Correspondingly, God cannot exist as a concept or as reality anyplace else but in your mind. In this sense, both spiritual experiences and experiences of a more ordinary material nature are made real to the mind in the very same way - through the processing powers of the brain and the cognitive functions of the mind. Whatever the ultimate nature of spiritual experience might be - whether it is in fact a perception of an actual spiritual reality, or merely an interpretation of sheer neurological function - all that is meaningful in human spirituality happens in the mind. In other words, the mind is mystical by default.


YOUR AROUSAL AND QUIESCENT SYSTEMS

Because of its ability to prepare the body for action, we will consider the sympathetic system, along with its connections to the brain and the adrenal glands, as the body's arousal system.

Because of its ability to exert a calming, stabilizing effect upon the body, we will call the parasympathetic nervous system, along with its associated structures in the upper and lower parts of the brain, the quiescent system.

These alternating interactions generally occur during routine everyday activity. There is evidence, however, of cases in which both systems function at the same time when pushed to maximal levels of activity and this has been associated with extraordinary alternative states of consciousness. These unusual, altered states can be triggered by various kinds of intense physical or mental activity, including dancing, running, or prolonged concentration. These states can also be intentionally triggered by specific activities that are overtly religious in nature, such as ceremonial rituals or meditation. The similarities between these intentionally and unintentionally triggered states point to a clear link between the autonomic nervous system and the brain's potential for spiritual experience.

... But we have identified four autonomic states that we believe contribute to understanding the broad range of altered and potentially spiritual states. These states can help us explore the relationship between the autonomic nervous system and religious experience.

AUTONOMIC STATES AND SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
1. Hyperquiescence
Hyperquiescence is a state of extraordinary relaxation. The body usually experiences it only during sleep, but it may also occur during certain phases of meditation. it can be evoked through slow, quiet, deliberative rituals, such as chanting or group prayer. At intense levels, the body and mind have a sense of oceanic tranquillity and bliss in which no thoughts, feelings, or bodily sensations intrude upon consciousness. Buddhists describe a similar state, reached through meditation, as "access consciousness," or Upacara samadhi.

2. Hyperarousal
The flip side of hyperquiescence, the hyperarousal mental state is characterized by an unblocked flow or arousal and excitation, resulting in a burgeoning sense of excitement, keen alertness, and fierce concentration to the exclusion of any extraneous feelings of thoughts. ...

People in hyperarousal states often feel as if they are effortlessly channeling vast quantities of energy through their consciousness, resulting in the quintessential "flow" experience.

3. Hyperquiescence with Arousal Breakthrough
Under certain unusual conditions, the quiescent branch of the autonomic system can be driven to such intense levels of activity that the normal antagonistic reaction between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems is overwhelmed. ...



There are things which you can only see when you step outside of yourself and read something that no-one has ever shared with you before." Is it that my soul is becoming whole again and a deeper light thru your reflections of a sense of that which lies behind human suffering.

INSIGHT INTO THE VALUES OF INTERIOR DECORATION... A transformative experience with changing a large piece of art in my living room..., a vision ...thus experiencing my oneness ...revealed how change affects our environment and bridges realities...the principles of how the eye travels thru the proximity of line and layout...the rhythm, continuity, scale all evolved thru change. Poetry for Michael..Painting of Jesus

The beauty of love breaks thru in a highly organized point of light. From a dewdrop to the bearer of beauty, it thirsts not yet drinks from the one.

Beauty has no function..it' s value is extrinsic..in it's own light for being. It is exhilarating, a gift of sheer grace, implying that spirit is present and enjoys beauty for it's own sake..

Our joy is expressed in some sense of kindered spirit....knowing is all there is to the giver and revealer of it.

Intuitively we marvel of the interaction of our perceived reality where time shifts a connection between the marvels of the material world, the moral law, the life of Jesus, the depth of the human personality, our limitations of the human heart, as a refraction of preceived inborn injustice that lifted us to understanding a greater love.

Q: Can devotion be practiced?

A: Devotion is not something that can be practiced. Devotion is a choiceless response to Self-recognition that is imposed from within. Devotion is imposed from the unknown upon the ego and this cannot be practiced. It can only be experienced. The practice of devotion is an attempt by the ego through effort to impose itself upon the unknown. This cannot be done. Devotion is an imposition from the unknown upon the ego that is an agonizingly ecstatic and excruciatingly vulnerable spiritual experience.