Episode Transcript
We Americans enjoy a wonderful and powerful way of life, but internally and in relationships, we may wish for better. Join me as we look beneath the surface and gain insights to transform every aspect of your life. My name is Dr. Ann O'Hare, and this is The Spiritual American. Hello everyone and welcome to the spiritual American. My name is Dr. Anne O'Hare and I'm your host. And today we will be talking about the authority of experience. Now, of course, maybe you understand already that when people speak from experience, that that obviously gives them some authority, but we're going to talk about that, but we're also going to give a spiritual aspect to this as well. So experience, so I wrote down a couple of things here that maybe we come across and maybe we've, maybe we understand from our own experiences as well. One thing I wrote down is intellectual understanding. So that is where you hear people say words and maybe they understand how it works. So they're saying, Oh yeah, I know how that works. Or yeah, you must be feeling bad because of X, Y, and Z. And so intellectually connection is being made and they're expressing that. And that has some value because at times, maybe it's good to have an intellectual understanding of something, especially if you're asking a question like, how does this work? And then somebody says, okay, let me explain to you how it works. That works fine in those circumstances. I'll get back to that one later. Second one is emotional empathy. So somebody is having a feeling And although I don't have the same experience as them, like with the circumstances and so forth, I understand the feeling that they're having and I can feel it. So maybe I didn't lose my dog, but I can understand the feeling of loss, or maybe I haven't been an alcoholic, but I can understand the feeling of being, out of control or something like that. whatever the person is experiencing. Maybe I can understand it and empathize with the feelings. So that's good also because you're connecting. You know, I, I, I admit that I don't have the same experience that you have, but I understand the feelings. So, experience means that you have had or are having the same circumstances or close enough that it feels the same to somebody else. So the experience, includes the circumstances. So I wrote down here, you have overcome and then can share from the other side. So actually, as I'm sharing this, I'm imagining how people show up, whether they have intellectual understanding, emotional empathy or experience. I know exactly what you're going through. I had the same thing happen to me. As soon as I say that the same thing happened to me, it gives a different flavor. It's different than intellectual understanding and it's different than empathy. When someone is feeling bad about something. Let's say I feel sad about Somebody broke up with me, let's say. Let's say my boyfriend broke up with me, and I'm feeling really sad at the moment. And let's say someone comes up to me and says, my friend comes up to me and says, Yeah, you know, there's other fish in the sea, and whatever. That would be like an intellectual understanding. So they're saying something to me, maybe with the idea of trying to help, but they're kind of cut off from the feelings of it, right? Second thing might be, the friend comes and says, I I'm just being with you. You know, I got you. I understand that you're really feeling it right now. And I'm, I'm there for you. That's the empathy that's being connected, but the experience feels different. It feels like you're with that person, not just on the feeling level, but the whole thing. So the authority of experience with other people, let's say using the authority of experience with other people. This is why it's so powerful that there's so many people out there as content creators right now, because each person has a unique perspective, a unique experience. And when they're sharing it, if I have a similar background or a similar experience, there's some kind of connection that happens. That's pretty powerful. So one other example of this, When I started this podcast, I had somebody helping me like get it together, figure out what I was going to do. And he was saying, who do you want to speak to? And I was like, everybody, you know, everyone, you know, no, no, no, no. You have to be very specific, get very specific. Why? Because whatever I have to share, I want to attract people who can relate at that level, at the level of experience. because I feel that that is has an authority. It has a power to it. Let me try to articulate what that power is. Let's say you meet somebody and you talk to them on the phone. I talk to you on the phone. Oh, hi. You know, I'm meeting you for the first time. Maybe I have a new boyfriend and I'm talking to his mother. Hi, Mrs. So and so. Nice to meet you. Okay. Can I say I met her? Yes. But when I meet her in person, Two bodies and two people sharing a moment in time in person definitely brings another level. So if I have all the memories and all the experiences that I've had, and I'm sharing from that perspective, and then you listening are coming from a similar perspective, we're connecting at that level, at that like in person kind of level, even though it's through the internet. There's still a recognition of experience. And I wrote here that you have overcome and are sharing from the other side, meaning that whatever experience means that I've experienced it. So I'm able to talk about it like after the fact. I'm not still in it. Or if I am in it, I'm reporting where I'm at in it. Like sometimes you'll hear me say, I haven't mastered that yet or whatever. So I'm reporting. But even that reporting is a little bit like I'm telling you because I'm aware that it's a process. So I'm not being overcome or feeling victimized by my life or something like that. And so there's an authority there, right? I'm in power. I'm the one in charge of my life. I'm sharing my experiences, what I'm experiencing now. There's some authority there who can argue with that, right? You can say, Oh, you didn't have that experience. Really? Yeah, I did. There's really no way to argue with experience. There's a lot of authority and a lot of power when when other people can connect at that level. So let's talk for a few minutes about the spiritual side of this, the authority of experience spiritually. And I'm going to say that we're going to look at that through the eyes of meditation. A lot of times, and I just got through saying that it's all about the body and all about the, life experiences and be able to match that with others and that authority. Okay. But there's another authority. There's the authority of what you experience in meditation. That also can be communicated and it's also can be experienced as real. So for instance, let's say I, I'll share one experience of meditation. This is, this is very personal when I'm about to share, but it was a real experience and I never forget it. Even though I was sitting still somewhere, the body was sitting still somewhere. This was all in my, in my mind. You could say it was in my mind, but I was having an experience. So I'm imagining that I'm a point of light, like the point of light over there, Raja yoga meditation. And if you go back in the episodes, there's plenty of practice episodes. And in the description, there's lots of, guided meditations that you can try to practice. So I'm practicing the Raja yoga meditation. I'm a point in God's a point. And I'm in that experience. Nothing else exists. I'm a point in God's a point. And from my heart, this thought came about God. And I said in my thought, I said, you are so beautiful. And then the feeling was that God like took a mirror and like showed me myself. Of course, there's no mirror. There's no person. There's no body. But the feeling, there was a feeling of now I have to put words on it, but you can maybe hopefully get the feeling that I'm trying to say, there was this feeling like I'm sitting there totally pure, totally me and saying how beautiful God is. And God basically said, you're beautiful. Just like you. How wonderful. So that's like, a very powerful personal experience. I had it in meditation. So I wrote down here, you feel that it's real. It's significant to you and it has an impact on who you are. When we talk about meditation, we're not just talking about relaxing. We're talking about using the mind. To have experiences in the arena of self realization, whether I'm imagining my higher self or if it's God or we understand that God is a point of light, a point of consciousness is not really a physical point, but He's a unique living being like I am. I'm a soul too. God's the supreme soul. God doesn't take a body and have a human experience. I'm a soul, but I have a human experience. There's a difference, but ultimately we are both souls. So having that experience, you learn something in Raja yoga meditation, you learn, I'm a soul. Well, how am I going to get it? That experience? I can't see it. Where's the soul is the soul in my hand is a soul in my shoulder. No. It can't be seen, but it can be experienced. So the authority of experience in terms of meditation or spiritual practice all happens invisibly. Sometimes we say it's incognito, like you don't know, you can't see it, but you can feel it. It changes you. You have a new perspective. I don't usually talk about God. I'm going to talk a little bit about God here because I know that a lot of people that are listening are not really that interested in the God piece. They're more interested maybe in the self empowerment piece, but I'm going to talk about God a little bit here, experience of being with God in a very subtle way. Before I came to this knowledge, I was searching, studying, becoming a teacher of different things, learning about all different things and my aim was that I was trying to become a good person. I was trying to help myself really. Okay. Maybe this will help me. Maybe this will help me. Maybe this will tell me who I am. Maybe this will tell me who I am. And in terms of God, I wasn't really religious, although I liked Jesus. I grew up Catholic and Christian, and, but there were things about Christianity that I didn't understand, didn't agree with and so forth and whatever, but I love Jesus. I still love Jesus. But the thing with God is I had this feeling like I love God, but my relationship with God was basically God has His part and I have my part. And as long as I do what's in front of me to do, God will give me whatever I want. And I still kind of live by that. Actually. It's just a little more of an expanded understanding of who God is and how this all works. But in terms of my experience of being with God, of understanding who God is, I want to say that that authority of experience with God, understanding who God is and who I am is elevated experience because it has nothing to do with the world. It has to do with eternal truth, spiritual, eternal truth. I'm a soul. God is a soul. I'm a human being. He's not a human being. He's the father, he's the supreme soul. But when I'm able to be still and quiet and understand how to think in a way that I can connect with him, then I begin to realize that I'm like him. I am like God. Wow. What an experience to have. That helps me so much with all of this worldly negativity about myself. I never measure up and all this, all the baggage that comes. Like you wonder what is spirituality? How does, how does meditation work? Well, it works by getting you to be quiet. It works by getting you away from the ordinary thinking for a while. But the other side of Raj yoga meditation is the connection with the higher power. That when I say, this is my Father, my Father God is my Father not just the Father, He's my Father. Wow. What a difference. So that experience, the experience of feeling connected to God, the experience of feeling belonging to God changes how I feel about myself in a very elemental way. I feel like internally I have a little bit of a new identity. I've heard Christians talk about this too, a little bit like turning your life over to Christ and stuff like that. It's something like that. But in my experience, it was very incognito. It had nothing to do with any scriptures or any religion, but just the understanding that I'm a soul, what a soul is and who God is. And that He's a soul too. And how can I get my mind on the right frequency to feel connected and to understand that as well as feel that connection and have that experience. In the description below, there's, like I said, there's meditation, but there's also a link to free meditation class. You can learn a little bit more if you're interested. So the authority of experience is not just about experience in living life, which is great. It's not just experience of being peaceful or self realization, but it's also the experience of being connected to belonging to experiences with God Himself, the Supreme Soul. So I think I want to leave it there. The word authority, I'm just going to say one last thing. When I say authority, I don't mean authority over someone. I just mean authority like it stands on its own. It's something valuable. It's something worthwhile. And so the authority of experience, it's your experience. And in Raja yoga meditation, there's access to elevated experience beyond the ordinary, beyond ordinary life, beyond just yourself and into an unlimited experience. So I'll leave it there. Remember our slogan is heal, empower, and serve. And until next time, take care. R.
