If you read through the religious scriptures of the planet (the Bible, the Upanishads, the Baghavid Gita, the Koran, the Pali Canon, etc) you will see that the doctrines contained therein are very various, in spite of a specified frequent believed now and then. But read through the writings of the mystics all through historical past and you will notice that what they wrote is strikingly related no issue what their spiritual custom. Read the Hindu mystic Shankara, or the Sufi mystic Rumi. Study 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 expressing amounts to the identical factor, however their fashion of describing it is different.
It is an totally astounding fact that we have, in every one geographic area on this world, and at widely separated dates in historical past, folks who have arrived at the exact same metaphysical insights by way of techniques of controlling their consciousness, these kinds of as meditation. From the Buddha of North India circa 500BCE, to Socrates, to the Catholic and Jewish mystics of the Medieval interval, to the indigenous shamans of Central The usa, there is a widespread thread of mystical insight. Why is it that our exoteric traditions are so different, but our esoteric traditions are so equivalent? There is an crucial information here.
The objective of religion is to give us a sense of which means and goal, and also to support us to expand spiritually. Unfortunately, when faith becomes institutionalized (as it often does), it becomes all as well very easily, a stumbling block to our spiritual progress. Do you want a immediate experience of God and a deeper perception of function? How can you locate your true self? How can you locate God? The mystics have pointed the way.
And what is a mystic? A mystic is merely a man or woman who has invested his or her daily life in peaceful contemplation and meditation and has attained a direct expertise of a further actuality than what is ordinarily perceived. He or she has turned his or her again on the distractions of the globe. They give up substance items and social standing. They seek the divine with a 1-pointed head. The one particular defining feature that distinguishes the mystic from the rest of us, is that they have had an quick, immediate, intuitive knowledge of Divinity. 1 salient point is that each and every solitary mystic emphasizes that the experience of God, the cosmic consciousness, divine mind, or what ever they select to contact it, is ineffable. It can not be conveyed with words and phrases. christian mysticism has to be experienced right. And this encounter is universally noted by mystics as becoming a entirely euphoric point out.
Each and every mystic has emphasised the ineffability of the mystical point out. Terms can scarcely hint at what the encounter is like. If you experienced by no means read a Beethoven symphony, do you believe I could make you comprehend and appreciate the electrical power and beauty of the ninth symphony merely by telling you about it, no make a difference what size or attention to element I handle this sort of a description?
In spite of the fact that the mystics have often emphasized the ineffability of their expertise, several of them have tried to describe it, while at the exact same time warning us that their descriptions can only fall fairly brief of actuality.
Sadly mystics are misunderstood by the masses. They are feared by the authorities of religious institutions. It is inevitable that it would be that way.. Only the number of are drawn to the esoteric teachings, individuals who by their mother nature are of a a lot more religious temperament, or these who yearn for the spiritual knowledge, but are way too intellectually advanced to be satisfied with mere dogma .
It is most disheartening to know that mystics have been crushed to demise, stoned to loss of life, compelled to consume hemlock, crucified, and burned at the stake. Occasionally they are revered and sometimes they are persecuted, relying on the political/religious local weather of the moments, but persecution of mystics is considerably much more common throughout background than reverence and admiration for who are they are and what they have created.
1 must not necessarily confer the position of mystic upon someone just because they occur to have some type of psychic potential or other paranormal gift. People with the reward of heightened psychic powers may possibly maybe (and possibly not) be able to obtain the state of union with the divine easier than most of us, but merely getting such items is not in and of alone, an sign that they have.
It ought to be stated that anybody can have a mystical encounter. The survivors of a in close proximity to death experience have reported some of the identical things that mystics have composed about, the feeling of unity with all that is, the sense of that means, and the direct perception of a further truth than our day-to-working day reality. Occasionally men and women in a deep disaster predicament have out of the blue been catapulted into the mystical point out. Psychoactive medications can cause a particular person to have a mystical knowledge, but using medication for the function of mystical perception is strongly disapproved by mystics. You could capture a glimpse of the numinous from the use of drugs, but you will not be mentally or spiritually ready for it, nor will you likely be capable to realize it.
The writer, William James, outlined four features that are identified in every single description of the mystic condition given in the writings of mystics through background. The 1st top quality is ineffability. The experience entirely defies verbal expression. The second quality is that the mystic in this point out would seem to have obtain to a greater understanding that cannot be attained by logic, explanation, or discursive argument, but can only be accessed intuitively. The 3rd high quality is the ephemeral mother nature of the encounter. It is uncommon for it to final an total 30 minutes, despite the fact that in incredibly unusual instances it may possibly have lasted in excess of an hour. The fourth good quality is passivity. Mystics report that it seemed as if they ended up much more or considerably less under the handle of a higher electrical power throughout the knowledge.
The lives of the wonderful mystics in background are impressive for their vitality, productivity, and their absence of curiosity in material wealth or social status. They are normally paragons of virtue, have excellent compassion, and seem to be to be happier than the common individual. They nearly often dwell a life of self sacrifice for the sake of helping other people to attain their insights, and also such things as combating social injustice, feeding the inadequate, and in common, helping other folks in anyway that they can.
It is not my intention below to give a discourse in what the mystics have mentioned about God or the afterlife, or other metaphysical concerns. If you are interested in these kinds of things, I suggest reading “The Perennial Philosophy” by Aldous Huxley, or perhaps “The Crucial Ken Wilber,” a assortment of a variety of writings of the contemporary thinker, Ken Wilber.