What pops into your head when you think of the weird ? Weird is defined by unusual, mysterious, supernatural or otherworldly. I’m weird. You’re weird. You are supernatural, unusual and mysterious. We all have a supernatural side to us that we each have a capacity to get into touch with and into tune with. We are all spiritual beings. We are spirits surrounded by a physical body. So we have a dual type of existence. If you have no inkling or desire or belief in the spiritual side of your life, you are missing out on the most exciting, enjoyable and mesmerizing way to live. Spiritual experiences are the most fascinating, fun and engrossing experiences that we can have and they are available to each and every one of us. Look at this excerpt from “Brave the Wave”
There’s significant power in the study of NDEs as we learn to discover and develop our spiritual senses, because every experience that’s documented is an experience in “the spirit.” There’s power when we can begin to think of NDEs as total and full descriptive experiences of people fully engaged in their spirit. NDEs are unique experiences because there’s a total absence of the flesh or the body. You can try to get in tune with your own spirit by escaping your body, but good luck with that. I use the term flesh because that’s our tie into biblical doctrine. The bridge to the past. People who experience an NDE are separated from the body because the body is dead or incapable of functioning. It’s an actual glimpse of the world that’s outside our bodies. These experiences occurred only when the person’s spirit was freed from the confines of the human body. They don’t always occur at the point of death; some people have them during anesthesia or at other times. This allows us to get a peek into the spiritual world that surrounds us.
Now look at what Jesus says about the Spirit. Here is another excerpt from Brave The Wave,
“truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:3-7 ESV)
There’s a flashing neon sign on this one. It’s not difficult to see. When Jesus starts letting loose with the “truly, truly,” pay attention. He says “truly” four times here. How much more of a signal do we need? Sometimes it comes down to plain old fairness and common sense. Jesus is going out of his way to tell us and show us what’s important.
How does this relate to our authentic self? Your true authenticity is found on a continuum. I describe it in my second book on power and passion. True authenticity is defined and developed on the spiritual side of life. When we focus on the fleshly, we are focused on the worldly. We need to e-valu-ate activities that focus on the fleshly or worldly side of life because there is limited power and limited value in things that don’t last. We may be focusing all of our time and energy on things with limited value. Things that are here and gone in a few years. The temporary. Focusing on the eternal has infinitely more value.
I love focusing on the weird because it’s fascinating, exciting and rewarding. The spiritual life is focused on the unseen. The eternal and the unseen. Being able to see the unseen is mesmerizing. Look at this verse.
“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
(2 Corinthians 4: 16-18 NLT)
Getting a glimpse of the unseen is what this whole thing is about. We need to move closer to our authentic selves in order to see the unseen. This is the self that God created us to be. It is a movement toward Jesus. Toward love. Toward power. Toward peace. Toward Joy. “Brave the Wave”, is the first step toward authenticity. We all have many more steps to take. Me too.
We Ride !!!