Conversion Experience: Difference between revisions

From The SpiritWiki
mNo edit summary
Line 15: Line 15:
==Notes==
==Notes==


In [[LP]] terms, conversion is a Connection Experience that leads to temporary union with either [[Resident Monadic Consciousness]]. [[Higher Self]], or some other location within the [[Fabric of Consciousness]].  
Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, despite being an avowed atheist, had a powerful Conversion Experience which instantly cured him of an alcohol addiction so bad that his doctor was predicting permanent brain damage and death if he did not achieve total abstention.<ref>Alcoholics Anonymous. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C91R4WY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B01C91R4WY&linkCode=as2&tag=lightningpa02-20&linkId=eaa510d412d8411ff848b005dd7845f5 ‘PASS IT ON’ The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World.] Kindle. New York: AA World Services, 1984.</ref> His connection experience activated him and led him to co-create Alcoholics Anonymous.  


Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, despite being an avowed atheist, had a powerful Conversion Experience which instantly cured him of an alcohol addiction so bad that his doctor was predicting permanent brain damage and death if he did not achieve total abstention.<ref>Alcoholics Anonymous. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C91R4WY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B01C91R4WY&linkCode=as2&tag=lightningpa02-20&linkId=eaa510d412d8411ff848b005dd7845f5 ‘PASS IT ON’ The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World.] Kindle. New York: AA World Services, 1984.</ref> His connection experience activated him and led him to co-create Alcoholics Anonymous.
R. M. Offord provides several examples of alcoholics who had conversion experiences.<ref>Offord, R.M. Jerry McAuley: An Apostle to the Lost. New York: Forgotten Books, 2012.</ref>  


Early iterations of AA seem to have focussed quite explicitly on the elicitation of conversion experience as a powerful cure for the alcoholic's addiction, though later this was largely pushed aside.<Ref>Dick, B. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005V1M358/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=lightningpa02-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B005V1M358&linkId=05c6c7ee5d359f90b92bd00a966f9bc6 The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous.] Kihei, Maui: Paradise Research Publications, 2011.</ref>  
Early iterations of AA seem to have focussed quite explicitly on the elicitation of conversion experience as a powerful cure for the alcoholic's addiction, though later this was largely pushed aside.<Ref>Dick, B. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005V1M358/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=lightningpa02-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B005V1M358&linkId=05c6c7ee5d359f90b92bd00a966f9bc6 The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous.] Kihei, Maui: Paradise Research Publications, 2011.</ref>  

Revision as of 22:42, 26 March 2019


A Conversation Experience (a.k.a. Religious Conversion, Spiritual Conversion, or simply conversion) is a sudden, powerful, but usually brief expansion of Consciousness into the Physical Unit, a Connection Experience in LP words. It is a term commonly used by Western Christians to describe a sudden "turning away" from a "prideful self" and the turning towards, and even union with, a powerful, perceived presence,[1] understood by the Christian as God, often in spite of previous, intractable and even hostile resistance to the idea.

Syncretic Terms for Connection Experience

Connection Experience > Exceptional Human Experience, Holotropic Consciousness, Mystical Experience, Pure Consciousness Event, Religious Experience, Spiritual Experience, Spiritually Transformative Experience, Transcendental Experience

See Also

Connection, Connection Event, Connection Outcome, Connection Experience Types

Notes

Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, despite being an avowed atheist, had a powerful Conversion Experience which instantly cured him of an alcohol addiction so bad that his doctor was predicting permanent brain damage and death if he did not achieve total abstention.[2] His connection experience activated him and led him to co-create Alcoholics Anonymous.

R. M. Offord provides several examples of alcoholics who had conversion experiences.[3]

Early iterations of AA seem to have focussed quite explicitly on the elicitation of conversion experience as a powerful cure for the alcoholic's addiction, though later this was largely pushed aside.[4]

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous acknowledges the significance and importance of "Spiritual Experience," but notes that powerful conversion experiences are not necessary for cure, and that transformations may be gradual and occur over time[5] in spiritual experiences that psychologist William James calls the "educational variety," but that on the LP we would call a Glimpse or Intuitive Glimmering.

A conversion experience may also include elements of Awakening (Awakening Experience), Activation (Activation Experience), and Ascension (Unity Experience).

Further LP Reading

Mike Sosteric Lightning Path Workbook One: The Basics. Lightning Path Press. https://www.patreon.com/posts/lp-workbooks-and-91290808

Lightning Path Workbook Two: Healing. Lightning Path Press. https://www.patreon.com/posts/lp-workbooks-and-91290808

Lightning Path Workbook Three: Connection. Lightning Path Press. https://www.patreon.com/posts/lp-workbooks-and-91290808

Footnotes

  1. Mahoney, Annette, and Kenneth I. Pargament. “Sacred Changes: Spiritual Conversion and Transformation.” Journal of Clinical Psychology, no. 5 (2004): 481-2.
  2. Alcoholics Anonymous. ‘PASS IT ON’ The Story of Bill Wilson and How the A.A. Message Reached the World. Kindle. New York: AA World Services, 1984.
  3. Offord, R.M. Jerry McAuley: An Apostle to the Lost. New York: Forgotten Books, 2012.
  4. Dick, B. The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous. Kihei, Maui: Paradise Research Publications, 2011.
  5. Wilson, Bill, and Bob Smith. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Kindle. New York: Renegade Press, ND.