The God Effect: Exploring the Long-Term Influences of Elicited Mystical Experiences

Doctoral Dissertation Project Summary by Ron Pappalardo | ronpappalardo.com

Abstract

This dissertation project provides a window into the lives of people who underwent a Mystical experience while attending one of the author’s workshops. The experiences are particularly notable in that they were not random events. They were induced, taking place while participants were practicing techniques learned at the workshops. These techniques have been found to facilitate and elicit encounters with the Divine. 

The research data reports the effect these experiencers had in the moment, but also reveals how their lives were impacted over time. The data and case studies demonstrate that while, at a minimum, an encounter with God is usually a strongly positive experience, in some cases it is powerfully life-transformative. In religious ministry, it is hard to imagine there is anything more valuable than facilitating an individual’s direct experience with the love of God. The reader will find information that will aid ministerial efforts in this regard, including work in the fields of conversion, spiritual formation, and the cultivation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Statement of the problem

At present, we are witnessing a historic shift in the way many people view religion. With each passing year, more and more people identify as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR). Particularly among the young, we are more likely to see many of them at a yoga or meditation class than at a Sunday morning worship service.

While traditional religion is declining, a surprising number of Americans are longing for Mystical experiences. A 2005 Newsweek/Beliefnet poll reported that 75% of respondents believed religion was very important “to forge a personal relationship with God”, while only 39% believed religion was very important “to be part of a community”(Beliefnet.com, 2005). In order to meet current needs, we in ministry need to familiarize ourselves with the factors involved in facilitating Mystical communion with God. 

The author has discovered several techniques that have been found to successfully elicit Mystical experiences. 

In sum, this dissertation project has made an earnest case for the need for ministers to provide a gateway for individuals in their congregations to achieve direct apprehension of the Divine, and that relatively simple techniques exist that have been shown to elicit this phenomenon. Readers are enthusiastically invited to adopt these techniques toward the goal of replicating these wonderful results. When reviewing the data, it is abundantly clear that Mystical experiences result in long-term benefits to the experiencers and society at large, as well as comfort and fulfillment to the heart of God.

As ministers, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we possessed tools that we could impart to our congregants that would elicit experiences similar to the one Finney had? These tools exist, and over the last several years have been shared in workshops with startling results. Three of these techniques are: guided meditation, hands-on healing, and what the author calls “Journaling with God.” 

Here is a sample testimony from the data collected:

I participated in Ron’s workshop in Montreal, Quebec, I believe in 2014.  What I knew about God was from religions.  Growing up in the Catholic Church I did not pay attention to God at all.  My mother became a widower at the age of 28 with four very young children and every time something bad happened she would say: “What did I do to God to deserve this?”.  She would blame God for all her misery.  It seems to me that God was a punishing God and I wanted to have nothing to do with this entity (if it even existed).  

I joined the Unification Church in my late 20’s.  The Church painted a different picture of what God could be and it intrigued me.  But after many years in the UC, I began to stray.  To be honest, I searched all my life for this “father” figure and never found it.  I found God at Ron’s workshop. 

… I was reluctant to go but we ended up going anyway; myself, my husband and our oldest son.  

The first day was great and many people were having wonderful spiritual experiences, the give and take with members was very uplifting and Ron was just fascinating to listen to.  The second day came and everybody around me was having spiritual experiences, but not me.  Nothing.  At some point on the second day, I remember thinking, “Here we go again, nothing is happening for me, I am not good enough for God to pay attention to me.”  I regretted coming to the workshop.  I felt so deflated.

That’s when something happened.  Ron was guiding us through a guided meditation.  I remember him guiding us to a beach and sitting on a chair at the beach, and that’s all I remember.  It’s really hard to describe what happened and how I felt.  I wasn’t in the room and I couldn’t hear Ron’s voice anymore.  I was bathed in light, a blinding white light.  I heard nothing but felt a presence.  I suddenly felt a love that cannot be described in human words. It felt almost too much for me. This presence was love itself.  

 I knew without a doubt it was God’s presence.  I felt so immensely loved!  I don’t know how long the experience lasted but I suddenly felt my body begin lifting off from my chair!  I started crying and the tears were just flowing.  Then I heard my son talking to me and asking me if I was ok.

Once I heard my son’s voice, I came back to earth.  I didn’t want to!  I wanted to stay with this incredible light and love!  When I opened my eyes, my cheeks were wet from my tears and I was sobbing.  My son and my husband were sitting on each side of me and they looked worried.  My son told me he was worried because I was crying but also because I was starting to lift off from my chair.  He also felt himself starting to lift off from his own chair!  I was completely baffled by what happened and really surprised!  Finally, God knows I exist and HE loves ME!