Talking About Spiritual Experience

People who have had spiritual experiences often find it difficult to talk about them.  They doubt whether they will be believed or worry that they will be thought to be mad.  An impulse remains to talk about what has happened with someone they trust to make sense of what has happened and reflect on what this means.  People need to be heard, they need to be believed, and they need to find meaning.

Sometimes, people will approach a priest, minister, or a trusted leader in a church, to talk about their experience.  However, these approaches are not always welcomed.  The listener does not want to listen, is not willing to believe, and is unable to provide advice that satisfies and makes sense.  The person is left feeling belittled and unbelieved.  Their profound experience is dismissed as fantasy, or as an attempt to promote themselves spiritually.

To addresses this dilemma, we have launched the Talking About Spiritual Experience project – for those who want to know how to listen to people who want to talk about their unearthly experiences, and for those who have a story to tell.

About the Conference: 

Rev Dr Meg Gilley will be speaking to us about the latest CFPSS publication, also entitled Talking About Spiritual Experience, which will be launched at Conference. The book is a handbook for clergy and those in pastoral ministry to detail the importance of listening to those who have such experiences, and what these encounters might actually be.

Not all encounters are positive. Dr Robert Gilbert speaks to us about the negative side of spiritual experience.

Rev George Heinz is a Methodist Minister from Shropshire and he will be speaking to us of his own experiences  and how he has engaged with others who have come to him with their own encouters.

In a break from our usual format, there will be no fourth speaker this year. Instead, we will take some time to allow space and permission for others to share their own stories.