Out-of-the-blue and instantaneously, something happened to me or, more accurately, in me that literally transformed the way I felt about life, including that of my own and the way I viewed the world and everyone in it.  It changed my view of and experience of the Transcendent, too.

The event was simple and ordinary. I don’t recall having a vision of anything. In fact, I saw nothing at all. Yet, in an instant, I saw everything, too.  I did not see God, but there is a sense in which I did, too. Deep joy was so unmistakably real and near to me.  Instantly I felt in the presence of God and that feeling has been with me ever since.

Today, no matter how out-of-control things may be around me, there is in me a sense of calm, peace, and a feeling that everything is just as it should be.  Peace, contentment, and tranquility are my normal states of consciousness. Joy, too. I know this all sounds like a huge enigma and, in many ways, it is. I cannot explain it otherwise.

Easterners often speak of something they call “the law of least effort.”  What they mean by this is, “Do less and accomplish more.”  Now, such a notion is strange to westerners who are taught from the cradle that they must do more and more and still more and then, and only then, should they expect to be duly rewarded for it.

What I’ve learned, however, is that this is not the behavior of grace at all.  When Grace is understood and experienced, and it isn’t understood and hasn’t been experienced by many religious people, grace is really about doing nothing and enjoying everything. I like to tell the story of the poor beggar who was rummaging through a garbage heap looking for his next meal when, suddenly, he finds a discarded lottery ticket. To his chagrin, he discovers it bears the winning numbers to a multi-million dollar jackpot.  Grace. It occurs when you least expect it, and often to those you believe to be the least deserving.

Since that day of awakening, my life has not been some fairytale but I would be dishonest to say anything else but that it has been pretty close.  I once heard a highly regarded spiritual teacher from the east say, “In my world nothing ever goes wrong.”  Everything in me revolted against such an absurd statement prior to my spiritual experience.  Today, however, I cannot say that about my own life, but I understand it much more now.

The best I can say is that, for me, life is no longer the struggle or the burden it used to be. Instead of swimming upstream, one of many metaphors that would aptly describe my life prior to the awakening, I now flow with life.  How could I not be at peace when, instead of resisting what is, I now accept, often forgive, but always flow with life itself?

I’ve called this my “spiritual awakening” because, in many ways, it was as if I woke up and started living.  In eastern religions, it could be called a “satori.”  Satori is a Sanskrit word meaning “sudden insight,” “awareness,” and “consciousness.”  It is often the word used to describe a transformative experience.  What happened to me on that couch may not be filled with a lot of drama, fireworks, lights and sounds, but, whatever it was it changed my life forever.  And, for the better.

1. Start from the assumption that you know God already.  The fact is, you do.  You came from Intelligence, you will return to the same.  Don’t make knowing God into a problem.  For most of us raised in some kind of religious tradition, so much over the years has been layered over this basic, innate and inner knowledge we have of the Divine, that we are programmed to think there’s something we must do, say, know and so forth, in order to know God.  Not so. You know God already.  Start here.

2.  Let your religious beliefs enrich your knowledge.  But, guard against the beliefs becoming more important than that toward which they point.  Beliefs are signs that point beyond themselves.  They’re like a finger that points to the moon.  Don’t confuse the finger for the moon.  And, by all means, don’t worship the finger.

3.  Go within.  Christians call it prayer.  Easterners call it meditation.  Call it whatever you wish but the objective is the same. Go within and there you’ll find God.  Jesus called it the Kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God isn’t the church. It isn’t some future place we go once this journey ends.  The Kingdom is Now and it is, as Jesus said, “within you.” (Luke 17:20).

4. “How do I go within?” you ask.  There are scores of great books on meditation.  Go into any Barnes & Nobel, Borders, Books-a-Million and find the section on “Religions and Spirituality.”  Any of the books written by Lama Surya Das or Pema Chodron could be helpful.  But, more importantly, just start where you are.  For me, I use my recliner.  I don’t go all the way back in it because I’m likely to fall asleep.  But, I relax, close my eyes, and begin to focus on my breath or breathing.  Thoughts come, of course.  So, I work on (but I do not struggle against) the incessant invasion of thoughts.  I do so by acknowledging them when they appear and then letting them go.  I return my attention to breathing and almost certainly to the rhythms and beats of my heart.  It takes discipline but the objective is to reach of state of complete calm – thoughtlessness.  Some days are more successful than others.  But, every day, as I practice this technique for about twenty to thirty minutes, I emerge feeling completely at peace and in touch with myself, with God.

5.  It will work for you, too.  Don’t concern yourself so much with what religion is right.  Instead, recognize the  spritual truth inherent in all of them.  I, for one, grew up in a Christian home and became myself a Christian minister.  For years, I believed you could not know God apart from believing in the tenets of the Christian faith. I no longer believe this way and in my book, The Enoch Factor, I describe in detail the life experiences that brought me to this conclusion.  If you’d like a copy of this book, send me an email: steve@stevemcswain.com.  I’ll put  you on a waiting list and notify you when the book is scheduled to hit the bookshelves and stores.  If you’d like a free PDF chapter now, I’d be happy to send that now.  Again, just email me and I’ll take it from there.

6.  Remember, there is no “way” to know God.  God IS the way.  Just accept this.  Again, don’t make a problem out of it or bring a set of expectations with you as to what “knowing God” is supposed to feel like, be like, and so forth.  Just accept your Divine acceptance.  Good feelings will follow – eventually.  But, don’t confuse the feeling with God.  God feels good, to be sure, but God is always more than a feeling.  So, don’t succumb to the temptation of boxing God into a certain feeling.

7.  Finally, do not be the proverbial fish who swims in the ocean in search of the sea.  Know that you know God already. Accept this. This is what the Bible means by grace.  While you may have grown up in religious tradition that leave you always feeling as if you’re not quite there yet, that there’s something still missing from your life, know that the real truth is, nothing is missing and there’s nothing to do.  Just be.  It is by being that you find yourself merged into Being itself.  In other words, there is nothing you need to do in order to know God.  You know God already.  This is a cause for celebration.

So, what are you waiting for?

Don’t forget. Write me.  Follow me on Twitter.  I want to hear from you.  Send an email to steve@stevemcswain.com.

Blessed Knowing.