In those acutely clear moments of awareness Eric sensed a profound presence dispersed throughout the magnificent display around him. The aliveness of the very substance of space was palatible, electric, suffused with an energy that can only be described as pure peace. It was almost tangible. Surprised by the gorgeous vision of which he was a part and in which he was immersed, he felt as if he could have bobbed around in that oceanic space forever.
As he took in the spectacular sight radiating around him, he was awed that he was there at all. It felt so normal, more normal than anything he'd ever experienced ever before. He wasn't surprised really. It just seemed the way it should be. He allowed himself to float, drift and felt part of it all, but more so, he felt welcomed and invited to allow his mind to drift even deeper into the endless space which seemed almost to speak, despite the awesome silence that felt like a huge invisible blanket, warmly wrapping and holding all that was.
It was interesting that what he saw was not just a viewing, it was being experienced. He thought about looking up at the full moon in the summer with his daughters and wife as they all were awed by the beauty of the night sky. This was not like that. He wasn't just looking, seeing with his human eyes, he was experiencing something so alive with his human spirit. He could only interpret the magnificence of it all through his eyes, but it was his very essence that was part of it. He wanted to stay, to continue to feel the love and peace that permeated him and all that was there.
He didn't see his body. He felt as if he heard God speaking to him through the emptiness. It wasn't a booming voice, as in the old movies. It wasn't like anything he could have imagined. He felt God speaking, in words, through the space fabric. And God welcomed him, sweetly. It was God's sweetness that most delighted Eric. He had known for many years the old teachings of a judgmental God were way off base. He knew Jesus taught about God's love. While immersed in this knowing, he experienced God's love as completely accepting, completely non-judging. He felt God's essence, which is love and completely permeated the universe,was completely unconditional. He felt so much love, a presence so welcoming, so affirming, so very very sweet and gentle.
He heard within his being God, humming, say, "I love you. I am love. You are love." A warm wave of peace, this uplifting, joyous, buoyant peace came over him as he heard God within all that was swimming around him, yet invisible. There was a kind of distance and closeness, an intimacy that knew him and yet a complete acceptance of him of right where he was in his life and spiritual journey. It was also more wonderful than anything he had ever learned or knew before.
He allowed himself to remain suspended in the rich experience, of ultimate Being itself, without a thought, only immersed in this great expansive love that enveloped and permeated him.
And then, almost as suddenly as he had found himself in this wonderful experience, he woke. Had it only been a dream? Or, as T.S. Eliot suggested, is the dream reality, and all else only a dream?
Eric didn't know, but he knew what he had experienced was true, more true than anything he'd ever felt or experienced or read before. As he shuffled quietly across the shiny, polished hardwood floor to the kitchen while his wife and daughters slept, he felt he had made a hard landing. The floor felt hard under his slippers, but the early dawn felt new and hopeful. He thought that he had returned to a much denser dimension of all that is. This pure joy and love was so exciting. It penetrated every other thought tapping at the door of his consciousness. It was only Tuesday and there was so much work on the horizon of the day. Oh, how he wanted to return to the dream of God.
Somehow, he knew this awesome experience would be with him long after he has lost himself in another busy project at the firm, and yet he also knew it would always be there, within him whenever he stopped to remember.
Continued from: Morning light Continues tomorrow He is You.
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