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DISCOVERING THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
This month continues the discussion of transformative experiences started last month with Near Death and Shared Death Experiences. Throughout history and around the world people have had spiritual experiences. In this country, according to researchers, somewhere between 20 to 75% of the people have had some sort of experience of another dimension of life. As with Near Death Experiences prior to Dr. Raymond Moody’s work, these experiences are often not discussed in the public arena, although they are highly prized in religious circles. Like Near Death Experiences, they are hard to explain, and often experiencers fear they will be misunderstood or judged. Even though these experiences are not uncommon, we don’t know a lot about them.
Various researchers have investigated this other worldly dimension. Some recent research will be discussed, including work on premonitions by Larry Dossey, discoveries of Dead Radin, head of research at Noetic Science, the work of Lynne McTaggart. The speaker will also discuss her own research – a study of the characteristics of spiritual experiences from 11 different “enclaves” of people for whom these experiences were significant and meaningful. These include experiences of mystics, charismatics, members of new religious movements, shamans, people who experience Marian apparitions, paranormal experiences, 19th century spiritualism, feminist spirituality, Wicca and occult, experience of angels, and spirit possession. These groups represent a wide spectrum of beliefs and lifestyles, and are unlikely to influence each other’s ideas of a spiritual reality and thus their descriptions of the experiences.
The speaker will explain the common characteristics of the spiritual experiences of people from these different groups, as well as the additional characteristics that distinguish spiritual experiences of particular groups. There are striking similarities to the characteristics of Near Death Experiences. The meaning of these characteristics, and of the experiences will be discussed, as well as some explanations of how and why these experiences occur. Those in attendance will be invited to share their own experiences, and share what it means to them.
Presented by Dr. Sara Towe Horsfall
Dr. Sara Towe Horsfall
Spiritual phenomena has always been an interest of Dr. Towe Horsfall’s. In High School, she learned about automatic writing, the Ouija board, and became fascinated with spirituality in India (and the poetry of Khalil Gibran). After college she spent several years as a spiritual novice, eventually finding herself in India, where she began her journalistic career, writing for the Newsworld. She developed great respect for the spiritual heritage of that eastern country, and began developing her own mix of eastern and western spiritual traditions. Curiously, she was first introduced to Raymond Moody’s work at a train stop in India, when an ambitious book vendor convinced her to buy “Life After Life.”
For 15 years she was a Sociology Professor at Texas Wesleyan University in Forth Worth, Texas, retiring in 2013. Her books include: Chaos, Complexity and Sociology, 1996; A Neighborhood Portrait: Polytechnic Heights of Inner City Fort Worth, 2002; Social Problems: An Advocate Group Approach, 2012; Music Sociology: Examining the Role of Music in Social Life, 2013; She currently teaches classes in Sociology for Frederick Community College, and is a member of the Baltimore Classical Guitar Orchestra.
