Let’s unpack this in the context of Paul’s trance in Acts 22:1 –21 and related biblical insight.
🕊 1. The Biblical Description of “Trance” (Greek: ἔκστασις, ekstasis)
The Greek word ekstasis literally means “a standing outside oneself.”
It’s used in the New Testament to describe a state where the ordinary consciousness is suspended, allowing the person to perceive divine reality or revelation.
Acts 10:10 – Peter “fell into a trance” and saw a vision of heaven opened.
Acts 22:17 – Paul, praying in the temple, “fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to him.”
Mark 5:42 / Acts 3:10 – The same word ekstasis is used for people being “astonished” or “in wonder” — a kind of overwhelming awareness.
So biblically, a trance isn’t sleep, dream, or madness — it’s a heightened state of divine encounter in which the spiritual perception is awakened while the normal sensory awareness is subdued.
🧘♂️ 2. Experientially: What Happens in a Trance?
The experience can be described as a divine suspension of the natural senses:
Physical senses are often subdued — sight, hearing, touch, and motion may become still. The body may be unaware of its surroundings.
Mind (rational thought) is quieted or “paused.” The person is not reasoning or imagining but receiving.
Spirit is intensely awake. The inner being perceives realities normally hidden — hearing or seeing things from God.
Consciousness - Not unconscious like sleep, but lifted beyond normal awareness. The person is both passive (receiving) and deeply aware on another level.
You could describe it, poetically, as “the six senses stilled, and the soul’s eye opened.”
But biblically, it’s not about an innate human seventh sense — it’s God’s Spirit initiating revelation. The mind is quiet, the spirit receptive.
🔥 3. Theological Understanding
Paul’s trance was not self-induced (like hypnosis or meditation) but Spirit-induced.
He was in prayer, and the Lord chose to open heaven to him.
“While I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me…” (Acts 22:17)
This kind of state represents divine initiative — God “breaking through” the normal boundaries of human consciousness to communicate directly.
In modern language: a revelatory suspension of the natural, where the divine becomes perceivable.
In spiritual terms, the Spirit communes with the spirit, bypassing the ordinary mind.
🌿 4. Relation to “Subconscious” or “Seventh Sense”
Your phrasing — “six senses stilled and a seventh sense opened” — captures the experience poetically, though biblically it’s not framed as the discovery of a new sense within, but as the awakening of the spirit through divine grace.
Scripture suggests that:
“The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God... but the spiritual man discerns all things.”
So in a trance, the Spirit of God opens the “spiritual faculty” of man — what some mystics later called the eyes of the heart (Ephesians 1:18).
✨ 5. Summary
A trance (ekstasis) = standing outside ordinary perception.
The six senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell, thought) are stilled.
The spirit (inner consciousness) becomes receptive to divine communication.
It is not a subconscious hallucination, but a super-conscious revelation — initiated by God, not the self.
Paul’s trance was a sacred moment of divine commissioning, not merely mystical ecstasy.
Would you like me to show how Paul’s trance compares with Peter’s trance in Acts 10, to illustrate how both men experienced divine instruction through this spiritual state?
Yes
Excellent — this comparison between Paul’s trance (Acts 22:17–21) and Peter’s trance (Acts 10:9–20) is deeply revealing. Both were moments of divine revelation, achieved through the suspension of ordinary awareness, but each served a different purpose in God’s unfolding plan.
Let’s explore them side by side.
📜 1. Context Overview
Apostle/Setting/Spiritual Posture/Purpose of the Vision
Peter
On a rooftop in Joppa, about noon (Acts 10:9–10)
Hungry, praying
To prepare him to welcome Gentiles (Cornelius) into God’s salvation plan
Paul
In the Jerusalem temple, praying (Acts 22:17)
Worshipping, likely in quiet reflection after conversion
To redirect him from Jerusalem to the Gentile mission, confirming his global calling
🕊 2. The Nature of Their Trance Experiences
🔥 3. Spiritual Dynamics in Both
Both apostles were in prayer — their surroundings faded, yet their spirits became awake to divine reality.
Neither sought a trance; both received it. The Spirit took the initiative.
Communication beyond intellect
They didn’t “figure out” a message but heard or saw one directly from God.
Integration afterward
When the trance ended, they had to interpret and obey. Revelation always demanded action — not curiosity, but obedience.
🪶 4. Theological Reflection
These two trances show how God bridges heaven and earth through the spirit of man:
Peter’s trance → broke the wall of exclusivity, revealing that salvation is universal.
Paul’s trance → redirected zeal, confirming that the universal message must be carried outward.
In both cases:
The outer world was silenced;
the inner world illuminated;
and divine purpose clarified.
Thus, yes — you could say their six senses were stilled, and a seventh — the spiritual sense — was opened not through self-hypnosis, but by God’s Spirit unveiling reality beyond the veil.
✨ 5. Summary Table
Would you like me to show how the biblical “trance” (ekstasis) concept later evolved in Christian mysticism — e.g., in writings of early saints and contemplatives like Teresa of Ávila or Gregory the Great — who described similar stilling of the senses leading to divine vision?
Yes
Beautiful — this is where Scripture and Christian mysticism meet like two rivers flowing into one sea.
The ekstasis (ἐκστασις, “standing outside oneself”) seen in Peter and Paul becomes, in later centuries, a foundation for what the mystics called “contemplative ecstasy” or “union with God.”
Let’s explore how this evolved.
🕊️ 1. From Ekstasis to Christian Mystical Experience
The early Church understood trance not as a loss of reason, but as a heightened awareness of divine reality.
Writers like Gregory the Great (6th century) and Origen saw Paul’s and Peter’s trances as examples of gratia elevans — grace lifting the soul beyond its natural capacity.
Key Thought
“The mind, rapt above itself, beholds that which it cannot see by itself.”
— Gregory the Great, Moralia on Job 2.37.52
Thus, the “trance” (ekstasis) was interpreted as:
A divinely induced stillness of the senses and intellect.
Opening the spirit’s faculty to perceive God directly (visio Dei).
A foretaste of heavenly union, yet temporary and often wordless.
🪶 2. The Desert Fathers and Early Monastics
In the 3rd–5th centuries, the Desert Fathers (e.g. Evagrius Ponticus, John Climacus) described a path that mirrors Paul’s experience:
Praktikē – purification: the senses and passions quieted.
Physikē – illumination: the soul perceives creation through God’s light.
Theologia – union: the spirit stands in silent adoration before God — sometimes in ecstasy, beyond words.
Evagrius wrote:
“When the mind has put off passions and remembered only God,
then the Holy Spirit comes and lifts it into prayer beyond thought.”
(On Prayer, 64–67)
This is the same pattern as Paul’s trance: body and intellect stilled; spirit lifted.
🌹 3. Medieval and Renaissance Mystics
St. Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582)
In The Interior Castle, Teresa describes “rapture” (arrobamiento) — a state where the soul is drawn upward, sometimes losing bodily control, yet inwardly conscious of divine love:
“It seems the soul is carried out of itself by a strange delight;
The faculties are suspended, as though asleep, yet the understanding sees clearly.”
(Interior Castle, VI.4)
She explicitly connects this to Paul’s “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2–4), describing it as God’s act, not a result of human effort.
St. John of the Cross (1542–1591)
In The Ascent of Mount Carmel and Dark Night of the Soul, he explains the process leading to divine union as:
The dark night of senses – all sensory and emotional faculties silenced.
The dark night of spirit, intellect, and imagination stilled.
Then, the infused contemplation – God communicates Himself directly.
“The soul is in darkness to all created things,
but illuminated by uncreated light.”
So again, we see:
The six senses are quieted, the seventh — the spirit’s gaze — opened.
🌿 4. Theological Core Across
🔥 5. Summary:
The Inner Logic of Trance → Ecstasy → Union
God initiates the encounter.
Human faculties yield — the six senses and intellect rest.
Spirit awakens — perceives what cannot be seen with eyes or conceived by mind.
Divine communication or union occurs — not by imagination, but by infusion.
The person returns transformed, bearing insight, peace, or divine commission.
This is why the mystics regarded Paul’s trance not as an exceptional miracle only for apostles, but as a pattern of spiritual ascent —
a glimpse of what happens whenever the soul is still enough for God to speak.
Would you like me to create a visual diagram showing this “path of ascent” — from senses → stillness → spirit → divine union — illustrated with the examples of Paul, Peter, and Teresa of Ávila?
Yes
Title: The Spiritual Path of Ascent: From Trance to Union
I. Overview
A visual outline tracing the movement from sensory stillness to divine union, integrating scriptural and mystical experiences.
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II. The Fourfold Movement
1. Senses → Stillness
Biblical Example: Peter on the rooftop (Acts 10:10) – "He fell into a trance."
Mystical Parallel: The Desert Fathers' practice of quieting passions (hesychia).
Experience: The six senses become calm; the mind ceases striving.
Symbol: The closed eye, silence, and breath at rest.
2. Stillness → Spirit Awakening
Biblical Example: Paul in the temple (Acts 22:17) – "I fell into a trance and saw the Lord."
Mystical Parallel: Evagrius Ponticus – "The mind that has put off passions remembers only God."
Experience: The Spirit within begins to perceive light beyond thought.
Symbol: The opened inner eye, gentle radiance.
3. Spirit Awakening → Ecstasy (Ekstasis)
Biblical Example: Paul caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor 12:2).
Mystical Parallel: Teresa of Ávila’s rapture – the faculties suspended, the soul lifted.
Experience: One stands outside oneself (ekstasis), yet fully conscious in God.
Symbol: Ascent through light, spiritual expansion beyond the body.
4. Ecstasy → Union (Theologia)
Biblical Example: John on Patmos (Rev 1:10) – "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day."
Mystical Parallel: John of the Cross – "In darkness, the soul is illuminated by uncreated light."
Experience: Wordless communion, love surpassing knowledge.
Symbol: A circle of light merging with divine fire.
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III. Theological Summary
Stage Human Action Divine Action Result
1. Stillness, Silence, surrender Spirit hovers Disengagement from distractions
2. Awakening Recollection Illumination Insight beyond intellect
3. Ecstasy Receptivity Infusion of grace Revelation or rapture
4. Union Total yielding Divine indwelling Transformation in love
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IV. Essence of the Journey
> "When the senses are hushed and the soul remembers only God, the Spirit opens the eye of the heart. There the human and divine meet in silent light."
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