I was raised in a religious house. I went to church every Sunday until I was about 20. I played guitar for the church. Everyone else always talked about “feeling” the holy spirit, especially when I specifically played the music for the church.

I tried so, so hard, but never once in my life did I feel a damn thing. I prayed and prayed and prayed, but nothing. I was good friends with the pastor, and he would give me tips on listening for what God was telling me, but I never heard anything.

And eventually I gave up.

I have schizoaffective disorder, so I’ve had a lot of “spiritual” experiences, some I still can’t totally shake off how real they felt despite being well medicated for years.

I once met a god in my dreams. He never spoke to me, but I could sense what he wanted to say. He told me I was actually two people, one was destined to destroy the world, the other was me, who was actually the creator of the world. Apparently I was asleep and all of reality was just my dream, and this other person inside of me was destined to wake me up, ending existence as we know it.

I also had a shadow woman with glowing green eyes who would show up constantly (while I was awake this time.) I thought she was also a god, who was in love with me. That’s been one of the harder ones to shake off. I met somebody who claimed to be psychic a few years ago who described the shadow woman exactly as I remembered her. He claimed she was protecting me. That was unsettling, because I’d not mentioned her to him even once.

Besides that I used to see ghosts a lot before I was on my meds. Most of those aren’t very interesting though. Just a person or animal who wasn’t supposed to be there and nobody else could see.

Mine was pretty spontaneous. I was studying psychedelics at the time (just because they’re fascinating) but I’ve never done any before or since.

It was… hard to describe. It lasted several days at least, but my sense of time was greatly altered and it’s hard to say how long exactly. I remember feeling like my mind wasn’t fighting against itself the way it usually did. It felt like everything I did, my whole brain was all working/pulling in the same direction. Pretty much all I wanted to do was meditate for hours on end, and doing so was a wild experience with some very interesting visuals. I also came to some revelations about the nature of reality. (Though looking back, those revelations were the logical conclusion of several beliefs I had held before this experience. I think this experience just brought those multiple unrelated beliefs together and crystalized them into one cohesive worldview.) I did experience some synesthesia during the experience as well. The kind wherein seeing somebody else experience something, you feel it in your own body. I was watching a dancer on TV and feeling the proprioceptive feelings I imagined she was feeling.

Edit: I should add that it never really “ended.” It tapered off over time until I was (in some ways) back to normal, but I couldn’t identify really when I was back to normal. It was more like asymptotically approaching normal. And, I’ll also say that in other ways, I’m still changed by that experience. And only for the better.

I was in college, it was night, and several friends and acquaintances of mine had lugged a case of beer to a giant empty wire spool that sat next to our campus at the time. The spool on it’s side made for a good table.

Having completed an entire class about world religions, we were set to debate whether Buddhism or Taoism was a more reasonable philosophy.

The girl to my right was definitely engaged in the conversation, but she hadn’t said anything yet. I asked her “so what do you think about all of this?” She looked at me, crossed her arms, and fell backwards into the ground. I immediately said, “holy shit, did you guys just see that?” Nobody else saw the girl. As it happened, the wire spool was on the lawn between the campus and a graveyard.

Maybe I’m nuts or maybe I saw that. Never saw anything like that again though.

Only on acid - my buddies and I got lost in a maelstrom and clung to a raft to survive. Two of us woke up on a serene island and made a beautiful community with the indigenous peoples of the island.

The other two found another island and created a futuristic industrialized society.

The ideological differences eventually formed physically into a great barrier called The Schism. They began polluting our lands and forced us into a hundred year war and many lives were lost.

Peace was found when emissaries from both tribes travelled to the caldera of the great volcano at the center of our island and met with the Keeper of the Scrolls who revealed to us that The Schism was invisible - we took that to mean that the only thing truly separating our people was our perceived differences.

But we were really, really trippin

I have felt a sense of awe, I have felt a sense of smallness in the universe, I have felt a sense of connection. Staring at a starscape, or across a vast landscape, being in a still and quiet serene moment of zen.

Nothing I have experienced have I classified as a spiritual experience, and I certainly won’t allow organised religion to prostitute my sense of wonder for their own ends.

Kind of? I was in college walking on campus in broad daylight. I pass under this skywalk, with nobody in my general vicinity. As I do, I feel what feels like someone was walking past me coming from the opposite, locking their arm into mine. I got pulled back enough to stumble.

Sure enough, nobody nearby, no objects right near me or anything I could have accidentally gotten caught up on. Still have no idea what happened there. And for the record, this was before I ever had tried alcohol and I don’t really do drugs, so I can’t blame those.

Not sure if this is what you’re looking for but sure, there have been times when I’m in nature and I see a view or a tree or a river or whatever and things seem so beautiful and so connected and so awe inspiring that it gives me an overwhelming sense that there is more to all this than I’ll ever understand or comprehend.

Sort of. I was trying to get a medical issue more under control and was using cannabis, but worried the CBD was contraindicated with one of the meds so I dropped that out and did straight THC oil.

After a few days of that I was playing a video game and got a strong sense of a divine interaction (which was weird given I was Agnostic) and that a Yes/No popup selection would occur but that what it would really be asking was if I consented to learning the mysteries of the universe and everything that would entail.

Indeed, a popup appeared (FFXIV: Shadowbringer main quest - not exactly unexpected), and I selected Yes.

I later learned (a) that CBD is an effective antipsychotic, and (b) a lot about the literal mysteries of antiquity.

One cannot have a “spiritual” experience without having a shared definition of spiritual that isn’t just a deepity.

I would urge anyone who wants to share their “spiritual” experience to give a solid definition for the term first.

Closest I can think of is sitting in an onsen (hot spring) in Arima, Japan, and suddenly feeling like I am one with the world - totally relaxed, without a single worry in my mind and feeling that everything will be ok. Can’t say how long it lasted, 5-15 minutes? Haven’t experienced that sort of peace ever since.

Sure. Shroms’ll do that to ya.

Visiting Makkah (Mecca) and/or Medinah for pilgrimage (hajj/Umrah). I wouldn’t describe myself as a vibey/woo woo person but both cities feel either spiritually peaceful or intense due to the frenzied energy of the tens of thousands of worshippers there. Several of us on a visit began crying for no reason at various moments during the trip.

My girlfriend has a lot in the past, she saw a lot of things and smeled perfumes of ppl already dead, later she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder

I’ve had experiences with religious people trying to force me to have a spiritual experience. Would not recommend.