An old and limited state of consciousness is suddenly, even violently, broken up and another takes its place. The conversion experience of Saint Augustine is a classic in Christian history. It was that voice that at last made St. Augustine cross the spiritual frontier on which he had been lingering, and turned a brilliant and selfish young English teacher into a giant of the Christian Church. St. Ignatius sat by a stream and watched the running water, and the strange old cobbler Jacob Boehme was looking at the pewter dish, when each of them had a revelation of the mystery of the Nature of God. Every human being has the potential toperceive and receive the living perfection that is God.
Conversion is like a door that is opened.
We realize how real the spiritual is, how majestic it is, how near it is, and that realization becomes the ruling fact of our existence. In all real conversion experiences, the believer senses that he is not so much moving toward as being moved toward God. While it is true that something in a human being longs for God and can move towards God, what matters most is the fact of a living God over and above all, who stoops toward us, and first incites and then supports and responds to our seeking. Through this communion between the finite and the Infinite, the seeker and the sought, the spiritual life develops in depth and power. In all this, we are trying to speak of things that lie at the outer fringe of our consciousness, and of which, at best, our perception is dim, and our language inadequate.