Letters - 02 December 2011
From spiritual experiences to Bright one-liners
Sharing spiritual experience
Helen Meads writes (18 November) of a Quaker culture where personal accounts of certain spiritual experiences are devalued and demeaned, perhaps because they are outside the norms of the group and so are possibly disturbing to hear.
Such a lack of understanding and appreciation is not uncommon (see Matthew 7:6), but it can be disappointing – until we remember that such experiences may signify important events in a personally transformative process, the products of which themselves validate the experiences. While it can be helpful to share these precious moments with those in a position to be sympathetically receptive to them, their interpretation, understanding and integration may take many months or even years of subtle effort and careful reflection.
In the meantime and thereafter, we are enjoined to share them by letting our lives speak so that others may be nourished on their own journeys by the fruits of our endeavours.
Dave Dight
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