We humans have the capacity of mind and heart to get outside and beyond ourselves, even to experience transcendent God moments, natural highs. To transcend is to pass beyond a human limit, to rise above or across.
Often we feel locked inside our own skins and drama, feeling alone and isolated. We are made for connecting with others and with God. A new friend can make us forget ourselves and throw ourselves into getting to know him or her. This happens when people fall in love. We are social beings. Others call us beyond the confines of our egos.
The drug Ecstasy is named for producing feelings of euphoria and closeness—an unnatural high. Nature, friends, silence, celebrations, music can give us natural highs.
Ecstasy literally means to be carried away. The ec comes from the Greek syllable ek, which mean out. The second part of the word ectasy comes from the Greek word stasis, which means the place where one stands. Ecstasy happens when an experience carries us beyond our own place.
Mary Magdalene and the women who find Jesus’ tomb empty three days after he is crucified and buried leave the tomb trembling and ecstatic—utterly amazed. The experience carries them out of themselves, beyond their wildest expectations (Mark 16.7-8).
Christians believe God creates us out of love and calls us into communion in love with each other and with Father, Son, and Spirit. Our capacity to experience the mystery of God is like a seed of the eternal in us. All of us have God moments to treasure.
In our human evolution religions have developed rituals and practices that help people discover their capacities of mind and heart to go beyond themselves. How do we awaken to the holy in our midst and to our oneness with all that is? What practices appeal?
The order and beauty of the created world call us beyond ourselves to God.
Our friends call us beyond our limits and fears.
Our longings for a better, safer, more loving world testify to our openness to more and ultimately to sacred mystery.
In “Wind from an Eagle’s Wings,” Kristan Staub discovers the power of the Native American sweat lodge as a way to experience the Spirit present in his cultural community.
Runner Erica Dombro experiences going beyond herself in running alone and in putting herself and all her athletic ability on the line in a race. She soars and experiences giving herself.
“Music goes beyond the reach of words,” writes Karen Armstrong in her book The Case for God. Hearing a piece of music can stir within us the same feelings the musician and composer felt in creating the piece.
Putting all my ability on the line in a race or a game or a contest can carry me beyond myself. I become part of something bigger when winning for the team. Playing a game can pull us beyond the skills we practice into performing as a team in a ways none of us knew we could. Giving of ourselves totally reveals how much we care about teammates and common causes. We open ourselves to they mystery of God in those self-giving moments.
In Sunday’s gospel John the Baptist testifies that Jesus is God’s chosen one, the one he has prepared people for. A soaring bird symbolizes the Spirit of God that fills Jesus for the mission he is beginning. His words and actions are God moments to treasure and imitate.
The desire for God is written in the human heart.
Catechism of the Catholic Church #27