A thread on feeling the spirit. Like most of us, I was raised with the idea that the Holy Ghost testifies to truth and we feel it as a warming sensation in the chest and a feeling of peacefulness. Thus when you felt that, you could trust The Thing was true. 1/16
I was taught this, I taught in on my mission, and I used it extensively over my 20+ years of teaching Sunday School. And even now, in my unorthodox understanding of the church, I agree with this concept. Allow me to ramble a bit. 2/
First, the sensation itself is increasingly well understood as a physiological reaction to emotions of love, connectedness, and acceptance. The sensation can be replicated under a wide variety of circumstances. 3/
People feel it at political rallies, Amway conventions, patriotic events, book clubs, as well as religious settings. Only in church, though, do we make an effort to associate the feeling with objective truth. Across all faiths, even if the source is described differently. 4/
I’ve had these experiences in church, they’ve been beautiful, and I treasure them. And I’ve had them outside of church, and they’ve been equally beautiful, once I allowed myself to accept them as equals. This is not an insignificant qualifier. 5/
There was a time where I realized I had them outside of church, but I (subconsciously?) separated them, giving the church experiences more weight and substance than the others, bc church experiences were The Truth, and the others merely nice. 6/
At some point I decided to put it to the test. I made a conscious effort to let the experiences speak for themselves, and I would accept them prima facia. And I found that they were all beautiful, and the intensity correlated to how much I bought into The Thing. 7/
Examining The Thing that led to the emotion, it turned out that they all had in common a sense of belonging, of feeling like an insider, of being part of something, of going along with The Thing. 8/
So in that sense, I agree wholeheartedly that The Spirit testifies of the truthfulness of the church, with those wonderful relationships we have, and the sense of belonging, and the callings that keep us on a purposeful, unified path. It absolutely does. 9/
At the same time, it also testified to me the truthfulness at Bernie’s rally, and when my team won the championship, and when I gather with my expats and sing my native land’s national anthem. They share equally in being the same kind of truth. 10/
The Spirit testifies of these truths, even though some of these things may be in direct opposition of what others find to be The Truth. It happens all the time with exclusive religions. And in nonreligious settings. 11/
Example, this week I volunteered at a Harvey Milk memorial, and I felt the spirit as strong as I’ve ever felt it. It was beautiful. And the speakers were advocating things in direct opposition to church goals. And The Spirit testified of its truthfulness. 12/
Why? Because I’m immersed in the LGBTQ community. My service goes here, my tithing goes here, my friendships are here. I belong. So when I hear these ideas that run counter to the church, I still feel the spirit, in the identical way we define it in church. 13/
Grand finale soapbox: I hope we can get to a place where we all honor and acknowledge each other’s experiences, and not invalidate/demote others’ experiences because they feel threatening to our own. 14/
If someone tells me their experiences are caused by the Holy Ghost, or if someone tells me they feel an innate evolutionary physiological reaction to a DNA-encoded survival trait, I’ll take them at their word. It’s their experience to define. 15/
PS – I do understand the precarious/paradoxical nature of this, vis a vis exclusivity in one’s interpretation. But we gotta start somewhere. 16/16
