- May 9, 2006
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- 5,192
So my friend (the same friend from my Me and Sikhi post) said the other day, "I don't understand the whole Holy Spirit thing."
My friend listens to a lot of atheist podcasts and YouTube shows, and they are usually arguing against Christians. Hence his grumbling about the Holy Spirit.
I have no theological knowledge about the Holy Spirit. I have only studied Christianity at a surface level. But I do know about my personal experiences with spirituality.
So I suggested they where talking about that spiritual feeling you get sometimes, the fire that ignites and motivates and warms you from the inside out, that gives you strength to face challenges in the best way you can, makes you strive to be a great person because that is how this overwhelming feeling needs to be released - in acts of kindness. It draws you in to read Gurbani, and when the poetry strikes a particularly resounding chord inside you, the feeling flares and you are consumed with the beauty and radiance of it. In that moment you can only breathe, "Wow."
I asked if he was familiar with this feeling. He looked at me like I was a bit nutty and asked me how I know it's not due to something I ate. *rolls eyes* Then he asked me if it was like the feeling of awe.
I said yes, it's quite similar to the feeling of awe, but the difference is that this spiritual feeling is highly motivational and opens you up to more of the same. You carry it with you for longer. The awe you might feel by looking at the stars or a breathtaking landscape is fantastic and inspiring, but the spiritual feeling burns deep in the self and causes you to act with virtue and kindness, even while doing the smallest of things.
By that time, I'd lost his interest. I kinda feel sorry for people who don't get to experience this feeling, or who aren't able to appreciate it due to their intellectualism. Maybe he needs to eat some Gurbani.
My friend listens to a lot of atheist podcasts and YouTube shows, and they are usually arguing against Christians. Hence his grumbling about the Holy Spirit.
I have no theological knowledge about the Holy Spirit. I have only studied Christianity at a surface level. But I do know about my personal experiences with spirituality.
So I suggested they where talking about that spiritual feeling you get sometimes, the fire that ignites and motivates and warms you from the inside out, that gives you strength to face challenges in the best way you can, makes you strive to be a great person because that is how this overwhelming feeling needs to be released - in acts of kindness. It draws you in to read Gurbani, and when the poetry strikes a particularly resounding chord inside you, the feeling flares and you are consumed with the beauty and radiance of it. In that moment you can only breathe, "Wow."
I asked if he was familiar with this feeling. He looked at me like I was a bit nutty and asked me how I know it's not due to something I ate. *rolls eyes* Then he asked me if it was like the feeling of awe.
I said yes, it's quite similar to the feeling of awe, but the difference is that this spiritual feeling is highly motivational and opens you up to more of the same. You carry it with you for longer. The awe you might feel by looking at the stars or a breathtaking landscape is fantastic and inspiring, but the spiritual feeling burns deep in the self and causes you to act with virtue and kindness, even while doing the smallest of things.
By that time, I'd lost his interest. I kinda feel sorry for people who don't get to experience this feeling, or who aren't able to appreciate it due to their intellectualism. Maybe he needs to eat some Gurbani.