Believe it or not, in the early morning, the beams of light streaming against my window cause what looks like the Shroud of Turin face to appear in the fabric of my window topper. It isn’t visible any other time besides early morning, and it can’t be photographed, as the photo accompanying this post will show.
Occurrences like this for many signify a miracle of the supernatural. Now, do I think this is a miracle?
Well, define miracle.
It is a subjective term. My definition of a miracle is “what seems impossible.” So, in that respect, it is not a miracle because the play of shadows and light coupled with my imagination and the brain’s capacity to seek out faces in everyday objects make it very possible to see a facial shape in the curtains.
Ah, But it’s the face of Jesus!
Yes, but it could be the face of Jesus, Thomas Jefferson, my next-door neighbor, or any face tucked away inside my memories.
If it is not a miracle, could it be then that my mind is playing tricks on me? I have the inclination that for my mind to play tricks on me I must first have an overwhelming desire to see something. That is not the case for me. I have no desire to see faces of religious icons in my curtains, on my toast, on one of my doors, in the clouds, or anywhere else such claims have been made.
The simplest of truths here is that the light against the darker folds of the curtains has created a face that in my mind strongly resembles the face of Jesus on the Shroud of Turin.
Am I saying, then, that it has no spiritual connotations for me? No.
On the other side of my room, on the wall inset behind the bathroom door is another picture of Jesus. A family heirloom, it is the sweetest picture of Jesus that I have ever seen. It is the typical white European Jesus face, but this portrait has a different expression. In it, he wears a smile not so much unlike the one you would see on any face expressing a joyous, content feeling, even of being bemused within the moment.
I have kept it all these years, even after my relationship with standardized Christianity changed, perhaps because it is so unique, or perhaps because I intuitively sensed that later it would have a meaning to me.
And what it means for me is spiritual awareness. I am of the opinion that Jesus was a spiritual guide for his people and those who for centuries thereafter have read his words and found comfort, hope, and faith to face obstacles and overcome the emotional pain of this life. Jesus was one who wore his spiritual greatness right next to his human frailties. The bible says that he was the son of God, the first of many brethren and that we humans are the children of god as well with all our greatness and all our weakness too. A preacher may not interpret it that way or preach it to you in that manner because there is a narrative to follow and any equality to Jesus simply does not fit. Web pages are full of apologists explaining Romans 8:29 within their chosen context. However, when many of us who seek different answers read the scripture we believe it to say just that – that we are all the created beings of the Most High.
New Age and various other ideologies believe that we are God manifested in spirit beings and incarnated into an earthy plane as various reflections of the total body of the divine while in the human body.
As for me, I think that we are creations of the creator Source, in whatever way any of us within our own context define it.
When I was a child, I was taught through Christian theology that Jesus/God was always with me. Within a more mystic view, formed with the influences and teachings of many religious and spiritual ideologies, I consider that if we are creations of Source, even to the point of being reflections of, particles of, or extensions of that Source, then we are indeed always surrounded by the eternal divine.
While the skeptic in me sees the appearing Jesus Shroud face in my curtain topper as folded fabric and coincidental lighting, the believer in me sees divine awareness, a sign and a reminder that the fabric of the All is woven all around me even when I may not notice it.
And Jesus said, ““And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20)
Unconventional Spirituality 
An interesting post … not sure that I go along with some of it, but that’s not the criteria here. I just enjoyed what you wrote and how you wrote it.
Thank you, Nan. I always appreciate that you read my posts, especially knowing that your thoughts differ from mine on some of them. I wouldn’t want everyone to agree with what I write but I would hope that those who don’t would make a similar response to yours, which any writer appreciates. I try to always read your posts as well.
Interpretations can be different by every individual. So people who are self realised can give the interpretation in the best way. Books write something and the writer of the book his either writing his interpretation of something he heard or read, but when a person who has experiences and wisdom then the words are fished out from the soul. Soul is part of universal consciousness and that’s what it means that we are all sons of God. In a way we are creation of God so someone wrote that we are children of God or God is always with us. More important is to live detached from even the body by understanding the true formless form of our existence
True. Discernment is vital on a spiritual quest.