BODY WEIGHT:

175 lb

I am the sort of person who enjoys and seeks wholesome spiritual experiences because of the richness it brings to life. I have used many entheogens and practiced prayer, Vipassana meditation and shamanic journeying. I have decided to leave the entheogens behind seeing as I am a “Mormon” and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encourages sobriety. I confess though, sometimes I feel the allure of strange plants calling, if you know what I mean.

I continue to practice Vipassana meditation, but I don't do shamanic journeying with regularity. That leaves my preferred method of spirituality: prayer. You may ask why, if I prefer prayer, do I practice other methods of enlightenment at all. Well, the Church teaches that all religions have good in them and that we ought to receive what wisdom and fellowship we can from them and offer people of other religions what loving service and courageous truth we have to give in return.

Anyway for me, prayer has been the most rewarding religious practice I have ever known. There are basically three ways that I pray; and I would like to share with you one experience with each method in hopes that they will inspire you and help you find additional happiness in your quest.

The first method I use is the most formal. I find a quiet place, kneel humbly before my Eternal Father, and pour out my heart and speak my mind in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. So here is the experience: there was a time a few years ago when I was extremely depressed and slacking off on all my responsibilities. A good friend of mine took me to lunch probably to talk some sense into me. After listening to me complain, he asked if I would do something when I got home. I said sure. He then challenged me to go home, get on my knees, and ask God to tell me He loves me, to let me feel His love. I agreed to do this. So I went home and said the prayer and sat there for a minute or two and nothing happened. Nevertheless, I did not doubt that I would get an answer when He saw fit, so I went about my daily business. That night, my father unexpectedly dropped by for a visit, which he never did. I showed him in and he went straight to the piano and began to play me an absolutely beautiful piece of music which he had just composed. Although music is my greatest earthly passion, my dad had never done this before. As he played, I realized this was God's very personal way of answering my prayer. Indeed I felt the love of God fill my soul!

The second method of prayer I employ is the informal sort. As I go about my daily business I take notice of the blessings of this life or contemplate something I have seen or heard and I make comments to God as if He were right there just hanging out like a pal. Perhaps this seems strange to you, but it is quite normal for me. Anyway, one day I was contemplating why the scriptures teach us to pray specifically to the Father even though the Church has always taught that we also have a glorified Eternal Mother as well. I commented to God that I really wish I could have the same sort of relationship with Her as I have with Him and I asked why we are not taught to pray to Her at this time. Well, God did not see fit to explain Himself to me, but the answer I did get was quite unexpected and delightful. I suddenly felt the Spirit fill my heart and these words flowed like pure intelligence into my mind: “Your Heavenly Mother misses you too, and She looks forward to embracing you in the Kingdom of Heaven.” After being startled for a moment, I began to laugh. Not like ha ha that's funny; but a laugh of pure joy. It was awesome!

The third method is different and I don't do it often. It is basically this: when I am too tired or otherwise weakened to even formulate thoughts, I just let my heart pour out its yearnings to my God. So here is what happened: I was going through withdrawals from a major tranquilizer that I had taken under medical supervision for a year. Three days into the withdrawal my mind just scrambled and I fell to the floor literally writhing in agony both physical and mental. I wanted to pray but I could not put words together. I simply cried out in distress hoping for some sort of relief. This went on for a short while when very suddenly my mind re-organized, my emotions settled, and my body received its strength. I stood up, shocked, but greatly relieved. As I marveled the clear and distinct impression came to my mind that Jesus Christ had heard my cry and had taken upon Himself my suffering out of compassion. I was moved with deep gratitude and I expressed my thanks. I was able to go about my business and fulfill my responsibilities as if nothing was wrong all that day! The following days were challenging but nothing I couldn't handle.

Exp Year: 2010	ExpID: 90290
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 30
Published: Dec 19, 2016	Views: 1,754
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Ritual (129) : Addiction & Habituation (10), Entities / Beings (37), Retrospective / Summary (11), Alone (16)