Spirituality

Today's entry from Daily Reflections:

A Riddle That Works

It may be possible to find explanations of spiritual experiences such as ours, but I have often tried to explain my own and have succeeded only in giving the story of it. I know the feeling it gave me and the results it has brought, but I realize I may never fully understand its deeper why and how.

As Bill Sees It, p. 313

Words are natural things, non-spiritual. Therefore they are very limited. Feelings are spiritual. Therefore they are unlimited, full of nuance and variety. It is similar with thoughts, though perhaps to a lesser degree. If we hear a limited explanation—in words—that resonates with our previous experience, we are perhaps able to recall the feelings associated with our experience. But in truth, we really have no idea whether what we're recalling bears any relation to what's being described. When I say something is red, how can I have any idea whether your subjective experience of red is the same as mine? There's doubtless scientific evidence—though I'm not familiar with it and too lazy to look it up right now—that my physical eyes and physical brain react similarly to electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength we call red. I myself trust that it does bear such a relation, to a lesser or greater degree.

Furthermore, I believe that after we die, our spirits live on. Our feelings continue, our communications with other spirits continues, but not with words, with a kind of spiritual language that allows us to express exactly what we are feeling and thinking. Furthermore, we become unable to dissemble, because doing so involves making our physical selves to speak and act differently than we really think and feel (some of us are better at this than others).

So who do we hang out with after we die? I think it's with people with whom we're compatible. Today I hang out with a bunch of recovering alcoholics, especially with those who are active in service. Back in the day, I hung out with a completely different crowd: the crowd that still gets together in the bars and clubs and parties I used to frequent. The places may change physically, but spiritually I'm sure they haven't changed much. And that, I believe, gives me a clue as to what are really meant by heaven and hell.

As I've heard in the rooms, "Religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell; A.A. is for people who have been there and don't want to go back."