Getting in Touch with God

I've never really been a religious person. You wouldn't see me going to church every day, nor praying while snakes slither over my body. But, lately, I've been very interested in the different ways people connect with their god(s), and I plan to test some of them out.

I'm not here to tell you which religion is right, nor if there really is or isn't a god. If your means of worship works for you, congratulations. It's just that I have always been a little different.

I grew up in a very religious family, so prayer was always a normal part of the day. It's just, I never got any satisfaction from it. It just seems I can't connect with a higher power via 'average' means. Maybe you're the same.

My old friend Ebony really knows where I'm coming from with this. She's just a few years younger than I, and a whole lot more wild. She's agreed to help me on my religious quest.

Now, I'm not going to lie, I'm a little scared. It really helps to go through something like this with a friend, so grab a buddy if you're planning on trying any of these practices.

Meditation

After hitting the books for a little while, or in our case, the Internet, Ebbie and I decided on where we should begin: Meditation. Every one's heard of it, and at least understands the gist of it, right? Not always religious, it has certain other uses, yada yada yada?

Well, after some research, I found out some things I hadn't before known. Like how you're suppose to surround yourself with 'holy' objects, or at least some that have great value to you.

So, Ebbie and I decided to go all out for this. We're talking lighting a fire with perfumed wood, closing and covering all the windows, lighting heavy incense, and candles. We even shut off all the lights and surrounding ourselves with photos of loved ones and old gifts.

We both held in our right hand the two old half's of a friendship necklace we got back in middle school, and sat beside each other. We closed our eyes.

I breathed in the overwhelming scent of the air, and cleared my mind. I let the scent overpower me. I let the scent fill my mind, while the sickly sweet heat filled my body. I tried my best not to think about a single thing except breathing.

After awhile of this, I could hear Ebony actually humming something under her breath. I don't think she even noticed. I had no idea how much time had elapsed, but felt like I was on a slippery slope.

I felt as if I could give in, even more, to the sensations around me, and sink deeper into my mind; into places I've never been. I knew the more time I spent breathing in the perfume, and feeling the warm metal of the necklace in my hand, the harder it would be to resist. For some reason that scared me. I decided we should stop there.

I opened my eyes. In the dim light from the fire, the color of the pictures on the floor seemed like a deeper and prettier color than they had before. I had to admit, I did feel extremely at peace. As if I was still lazy from waking up from a long nap. I looked at the clock, and realized we had been at it for about forty minutes.

I swallowed hard, and shook Ebony a little to get her out of her state. I asked her to describe her experience, and she said it was "like I was sitting at the bottom of a black lake". I didn't get anymore information from her about it.

Conclusion:
Although I didn't lose myself quite the way Ebony did, I can definitely see why people like this. I really did enjoy it more than I ever did praying, and I'll admit: I do feel a little different. I'm not sure why, but, for a few days afterwards, I felt changed.

Rituals

Now, I was a little skeptic about doing an odd ritual, but, after having that odd sensation from meditation, I decided to go for it.

A lot of rituals Ebbie and I looked up involved the use of certain drugs. We decided to substitute alcohol for them, since we really didn't feel like getting arrested.

To keep this broad enough for all religions, I couldn't pick one ritual, but compose one from many rituals from different religions. The result was a sort of praying, drinking, chanting, dancing mess. It'll have to do.

To start things off, and I'm going to be completely honest: Ebbie and I got a little drunk. But, if you're going to be chanting and dancing around in your basement, you have to be. It's a rule of thumb, you see.

We decided for our chant we'd chant a small part of the Svetasvetara Upanishad. We both put on our necklaces and held hands, giggling the whole time, and started running in circles chanting. I felt very funny at first. I couldn't stop laughing, and I was having such a great time acting like a little kid.

We drank a little more and decided to run around outside, chanting. Luckily, I have a large backyard with very distant neighbors. Even so, in retrospect, I'm afraid of being the creepy religious person next door.

The cold air totally sucked the heat out of my body, and I was pretty cold. The cold air just fueled Ebony and I to jump around more and more, and sing more. It's odd, but, I feel as though something amazing happened. Between jumping up and down, incredibly drunk, having a great time with Ebbie, feeling the cold metal jump up and down on my neck, I felt as if for one moment, our hearts were in sync.

I like to think Ebbie felt it too, for, at that moment she stopped and grabbed my hands. With a smile, we started spinning as fast as we could, our only support being each other's hands. My heart was pounding like crazy, and I still got that sensation we were in sync.

I could hear my pulse in my ears, and for a spilt second I felt as if everything was going to be alright. While standing there, pretending to be a little kid, I got this overwhelming sensation of love, and had to let go of her hands. The feeling was too intense.

We fell to the ground hard, but I felt no pain. Ebony and I decided to call it a night. We both knew, without doubt, that we had just experienced god.