The important result of Alma’s conversion has been that he as been able to pass on his experiential understanding of God. Alma no longer understood God as a theoretical being, but rather as one with a powerful reality. Note the language used to describe the experience: taste, seen. Alma knows but knows through a deeper understanding that the intellect alone, or the heart alone. What is even more remarkable, he indicates that others “have tasted as I have tasted, and have seen eye to eye as I have seen.”
Certainly this indicates that there are those who must have had tremendous visions, but we should not suppose that tasting and seeing are limited to the mortal and physical senses. Joseph Smith uses taste as a means of describing a purely spiritual experience:
“This is good doctrine. It tastes good. You say honey is sweet and so do I. I can also taste the spirit and principles of eternal life, and so can you. I know it is good and that when I tell you of these words of eternal life that are given to me by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the revelations of Jesus Christ, you are bound to receive them as sweet. You taste them and I know you believe them. I rejoice more and more.” (The King Follett Discourse: a Newly Amalgamated Text by Stan Larson, BYU Studies, vol. 18 (1977-1978), Number 2 - Winter 1978 204.)
Just as Joseph tells his audience that they taste as he has tasted, so is the comparison of Alma. We need not suppose great revelations, and indeed we should not. In our experiences with God it is not likely that we will have the experience of the personal visit of the Savior, but we can have an experience so deep that we can taste the godliness in it.