Explaining a Spiritual Experience
BY ARLENE HARDER, MA, MFT
This piece describes the difficulty of describing the essence of any spiritual or peak experience.
What is spirituality?
If you were asked for a definition of spirituality, what would you answer? Of course, your definition would be quite different if you were a monotheist, humanist, polytheist, follower of New Age concepts, or Native American.
Would your answer be a definition you've heard from the wise men and women who have taught you about their spiritual experiences, or would you use your own experiences to give your definition of spirituality?
However, if you want to define spirituality because of what you've experienced, as Explaining a Spiritual Experience illustrates, you realize that:
 the most important thing about such experiences is the experience itself.
the second most important thing is what you tell yourself about what you've experienced and how that understanding informs your perception of the non-physical world, and
the third most important thing is what you tell others about your experience.
Therefore, once you have had a profound spiritual experience, you are aware of the difficulty of translating your experience into words — and you know this is true for everyone. So when you hear someone else talk about their spiritual experience in words you wouldn't have used, you realize they are merely trying to express the essence of what has happened to them in the best way they can.
I am glad to share with you a flash presentation that illustrates this.
You may share the print version with your friends as long as you include my name and a link to this page so others may see the illustrated version.
I would appreciate knowing how the flash and poem is being used, so please contact me through the contact form above.
©2003 Arlene Harder, MA, MFT
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