If you study the spiritual scriptures of the globe (the Bible, the Upanishads, the Baghavid Gita, the Koran, the Pali Canon, etc) you will see that the doctrines contained therein are very diverse, despite a specific frequent imagined now and then. But go through the writings of the mystics all through history and you will notice that what they wrote is strikingly related no subject what their spiritual tradition. Read through the Hindu mystic Shankara, or the Sufi mystic Rumi. Read through the writings of St John of the Cross, or the writings of the Jewish Rabbi mystics or Buddhist mystics. You will see that what they are all declaring quantities to the exact same point, though their method of describing it is diverse.
It is an totally astounding truth that we have, in each and every single geographic spot on this earth, and at extensively separated dates in historical past, people who have arrived at the same metaphysical insights via approaches of managing their consciousness, this kind of as meditation. From the Buddha of North India circa 500BCE, to Socrates, to the Catholic and Jewish mystics of the Medieval period of time, to the indigenous shamans of Central America, there is a widespread thread of mystical perception. Why is it that our exoteric traditions are so different, but our esoteric traditions are so comparable? There is an essential message listed here.
The goal of faith is to give us a perception of which means and goal, and also to help us to increase spiritually. However, when faith gets to be institutionalized (as it often does), it becomes all too effortlessly, a stumbling block to our spiritual growth. Do you want a immediate knowledge of God and a further sense of purpose? How can you find your true self? How can you discover God? The mystics have pointed the way.
And what is a mystic? A mystic is merely a man or woman who has spent his or her existence in silent contemplation and meditation and has accomplished a direct encounter of a deeper truth than what is ordinarily perceived. He or she has turned his or her back again on the interruptions of the world. They give up content issues and social standing. They look for the divine with a one particular-pointed thoughts. The one particular defining characteristic that distinguishes the mystic from the relaxation of us, is that they have had an immediate, immediate, intuitive expertise of Divinity. 1 salient point is that every single one mystic emphasizes that the encounter of God, the cosmic consciousness, divine brain, or whatever they decide on to contact it, is ineffable. It can’t be conveyed with words and phrases. It has to be seasoned right. And this encounter is universally described by mystics as becoming a entirely euphoric state.
Every mystic has emphasised the ineffability of the mystical state. Words and phrases can scarcely trace at what the knowledge is like. If you had never ever heard a Beethoven symphony, do you think I could make you realize and appreciate the energy and attractiveness of the ninth symphony merely by telling you about it, no make a difference what duration or consideration to depth I deal with this sort of a description?
Even with the simple fact that the mystics have always emphasized the ineffability of their experience, several of them have tried to explain it, whilst at the same time warning us that their descriptions can only slide fairly short of fact.
Sadly mystics are misunderstood by the masses. They are feared by the authorities of religious establishments. It is inevitable that it would be that way.. Only the handful of are drawn to the esoteric teachings, individuals who by their nature are of a much more non secular temperament, or people who yearn for the religious knowledge, but are also intellectually advanced to be satisfied with mere dogma .
It is most disheartening to know that mystics have been beaten to death, stoned to death, compelled to drink hemlock, crucified, and burned at the stake. Often they are revered and often they are persecuted, based on the political/religious local climate of the instances, but persecution of mystics is much a lot more prevalent throughout background than reverence and admiration for who are they are and what they have composed.
A single should not automatically confer the status of mystic on an individual just since they take place to have some sort of psychic potential or other paranormal present. Individuals with the gift of heightened psychic powers may possibly perhaps (and perhaps not) be able to achieve the condition of union with the divine less complicated than most of us, but simply getting this sort of presents is not in and of by itself, an indication that they have.
It must be said that any individual can have a mystical experience. The survivors of a close to loss of life experience have reported some of the identical issues that mystics have written about, the experience of unity with all that is, the perception of which means, and the immediate perception of a further actuality than our day-to-working day actuality. Sometimes men and women in a deep disaster circumstance have abruptly been catapulted into the mystical point out. Psychoactive medication can lead to a man or woman to have a mystical encounter, but making use of drugs for the function of mystical insight is strongly disapproved by mystics. You could catch a glimpse of the numinous from the use of medications, but you will not be mentally or spiritually prepared for it, nor will you most likely be ready to understand it.
The writer, William James, listed 4 features that are found in every single description of the mystic point out offered in the writings of mystics through historical past. The very first top quality is ineffability. The encounter completely defies verbal expression. The 2nd top quality is that the mystic in this condition appears to have obtain to a greater expertise that can’t be achieved by logic, cause, or discursive argument, but can only be accessed intuitively. The third quality is the ephemeral nature of the knowledge. It is exceptional for it to final an total thirty minutes, although in very unusual instances it may have lasted in excess of an hour. The fourth quality is passivity. Mystics report that it seemed as if they ended up much more or considerably less underneath the manage of a greater electricity in the course of the experience.
The lives of the fantastic mystics in heritage are impressive for their vitality, productivity, and their deficiency of interest in substance prosperity or social position. They are usually paragons of virtue, have wonderful compassion, and appear to be happier than the common person. They almost usually stay a daily life of self sacrifice for the sake of aiding other people to accomplish their insights, and also this kind of factors as combating social injustice, feeding the bad, and in standard, assisting other people in anyway that they can.
christian mysticism is not my intention here to give a discourse in what the mystics have mentioned about God or the afterlife, or other metaphysical questions. If you are interested in such issues, I recommend reading “The Perennial Philosophy” by Aldous Huxley, or possibly “The Important Ken Wilber,” a assortment of a variety of writings of the modern thinker, Ken Wilber.
