The Importance of Sharing Our Metaphysical Experiences

Some time ago the New York Times Magazine section featured a wonderful interview with Barbara Ehrenreich, author of several books, including “Nickel and Dimed.” The interview focused on her most recent book, Living With a Wild God, which is a memoir detailing the author’s “dissociative” experiences when she was in her teens. “…The whole world came to life, and the difference between myself and everything else dissolved — but not in a sweet, loving, New Agey way. That was a world flamed into life, is how I would put it.” As I read what Ms. Ehrenreich had gone through, I found myself moved by the story and recognized the pattern of staying silent for years about the strange and wonderful events that had occurred to her.

I too had a wide variety of metaphysical experiences that were inspiring and wild, and for many years I was afraid to share the truth of these mystical events with others. My mother, herself a psychic, had experienced many of these events, and she told me to keep it in the family. So, I stayed quiet for decades afraid of being ridiculed, or thought to be crazy, and not wanting to alienate others. It’s only in the last several years that I’ve felt that it was important, and the right time, to come forward to tell my story.

I think that more and more people are also realizing that it is important to tell their stories and share their experiences. Some, like Barbara Ehrenreich, may have had a health scare or near death experience that left them with a new appreciation for life and a desire to come forward and tell their stories while they are still alive. In the NYT article Ms. Ehrenreich says, “In 2001, I was being treated for breast cancer, and I was pretty sure I was going to recover. But I told myself: OK, Barbara, you could be running out of time much sooner than you thought. If you’re ever going to do anything with this, you better do it.”

Other people, bolstered by new paranormal research and an increased number of books by reputable sources about mystical events, are finding strength in numbers gives them the courage to come clean about their own “other-worldly” experiences. I find myself heartened by this. I firmly believe that if we are to achieve the next great leap in consciousness it will come from first hand experience and stepping forward to tell our own truth.

See also: Scientists Who have had Transformative Experiences