Amazing Matthew. Of course, you know I've been thinking about this a lot too. I've tried to create conversation about it, wrote about it and I just haven't felt that I hit on what was emerging yet. Last night it came to me. Ecstatic religious experiences are like sex. Incredibly vulnerable incredibly intense, incredibly messy. Maybe they produce something maybe they don't. Maybe it's just for pleasure. Maybe someone inflicts their will in a way that creates trauma in a vulnerable moment. Or shame. Maybe the only thing we can truly know for sure about this experience in Asbury is that a pleasurable experience, spiritually speaking, was desperately needed. Where the "orgy" leads is hard to say. That's where I've landed. Thanks for sharing this conversation with me this week and helping me reach my own vein of understanding while you found yours. 🌿
Amazing Matthew. Of course, you know I've been thinking about this a lot too. I've tried to create conversation about it, wrote about it and I just haven't felt that I hit on what was emerging yet. Last night it came to me. Ecstatic religious experiences are like sex. Incredibly vulnerable incredibly intense, incredibly messy. Maybe they produce something maybe they don't. Maybe it's just for pleasure. Maybe someone inflicts their will in a way that creates trauma in a vulnerable moment. Or shame. Maybe the only thing we can truly know for sure about this experience in Asbury is that a pleasurable experience, spiritually speaking, was desperately needed. Where the "orgy" leads is hard to say. That's where I've landed. Thanks for sharing this conversation with me this week and helping me reach my own vein of understanding while you found yours. 🌿