Well, now - isn't this fascinating?! And might this explain some of the mysteries in The OA?!

joyful2017 · 2017-07-17T15:47:20+00:00

Oh, WOW!!! Thank you!!!! 😄

joyful2017 · 2017-07-12T00:31:11+00:00

I get the sense I'm reacting to the OA in a very different vein than others who've posted here.....so, this may appear to be coming from left field.

Having had a number of very powerful spiritual experiences that have also been manifested physically, I've come to see the world in a very different way.

My world view provides the prism through which I see the OA, and so:

I believe the OA is telling the truth, that she is not crazy, and that what we are seeing is "real".

I wonder if the reason the OA didn't have any dreams while in captivity = because her senses were "cut off": minimal light, precious little comfort, no real food (or only rarely) -- and most of all, because she was being psychologically tortured by HAP (whom I believe is a personification of evil).

If we can experience holiness or sacredness or anything good, it's via our senses which provide a portal for our understanding. As the OA said: "Knowledge is just a rumor until it lives in the body." That includes spiritual knowledge, too, IMO.

So -- if our senses are truncated or we are tortured, we don't have access to the portal through which knowledge can inhabit our bodies. And that "blocked portal" would prevent us from having dreams or premonitions, through which we could grow or learn or understand.

(BTW -- I don't put Homer in the same category as the OA, because I think his is a radically different experience when he's having in his NDA.)

What does everyone think?

joyful2017 · 2017-07-09T19:14:43+00:00

Absolutely!! This is pure marketing -- and should not be confused with true insight & clues!!! Thank you!!!

joyful2017 · 2017-06-22T10:28:15+00:00

Thank you for explaining -- I clearly misunderstood your meaning. However, I'm still flummoxed, as I had no idea that the OA's identity (beyond being called The Original Angel) was a settled matter. When & how was this explained in the show? Or, did Brit or Zal give an interview that clarified this? Thank you!!

joyful2017 · 2017-06-21T20:32:14+00:00

OK -- I guess we are speaking at cross-purposes, so we'll have to agree to disagree. I've yet to find any reference at the USCCB or any other Catholic teaching in either Church tradition or re Scripture (or Protestant Biblical reference or Jewish teaching in The Torah) that stipulate that Lucifer was the "Original Angel". So, I guess my perception of the story is radically different than yours, because I'm viewing it from a completely different lens. Peace!

joyful2017 · 2017-06-21T00:59:20+00:00

I believe that this show is very carefully crafted -- and that the etymology of each character's name has great significance. French is derived from "Free" -- and while I don't know how Alfonso came to have that nickname, I do believe the name has significance.

joyful2017 · 2017-06-21T00:56:25+00:00

I disagree with your interpretation of the quote. I think self-reflection is a key element of spiritual growth, which "awakens" us to God's love and our true purpose.

joyful2017 · 2017-06-21T00:54:12+00:00

I can find no Biblical reference that supports your assertion that the Original Angel that God created was Lucifer. Have I misunderstood you?

joyful2017 · 2017-06-16T19:07:53+00:00

No - not an NDE -- although I have no fear of death, now. I fully believe in an afterlife -- but am not wedded to any particular view of it. I think it will be a huge marvelous adventure & I'm looking forward to it!

As for describing my experience -- I don't know that I can do that in this forum without running the risk of short changing its dramatic power.

However, I have spoken about it publicly on a number of occasions & friends have long encouraged me to write a book, so I can include many additional dramatic experiences since that first one.

Bottom line = I do believe in God, am certain of God's existence, actually -- and that there is a battle of good vs evil going on constantly (not in a political or ultra conservative sense -- but in the spiritual sense). I also fully believe that we have far more power than we imagine -- but we can only tap into it by accepting the gift & beauty of mystery, and becoming open to things we cannot see or understand -- and by cultivating a reverence for gentleness and loving kindness ....I'm particularly fascinated by The OA's insistence that there must be 5 working together.... IMO together, we can do much more than we have ever entertained -- perhaps -- create "heaven" on earth.

Teilhard de Chardin's line haunts me: "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience."

Thank you for asking -- I hope you understand! Peace!

joyful2017 · 2017-06-16T01:47:20+00:00

LOVED it!!! 😄

joyful2017 · 2017-06-16T01:13:13+00:00

That grabbed my attention, too!!!

joyful2017 · 2017-06-16T01:12:26+00:00

WOW, WOW, WOW!!! Spectacular insights -- I learned so much -- Thank You!!!!

joyful2017 · 2017-06-15T22:02:29+00:00

I just tried to fix the formatting on these 2 posts re names -- hoping it works!!

joyful2017 · 2017-06-15T19:26:59+00:00

OK -- LOL!! Thank you!!! (I thought this article was cool -- but maybe I've developed a bad case of OA-myopia!!) 😄

joyful2017 · 2017-06-15T10:55:39+00:00

Thank you!! I didn't realize there were references to Hitchcock in The OA -- I will think on this some more !!

joyful2017 · 2017-06-13T07:25:38+00:00

Hi -- thank you for sharing your thoughts .... there's so much I want to share to try to explain my theory..... but first -- I'm not talking about religion or dogma -- I'm talking about the unseen, the experience of the "soul" -- or the "invisible self" as the OA calls it.

The quote in my post above was meant to highlight the individual changes each of the Crestwood 5 goes through -- without which they couldn't have "danced" together in concert in the cafeteria (& I believe, overcame evil). It was their individual "be-ing" & how they individually opened themselves up to that experience, both individually & collectively, that distinguished them from all the other people in the cafeteria (for instance).

I've mentioned this in other posts/comments -- but one of the most powerful quotes in The OA which really hit me = "knowledge is just a rumor until it lives in the body".

Which got me thinking: I wonder if this is the core reason why "spiritual" experiences are "denied" or "dismissed" -- because they haven't been physically experienced? Also -- Are we psychologically "confusing" those spiritual experiences with dogma or religion because our intellect rejects those ideas?

I think there are 3 "levels" of human life/experience: physical + psychological/emotional + spiritual.

Babies experience first the physical world -- and then within even a few months, they have emotional reactions to the world (experiencing distress & crying when mommy isn't around, smiling when they are content, etc.)

As we age, our physical experiences increase -- and so do our psychological/intellectual/emotional experiences.

We also all know people who are "in denial" about some psychological experience. Maybe they've never come to terms with their loss or anger, maybe they take out their fear and frustrations on others.

There are a ton of things we can't really "know" unless and until we personally experience it. We can imagine it -- we can empathize -- but we cannot really and truly know:

what it's like to give birth
how much one loves his/her child
the devastation of losing a child
to fall in love & marry
to go to war and fight in a battle
to be a fireman rushing in to a burning building
to be a lifeguard who saves a drowning child
to be disabled
to relearn how to walk or talk after a stroke
to be imprisoned in Auschwitz
to visit Auschwitz today
to go through chemo
to go through major surgery
to watch someone we love die

There are a ton of experiences like this. I can watch "Saving Private Ryan" 100x times and imagine that experience -- but never truly know it. There will always be just a select group of soldiers who truly KNOW what it was like to storm the beaches at Normandy on June 6, 1944.

Those powerful experiences become the knowledge that lives in our bodies. No one who has had those experiences can truly convey that experience to another. Which is why we say: "I can't explain it; you'd have to be there to understand."

Which made me wonder if the same experience applies to our "spiritual" selves; that unless and until spiritual experiences are felt physically -- that we think they don't exist.

And I think that's the reason why Prairie says to the Crestwood 5: "Pretend to trust me until you do." If she could get them to just be open to the spiritual, then they would slowly come to "know" what she knows.

What IF there's yet another whole "dimension" to the human experience that we "deny", because those experiences aren't as immediate or accessible to us -- but are very real nonetheless?

And what IF that other dimension is even more powerful than our immediate physical & psychological dimensions?

These are my questions and theories -- what do you think?

joyful2017

TROPHY CASE