--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Just look at the cross- > cultural range of spiritual experiences -- do Native > Americans cognize Shiva and Brahma when they have > visions? Do people brought up Catholic cognize > Krishna when they have visions? No, of course they > don't -- the Native Americans have the visions they > expect to have, and the Catholics see Jesus or Mary > or the beings *they* expect to see.
It's an interesting question, but I think one should split it into two parts. 1) How is what they *see* influenced by what they know about and expect. 2) How is the way they *interpret* what they have seen influenced by expectation and cultural background For 1) the expectation and background should have been there *before* the experience. For 2) it would be sufficient that a certain cultural explanation comes along right *after* the experience - and is matched to the vibe of it as you suggested. For example, I seem to recall that the description of Bernadette's vision at Lourdes (I think it was her) seemed to equally or more precisely match a description of Lakshmi or some waternymph, because she was standing in water, I think inside a flower, a rose (Lotus?), something very untypical for Christians, but was interpereted with the necessary clues as an apparition of Mary, and is seen as a Christian holy site. It clearly didn't match 1) as the Christian background couldn't have suggested the imagery. > > I consider it possible (but not a given) that the > Navajo having a vision in his hogan and the monk in > his monastery might be having the same experience. > But how they *interpret* that experience afterwards > is going to be in terms of how they were *taught* to > interpret such experiences. > > > What really impressed me about the teachings is an > > experience of the veda I had once, very powerful and > > definately real as I couldn't have imagined it if I'd > > tried. The thing is, the only veda I knew of at > > the time was Darth... :-) > > LOL. > > > ...as it was four years before I heard about it on a > > course and was told we could actually hear it in > > certain states. > > But was what you heard the "Veda," or some undiffer- > entiated cosmic "white noise" associated with a > particular state of attention? Would it be possible > that someone used to choral singing in churches could > have experienced the same thing and heard the "heavenly > choir" or that a monk from Lhasa could have heard the > same thing and heard something that appeared to them > to be in the Tibetan language? > > I don't have any answers for these questions, BTW. > I'm just fascinated by this phenomenon. > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
