Theos-Talk Archives (November 2002 Message tt00762)

My encounter with the staff of Moses

In 1956 when I was a seven-year old kid I had my first encounter with 
the staff of Moses.

My sister took me to see the movie "The Ten Commandments." 
[ http://us.imdb.com/Title?0049833 ]I was not a religious kid at the 
time. I found the movie interesting but not out of the ordinary 
until .... the point in the movie where Moses opens the Red Sea using 
the serpent-staff. 

At that point I had a remarkable inner experience. When Moses 
said: "Behold his mighty hand." I experienced an altered state of 
consciousness or what some might call a peak or mystical experience. 
My waking consciousness was suddenly altered and I become aware and 
conscious of a greater reality, a greater consciousness, a greater 
being of which I was a part but this greater consciousness 
encompassed the whole universe. At the same time I became aware of a 
great "force" which welled up in me from the lower regions of my body 
and went up thru my chest and head and continued upward to vast 
regions beyond. My consciousness was embued with great bliss and 
everything appeared in a shining light. It felt to me as though the 
whole universe was flowing thru my being. How long this state 
lasted, I do not know. But even at that early age, I knew that the 
staff of Moses was the means by which one can reach God's mountain 
and the Promised land. I also perceived that God's burning bush was 
an immense inner reality.

Of course, one can probably guess that my all-time favorite movie is 
still The Ten Commandments. Every time I watch it, I automatically 
enter into that greater reality which is represented by God's holy 
mountain and the burning bush. 

This encounter awakened by Moses' staff was my only mystical 
experience until I was in my early teens. 

Daniel