itself.

A "spiritual" experience, whatever else it may be, is intended to be about YOU and God/Tao/whatever. The Church makes it all about the Church. So instead of being a gateway to a higher form of love, the Church takes your experience and says, "This means the Church is true." And if you're a good Mormon, you'll say, "Wow. The Church is true!"

Looking back, not really, but I tried really hard to convince myself that I did.

No, but I took ordinary circumstances and embellished them like a good Mormon girl, lying for The Lord.

I did.
Having said that, my most moving and powerful spiritual experiences were not in an LDS chapel or temple. Definitely not in the temple. When things didn't make sense or when it sucked, I always remembered that my foundation was on something seperate and much deeper than being temple worthy and diligent in all my duties.

I had spiritual experiences before I joined the LDS church, during my activity in said church, and continue to have them now.

I was in a meeting where there was a somewhat well-known spiritual experience. There was a family in my ward who had a daughter who was dying of cancer. In the weeks before she died, she bore her testimony from the pulpit. People who were at the meeting claimed to have seen her in a glorified state with a golden glow emanating from her head. I was sitting on the second or third row in the middle, and I didn't see anything. This story really made the rounds. I heard about it for years in the Midwest where it occurred, and I even heard it out at BYU. But I was there, and I was a worthy member of the Church, and I didn't see anything.

I honestly never felt anything in the Mormon church except boredom and confinement. I never had a burning in my bosom, but I did occasionally feel a grumbling in my stomach.

Wow. I had the grumbling in the stomach, too! Freaky...

:)

My tummy is grumbling hard right now, and I am praying to the fridge that it will provide sustenance after a skilled surgeon does a fine job on my hand.

I bet any one my fridge god will provide :) that means he's more powerful than your deity

Well, sir. The Lord helps those who help themselves, so you'd better put your shoulder to the wheel! ;)

Good luck on your surgery, btw.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2013 01:08PM by Makurosu.

To this day I have no explanation , but I know what I experienced was real. It was a summer afternoon right after getting home from work . Suddenly, and not expecting it, I was acutely aware of an unseen, but overwhelming sense of a being surrounding me that had a level of intelligence unmistakable , and in complete communication with a part of me that I was unaware of . The profoundness of the exchange was only topped by what blew me away... the being spoke to me audibly while simultaneously communicating an overload to my mind. Anyone in the room would have heard it. Simply put , it was like what I imagine being hit by lightening would be . I have no answer for it.

I was aware early on that some peoples answers to prayer seemed to be more emotion...or their wishing it to be so. Such as knowing God wants you to pursue a certain person who ends up not liking them...lol.

However, I do feel at other times that I have had real answers to prayer.
I don't know what you would call this...be it God, or Spirit, or the ability to read universal energy patterns (empath skills as each thought, action, feeling has an energy wavelength attached that can be picked up electronically), our own answers already in our hearts, souls, minds lieing dormant.....? It may be true that the answers already lay within us.

One thing stands out in my mind that happened years ago. I wish I had listened then and pursued what I wished. I was feeling trapped, unhappy, and abused in my marriage early on and I wanted to leave him and pursue a career path. But, I was struggling between my marriage (that I've been told was all important) and this other direction I wanted to go.

I was standing in the living room praying about it as I thought I can't leave my husband because of my family, temple sealing, church. And I had the oddest thought that was like this..."Go do it. It doesn't matter which religion you belong to. What matters is the quality of your soul." I don't know if that was something that I felt at the time and it was just surfacing. But, I felt it was an answer to prayer. Which, confused me somewhat. Now, I wish I'd have listened to it and gone. I didn't know at the time that my ex was already cheating. It took me years of misery to leave.

I did have powerful spiritual experiences and I interpreted it to mean the church must be true.

Funny thing is, now I'm out and I still have powerful spiritual experences.

What I never stopped to consider when I was TBM was that my strongest "spiritual" experiences had nothing to do with TSCC. I had to do a lot of stretching to tie my emotional experiences into the church. I had such wonderful feelings tied to music, family, nature, good books, etc. but I was just bored at sacrament meetings and I thought the temple was creepy. I heard the occasional good fireside but I was much more enthralled by what my physics professor taught. I liked parts of the BOM but there are numberless other books that did more to change my life.

Back in my youth I would often see impressions of future events. I know it sounds crazy and it hasn't happened in at least 13 years or so. But I used to see something in my minds eye and then usually seconds later that thing would happen in real life. Usually it was stupid things - like someone saying something or a math teacher giving a specific problem...things of no real consequence. Once I was riding my bike to a buddies house and I saw myself crossing the road and getting hit my a small white car. I kind of ignored it and about a minuet later I started to cross the quiet back road I was on without looking behind me (it was so quiet I should have been able to hear a pin drop) but last moment I looked behind me and saw the same small white car zoom past me, thus saving my life.

I use to experience this on almost a weekly basis. I then got my PB and was told I would be able to see ahead at times and prepare for future events. Well, I don't recall having any since my mission although I have been TBM for the most part for the past 12 years since returning. I only recently discovered the truth about TSCC. I know now that it was not the Holy Ghost or what not, and although I no longer believe in God I admit that I have no idea if there is one and I have no real understanding of the universe. It's kind of scary and exciting at the same time. I used to dismiss stories of ghosts, magics etc... and although I don't believe in such things there may be some kind of higher power that does indeed connect all living things. It's fascinating to think about.

OK, who can explain this event that happened to me?
It was a regional conference held in Tempe. GBH was there. The basket ball stadium was filled with people. I sat up in the nose bleed section. It was noisy and everyone was sitting and talking to each other. I was looking down at my feet or lap, not paying any attention to anything. I felt a sensation and looked up. Everyone was standing, so like a zombie I stood up. Then I felt a static charge, an electrical wall of energy press into me from the front of my body. It was like standing in a current of water. It got stronger and stronger. I looked out and down on the floor of the stadium and a man was walking towards me. The closer he moved towards me the stronger the wall of energy became. I than saw the man and it was GBH. He was still far from me and way down there on the main floor. He was shaking hands as he moved in my direction. Then he turned around and headed back to the front. Then everyone sat down. At the time I knew it was the spirit washing over me. Now I think it was just some other phenomenon.
I think I was feeling a real charge building up due to people all standing at the same time. It’s like when a group of people get together they produce a lot of energy that effectively binds them together, so that they all feel the same things. Like when everyone starts to get the same sickness when really only one is sick it. Like a yawn, or fainting at a concert. Does any of that make sense? Anyone have a theory?

It's more likely that you were subconciously aware that GBH was walking toward you, had unconscious expectations about what standing in the presence of the most spiritual man on the planet would be like based on all scriptural readings and anecdotal accounts, and experienced the event in the form of a quasi-satori like state.

But who knows?

One time I was praying that God would reveal to me what I needed to do about my marriage, and not two hours later, I got a call from a disgruntled man who was wanting my husband to quit hitting on his wife. It wasn't the answer I wanted but I should have listened. We ended up divorcing years later. Warrior Princess' post reminded me of this. Stuff like that was more powerful to me than anything I experienced in church.