The Beginning of Spirituality

Everybody has it, it the point where all the seedlings of real faith comes into being but very few people can identify what it is. So, first of all, I want to find out if you know what it feels like.

C. S. Lewis called it “an encounter with joy”. And then in his first book Pilgrims Regress he called it “desire”. Other theologians would call it a feeling of numinous. I’m not going to get really theological here… I just think it’s so important to know where everything starts.

I believe that this is the place that every spiritual conversation has to begin. It’s that feeling that we first get when we acknowledge a power greater than ourselves. When we stare off into the heavens and know on some level that something, someone bigger than myself exists.

Many call this feeling transcendence. Stop right there! Don’t take it any further right now. I’d love to hear from you what it felt like for you right at the beginning… The first time you felt transcendence. When, where, what triggered it?

Transcendence is our default setting. It is the first rush. It is what we most desire. But because we are wounded creatures we all have a tendency to try to create the rush ourselves… instead of enjoying the beautiful origin source. Base jumping, squirrel suits, summiting Everest, first love… All can be enjoyed focused on the source or twisted to be enjoyed in and of themselves.

Often, we see it as something we’ve discovered. Almost as if we were out turning over rocks and suddenly found transcendence. In reality, I believe it’s always God‘s idea before it’s ours.

Years ago, there was a Campus Crusade evangelistic campaign that was called, “I found it!”

Bumper stickers, billboards, TV blasting, “I found it” 24/7. I really struggled with it, but didn’t know why. And then one day driving my 1968 VW bug, I pulled up next to a genius in traffic. This genius had taken a pair of scissors to his “I found it” bumper sticker and turned it into “It found I”. I actually rolled my window down and told him that he was a genius. Because, “it”, whatever it is… And often we don’t know yet, we just feel. It’s like the doorbell ringing, but we don’t yet know who’s standing on the other side. But “it” always rings the doorbell first.

I really want to hear your feelings about this. Do you agree, disagree… what does it feel like for you? What do you call it?