Mystical experiences

[Ziggy]

Ok so I have a friend in a bad place, and I feel I should be providing rational sensible arguments about why he should continue struggling through life.

However, when I was in his position I just had a strange thing happen to me, I was walking through the park at the lowest point in my life and suddenly my perception of the world shifted instantly. Suddenly it was all so beautiful, the clouds, the trees the grass, everything was just so vivid and alive and I just thought "how come I've never realised that this world is so amazing?", and then suddenly everything went back to normal.

So what do I tell my friend? Stuff you find in the textbooks or to become one with the universe? Ok I know there's no real answers, for some people religion may help and for others it doesn't. What works for one doesn't work for all. So do you just say "I can't help you, you have to find your own answers and your own meaning?" but that seems kind of rubbish for someone who wants help. Any thoughts?

 

[Winslow]

Ok so I have a friend in a bad place, and I feel I should be providing rational sensible arguments about why he should continue struggling through life.

However, when I was in his position I just had a strange thing happen to me, I was walking through the park at the lowest point in my life and suddenly my perception of the world shifted instantly. Suddenly it was all so beautiful, the clouds, the trees the grass, everything was just so vivid and alive and I just thought "how come I've never realised that this world is so amazing?", and then suddenly everything went back to normal.

So what do I tell my friend? Stuff you find in the textbooks or to become one with the universe? Ok I know there's no real answers, for some people religion may help and for others it doesn't. What works for one doesn't work for all. So do you just say "I can't help you, you have to find your own answers and your own meaning?" but that seems kind of rubbish for someone who wants help. Any thoughts?

The only answer I can think of is to suggest to him that he try Zen-meditation. At least it will teach him calmness and serenity.

 

[Ziggy]

The only answer I can think of is to suggest to him that he try Zen-meditation. At least it will teach him calmness and serenity.

Thanks for the reply. The problem is he just says he can't do it. And I say well you can't play a musical instrument unless you practice it these things take a long time but are so rewarding once you get there. It seems like he wants to take a pill or go to a therapy session and expects to be instantly cured and then just feels more depressed because he isn't.

 

[may71]

I think it would be ok to tell your friend about your experience. At least that way he will know that in principle it's possible to have a great improvement even if that improvement is totally unexpected.

 

[Walker]

It seems like he wants to take a pill or go to a therapy session and expects to be instantly cured and then just feels more depressed because he isn't.

I think this is very common actually. You don't really have the energy to put the work in to feel better. Like - going outdoors in the sunlight and getting excerise will factually make you feel better, at least temporarily but who wants to do that when they feel terrible? But if you can force yourself to do it today .. and then tomorrow.. and the next then it gets easier and before you know it you do feel somewhat better. But that stuff is HARD WORK and when you don't have the energy to shower or make a bowl of soup, then going for a walk might as well be a hill climb.

 

[Lekatt]

Ok so I have a friend in a bad place, and I feel I should be providing rational sensible arguments about why he should continue struggling through life.

However, when I was in his position I just had a strange thing happen to me, I was walking through the park at the lowest point in my life and suddenly my perception of the world shifted instantly. Suddenly it was all so beautiful, the clouds, the trees the grass, everything was just so vivid and alive and I just thought "how come I've never realised that this world is so amazing?", and then suddenly everything went back to normal.

So what do I tell my friend? Stuff you find in the textbooks or to become one with the universe? Ok I know there's no real answers, for some people religion may help and for others it doesn't. What works for one doesn't work for all. So do you just say "I can't help you, you have to find your own answers and your own meaning?" but that seems kind of rubbish for someone who wants help. Any thoughts?

I love your experience. A lot of people experience a broadened world and life. There is an experience called the near death experience that does that to people and changes their lives. I had one and it changed mine. I will post a very good example of this experience for you.

Amazing NDE

 

[Ziggy]

I think I've learnt a lot coming back here. I always thought that things would be made better by correct thinking. I feel that I need to be wise, sensible, rational, intellectual or profound. But I've just been so overwhelmed by just how kind people have been on this site... so I guess that I just need to be a kind person myself. Hey, the new year is here, so how's that for a resolution? Thank you all.

 

[lifehiker]

Seeing the wonder in the universe is something that seems most people do not know how to do. In 2018, I had the opportunity to view the solar eclipse from an area of totality. I was a amazing. But one little fact, like something you’d use for a trivia contest, was much mor amazing than the actual eclipse. The observable disk of the Moon (as we see it from Earth) is the same size as the observable disk of the Sun. The Moon is some 240,000 miles away and the Sun is 93 million miles away, yet the Moon is able to hide the Sun all because of an accident of size and distance. That both the observable disk of the Moon and the Sun should be the size is a coincidence of such incredibly minuscule probability that it defies the imagination. Yet there is.

I don’t doubt you had that perception. Hanging on to sense can be difficult in a world that downplays it all the time, but you should try to none the less.

 

[Ziggy]

Ok so I have a friend in a bad place, and I feel I should be providing rational sensible arguments about why he should continue struggling through life.

So they increased his medication which seems to have worked.... dunno what to think, kind of obvious but very Brave New World.