Many persons have claimed transcendence in their lives. On occasion this elevation of mind and spirit was sought, but it may occur without forethought. Once experienced, it may be sought again, with mixed results, but the initial experience was the consequence of alertness to something special, or achieved, and related to an elevated experience not common to a particular life. Cause for genuine transcendent experience is not subject to proof. During much of history this matter has been looked upon askance, as faked or conjured by vulnerable imaginations. Recently the matter has received more serious evaluation. Some simply relate it to the artistic spirit. Persons may have higher than normal human experience in various situations that seem to be real and useful for the person, perhaps for society. Poets and other writers have suggested reality in transcendence, but the most continuing and full participation in the larger than life experience has been in areas of religious influence, especially in the born again experience. It is not our purpose here to analyze the interest of the naturalists in transcendence, except to acknowledge it, and suggest that it fits well with the concept that for persons of deep faith there may be transcendent possibilities that some persons relate to angels and dreams. Several biblical personages imply those possibilities. Most reporting appears to be about individual experience, like Jacob’s dream, which report does not lend to verification. The transcendence found in the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth on their preparation for birthing, could only be verified through their word. Mary’s Magnificat is sufficiently sublime for Christians to warrant the story a transcendent event.
Privately, persons have reported unidentified experiences in sufficient numbers to give us pause. Second parties may not be present for verification, except in unusual instances like Pentecost or the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Such experiences may be muted in years following. Some feel uncertain so they are in retirement from whatever caused an ecstatic event. Today some persons recognizing the force of enhancement drugs relate reports to fantasy from substance and chemistry, causing elevated imagination. Relating elevated experience to spiritual faith risks serious misunderstanding, even undermining the meaning of Scripture in any emphasis on transcendence. One is careful to protect his/her own interpretations. Analysts have affirmed that the process of natural laws can be interrupted. Scientists do not warm to that approach in that it seems to modify the order of nature, and they prefer to work within predictable boundaries, but they also may resist the concept of design in nature. An apple dropped from a height is gravity driven to the firm surface below. But what if a person interrupts the process, and catches the falling apple? Has the law of gravity been violated, or the fall simply interrupted changing no principle? Laws are not set aside, but they may be interrupted on occasion by God and to some degree by mankind. Healings interrupt the course of nature. So do sufferings. Interruptions may occur often or seldom. Are remissions sometimes miracles? Were the miracles of Jesus interruptions? Interpretation may be a bit different for the Christian, and events interrupting nature may arouse a sense of transcendence. One welcomes meaning from interrupted nature – if it is genuine. What may be called transcendence is often made devoid of meaning by the skepticism of the person describing the personal experience. It is distorted by skepticism rather than explained. It is common error to assume that because nearly anything can be conjured from human distraction, there is no legitimate experience of transcendence. We know, at our best, when experience is genuine. My faith catches my experience. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020