Definitions for Mystic and Mysticism

Mystic/Mysticism

Mysticism: To be lost in the lost in the divine, the All.  A Mystic: A person who has drowned their egos in the experience of the divine.

Mysticism is not simply spirituality. The mystical experience is beyond simple practises and simple wellbeing of the soul.  It is by nature mystery. The Mystic perceives mystery in everything while at the same time the mystic perceives meaning in all things.  In the way of the mysticism there is constant paradox.  One is not always a mystic because it is a not a sustainable way of functioning in the world.  Every one of us has had and will have mystical experiences although not everyone will recognise it for what it is.  Most simply a mystic might just be someone who recognises the state of mystery. 

Mysticism, being mystic, is not boxed into any one religious framework, although, a religious framework can provide a foundation to build upon.  But again the framework is the means not the end. The goal of mysticism is the experience. 

A Mystic is:

One who experiences the world with a wider perspective

One who perceives beyond the ordinary.

One who experiences union with the All.

One who perceives without ego influence.

One who experiences loss of self.

One who perceives the whole.

The experience of the mystic is not the exclusive event of a deeply spiritual person.  The mystical experience can happen unannounced to someone with no “spiritual” life or practices.  It is within the potential of all human encounters with the world.

The primary Mystical experience is that of a sense of unity with the All.  There are many, many, names for object of the unity: God, Spirit, Atman, Krishna, Allah, and many more.  These are names humans have given to the “being” of the Divine but we can also expand the concept to include: Universe, Heaven, Nirvana, and Universal Consciousness. The unity can be with a broader conception: The Christ Light, the Buddha light, the Akasha field (Hindu) – essence of all things. The point is not the name because in the complete mystical experience the name disappears and there is only union with the ALL.

In the mystical experience that Moses had before the burning bush in the founding story of the Jewish faith, Moses encounters the Divine and asks for a name.  A name is denied him and he is offer simply a noun “being”.  It is statement of the purity of the mystical experience.  There is no name in the moment only existence.

The confusion of the Mystical experiences has a consistent characteristic in many different traditions.  Here are a few to consider:

·       “I gazed upon al-Lah with the eye of truth and said to Him ‘Who is this?’ He said, ‘This is neither I nor other than I.  There is no God but I.’  Then he changed me out of my identity into His Selfhood” Abu Yazid al-Bistami, ninth century Sufi mystic

·       “Know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” John 10:38

·       The world may be known without leaving the house.  The Way may be seen apart from windows.  Accredited to Lao Tzu at least 3^rd century BC.

·       “When can a man be said to have achieved union with Brahman?  When his mind is under perfect control and freed from all desires so that he becomes absorbed in the Atman.”  From “The Songs of God: Bhagavad-Gita”

Each of these statement affirms the sense of unity and knowing beyond oneself. 

One last thought the mystical experience by it’s nature challenges description. Words cannot capture what is beyond our understanding. It is a rare thing and yet we all have approached the mystical way of being in the world.