Part 3 of Personal Experiences
At the time of my next personal experience the year was 1969, I was 23, working for the British Civil Service, unmarried and living in a hostel in central London. Although I had been born in West London, my parents had moved to Northumberland in 1963 and I did not join them until a year later, so I was already used to living independently both as a teenager and, after I was twenty-one, in South Wales. The end of the nineteen sixties was a time of great creativity and opportunity and the message in the British media was that the heart of it all was in ‘Swinging London’ all around me. Despite this, I was feeling isolated and depressed because my career and personal life seemed to be going nowhere. As I had moved into young adulthood, I had not lost my belief and trust in the higher presence I had first encountered as a child but, as a result of the influences I had come to know, I felt that I should be making contact in a more formal way. I also believed that others must possess a better key to spiritual success. Therefore, I was alone in my room, which contained all my relatively few possessions, reading the introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of a translation of the Bhagavad Gita, which means ‘The Song of God’, in English. However, the words that started my experience were much more familiar to me because they came from the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 16, which starts “For God so loved the world”. Suddenly, I found myself surrounded by and immersed in the power of that love. I was aware that everything in heaven and on Earth was its product. Time and space were suspended, and I too loved everything, and I was full of hope. This feeling did not dissolve with the vision but carried me through the next couple of days and faded without side effects, which was something that those who at that time were seeking experiences through mind altering drugs could not match.
Even though I had not voiced a formal prayer for it to do so, my life changed dramatically following this event. I was transferred to the area of work that I had first requested when I joined the Civil Service two years before. I was encouraged and financially supported to start a part-time University degree, which I completed five years later. That provided the opportunity for me to undertake a post-graduate diploma, which led to a professional qualification. My personal relationships blossomed, I made many new friends and enjoyed unexpected and rewarding opportunities. Within a year, I had found the person I was to marry and be with up to the present. Also, over the next few months, I met people who helped me to understand and continue to seek spiritual knowledge. With their help I discovered that I could do this without making it an occupation, which was a confusion I had previously suffered from. Most importantly, I became aware that the love I experienced is not in any way exclusive or restricted but is available to all and is the power of creation.
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