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Have you ever felt, right in the middle of everything going wrong or all hell breaking loose, that you were OK in spite of it all? Felt deep down, that though you didn’t know how, it would all work out, that you’d get through it somehow?

Or, you’re going about your business, working hard, staying out of trouble and suddenly you feel light and free and expansive, like anything was possible for you and you really didn’t have to work so hard?

Or, you’re stuck in traffic, worrying, mind racing, frustrated, angry, blaming, and for an instant, it all doesn’t mean what you thought it meant, you can see it differently and know you have a choice about how to think and feel about it, all of it?

What would you call moments like these? Gifts, opportunities, blessings, mistakes, delusions, grace? Why do such experiences renew and refresh us, give us hope? Is it that they reveal the vast, unbounded, ‘anything is possible even for me’ potential in life and living, that life and living are more than we think they are? Is it that, for a moment, we shake off the blinders, narrow thinking and that all pervasive fear and cynicism and realize there’s really nothing holding us back but our own habits, thinking and feelings? That life itself is neutral, not for us or against us, just neutral, and that we can have it be for us more of the time?

What do you think ‘God’ is? Is It an old, white guy with a beard on a throne in the sky, frowning down on us? Is It an idol or an icon; supernatural or natural? Is It contained in a church, synagogue, temple or mosque? Is It more abundant and available in ‘sacred’ places? Is It exclusive – only for true believers, or inclusive – for everyone, true believers and non-believers alike? What does It require of us – ceremony, rituals, worship?

What, if anything, do these experiences of feeling good in the midst of everything going wrong; of feeling suddenly light and expansive in the midst of working hard; and of suddenly feeling peaceful in the midst of traffic, have to do with ‘God’? What, if anything, are ‘holy instants’ like these trying to tell us?

To me, they’re saying, not only is life itself neutral towards us, but it’s actually for us. That if I take responsibility for what AA calls my “stinkin’ thinkin,” get my fear, negative attitudes, and limiting beliefs out of the way, I’ll find unbounded opportunities, new choices and greater freedom there for me, that its always been there for me, just as the sun is always there even when its hidden behind a cloud. It’s what Ralph Waldo Emerson described as, “getting your bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits.”

All of this is not mystical or religious; it’s provable. Haven’t you already felt it, had the experiences? It’s not supernatural; you don’t need any ‘sacred’ spaces or places, people or rituals, myths or legends. You just need to connect with the sacred already there within you, yearning to be free and to express Itself. Do as Emerson suggests, get your bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits. Allow yourself to have more of those strange and wonderful experiences; feel it, prove it to yourself, allow it to be real in your life. It’s not a mistake, not a delusion but an opportunity, grace, a blessing.