Spiritual sensitivity is something different from spiritual openness - and this distinction is of great importance.

While spiritual openness can be dangerous, spiritual sensitivity is healing.

Experiences with spiritual openness

When I read my first book about the spiritual world in my youth, I wanted to experience it for myself.

It had always been important to me to personally encounter things rather than just read about stories or theories. So, I decided on an experiment:

In the evening, I would sit for several hours in a dark room and try to perceive the spiritual world. I spoke to the spirits and asked them to show themselves to me. After doing this for a few weeks, strange things began to happen:

As I was falling asleep, I suddenly couldn’t move my body – an experience of sleep paralysis. I tried to scream, but it was impossible. Only after a few seconds did I regain control

Sometimes I heard a voice saying: "Now I am here." Even during the day, I often felt strange, unpleasant sensations in our apartment – so intense that I sometimes had to leave. 

My mother then suggested we visit a medium.

The lady asked us who in the spirit world we felt connected to - someone who could help me. My great-grandfather was a person we both loved and appreciated. After she called him, my mother and I simultaneously felt an overwhelming presence.

It was like sensing the atmosphere of a person - only intensified immensely. The entire room was filled with his presence.

This experience made two things absolutely clear to me:

• The spiritual world definitely exists.
• Becoming spiritually open is not a good goal - in fact, it can be very dangerous.

After some time, these phenomena faded away. I then discovered Zen meditation, which grounded me deeply. Pure mindfulness meditation leads in exactly the opposite direction: it first anchors us in the physical body.

The spiritual sensitivity that gradually develops on this path grows from the solid foundation of an improved unity of spirit and body.

This is healthy, stabilizing, and ultimately leads us to the true goal – to resonate with God's love.

I had already received a first inkling of this in the experience I previously described with self-remembering - a moment of awakening into aliveness and bliss.