I am defining the numinous zone as a state of consciousness in which numinous (supernatural or spiritual) experiences occur. It can be viewed as a highly dynamic state that gives rise to phenomenal shifts in one’s perception or abilities. These remarkably unique experiences often have a spiritually palpable intensity that includes a heightened sense of awareness, a kind of clarity and awe that emerges from a more spiritually-open, curious and lucid mind.
You may be thrown out of the zone when the newness of a numinous change brings too much awe or too much fear – which may even feel like one’s very life is threatened. How are we to feel safe and centered amidst the mystery of transformation and epistemic uncertainty? I begin to explore this question with my article “Hale Makua & Numinous Opportunities“, in which I write about my dream of singing joyously while body-surfing a tremendous ocean wave.
The degree of numinosity in the zone often seems to increase with the degree of emotional differences experienced within a pair of opposites – a dialectic. We have discovered in dreams that the painful experience of a death or total loss represents a high degree of polarized emotional intensity that calls forth its corresponding opposite – a feeling of deep connection or profound love. When traversing these opposites in a relatively short timespan, you can have a potent emotional synthesis that increases the poignancy of your numinous experience. (see diagram below)
In the diagram, notice how the Conscious vector creates a numinous experience through lucidity and conscious induction, which is a fancy way of saying: intentionally engaging with the subconscious. This mirrors the observer effect in quantum physics where a specific natural phenomena (for us a subconscious experience) is directly induced by the sheer act of perception or intentionality. Numinousity seems to increase as one centers in the nexus of conscious-subconscious, thought-emotion, etc.
How do you consciously engage your intentionality with your inherent nature and subconscious to bring your most numinous gifts to life?
Finding the zone means finding where your soul’s calling and gifts gets activated. Since everything is connected, tuning into your inherent creative contribution automatically connects you with the creation that extends beyond you. In this way, inner-attunement enables you to naturally harness the inherent wave of evolutionary energy that unfolds all existence, and in so doing, the Self becomes a conscious and active instrument in service to and in communion with the larger guiding forces of creation.
