I suppose the word mystical could mean many different things to different people. When I use the word, I am speaking about a dimension beyond what is usually apparent in the culture in which we live. It is mystical because it has been largely unknown. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be touched, explored, loved, and known. It is a realm of essence and Being where the powers of Creation are born.
Religion, and all that comes with it, sometimes offers a window into the mystical. Most often, it began with someone who had a mystical encounter. The stories of them are usually told in terms of physical events. Moses saw an angel in a burning bush. Ezekiel describes his mystical encounter this way:
And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
Ezekiel 1:4
The Buddha’s enlightenment is simply described as sitting under a tree and entering a profound understanding of the way things are.
Mohammed was hugged by the Archangel in a cave and given words to recite.
Even though religion usually begins with a mystical encounter, all too often that isn’t the experience of religious people. The icons, beliefs, and traditions aren’t giving them access to what the original founder of the tradition encountered. The window into the Unseen that once opened closes, and what is left is only a view of the windowsill, trim, and sash of the window, without vision through the transparent glass to the hidden reality behind all things.
For Christians, the mystical encounter Jesus invited people to know can be lost, covered over by the superstitious beliefs of the ancient world that invaded Early Christianity and grew with the Church over the ages. And still, we have a clear record of his call to people to explore the mystical:
But rather seek ye the kingdom of God…
Luke 12:32
As is said of Buddha’s enlightenment, this is a profound encounter with the reality of things. It is not a flight of fancy to a separate world. It is an experience of the inner reality of this world. Without that experience, and the knowledge that comes with it, humankind is bumping around in the dark, creating human culture as we generally know it today, with all its war, division, and reckless disregard for the natural world.
Without the mystical, people experience separation and isolation. They are out of touch with the fuel for their own creative fire. They don’t feel loved, and they lose the capacity to love, for love is born from the Unseen. And so, we have an epidemic of loneliness around the globe. There are many secondary causes of that loneliness—social media, a loss of face-to-face social interaction, the breakdown of community and family, and more. At the root of it all is a lack of spiritual intimacy and a disengagement from the mystical.
As farmer Joel Salatin says, commenting on contemporary society, Folks, this ain’t normal.
Science tells us that there are barriers to moving from separation to participation in a reality of a higher order. For a human life to be conceived, the enzymes surrounding the male DNA have to break down the shell surrounding the female DNA. Only as that happens can the DNA join to create new life.
Under normal circumstances, hydrogen atoms do not fuse to create helium. But at the core of the sun, extraordinary heat and gravitational pressure break down the resistance to fusion. Hydrogen joins hydrogen to create helium. And in the process, the entire solar system is lit up and warmed.
What is it in the human experience that breaks down the terrible tendency toward isolation? What breaks down the human shell to allow for an encounter with the mystical? What is the gravity that draws us to the Unseen and allows us to know spiritual intimacy? And what is the heat that transforms and brings fusion?
We could give names to these things. But we might be left with only names and not the experience. It is good to remember that any name, any outer experience, could be only that. Or it could be a window to the mystical. Love could be an idea regarding a human experience. Or we could touch it with our intuitive spiritual awareness and be changed by it. God could be an old man with a beard. Or God could be the hovering presence of the Divine, with us always.
At this time of year, there are all the icons of Christmas. Santa Claus could be a fairy tale for the kids. Or a symbol that reminds us of the beneficence of life itself. A Christmas tree could be a glittery relic of a pagan tradition. Or it could be a reminder of the mystical dimension of a human being, lit up and sparkly.
The images of Jesus’ birth can become tiring year after year. But if we recall that a man walked the earth to remind us how profoundly we are loved, we are moving into the mystical. If we entertain the thought that he had a mortal dimension to who he was, but also an eternal reality, as we all do, perhaps we move into a mystical connection with the Spirit of Love that is the nature of eternal reality.
I invite you to let that mystical reality into your heart this Christmastime. Perhaps it has the power to break down our human shell and our aversion to fusion. Perhaps we will participate in a new spiritual birth. Perhaps we will enter the mystical reality of Christmas.
Christmas has become Bollywood-ized, a fantasy; magical. Fairy lights, Christmas trees, Father Christmas, commercialization – buy, eat, entertainment. It lies alongside the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus. There is often a confusion of worlds. I think many live in the duality between the two.
So, what is the meaning of the mystical -v- the magical? Magic relates to the external world and refers to spells and rituals. The Mystic relates to the internal world and of the experience of union with a higher reality, through contemplation. This is to be experienced to be known.
Thank you, David, for highlighting the true spirit of Jesus of Nazareth in these days as we approach the seasonal festivities.
Thank you, David. I deeply enjoyed Sunday Service at Sunrise a few weeks ago. I miss being at your Sunday Services. Over the years, I think of Sunrise Ranch, you and others often.
In this life, people pursue THAT Mystical Experience in so many ways, either just wandering through life or in an effort to find THAT which satisfies. So many ways offer some temporary help: nature, relationship, music, various meditations, money/possessions, and more. Some things seem to satisfy for a time; then the emptiness governs again. When those stimuli are not present, again we feel emptiness/longing.
For me, the greatest gift I have ever been given in my life is to focus on my breath … simple, not mental at all. Sit still and simply feel the natural rhythm of the BREATH moving in and out. No concerns about thoughts … no resisting or feeding thoughts. In time, thoughts will subside.
THAT power of LOVE that sustains everything moves the BREATH. BREATH is a primary Window/Doorway to connection/Union with THAT which is. THAT connection/Union is the easiest and most profoundly fulfilling experience I have ever had and have today … IT carries me into Eternal Love, which transforms my thoughts/words/actions, resulting in Deep Peace of Mind and Pure Love of Heart and Soul consciousness.
IT is not dependent upon anything outside of myself. No one can take IT from me. What effort is required? Just Consistently/Daily, comfortably sit or lie down and feel the Presence that IS within the BREATH within you. In the deepest TRUTH, THAT PRESENCE Is who you are. IT is waiting for you.
ahhh David … what you open invites incarnate presence to come with open countenance before this Most Holy Shrine, where power is born of Spirit, from a place where essence opens into vision, from that place where something is seen and known in a glance, as when I look into the radiant dark intensity all around me, and I see this Holy Ground now rising, and I meet the sunlit face of the Holy One Unnamed. And with this blending, lightning flashes silent and forever through the vast ocean of my soul. Something lingers kindly within the sunlit landscape of each day—both past and future change. I am amazed at the simple gifts that come, freely received and freely given. Now I walk day and night on Holy Ground, and in this moment I kneel before the Sacred Shrine, close to you, and all who know. db
In my experience, ‘mysticism’ is the lived experience of God’s Breath.
Human beings are quite willing to embrace the paraphernalia of a religion rather than anything approximating the mystical experience that initiated the religion. The original mystical experience is the point, not all of the beliefs, teachings, rites, rituals, creeds and all of the other interpretations that the human mind has made.
Can Christians dispense with the Bible, Moslems with the Koran and all other religions with their holy books and just enter the sacred chamber of Love and experience the mystical?
Straight and simple. Thanks Jerry,
One of the best things I love about this Season is the reminder of the Mystical, the reminder that we are within that always, and the periodic reminders are such a blessing.
That “mystical reality of Christmas” that you refer to David is, I believe; more likely to be experienced by little children than by adults. Although much has been talked about and written about by adults–poems, songs and screenplays, etc.–about the magic of Christmas.
In any case I think we can all agree that there is something special in the air at Christmas time that transcends whatever we are putting into our egg nog. Suddenly the whole world is talking bout and believing in fairy tales of flying reindeer, jolly old elves sliding down chimneys. And stories about an other-worldly Mystic who walked the earth over 2000 years ago healing the sick, restoring eyesight to the blind and raising the dead.
Imagine that!