What does the Presence feel like to you?

I would like to hear from other members about their experiences. I loved the post from Flowerchild about hearing God talk to us. Now this post is asking,

Have you ever felt God's Presence?
If so, what did it feel like to you?
If not, what do you hope it would feel like?

Please be descriptive - is it physical sensation, emotional sensation, etc.? How do you know it was God? And what effect did it have on you?

I'll start - since I asked the question, I will be brave and go first in sharing my story. When I first started my path, God felt like a blanket of peace coming into a room. It was ethereal, yet very tangible to my spirit/soul. I felt like I could say it was God because it was outside myself, it was very expansive (I was in an auditorium that held 800 people) and it was unexpected. I came into this auditorium and suddenly I knew, 'I am home. I feel peace here.' I joined that group that met there and had many similar experiences. It often felt like that blanket was coming down from the ceiling and filling everyone (who was open) with peace.

As my spiritual sensitivity grew, I noticed I could feel other things -not all of them were God. Some were very negative, some were gentle and positive and some were definitely beyond the norm and were powerful enough or big enough that I would classify them as God.

Of all the things I am now attuned to, my favorite is the presence of God. Sometimes, I can feel it inside me when I settle down and focus on the present moment. I guess I would have to say that I have also experienced “channeling” His Spirit to others - I have felt heat or energy pass through my arms and hands when I impart to others peace or strength when I lay my hands on them with intention to bless them. I guess I could call that His presence too.

So, who's next? What experiences have you had? I want to hear! :)

Thanks in advance for your bravery and openness.

Re: What does the Presence feel like to you?

Sandy,

I spent about 30 minutes writing about my experience of the Presence and whoosh! it disappeared.   I did a spell check (because I'm a Virgo) and it was gone, so I'm just letting go of a long (and correctly spelled ) post.   Instead I'll summarize: 

My most dramatic experiences have been when I've been doing prayer work for others or when meditating, particularly in a group.  It's been a feeling of incredible peace and inclusive love…feeling wrapped in a blanket of peace and love and being one with it. 

I've also seen colors sometimes and experienced warmth in my head, neck, arms and hands. 

I've never “heard” anything, but I have somehow “known” something that I felt was from beyond my human mind…kind of like channeling I guess.  I feel certain that I've said things and written things that were somehow divinely inspired (for want of a better description) especially when I was doing practitioner work.

For me, it isn't like a switch that 's on or off…it's also an ongoing dialogue when I'm open to it. 

Thank you for asking this question Sandy.  As I focus on answering the question, more and more of that peace floods into my being.  It isn't like we have to coax it in, it's more like we just have to get ourselves out of the way and allow it.

Re: What does the Presence feel like to you?

It feels like…….a spiritual orgasm.

Re: What does the Presence feel like to you?

Sandy,

Thanks for starting out with the pod by posting such an interesting and provocative topic.  I've been trying to get here for days.  I am a bit scattered and my life a bit turned upside down at the moment and so, finally, I think I can chime in as I certainly have wanted to.

First, to Denise, ah, my friend.  Yes, I have felt the energy pour in so intensely that it did feel more than a little bit like an orgasm.  This happened to me more than once listening to the theme music from Oprah/Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth class called We Are One Earth.  It is an amazing piece of music (available at her website where all the A New Earth postings are).  I also have felt some very energetic responses when I was doing the early The Intention Experiments by Lynne McTaggart and I believe I felt something like that the day before the Fire The Grid event.

Helen, next, my wise sister.  I am intrigued by the blanket effect that both you and Sandy describe.  It must be a group thing but my practice (besides what I do at Gaia or because of it) is mostly solitary and so I miss out on that, I suppose.

So, what does Presence feel like personally to me?  Like the most understanding, most loving friend I could ever have.  A friend for whom it is impossible to ever cause me harm.  Such a quiet, non-intrusive presence that I never doubt its Source.  It definitely has a sense of humor and does tease me at times.  It always gets the “inside” joke or concept.  I know that it is never apart from me and seeks ever to integrate more fully, but not in a pushy way, and only if completely comfortable for me.  Infinitely patient.  Always protective and providing.

I had scary experiences at first, when I would see a Presence like an overlay over a human face.  I now think of it as a Trickster or the Pain Body manifesting and I don't know if it has Divine origins or not but I prefer to keep it out of my life and I have discovered that is very easy to do.  I simply have to really, really not want it to manifest and it can not.  That is very comforting.

So, Presence has shown me that it can be there for me in the quietest, most gentle way; so that I'm never afraid, so that I never doubt Its benign intent and so that I KNOW without a doubt that it is real and it is some aspect of ,GOD.  It is able to do what no other non-physical entity can do - it is an aspect of my higher self and therefore can never wish me harm.  I suppose that what I am aware of is my own Oversoul (to borrow a term from Wendy Weir's Jerry Garcia book).

That's all I can really say about it, it is so hard to put into words really, but I wanted to add my own 2 cents …

Deb

Re: What does the Presence feel like to you?

This is such an amazing thread, and  I wonder if I missed it when it was first posted; or was my answer…silence, wordlessness….?

I feel different layers of Presence as the One permeates all. As God, there is a different aspect that I recently started a thread on, at the God Pod - What is God to me today?

And on this thread, as I read your original question, Sandy, I'll reply that at various times: I feel a sensation in the crown, a 'settling -in” to my body,as aspects of God. But the wholeness is hinted at as a hum.