LEE PAINE BLOG POST - 9.25.23
Dear Readers,
When I had the idea to start writing a book about “extraordinary revelations,” I had no idea where I was going with it or if any testimonies that I gathered would support the definition that I created for the book, based on my own memories: “an experience that comes to you from outside yourself, sears itself into your soul, and generally has a personal message for you.” My revelations had followed that pattern, but would others? I just didn’t know.
Over the ensuing 5 and 1/2 years it took me to write up my own experiences and conduct 24 other interviews, I learned that the definition that I chose works very well to separate “extraordinary revelations” from other kinds of revelations and experiences, and I also learned what is perhaps the most defining thing about “extraordinary revelations” is the high level of emotional response that they create in the people who have them.
When these “extraordinary revelations” experiences happen, people are very aware that they are being profoundly affected by them, so much so that they often can’t tell anyone else about them right afterwards or perhaps ever! These experiences are often overwhelming and next-to-impossible to retell, because it takes time to process the visual and auditory/intuited aspects of the event, some of which exceed any worldly understanding, as well as any personal messages received. Plus, words from our everyday vocabularies feel totally inadequate to capture these kinds of experiences, because the emotional impact of the revelation is so heightened.
I waited for decades before the thought even occurred to me about sharing my experiences, but then, only because I was getting desperate to learn something about revelations from others who could help me process my own inexplicable experiences.
Since my book’s release and after hearing numerous retellings of personal revelations in the last year, I have realized that there is an “emotional afterlife” to these “extraordinary revelations” that affects all of us who have had them. When we retell these revelations experiences, they become actual testimonies that show how deeply meaningful and impactful these events are in our lives.
When retold, the whole of these experiences seem to stay fully intact and intense – every detail is remembered in “living color,” no matter how long ago it happened. During my interviews for the book, I found that all the interviewees struggled to tell some part of their stories, each had emotional pauses when they were caught up in the moment and emotion of reliving the experience, and many were fighting back tears. I often wept with them, I was so moved. My heart could hear the truth and depth of what they were saying.
I have coined the term, “extraordinary revelations afterlife,” because these experiences are truly seared into our souls, and whenever we call them up to remember or retell them, it’s as real and piercing an experience for us as when it happened the first time. The reality of our “extraordinary revelation” lives on in us in a full intensity afterlife, in a way that no other memory does. If we feel blessed by the extraordinary revelation itself, then we are endlessly blessed by its afterlife.