subject: Symbolic Distortion; Meaning Found in Chance Encounters [print this page] Symbolic Distortion; Meaning Found in Chance Encounters
Many of us can lay down a valid claim of having had a spiritual experience or a;
Moment of truth
Symbolic Event
Divine Intervention
Out-of-Body Experience
But what is it? Looking back on the series of personal experiences and those shared by others, I would define a spiritual moment as
Spiritual Moment N, An occasion in a person's life when a situation is encountered that, due to the events preceding it, holds a meaning to the individual that supersedes the face-value of the situation due to the context of the mind observing it.
For example, a person finding a dollar bill on the street may be momentarily elated due to finding this treasure on an otherwise routine walk through a park. But were this same person to walk late in the evening, get mugged, and have nothing more then an assortment of change that even a mugger would not stoop to the level of pilfering. That treasured dollar bill may pay for a bus that arrives at the street corner conveniently just as the dollar is picked up.
Or if we were to continue using the bus as a source of examples, one might arrive at a bus stop several minutes late and brood over the prized job interview that will now be missed. Yet this despaired character may sit down and brood, only to have the delayed bus show up mere minutes later. Now the character has a lengthy bus ride during which to further rehearse for the interview, then to make philosophical conclusions about the value of waiting at the stop rather then simply turning around and rushing home with an imaginary tail between the legs. This person has always regretted waiting around for something to come, but now this symbolic moment may give insight that the world may miss just as many opportunities waiting around as he has, that his future boss may have been waiting for him all too long already, and now is the time to demonstrate that the wait is over.
Out-of-body experiences differ slightly in that they can harm as well as help. The clich of looking down on oneself from above is a tool of outerspection. Where our fellow commuter may look at his tardiness in the context of all the memorable occasions he has been late to. Last weeks interview, last girlfriend's birthday, even at birth he made a staff of health professionals and his mother wait. Were he unprepared for the interview he might cry and view himself as an unpunctual failure, arriving at the interview an unmotivated wreck of a man. But because his girlfriend forgave him for being late to her birthday, he views himself as a person with his share of flaws but by no means beyond repair. By viewing yourself in the context of your past and future, what got you where you are and knowing where you plan to be, you can make a functional conviction. While knowing only one or the other can cause either an underdeveloped sense of direction or an overdeveloped ego, being aware of both is key to becoming a functioning person.
By becoming aware of his shortcoming, by evaluating the future he has without this job and eventually without his girlfriend, and consequently reaffirming his conviction to get this job, a moment of truth arises. Where the potential options within a person's future are weighed in a cost versus reward format in line with the individual's own value system, based in the context of the past. The past interviews and work experience have shaped the situation of preparedness our commuter enjoys, the sacrifices his girlfriend has made for their relationship further stress the need for THIS particular job, therefore his miraculous catching of the bus despite several minutes of tardiness can be seen as an intervention of divine magnitude, where an unlikely circumstance has a profound impact on the future of a human being.
As he realizes this, our commuter spots a bruised teen with an expression of despair coming aboard the bus. Out of a humanitarian concern he inquires as to the teen's condition, only to discover that he had recently been mugged while walking through a park. Concerned about the teen's health, the commuter offers to contact local emergency personnel to meet him at the next bus stop, an offer the teen gladly accepts. Watching the teen leave the bus at the next stop, our disenchanted commuter has a spiritual moment. By not only spotting a troubled teen, but speaking with him and offering help, he has just created for himself an excellent example of character that will ensure his acceptance as a nurse. The hiring manager will surely be moved by this tale and practically have no choice but to grant the job. The future is good, and to think, I would never have realized any of this if I have merely been on time for the bus
