The Landscape of Heaven – Ecstatic States in
Spiritual Literature
The Mysticism of Light and Sound
This essay will
review spiritual literature, spiritual biographies/hagiographies, near-death
experiences, spiritual poetry, and spiritual diaries to paint a picture of a
wide variety of heavenly and ecstatic states. This is a multi-cultural approach
drawing on diverse sources. Note that this material repeats some of the
experiences from the www.spiritualtravel.org site's "sacred light"
section but adds some
new and unique ones as well.
The beauty and
majesty of these states or worlds are mostly discontinuous with everyday waking
experience. However they can provide an alternate view of the universe that can
inspire and motivate individuals to embark on a spiritual search.
This is a review of
human potential, and the ability to enter into altered or non-ordinary states
that redefine one’s relationship with the material universe.
We begin by quoting
one of the classic texts on mysticism related to these spiritual states.
One might ask, “What
is the effect of encountering heavenly or cosmic states on the individual?”
The
following quote from Richard C. Bucke's 1901 classic
book Cosmic Consciousness attempts to explain this altered view of the
universe:
Like a flash there is presented to his consciousness a clear
conception (a vision) in outline of the meaning and drift of the universe. He
does not come to believe merely; but he sees and knows that the cosmos, which
to the Self Conscious mind seems made up of dead matter, is in fact far
otherwise - is in very truth a living presence. He sees that instead of men
being, as it were, patches of life scattered through an infinite sea of
nonliving substance, they are in reality specks of relative death in an
infinite ocean of life. He sees that the life which is within man is eternal;
that the soul of man is as immortal as God is; that the universe is so built
and ordered that without any preadventure all things
work together for the good of each and all; that the foundation principle for
the world is what we call love, and that the happiness of every individual is
in the long run absolutely certain. The person who passes through this
experience will learn in a few minutes, or even moments, of its continuance
more than in months and years of study, and he will learn much that no study
ever taught or can teach. Especially does he obtain such a conception of the
whole, or least of an immense whole, as dwarfs all conception,
imagination, or speculation, springing from or belonging to ordinary Self
Consciousness, such a conception as makes the old attempts to mentally grasp
the universe and its meaning petty and even ridiculous.
A common perception when examining
these spiritual states is that humans are not alone on a rock drifting in a
lifeless world of infinite space but actually share the universe with an almost
endless varieties of life forms, both material and spiritual.
To begin, let us quote one of the
clearest examples in Western Spiritual literature of the experience of the sacred
or spiritual light from the Bible.
Perhaps the most unusual thing about St. Paul’s experience of the
spiritual light was that its intensity destroyed his ability to perceive
physical light, and left him blind for three days. Symbolically, we could
interpret this to mean that spiritual light is superior and more powerful than
physical light and therefore can negate normal vision as it descends and
overwhelms the individual:
Acts 9: Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous
threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and
asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any
there who belonged to the Way [Christianity], whether men or women, he might
take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on
his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He
fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you
persecute me?”
5“Who are
you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.
6 “Now
get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The
men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did
not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he
opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into
Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or
drink anything.
10 In
Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a
vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The
Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man
from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he
has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his
sight.”
This is one of the best know
experiences of spiritual light in Western literature.
Next we list a series of experiences
of heavenly or transcendent states that come from “spiritual but not religious “sources.
These are interspersed with some more traditional religious sources. These experiences
can be understood as merely informational or historical, and part of the
history of ideas. Or they can be a form
of invitation to explore further the paths of spirit. Lastly, they may serve as inspiration for spiritual
seekers.
Today, for us, they can also be
contemplative exercises that expose the listener to different spiritual states
and invite him or her to experience these states now (in meditation), or seek to
discover them at some future time.
Our second experience begins with
the partial text of a very deep near-death experience which happened to Renee Paraslow as a young teenager. She had the experience after
she became unconscious following an allergic reaction to some food she ate.
Here she has been unconscious for a while and experienced the early stages of
an NDE. We begin her experience as she has just come out of the NDE “dark tunnel"
and into contact with the spirit of her dead uncle with whom she communicates.
Following this, she enters into a state of Sacred Light. Note the lack of
specific religious symbolism even though the sacred quality of the experience
comes through quite clearly.
As I came to the end of this place, I wondered if I would be
alone, and just like that I was with, I was one with my uncle just like we were
two lights that were put together one red and one blue that made purple light,
and I was aware of things about him that I had never been aware of in life. I
didn't spend much time with him and I didn't know him well. He lived in the South
and I lived in California
But it was
a very joyful reunion and I became aware that he was concerned that I was there
because he communicated to me instantaneously that my mother could not stand
the loss of a child, and he was confused, and yet he knew that everything was
as it should be.
From that
point I became very attracted to the light and this attraction was like an
irresistible magnet... I loved that light, and the love was what was pulling me
home. I moved past my uncle into what I can best define as a sea of light. It
was as if every atom in the universe had been electrified with color and light
and sound, but more than that with totally unconditional love. And it was a
welcoming to me, and I dove into this ocean with each moment, with each
movement, feeling more rapture and more joy and more just absolutely
unspeakable love.
As I moved
through this sea, I became aware I was moving to the center of the sea of light
which I perceived to be, how could I say this, as if
you were a gnat and you were flying into the sun, and that is the perspective
that I had for this sea of light.
And then
in an instant, again like a clap [of the hands], I entered into this light and
I became one with this light, and of this light, and no longer an individual,
no longer a person, but simply a part of this light. I became like the phoenix.
I was destroyed, and it was the most blissful, the most excruciatingly
beautiful moment that I could imagine. It seemed to me to be the apex of all
existence to get to the point where one was no more. One simply was a part of
this light.
After
being in this state for what seemed to be a time beyond time, I was gathered
again together like sands from the shore as an individual and I was called to
recount for my deeds.
The third
experience is from the 15th century Persian Sufi mystic Bayazid Bistami who was known for
his advocacy of ecstatic Islam, and the state of fana. Fana means dying of the individual self through union with
God. It shows a more religious perspective to ascension into the higher spiritual
worlds. Here is Bistami’s dream experience:
While I was asleep, it seemed to me that I ascended to the
Heavens in quest of God, seeking union with God most glorious, so that I might
abide with Him forever, and I was tested by trial - God displayed before me
gifts of all kinds, and offered me dominion over the whole heaven and yet I
turned aside my eyes from this ... Then I ascended to the Second heaven and saw
winged angles who fly a hundred thousand times each day to the earth to look
upon the saints of God, and their faces shone like the sun ... An when God Most
High realized the sincerity of my desire to seek Him, He turned me into a bird,
and I went flying, past kingdom after kingdom, and screen after screen, and
plane after plane, seas after seas, veils after veils, until behold, the angel
of the Footstool of God met me with a pillar of light and said to me "Take
it" and I took it, and lo, the heavens and all that were therein sought
refuge in the shadow of my gnosis [or spiritual knowledge], and sought light in
the light of my longing, yet all the angels seemed but as a gnat compared with
the all-absorbing concern with the search for God. So I continued to fly, until
I reached the Footstool of God, and lo, was met by angels, whose eyes were as
the number of stars in the heavens, and from each eye shone forth light, and
those lights became lamps, and I heard sounding forth from each lamp,
"Glory to God", and "There is no God but God". Then I went
on flying until I arrived at a sea of light, with waves beating against one
another, and besides it, the light of the sun would seem dark, and upon the sea
were ships of light, compared with which the light of those waters appeared to
be darkness. I continued to cross seas upon seas, until I reached the greatest
of seas, upon which stands the throne of the All-Merciful, and I went on
swimming therein, until I beheld, looking from the Empyrean to the earth
beneath, the Cherubim and those who bore the Throne of all whom God has created
in Heaven and Earth, as less than a mustard seed floating between the Heavens
and the earth, in comparison with the flight of my spirit in the quest for God.
And when the Most Glorious perceived the sincerity of my desire to seek Him, He
called to me and said: 'Oh my chosen one, approach onto me, and ascend to the
heights of my glory, and the planes of my splendor, and sit upon the carpet of
my holiness, so that thou may see the work of my grace in my appointed time.
Thou art My chosen, and My beloved, and My elect among
the creatures'. And I began to melt away at that, as lead melts (in the heat of
the fire). Then He gave me to drink from the Fountain of Grace in the Cup of
Fellowship, and transformed me into a state beyond description, and brought me
near unto Him, and so near did He bring me that I became nearer to Him than the
spirit to the body. And I continued thus until I became even as souls of men
had been in the state before existence was, and God abode in solitude apart,
without created existence or space or direction or mode of being, may His glory
be exalted and his Names sanctified.
This was a more
religious experience of the sacred light using religious symbolism to describe
what happened.
The fourth experience
is from a Johns-Hopkins 2010 Scientific American article studying
the effects of Psilocybin. The title of the article was High Light: When a
Psilocybin Study Leads to Spiritual Realization. Maria Estevez
describes the experience which occurred spontaneously.
After a few minutes, instead of getting adjusted to the
level of [room] light, I realized the light was getting brighter and brighter
and strangely brighter, until I understood that this light was not in the room,
it was inside me. At that moment it was as if all the cylinders in the lock
somehow fell into alignment, and the door swung open, and I found my
consciousness being flooded with brilliant Light. Without notice or fanfare, I
had arrived at a transcendental state, and was awe-struck at the discovery. I
felt a sense of joyous expansion as it opened to me, like entering a splendid
palace, yet the feeling was completely natural and gentle.
With my
eyes closed, I was overwhelmed with glorious golden light, suffused with every
color, prisms and rainbows everywhere like a shining hologram. The Light itself
was alive, a radiant consciousness of ultimate intelligence, perfect integrity,
singularity and purity. The light pervaded everything, it composed everything.
Its presence was benevolent, calm, and intense.
It was as
if the light were revealing to me the innermost workings of the universe. Without
words, it informed me that it as the light was the source of every physical
manifestation and that each had its purpose: "Everything is in my perfect
control. With this as cause, there can be no mistakes." I knew it to be
the substance of every particle in the microcosm and the overarching essence of
the macrocosm. In that moment I intuitively understood that everything is being
created anew each instant from Its emanation. Why,
then, could we not see the Light completely composing and permeating all of
creation? How could the shining substance of all things be hidden? Later I
remembered what the sages have told us. The only possible answer is that our
sense perceptions are an illusion.
Faced with
reality and glory of the light, there is nothing left to do but gape with the
greatest reverence. There are no questions in its
presence, no desires, no resistance. I felt suspended in a clear and peaceful
state and enjoyed a weightless sense of free-fall without time and space,
though I remembered that they existed elsewhere. Even my physical urges abated
as if their purpose had been accomplished. Occasionally I felt a faint muscle
spasm, like an echo of receding thunder.
As I was
poised there, rapt and transparent, the Light addressed me simply, without
words: "Is there anything you want?" The question was direct and
forthright, yet it seemed incongruous because my whole identity was already
absorbed in that Light. To search for an answer, I had to make a deliberate
effort to turn my attention to the world from which I'd come, a world now
irrelevant and far away. With a moment's focus, I remembered that life on earth
required healing and guidance and abundance, and that I had a long list of
wishes there. But I felt so distant from the personality, and I didn't want to
look away from the Light for even an instant. The question was addressed to the
one who stood before It in this exceptional experience,
and there could be only one response. I breathed the quietest possible way,
"No, there is nothing I want."
I didn't
know what to do in the presence of this Light. It was asking nothing of me. I
was just basking in it and, again, trying to remain open to whatever happened.
However, I realized I could observe it and report back to [the experimental
team] Mary and Matt. I wanted to shout, "It is true! It does exist!"
Sometimes in a dream there a sense that whatever you try to name or record will
evaporate, but this experience in the Light remained steady as I tried to
describe it, even though I was a little concerned that my sharing it might be
sacrilegious and it would withdraw.
The power
of the Light could have annihilated me in an instant, but instead it shone only
as brightly as my consciousness could bear. The Godhead seemed to be lovingly
limiting Its manifestation to what my own self-imposed
definitions could perceive. This gave an "interspecies" quality to
the experience, like the analogy of the fisherman and the mermaid - an
understanding that as long as I maintained a human identity, we could not be
joined in ultimate communion. The limitations were plainly mine but the shared
feelings of affection, longing and respect remained. The unspoken promise was
that one day I would return with sufficient mastery to lay down my illusions,
and the separation would be resolved.
And so
with nothing else to be done, we danced - that is as good a description as any.
The Light waxed and waned, perhaps mirroring the processes of the Psilocybin.
It would shine brightly, and then recede, leaving me in repose, peaceful and
floating. Then it would return more strongly. It caressed me, holding me in the
palm of its hand, so to speak with exquisite tenderness and compassion. My eyes
brimmed with tears of emotion as I was poised in this timeless state.
The light
spoke to me in the language of every human relationship - as if I were a child,
a friend, and a lover. It told me it was pleased with my efforts to come and
find it, and that it recognized my sincerity. At times the Light was playful
and we carried on nearly in giggles as if we had a secret. I teased Mary
saying, "I feel like I'm on a private phone conversation, and you can't
hear." The Light and I continued that give-and take rhythm, like a
graceful and spontaneous duet, an intimate exchange.
The fifth
experience is an NDE from Dr. Raymond Moody’s 1975 book Life Afterlife. It is
another experience of spiritual light but one associated with an individual spiritual
guide as the source of the light:
I knew I was dying and that there was nothing I could do
about it, because no one could hear me . . . . I was out of my body, there's no
doubt about it, because I could see my own body there on the operating room
table. My soul was out! All this made me feel very bad at first, but then, this
really bright light came. It did seem that it was a little dim at first, but
then it was this huge beam. It was just a tremendous amount of light, nothing
like a big bright flashlight; it was just too much light. And it gave off heat
to me; I felt a warm sensation.
It was a
bright yellowish white - more white. It was tremendously bright; I just can't
describe it. It seemed that it covered everything, yet it didn't prevent me
from seeing everything around me - the operating room, the doctors and nurses,
everything. I could see clearly, and it wasn't blinding.
At first,
when the light came, I wasn't sure what was happening, but then, it asked, it
kind of asked me if I was ready to die. It was like talking to a person but a
person wasn't there. The light's what was talking to me, but in a voice.
Now I
think that the voice that was talking to me actually realized that I wasn't
ready to die. You know, it was just kind of testing me more than anything else.
Yet, from the moment the light spoke to me, I felt really good - secure and
loved. The love that came from it is just unimaginable, indescribable. It was a
fun person to be with! And it had a sense of humor, too - definitely!
Gopi Krishna was an Indian office
worker from Kashmir who practiced Kundalini Yoga. Much of yogic practice is associated with
seeking the state of Samadhi which might be described as a state of spiritual
union with the higher self or atman. Here he describes his first breakthrough
experience with the kundalini energy which has components of both light and
sound.
Suddenly,
with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering
my brain through the spinal cord. Entirely unprepared for such a development, I
was completely taken by surprise; but regaining my self-control, keeping my
mind on the point of concentration. The illumination grew brighter and
brighter, the roaring louder, I experienced a rocking sensation and then felt
myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light. It is
impossible to describe the experience accurately. I felt the point of
consciousness that was myself growing wider surrounded by waves of light. It
grew wider and wider, spreading outward while the body, normally the immediate
object of its perception, appeared to have receded into the distance until I
became entirely unconscious of it. I was now all consciousness without any
outline, without any idea of corporeal appendage, without any feeling or
sensation coming from the senses, immersed in a sea of light simultaneously
conscious and aware at every point, spread out, as it were, in all directions
without any barrier or material obstruction. I was no longer myself, or to be
more accurate, no longer as I knew myself to be, a small point of awareness
confined to a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness in which the
body was but a point, bathed in light and in a state of exultation and
happiness impossible to describe.
The sixth
experience is from the fourth chapter of the book of Revelation in the Bible.
It gives an image of heaven which focuses on the various forms of supernatural
light in the form of jewels, stars, rainbows, blazing lamps, flashes of
lightning, etc. The chapter also has imagery of male authority where elders sit
on thrones with crowns which are reflected in the earthly church hierarchy with
the pope and his bishops and cardinals. Heaven serves both as a place to
receive prophetic information about the future as well as a place to honor and
worship God the Father:
After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing
open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet
said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
2 At once I was in the Spirit, and
there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
3 And the one who sat there had the
appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled
the throne.
4 Surrounding the throne were
twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They
were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.
5 From the throne came flashes of
lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps
were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.
6 Also in front of the throne there
was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around
the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in
front and in back.
7 The first living creature was like a
lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.
8 Each of the four living creatures
had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day
and night they never stop saying: “ ‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,’who was, and is, and is to
come.”
9 Whenever the living creatures give
glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever
and ever,
10 the
twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him
who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 “You are
worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created
all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
The seventh
experience is from Paramahamsa Yogananda’s
spiritual classic, the Autobiography of a Yogi. Yogananda was a
Bengali monk who brought the practice of yoga to America in the 1920’s. The
power of the guru’s touch is often described as darshan
and can give a spiritual gift of divine light to the devotee:
Master possessed a transforming power; at his touch a great
light broke upon my being, like a glory of countless blazing suns together. A
flood of ineffable bliss overwhelmed my heart to the innermost core. It was
late in the afternoon of the following day before I could bring myself to leave
the hermitage.
The eight
experience is from a spiritual autobiography of a Shavite
(or Shiva worshiping) monk in India. He was called upon by his guru to practice
a tantric form of sexual yoga in order to have a vision of the God he
worshipped, Shiva. He had been a celibate wandering monk all his life and was
quite hesitant about the practice. However, he did what his guru asked of him.
My guru Dadaji said that when I perform with a woman in
sexual ritual, I must visualize a great circle of light running between us into
Shiva's heaven and back again. This is the real heavenly Ganges River which the
lord caught in his hair according to the Puranas or medieval Indian holy books.
That is only half of the story. The Ganges flowed through him and returned to
heaven in his meditation. He is therefore part of a great circle of energy, the
pranashakti chakra (the wheel of the power
of cosmic breath). That is not within a person, but a person may be part of
it, like a bead on a mala or necklace. Lord Shiva is the great bead at the
beginning and the end, and we are crystal beads transparent to the light which
moves through us.
Here is a
description of what happened during the yogi’s tantric meditation:
So my yogic consort, Padmajnani,
came to me sat upon me, and it sent feelings of bliss through my body. I truly
felt like a god. My body rushed to hers, and I said, "I cannot hold the
meditation." Then she froze and I got the focus of my attention back.
Again she moved, and my awareness was scattered. This was really very
difficult. It gave me new respect for the god. I looked for the inner crystals
edged in red light and I saw the pure yogic energy coated with the red surface
of desire and instinct. I tried to move it along, but it was stuck. I told her
this, and she said, "You are neglecting the work of the breath. Breathe
deeply, and push the energy forward."
So I controlled my breath, and chanted the mantras of
movement and transformation, and heard the tantric bells chiming. The sattva or
spiritual energy was like snow reddened by the setting sun, and it began to
move like an avalanche of snow. I moved it through the bright river, through
the inner channels of the bright colors, and it moved up the rivers towards the
ocean. Then there was sky and it became deep blue, and then purple, and then a
great ruby shone in its midst. It was a wish-fulfilling gem, the result of the
union of the energies. But I had no wishes except to see my lord, and please
him.
It burst open, and in its center was a deep shining blue pearl.
In its center were Shiva and Shakti together. That image too burst, and I saw
the mind of Shiva, deep blue and infinite. It came toward me like a great
storm, and then I merged into it. I was one with the lord.
So the goal of training was to merge the energies together,
my own and the energies of the universe. My consort as Shakti liberated my own shakti to merge with the infinite
blue Shakti of Lord Shiva. It was one level of energy upon another. It was as
if human beings were simply linkages of energy, connecting the physical world-
the worlds of transformation, and the divine world of the god. When they came
into harmony, a channel was created between all of them, and energy could move
up and down them like a tidal surge.
When I became one with Lord Shiva, it was as if the universe
exploded. There was radiant blue light everywhere, pulsing in waves like the vast gush of a waterfall coming into a lake. You
could not stand against it - it could carry the whole world away. I became
those waters spreading out through infinity, creating stars and planets,
dancing the dramas of universal change.
I was the lord, and I saw the many levels of manifestation,
like rainbows upon rainbows. I was old and young, beautiful and ugly, male and
female, powerful and weak. I was a sage, and an actor, a warrior and a farmer,
a dancer, and a crippled old man. I would enter these roles, and live them out
for the sake of variety. I would multiply my identity out into a million parts,
and each glittering fragment would be the beginning of a world. I was a
fountain scattering drops, a volcano spewing forth sparks, an earthquake
throwing tiny crystals in all directions. All of these became worlds.
Part of this infinity was still, like a vast quiet evening,
but looked at another way; it was an infinite lake of sapphire quicksand
pulling in all form. From one side, the universe explodes and multiplies; from
another it contracts and sucks everything in. It expands and contracts beating
like the drum of the Shiva, the lord of the dance, beating like a heart. The
whole universe is a living presence - the mind and heart of Lord Shiva.
I expanded into infinity, and contracted back into my body.
The ninth
example is based on an OBE that occurred during meditation. OBEs can sometimes
give access to higher states of consciousness:
A number of years ago, while meditating, I had a transcendent
spiritual experience. I entered a combined state of extreme knowledge and
bliss. The best I can describe the experience is that I became a node of energy
in a vast electrical sea of incandescent blue lightning. It was as if my
consciousness were a central point where countless bolts of lightning converged
superimposing their energy on the single area of space that I occupied. In the
midst of these luminous electrical arcs, my consciousness stood motionless and
serene, unchanging and continuously aware. The state was beyond thought, beyond
imagination, and beyond any conception I had of ecstasy. It was a static kind
of knowing coupled with the dynamic movement of the surrounding powerful energy
field seemingly composed of “consciousness”. But the experience was not an
individual's experience as we normally understand the term. I was seemingly in
communion with a massive conscious entity whose primary attribute was pure
awareness.
My attempt to make out some kind of imagery beyond the
lightning itself showed only an occasional glimpse of a triangle. This triangle
was akin to the pyramid on a one-dollar bill, which represents a human eye
emanating spiritual light from within a triangle.
This state of consciousness seemed to put me in touch with
the electromagnetic forces of the cosmos. I understood intuitively their
interpenetration of the many layers of reality. I was the electricity of the nervous
system in the human body, and the flash of charged particles from a sunspot
pouring into the solar system. I perceived this energy as a kind of connective
tissue permeating and unifying all structures in the universe, both mental and
physical.
The state contained a vast knowingness, an awareness of
certain relatedness, a wisdom that arises from awareness not broken up by
thought or image, not sliced and demarcated by time, a monumental stillness
surrounded by the continuous movement and surging of the energies. My
consciousness seemed to interpenetrate all form and thereby have unrestricted
awareness of its structures, not in analytic terms, but as Gnosis. Gnosis is
the Greek term meaning knowledge that comes through identification with the
object known. Such knowledge is inscrutable and ineffable. It can only be
alluded to by analogy.
One analogy that comes to mind is of a chemist who studies
the frozen water molecule and it crystalline variations. Such a scientist knows
the geometrical shape of the molecular bonds, and understands the various
angles of the frozen water molecule's lattice structure.
After much investigation, such a scientist might come to
spontaneously see how the variations of structure can generate molecule-sized
crystalline shapes. These, in turn, each combine to create groups of molecules
and eventually large crystals. Such a person might come to intuitively
understand the minor variations of millions upon millions of snowflakes as they
are created and destroyed in a snowstorm, each one unique, but each one based
on a fundamental set of basic angular bonds created from the simple frozen water
molecule.
Similarly, to enter into the energy of the "ground of
being" is to intuit knowledge of all the forms that the energy permeates,
and all the forms both universal and individual to which it gives birth.
Thomas
Merton was a Trappist monk, and one of the Catholic churches' best known
writers on the contemplative and monastic life in the 20th century. In our
tenth experience,, Merton describes an experience of
celestial light which he had in a Catholic church in Havana when he was 25
years old, and comments on its availability to all people.
Thomas
Merton, quoted in Burnham's book The Ecstatic Journey, (Ballantine
Books, 1997), p. 199
But what a thing it was, this awareness, it was so
intangible, and yet it struck me like a thunderclap. It was a light that was so
bright that it had no relation to visible light and so profound and so intimate
that it seemed like a neutralization of every lesser experience. And yet the
thing that struck me most of all was that this light was in a certain sense
ordinary - it was a light (and this was most of all what took my breath away) -
that was offered to all, to everybody, and there was nothing fancy or strange
about it. It was the light of faith deepened and reduced to an extreme and
sudden obviousness.
Though
spiritual light is often the focus of religious experience, spiritual sound can
be just as powerful. This is the central element of our 11th
experience:
I was asleep a number of years ago when an extraordinary
event occurred. I do not remember being in a dream and do not recall any
transition out of an earlier state but I was suddenly out of my body. I found
myself in a world composed entirely of orchestral music with large numbers of
strings and woodwinds filling the space. I had no visual sensations at all
sensing only darkness if I attempted to view the environment. The unusual thing
was that I had not the slightest interest in the visual element because I was
taken up by the music that so completely filled me. I was soaring as the both
the atmosphere and myself were permeated with this mysterious symphonic music.
There was no body, and no mind or thoughts. The fullness and richness of the
sound had a strong component of ecstasy or bliss which made the quality of the
experience difficult to relate since listening to similar music in the physical
world does not have near the same effect.
This was truly a heavenly world. The experience went against
everything I had been led to believe as a child about the kind of limitations
that we expect we have as embodied beings. I concluded we have access to a much
broader range of experience while alive than many of our religious leaders
assume.
The experience also confirmed to me the accounts of some of
the great composers like Mozart, who claimed he "heard" his
symphonies inwardly and simply wrote then down without having to actually
"compose" them. Had I a composer's training, I believe I could have
transcribed the melody into sheet music.
Thus far,
our examples have not discussed meditation and spiritual travel which may be
one way to bring on the transcendental experience. So the 12th example
discusses some of the pitfalls of seeking such experience in a Tibetan Buddhist
context where the seeker travels through a mandala which is a map or circular
tunnel with different steps or stages going from the periphery to the center.
This is an esoteric kind of meditation usually available only to the initiated.
Here the seeker attempts to reach the
transcendental state represented by the mandalas’ center. As mentioned earlier,
one of the fundamental symbols of spiritual light is the jewel (in the case of
the Vajra worlds, the diamond). Here a celestial Buddha describes the paths to
the worlds of light – the Buddhist Vajra or diamond worlds, as well as the
distractions that keep the seeker from reaching his or her goal:
The mandalas of the Celestial Buddhas are made of jewels. Ratnasambhava, the celestial Buddha of Harmony and Golden
Light, is not a proper name but rather an attribute - he is the one born from
jewels. Ratna means jewel or precious stone in
Sanskrit. His true form is brilliant, radiant light before it takes form. By
meditating on the name, you are looking at one form of an infinite Buddha or deity.
The Vajra world is made up of celestial Buddhas
who exist as pure light and who also form a great diamond by their
interactions. Each one creates a facet in the cosmic diamond. Millions of
interactions create millions more facets. They are sharp as crystal and
powerful as thunder. Entering the Vajra world is entering the diamond.
The pathway into the diamond is full of illusions. Staircases
lead to the middle of other staircases, and fountains and pools hold millions
of layers of reflections. There is a pathway thin as the edge of a razor that
goes through this mass of confusing imagery. Whole worlds are reflected into
the surfaces of prisms, which are composed of both worldly experience and vivid
colors. How does the novice find his or her way through this gallery of
crystal?
The lightning of initiation speeds through the masses of
illusion, showing itself as a bright light that goes from edge to edge of the
moving facets. The guru's presence is shown in the ability to navigate a path
through the chaos.
The sharp edges of the diamond worlds cut away greed, hatred,
and ignorance. Sometimes the path moves through nets, which catch and hold
attachments as the novice moves through them.
There are endless distractions. Mirrors reflect the loved
ones calling the novice to return to the family. The echoes of these
distractions create a whirlpool sucking the novice back into the outer rings of
the mandala.
Outside the diamond world, the guardians and traps for the
unwary circle around. There are circles of death that continue forever, and
gates that open into walls and endless labyrinths. There are doorways which
open into other worlds of distraction and traps that drag the soul into the
lower worlds of destruction and hatred. The guardian circles are realms of fire
and ice. Their illusions are like sirens that call people to their doom.
The golden road to Ratnasambhava is
like lightning that shoots through the chaos providing a pathway across the
wastelands of illusion.
One feature
of many heavens is the beings that are manifest as emanations by the deity as
helpers, administrators, and worshippers.
Here in the 13th example, we have an example of a Christian heaven where
a class of angels known as the Seraphim describes their role in the heavenly
hierarchy:
We are the songs of the true God,
The Lord almighty, ruler of heaven and earth.
When He opens his mouth does the world come into being,
For this is the Word that creates the universe.
As the words arise from the Great Unknown,
a white sun rises in the infinite sky.
This is the paradise of the All-Merciful, within which is his throne.
All things here have eternal life,
as do the songs and the light.
The throne is in the midst of concentric wheels,
which are golden in color.
These are the ripples of his voice in space
As a pebble throne into the water creates concentric
rings.
We of the Seraphim are guardians of the throne.
We see in all directions, and have access to all knowledge.
Our wings hide the light of the Divine from the unworthy
Yet spread a carpet of beauty and softness,
for the virtuous to tread.
We worship the Almighty with chants and songs, which create
pathways
so that the divine will may flow down them,
and more easily create,
the infinite number of beings which are one in his depths.
We provide veils and robes for the place of God,
So that his home may be more beautiful,
Adorned with the tokens of love.
We are virgins in waiting for divine bliss,
the maidens who seek after grace.
We are the soldiers who order and protect
the flowing rivers of light.
Flowers of beauty do we throw,
which create the stairways
by which man may transcend, to face the throne of God.
He will praise the Almighty, and pray to do the will of God.
And the entrance of God's sweetness will
cause his soul to shine with light.
Then shall we lead him forth in garments of radiance, robed as a king.
And he shall return to his tribe as a prophet,
to tell them of his vision;
And to teach them the Truth of God.
Our 14th
example will describe the Buddhist heaven of Amida Buddha, who is worshipped by
millions of people in the Far East. Pure Land Buddhism is by far the most
popular Buddhist religious sect in Japan and is also popular in Tibet and
Southeast Asia. It is the most Christian-like form of Buddhism emphasizing
salvation and entrance to heaven of Amida Buddha following death.
I am Amida, Buddha of the moonlit garden
I welcome those who seek truth and liberation
I offer them the lotus seat of welcome
My paradise is peaceful and tranquil
For true seekers who wish to escape the noise and
bondage
Of the worlds of incarnation
Here, they can meditate in peace
Free of passion, and sweat, and debt
Here they are tranquil and compassionate
Walking the jeweled path to freedom
This paradise has pathways scattered with pearls and
moonstones
The calling birds chime, and the wind rustles
The leaves of trees with golden fruit.
The mountains shimmer with blue and lavender
In them sit many future buddhas in meditation
Hidden by the shining mists.
It is a garden of moonlight
Where the moon is larger than the sky
And the clouds that hide it sparkle with awareness
The ponds and fountains splash with insight and new ideas
The waterfalls rush down with inspiration
The temple bells chime with liberation.
Here is a paradise for the pure to keep them from falling
into karmic bondage
Along its peaceful and beautiful paths,
Come insights falling like dew in the morning
It is a world of light, only taking form,
For those that visit and are still attached to it.
We bless the lonely, encourage the shy, quiet the restless,
And expel the desirous and dishonest
This paradise is not easy to gain
People chant for Amida's grace, but most do not come
here
Instead, they come to its lower reflection, the world of grace
Here, the light is muted, the forms more enduring, the flowers brighter
Here people are saved from the results of their sins
In this world, they get a second chance to make right what was wrong
They can fulfill their obligations; apologize to those they have harmed
They can find out their errors and correct them.
Here, they can choose a future
They can stay in the paradise to help others
Or return to Earth to help the suffering
Or they can go on to the higher paradise of moonlight
Or they can incarnate again to complete their works
When their chains are broken, and they are free of bondage
Then they truly have free will
By surrendering totally to the Buddha's grace
I am the Buddha of moonlight, surrounded by rainbows
I sit on a white lotus throne
Its radiance and fragrance fills the worlds.
For those who pray in my name, I say:
Bless all the people that you know
In order to receive the Buddha's blessings,
At death, hold up your bound hands
And I shall release you
By surrender to grace,
You shall gain your freedom.
In our last
example, let us return briefly to one of the most widely read Western
descriptions of heaven.
Dante was a
14th century Italian, Christian poet who described visits to hell,
purgatory, and heaven in his poem the Divine
Comedy. Many of his descriptions of heaven use light and sound
imagery. He writes that in the sphere of
sun, an upper level of heaven, light symbolizes divine illumination and here,
the sun symbolizes the wisdom of God himself. This sphere is accordingly
inhabited by some of the Church’s brightest intellectuals who are known for
having written and taught on theological subjects. In Heaven, Dante writes that
their beauty is beyond the power of words to describe. When Dante turns his attentions
to his surroundings, he sees a ladder stretching higher than his eyes can reach
with brilliant lights descending the ladder. The 7th sphere of
heaven contains these souls who pursued a contemplative and ascetic life on
Earth—meaning that they refrained from worldly things in order to focus on the
spiritual. The golden ladder was a common medieval symbol of such a life—a
means for souls to ascend to Heaven and also to descend, in order to minister
compassionately to the people below.
In the 8th
sphere of heaven Dante speaks to a soul that has stopped near him and asks why
there’s no music in this sphere. The soul explains that Dante’s mortal hearing
couldn’t bear their song’s beauty, so they refrain from singing. When entering
the highest or 9th level of heaven, Dante sees all the angels and
saints. Dante first finds himself enveloped in brilliant light, lifting him
above his natural capacities. He looks and sees a dazzling river of light
flowing amidst spring-like colors - sparks of colors swirl, coming to rest on
flowers beside the river. Dante drinks from the river, and when he looks up
again, the flowers and sparks of light have been transformed—he now sees the
saints and angels before him. The river of light now takes the form of a great
sphere. As Dante looks, his sight “becomes pure and wholly free,” and he sees
the light of God itself. His seeing outstrips his ability to see or even to
remember what he sees. Dante in the poem felt that what he saw contained within
the light were all the pages of a single book, scattered throughout the
universe, yet now bound together. When that light strikes a soul, that soul
cannot choose to look elsewhere—for the light gathers up all goodness. In Dante’s poetic journey through
Heaven, the realm of God’s light, he found it a place impossible for a mortal
to fully remember, much less describe. Nevertheless, he called upon God for
help in writing what he describes as a mere “a spark” of his experience so that
others may understand it through his poetry.
This concludes
our attempt to give a broad set of writing examples on heavens, spiritual
states, and mystical experience usually involving spiritual light and sound.
Such literature is uncommon and sometimes requires a literary search to locate
it.
But
according to many of the writer’s statements, words can never capture the experience
fully or even partially. But poets, artists, and mystics will persist in trying
to express the inexpressible, ineffable, and transcendent regardless of the
inadequacy of the language available. It
is always worth trying even at the risk of misleading some people who will
focus on the words or symbols instead the reality behind them.
Many Western
religions focus on a state of strong faith as the most desirable goal of
spirituality. But some dedicated or
fortunate individuals seem to be able to move beyond faith to profound states
of spiritual knowledge. These can also have the desirable effect of strengthening
faith thus creating a different route to faith than most people take. The experiences of mystics both religious and
otherwise can hopefully serve as inspiration to the rest of us as we travel the
paths of spirit.
