Goddess and Spiritual Experience

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Goddess and Spiritual Experience.

 

During my recent readings and research on the Goddess, I have found some very interesting things that I would like to share with you. For example, there is the connection between the Goddess and the spiritual experience. Not the concept or definition of a spiritual experience (trust me, I have enough of these in academia) but the actual, deeply personal experience of spiritual awakening. Can we describe a spiritual experience without falling into clichés? Probably not, but that does not mean we should not try!

A spiritual experience is the cracking of our being, the finding of an opening in our being that allows us to see our soul and our own truth, separate from being a human animal with a mind capable of reasoning.

This is the realising for the first time, experientially rather than intellectually, that there is truth, that there is a reality beyond our mind and emotions, and that this truth connects us to everything.

That there is no separation between us and others, between us and animals, between us and the trees, oceans, or any other forms of existence. During a profound spiritual experience this becomes apparent, even if only for a brief time.

It is a life-shattering experience, and it is called “Awakening”. Awakening is also called “Grace” (Sophia aka the Holy Spirit or Shakti).

pic-for-sept-blog-1My first full-on spiritual experience did not happen within the western tradition but through a form of esoteric Hinduism, through the awakening of kundalini energy.

So nowadays it is pointless for me to argue whether kundalini, this spiritual elan vital, exists or not – since I experienced it rushing through my body with immense power, giving me the vision of the oneness of all life while continuously transforming me.

It is as if a great mysterious power runs through your body and shows you that, yes, you do have a soul and, yes, you are much greater than the body that carries you. Only after that experience did I finally understand what was meant by the saying “the body lives in the soul and not the soul lives in the body”.

I had an experience of what I call the “curving of consciousness”, when our perception of what time and space is becomes completely changed and expanded, when I actually experienced space stretching around me and I could perceive myself in that expanded, stretched, curved space, as both in it and out of it.

During this process I also felt the kundalini energy rushing through my body and felt it knocking at my navel area and my throat. My emotions were also affected. At first I had a short cry, and then suddenly I began laughing and could not stop laughing for some while as I observed the cosmic dance in which we are all caught!

It was a life-changing experience and I have spent years trying to understand it and share this with others without sounding like a flake. A difficult task for someone who has been a writer and academic all her life. So here I am…

There are some explanations in esoteric Hinduism. Awakening is the encounter with the 1sweet and all-powerful principle which is the doorway to our deepest being and symbolised by Shiva, which is another a name for Consciousness at large.

Shakti/Grace/Sophia is our access to that Consciousness.  She is the all-powerful principle, who chooses to open the door of Great Consciousness or Awareness to us.

Shakti is the grace that allows the unfolding of kundalini, or our spiritual energy, our spiritual potential. Shakti is also the first manifestation of Consciousness (also called Shiva).

If Shiva stands for pure consciousness, Shakti is all manifestation, all life, all creation. In esoteric Hinduism you focus on Shiva to get in touch with your inner self, you say mantras to Shakti to manifest.

Since that experience I have been looking for a similar explanation in western traditions. beautiful-goddessOne of the most recognised goddesses in Western tradition is the Virgin Mary – and please do not go away, as I am not going to preach!

On the contrary, I have always been convinced that this archetype does not tell the whole truth and was constructed entirely by institionalised religion.

The entire concept of virgin birth in a biological sense and the insistence that it indeed was so did not work for me, to put it delicately! (And I really went after it in my Jerusalem Diary – too strongly perhaps.)

However, in my recent readings of Joseph Campbell I found a mystical symbolism for virgin birth. It is not about biology and it is not about avoiding sexuality. It is something completely different that leads us to a better understanding of spiritual experience.

Campbell says that the virgin birth – which is known in many traditions – is a metaphor for spiritual possibility in our present physical lives. To be born not physically but spiritually. It is a symbol that there is a part of us not dependent upon the physical and material in our lives. It is nothing else but a metaphor for awakening.

In this way, Campbell believes, Mary is an equal to all the Bodhisattvas, who show us that it is possible to reach the spirit while in human form. (Or she was a perfect Yogini who, while human, managed to transcend her humanness and became one with the Spirit).

However, Mary is allowed (and I want to stress the element of permission here) to be venerated as a type of goddess, but only in the form of a mother. She is still a construct of an institutionalised belief and limited by it.

That is why I prefer to relate to Sophia and Mary Magdalene, who stand on their own. Indeed, they are both considered often a troublesome archetype which has been side-tracked by institutionalised belief. Sophia as Grace or Divine Wisdom is very similar to the Shakti of esoteric Hinduism.

Awakening is seldom a one-off experience. It is an ongoing process. It is the difficult, sometimes mind-wrecking and heart-breaking process of living a life after the first awakening happens.

Only very few who experienced it once manage to stay in this state of oneness. In modern times we know of Ramana Mararshi, who self-realised in 30 minutes (after experiencing a fear of death), and I dare also include Eckhart Tolle, who one morning had a similar experience of extreme fear and came out of it permanently transformed.

The rest of us have to find the middle way, living in a world of material concerns while also having fleeting experiences of the other world.

pic-fro-sept-blog-2And here we come back to the Goddess again. Whether she is called Shakti, Sophia, Grace or the Virgin, she is the force that pulls us up from mundane concerns to the space where the heart and mind meet.

This encounter is more than the sum of its parts. It creates a mystical understanding that there is something ineffable in the midst of everything we encounter. Like the centre of a mandala around which all revolves.

This is an awareness that pierces the centre of our being. A bridge between different levels of being.

Practical application or Workbook for the Goddess News Spiritual Blog:envelope

  1. What is your vision of oneness in your life?
  2. What skills or even desire to have a gift do you possess that could help to manifest the vision into the world? (Here we often say: “Oh, I do not have any skills like that,” but this is not true and is just an easy way out. That gift is there and it is yours – your goddess, your bridge between the two worlds.
  3.  What blocks your grace?

My answers: joanna kujawa the soul

  1. My vision of oneness of life is the one I have received during my Shaktipat (kundalini awakening) and since then it is clear in my awareness that all creation – and by that I mean not only other people but also all animals, trees, waters, Oceans -everything is one with one – the that deepest level of Grace.
  2. Everything I write about and publish and talk hopefully reflects this vision – and especially this blog for which I am so grateful that allows me to express this vision with soul- minded people like you without worry about publishing guidelines or editors’ preferences.
  3. In some ways, it is my ambition and self-doubt that occasionally block the flow of Grace for me – e.g. when I start looking at myself and others through the eyes of the ego. world rather than through the eyes of the soul. For example, judging myself: am I successful enough, am I slim enough, etc. rather than seeing myself and others as souls travelling through time each on its own unique journey.

As always, I love connecting with you and love your comments :).  And if you like what you read, please share it with others xxx

Sending Love, Joanna

Goddess News

Spiritual Blog

Dr Joanna Kujawa

©Joanna Kujawa

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16 Responses to Goddess and Spiritual Experience

  1. Kerry Keim says:

    Thank you Joanna for your insightful blog…..I really enjoyed reading it! It is wonderfully written and encourages readers to look within at their own spiritual experiences.
    Love and Light,
    Kerry

    • sundari says:

      Thank you so much for your feedback Kerry. It is wonderful to know that people can relate to this. I hope, too, that it will encourage people to look for inner experiences and look within. I think it is our best chance to participate in the greatness of Life and to be fully a part of a greater whole. Your comment means a lot and it touches my heart. Thank you.

  2. Gitaanjali Taneja says:

    Your blog has left me speechless it feels as if that’s a journey ,a language, a feeling a whole world I belong to … It’s so beautifully written from the depth of your divine soul… It’s like a whole energy /Shakti transforming into anyone who will read it …. You are a Goddess Joanaa with the blessings of Saraswati in you … ???????????????????????????????????????…. Love you ??????

    • sundari says:

      Oh Gitaanjali Goddess- I am so glad that you can relate to this and that we can connect of the soul-level. You have no idea how wonderful is to hear your feedback as I was reluctant to share something so personal and something that, at the same time, completely changed my life. And I am so happy that you are on the same journey and that we can share our experiences. Human Consciousness is such as treasure capable of a grand and beautiful vision of awakened world. Love you 🙂

  3. FilipK says:

    Beautifully written Joanna. You posses a great talent. It was a pleasure to read this.

  4. Jul Flo says:

    Thank you for this! I get overwhelmed by the amount of things to read on a daily basis. Any time I make space to read your work I am impressed and uplifted. Thank you for your observations and sharing of knowledge. Love, Chandralekha

    • sundari says:

      Thank you so much Chandralekha. Thank you! I know we are also busy so I am doing my best to restrain myself to one blog per month. And I am so busy too with my other commitments but this blog gives me an opportunity to connect and re-connect and share matters of the soul with wonderful people like yourself. So I very much appreciate your presence here and the time you take to read it. Much love, Joanna

  5. G. says:

    Sophia is so near to my heart. She visits me and even makes love to me. My most intense sex has been with the sacred Sophia who rocked my world beyond belief. She came from the upper realms and my orgasm was extremely strong. I feel sorry for those who do not realize that we have a true goddess right with us, and do not need to rely on a human to fulfill all of our desires.

    • sundari says:

      Thank you for sharing your personal experience, G. It resonates well with the topics that will be covered some time in future and deal more with Tantric experiences. Glad to hear that you feel so connected to Sophia.

    • G. says:

      In India the men workshop the goddess in the temples by day then go home to their wives. It is a must for a man to never make a human woman into a goddess nor vice verse, that will only let you down. He goddess lives within and is not human, but she, truly a metaphor for wisdom is the Goddess!

      • G. says:

        Some spelling errors thanks to “spellcheck” I meant “worship” not “workshop” also “she” not “he” Robert Johnson told me this personally, who was taught analysis firsthand by Jung. A woman can be a muse, but not a goddess. The eternal feminine is actually a part of all of us. Sadly men push the archetype on a human woman all to often and end up in deep …. when they realize she was human after all

  6. James says:

    Thank you so much for sharing your personal spiritual experiences. I can relate to them. Such experiences can shake up our conditioned preconceptions about the nature of reality. Not that I now know the “why” about anything, but maybe a little bit more of the “what.” The mystics seem to have it right.

    • sundari says:

      Thank you James! Yes, I agree. The mystics of all traditions, I believe, get to the essence of spiritual experience, beyond the dogmas, just a raw encounter with the expanded reality.

  7. Lilette says:

    I love this blog Joanna. It is very insightful & I feel deeply connected to what you wrote & to you. Here’s a kindred spirit who makes me feel I am not alone in my experiences.

    • sundari says:

      Thank you Lilette,
      It is such a life changing and intense experience – often difficult to share as it is not easily understood by those who have not had it. So, I am too, so very pleased that I can share it with you knowing that you too KNOW that experience. Sometimes soon, I intend to write a blog on life ‘after’ the experience, e.g consequences to us and our plans and how it changes us Many thanks again for your insightful input xxx

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