“From rapturous delight springs Spiritual Inebriation. Spiritual inebriation is this; that a man receives more sensible joy and sweetness than his heart can either contain or desire. Spiritual inebriation brings forth many strange gestures in men. It makes some sin and praise God because of the fulness of joy; and some weep with great tears because of their sweetness of heart. It makes one restless in all his limbs, so that he must run and jump and dance. … Another cries out with a loud voice…; another must be silent and melt away. … At times he wonders why all men do not become God-desiring. … This is the most rapturous life (as regards our bodily feelings) which man can attain upon earth.” ~John of Ruysbroeck
Spiritual Inebriation
This spiritual inebriation John describes is not the result of wine or drugs. It is a different kind of inebriation. It is more like when we say one is drunk on power or wealth. But there is a difference. One can become drunk by consuming wine or beer. One can become inebriated by taking drugs. And one can become drunk on power or wealth by possessing those things. But spiritual inebriation does not mean that one becomes owner of God, or has control over God. One becomes spiritually inebriated by becoming united with God. This usually occurs for only a moment at first. But the spiritual student who continues practicing will find herself staying in that state longer each time.
The Behavior of the Awakened
As Ruysbroeck points out, we don’t all behave the same way to this spiritual inebriation any more than we all behave the same way when we get drunk on beer. Yet there are certain changes that are common to all. There is almost always great joy in the experience. Some will carry that joy back into the material world. Others will be sad in the world of matter and wish to stay forever on the spiritual side. Some will rush to share the experience, others want to keep it quiet.
Near Death
In recent decades, we here more of this phenomena from stories of near-death experiences. Those experiences, however, are not always caused bu this uniting with God and learning the truth of the spiritual realms. Some people travel to the forth dimension and experience demons and horrors. It is not something they want to return to, which is understandable. But some do briefly experience that unity with God, or something very close to it. The often describe a very bright light and a great feeling of joy within that light. That is the real thing.
But you don’t have to nearly die to experience such things. You merely have to follow the spiritual growth techniques taught in mystery schools for thousands of years. They are still taught in a few modern spiritual schools, modified a little for today’s lifestyle.
Jump, Dance, and Sing
The spiritual awakening does make many want to jump and dance and sing with joy. We hear of this in the Bible with David and others. The Sufi poet Rumi is another example of this. It is said that this poet never sat down and wrote his poetry. Instead he recited it while whirling and dancing in joy. We have these poems today only because of students who quickly wrote them down as he said them.
Desiring God
Ruysbroeck wonders why, given the joy that it can bring, not all men seek this uniting with God, this spiritual inebriation. There are several reasons, especially today.
Many simply don’t believe in God, or anything beyond the physical. To them, such things are hallucinations or signs of mental illness. These are the saddest people for if you can’t believe in anything outside of the cave, you can never hope to escape it.
Other have lost their souls due to great crimes such as murder. The soul does not break apart as in the Harry Potter books. It isn’t a soda cracker. The soul simply leaves your physical and mental “self”, and returns to heaven without you. There is no way to save a person once that happens.
Most Rapturous Life
That it truly is. For the spiritually awakened know that there is a wonderful world of spirit waiting for us to return to it. The spiritually Inebriated know that no mater how great the horrors in the physical world, they are only temporary. Such people can truly forgive and move on because they never get too involved with anything on the material level. And most spiritual leaders tell us that no getting too involved with the material is important for spiritual growth.
illustration: A fresco of King David dancing before the Ark by Johann Baptist Wenzel Bergl (Photo by Wolfgang Sauber).
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