I've had several experiences, but will just describe just a couple of them. When I was 25 I had begun to attend Quaker Meeting in the Philadelphia area. We brought home a copy of "Faith and Practice" which included written experiences of Friends, some such as James describes. The following excerpt written by John Woolman (1720-1772, a devout Quaker and abolitionist) spoke deeply to me:
In a time of sickness, a little more than two years and a half ago, I was brought so near the gates of death that I forgot my name. Being then desirous to know who I was, I saw a mass of matter of a dull gloomy color between the south and the east, and was informed that this mass was human beings in as great misery as they could be, and live, and that I was mixed with them, and that henceforth I might not consider myself as a distinct or separate being. In this state I remained several hours. I then heard a soft melodious voice, more pure and harmonious than any I had heard with my ears before; I believed it was the voice of an angel who spake to the other angels; the words were, “John Woolman is dead.” I soon remembered that I was once John Woolman, and being assured that I was alive in the body, I greatly wondered what that heavenly voice could mean. I believed beyond doubting that it was the voice of an holy angel, but as yet it was a mystery to me.
I was then carried in spirit to the mines where poor oppressed people were digging rich treasures for those called Christians, and heard them blaspheme the name of Christ, at which I was grieved, for his name to me was precious. I was then informed that these heathens were told that those who oppressed them were the followers of Christ, and they said among themselves, “If Christ directed them to use us in this sort, then Christ is a cruel tyrant.”
All this time the song of the angel remained a mystery; and in the morning, my dear wife and some others coming to my bedside, I asked them if they knew who I was, and they telling me I was John Woolman, thought I was light-headed, for I told them not what the angel said, nor was I disposed to talk much to any one, but was very desirous to get so deep that I might understand this mystery.
My tongue was often so dry that I could not speak till I had moved it about and gathered some moisture, and as I lay still for a time I at length felt a Divine power prepare my mouth that I could speak, and I then said, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Then the mystery was opened and I perceived there was joy in heaven over a sinner who had repented, and that the language “John Woolman is dead,” meant no more than the death of my own will.
This and other passages in the book I found very intriguing, but I still struggled with what it actually meant to have faith.
A few months later I had a part time job working for Friends General Conference in Philadelphia (Quaker denomination). I took the train in from a western suburb. One day going home I sat down next to a Chinese girl with a viola who was a student at the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts. We got to talking and she began quoting several passages from the Bible, notably from the gospel of John and the first epistle of John, about how Jesus was the way, the truth and the life, and also was the light of the world, the bread of life, the water of life, etc. etc. I really didn't know WHAT she was talking about but just let her speak. She also said that when she practiced the viola, "God and I, we play together." When I got off the train that February evening, the sky was a clear, deep blue color. Although I did not have cognitive understanding of what had just transpired, I knew that some very significant presence had spoken to me and given a specific direction to follow this Christian way. There have been many other experiences, but that was really a crucial one for me.
On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 6:20 PM, Jesse Raber jesse.raber@gmail.com wrote:
Two or three times in my life I have felt something like what James describes, the feeling of something being really present in the room that had no physical form. If I had to describe its "appearance" I'd say it was like some kind of pulsing blue crystal several feet tall, floating in the corner of the room. At the time I felt an abstract sense that this thing was very significant and powerful, although it didn't speak to me or move me to do anything in particular. All of these experiences happened late at night as I was drifting off to sleep. Each time when I woke up in the morning the vision had lost all of its significance. But perhaps if I had been experiencing the kind of spiritual crisis that James will describe in the lectures on conversion, I might have made more of it.
On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 11:27 PM, Eric Purdy epurdy@uchicago.edu wrote:
But more specifically, the ones about perceiving a divine presence or having conversations with the divine.
On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 7:14 PM, Eric Purdy epurdy@uchicago.edu wrote:
Any of them, really.
On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 7:08 PM, Ruth Raubertas ruthraubertas@gmail.comwrote:
Are you talking about the positive or the negative experiences? Or anything in particular? Lecture 3 covers a broad scope of experiences.
RR
On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 7:51 PM, Eric Purdy epurdy@uchicago.edu wrote:
I've heard of similar things from two of my friends.
-- -Eric
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-- -Eric
-- -Eric
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