Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
My Labor Day Mystical Experience

My Labor Day Mystical Experience

Last updated on: September 4, 2018 at 8:28 am by Tom Swiss

My Labor Day Mystical Experience 2018-09-04T08:28:01-04:00 Tom Swiss

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Fifteen years ago on Labor Day, I had a mystical experience in an unlikely place — the promenade around Boston Harbor. I don’t think I’ve ever written about it before, so…

I had gone to Boston to attend the convention of the American Organization for Bodywork Therapies of Asia (AOBTA), the professional organization for those of us who do shiatsu, acupressure, tui na, traditional Thai bodywork, and other forms of Asian Bodywork Therapy. (If the name seems a little clunky, it’s because it used to be the “American Oriental Bodywork Therapy Association”, before the word “Oriental” got euphemism-treadmilled. They wanted to keep the initialism when they changed the name.)

I was a student about halfway thought my training. It had been less than a year since I had decided to downshift my software development career and start studying shiatsu, so I suppose I was looking for confirmation that I was on the right path. And I found it at that conference; in my first exposure to the ABT community beyond my little class, I found dedicated healing arts practitioners with whom I clicked. Still new to the field, I didn’t get every point of every class I went to, but it was enough that I could follow the gist of what was going on. More important was the energy of the event, the flow of qi.

The convention was at a hotel in downtown Boston, near Boston Commons. One afternoon during a break I went for a walk and found a used bookstore — always a joy. I picked up a copy of Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Heart Of Understanding, his commentary on the Heart Sutra, and maybe one or two other books.

The convention ended early Monday afternoon, Labor Day, with a sort of closing circle. (Chinese Medicine often walks parallel to ritual magic: “shen leads qi” — mind leads energy — is a central principle.) With several hours until my flight home, I figured I might be a little touristy. I took the subway to the harbor and walked around for a while.

At this point, I’m going to pause and put on my skeptical reductionist hat for a moment. More than a decade after this, just a few years ago, I started experiencing occular migraines. Thankfully I’ve only had a handful, but they have been triggered by bright lights or glare; and so from a neurological standpoint, what happened can probably be explained as a manifestation of the same phenomenon. And coming out of the convention, I had an excellent “set and setting”, in the lingo of psychedelic experience.

But in any event, as I was walking along the boardwalk with the planks interrupting the sun’s glare off the water in a rhythm as I walked, I became aware that I was not in my ordinary state of consciousness.

Boston Harborwalk outside the Aquarium. Via Wikimedia Commons. photo by user “NewtonCourt”, CC BY-SA 4.0

It is the way of these things that they are ineffable. To even say “I was not in my ordinary state of consciousness” (much less to say “oh, an early migraine experience”) is to put a border around it, classify it, put it safely in a container where it won’t leak out an affect the rest of my life. And that’s the wrong approach.

A famous Zen koan describes a man hanging by his teeth from a branch when someone asks him to teach them about Buddhism. If he opens his mouth to speak, he falls to his death; if he remains silent, he fails in his duty — and in some versions, will be put to death for that failure.

(This conundrum inspired the Zen teacher Wu Kwang to title his collection of dharma talks Open Mouth Already A Mistake — recommended reading for those who already have some orientation about Zen.)

But I am a writer. Like the joke about the engineer who couldn’t resist his fix-it instinct to repair the guillotine so that he could be executed, we follow our natures.

What I found for a few hours was that when I looked at “other” people, I did not see “other”, but myself. I found that the street musician in the subway was playing the music in my head. I found that everything in the universe was exactly as it was supposed to be.

I wrote in my notebook that afternoon:

this is what I see
a beautiful Universe
people walking by

Monday afternoon in Boston, looking out from a bar near the harbor watching
people go by and just for a moment it is all too beautiful to speak of.

Sometimes I remember
I am Jesus
I am Buddha
I am god
All is one
One is Beautiful
A pigeon walking by is a Sage
Then I forget again
For a while
So I write these notes to myself, to us All, to the Universe in general

In one moment of peace
The Universe is redeemed
These scratchings on paper the only evidence

…

Everything is perfect just as it is, whether you like it or not. (Even your not liking it is perfect just as it is!)

The feeling persisted as I boarded my flight home. And as I pulled out that Thich Nhat Hanh book for some in-flight reading, I read a passage in which he talks about talking to a leaf on a tree about emptiness.

A noted Zen teacher learning from nature, talking to trees. It was one of my first hints that this “Zen Pagan” thing I’d been half-joingly talking about for years might have some real foundation.

The heavens did not open up; I did not encounter any deities, spirits, or extra-dimenstional beings. It was only a few hours of absolute peace, unity, love, and acceptance, arriving for no good reason at all, and giving me confirmation about my life path when I needed it.

You can keep up with “The Zen Pagan” by subscribing via RSS or e-mail.

Always Roaming With A Hungry Heart

Magic(k), Ritual, and Mysticism

My Blogging Life and Times

Boston

Labor Day

mystical experience

Previous Post

September 1, 2018

John McCain, Warmonger

Next Post

September 28, 2018 Kavanaugh, Cosby, and the Full Rashomon

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2017 52 Makeup 2020 52 Makeup Always Roaming With A Hungry Heart Art Because I Could Not Stop For Death Caught On Video COVID-19 Culture Discordianism Ethics, Virtue, and Right Living History Magic(k), Ritual, and Mysticism My Blogging Life and Times Philosophy Podcast Poetry Random Wednesdays Religion & Politics Seasonal Musings Techno-Pagan Theology Uncategorized Warrior Path Zen

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 September 2024 August 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 June 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the name of the great final battle in Revelation?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Great Tribulation Babylon’s Fall Apocalypse Armageddon