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We Need More Mystics |
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Article by
Tom Gilbert — © February 2003
"As
I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of
Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was
flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river
of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands
upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand
stood before him. The court was seated, and the books
were opened.” (Daniel
7:9-10, NIV)
The incredible visions reported in the Bible by Ezekiel,
Daniel, and the apostle John sound more like something
from a science
fiction or fantasy story than real life. I believe
God mostly communicates in the still small voice inside
us, but sometimes Hhis appearance is more dramatic.
His heavenly messengers have been awesome and frightening.
In today’s all-too pragmatic world many of us don’t want
to believe in mystical revelation. It’s too fantastic.
In the two thousand years of Christianity there have been
many mystics. Their revelations have often not been incredible
visions. Instead they’ve spoken and written about
a deep, mysterious oneness with the divine consciousness
of God.
What is the mystery of the mystics? Can we, as simply “workers
among workers”, even begin to grasp the depth
of their revelations? Is there anything in them we should
know?
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May We Be One
It’s not surprising that fear is a natural reaction
to mystics. We are afraid of what we don’t understand.
The commonality that seems to bond Christian mystics together is the
desire to become one with God, to be more like Christ
and attain the divine consciousness. Isn’t that
what Jesus prayed for us? “Father, I pray that
they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11).
The key to growing closer to God is to listen. Listen to God
as He reveals his truth to us through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was very intent on us understanding the importance
of the Spirit coming to us. The Holy Spirit teaches
and reminds us of God’s truth. The Spirit comforts
us, too. So, in the quiet of our hearts, in our “inner
room of prayer” (Matt 6:6), God looks hard at
our hearts. Our words are not so important.
I do believe God communicates to us. He does so indirectly through
scripture and divinely inspired writings. Only through
the gift of the Holy Spirit does He speak to us directly.
What the Spirit reveals to us is easily misunderstood, especially
when we are restricted by our limited human understanding.
This misunderstanding is compounded in Western culture
by our obsession with materialism. It’s very difficult
for us to divorce our attention from this. We are caught
up in a world that places value on consumerism, on the transactions of buying and selling. Furthermore,
our need to process information has addicted us to media.
That, in turn, is the perfect vehicle to reinforce our
desire for material things.
God’s ways are not our ways. He does want us to know and understand
Him (as best we can). The fear we have of mystics is
the concern that they will lead us astray. But, tradition/history/scripture
tell us that mystical visions are part of God’s
revelation to us. And their message is constantly to
let go of all the busyness and materialistic things
of life, to simply empty our thoughts of self-concern
and rest in the loving arms of the divine.
Consider art. It often has little to do with rules and logic.
Some great art has been made within the confines of
strict form, but then artists have been compelled to
break free from these restrictions and to capture beauty
beyond our normal capacity for understanding it. Why
is art in the eye of the beholder? What do we mean by
art speaking to us on an intimate and transcendent level?
We must let worship reach us on this deeper level. If
we merely admire art for its beauty but don’t
allow it to work a transformation within us we are left
with the danger of “art for art’s sake”.
The same is true of our worship. If it remains a surface
thing the result is religion for religion’s sake!
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Can We Know Truth?
Truth – we
claim a desire to know the complete and undeniable truth.
We’re constantly looking for reassurance that our
decisions are correct and our feet are padding down the
right path. Fear of making the wrong moves in life keep
many of us boxed up in the tiny confinement of a deluded
safe house. Cocooned and protected from the big, bad world.
The irony of wanting the truth and yet staying safe within
the comfort of our beliefs is we may be shutting our eyes
to greater revelation. If so, we’re accused, like
Jack Nicholson’s character shouted in “A Few
Good Men”: you can’t handle the truth!
I realize the danger of misinterpretation here. Some of you will
accuse me of opening up a can of heresy. You will tell
me that the comfort of your beliefs comes from your
sure knowledge of God’s clear message to us as
revealed in Christ Jesus. My dispute is not the revelation
of our messiah and the gift of redemption. It is that
we must immerse ourselves with greater wonder and humility
in the depths of this revelation. Our understanding
cannot be restricted by our human limitations.
I think we need more mystics. More people willing to completely
abandon their lives to God’s awesome call. We
need to go deeper in contemplation. It is only with
the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we can begin to comprehend
on a greater level the truth God wants to reveal in
our hearts.
Here’s the danger in what I propose: some people will start
running around proclaiming that they’ve seen visions
and speaking like new age kooks. They may make wild
claims about what God has revealed to them.
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I Can See Clearly Now
Sometimes
I think discernment is the most important gift of the
Spirit we should pray for. How do we separate the fantasy
from the truth—the real truth? Part of the problem
is that the Truth, with a capital “T” is unknowable.
Not in a purely logical way. This is why we need mysticism!
We need those enlightened of the higher spiritual truths
to bring this truth to our attention, or at least to those
who are willing and able to hear it. What they will reveal
to us is the need for each of us to go deeper in our contemplative
prayer. This is an individual journey that, strangely,
unites us. As we each spend time immersed in contemplation
we experience the love of God in a powerful way. How we
take that experience and share it is directed by the Holy
Spirit.
History shows us that the great Christian mystics have all been
humble and not self-seeking. They’ve eschewed
publicity. Often they are unsure of why God has revealed
mysteries to them. However, they have dedicated their
lives completely to God and spent considerable time
in contemplative prayer and adoration.
Their testimonies also point to the various stages they all seem to go
through. They are rewarded with a deeper intimacy with
God, but they also go through dark times of doubt and
depression when it seems that no matter what they do
they cannot recapture the closeness they previously
felt to the Spirit. Inevitably, as they persevered through
this desert experience they were rewarded with an even
greater faith and unity with the Divine Consciousness.
It reminds us of being refined like silver in the fire
that purifies.
The Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament were aware of this need
to absorb God’s message in a way that was more
than mind. It was visceral, majestic, body and soul
dancing in ecstasy. To our modern way of thinking this
is crazy behavior.
"Many church leaders demand the "inerrancy" of Scripture.
They insist on its "infallibility." For them,
the Bible is a storehouse of facts that accurately describes
reality, and all we have to do is figure out the facts.
Regrettably, this thinking reflects the needs of the modern
mind more than the intentions of the biblical prophets"—
Thomas Hohstadt (Future Church)
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Into The Mystic
How do we bring about a climate of acceptance and openness
to true mystical revelation in today’s believers?
It starts with a daily open invitation to God to reveal
Himself to you in the beauty of everyday events. Not in
mind-ripping and awesome displays of Technicolor glory.
No…just ask for the discernment to see God in every
moment. Sense his Spirit. Be still…and know. The
Psalmist’ advice is exactly how to be in contemplative
prayer to God.
Then, after doing this for a while, say 21 days straight, try asking
for God to reveal more to you. Ask for an open heart
to know more of His mystical presence. Be open to how
that will be revealed. It could be in prayer, church,
fellowship or just walking down the street. It might
come in your commuter time to and from work or in a
message on the radio.
It could be a sunset. Or, you might even receive a truly beatific
vision. I don’t know how God will use you. But,
I have seen enough evidence in my life to believe that
mystics are real and full of God’s Holy Spirit.
We call them “anointed”, don’t we?
Read about past mystics. You can get started with Origen,
Hildegard, Julian of Norwich, Francis of Assisi, Teresa
of Avilla and John of the Cross.
Meditate on life. Our level of consciousness is raised
when we stretch our mind and our heart. The contemplative
prayer and discipline necessary to open ourselves to
the Holy Spirit—to be a channel, as Francis of
Assisi called it—is probably not for everyone.
It doesn’t make you less a Christian if you don’t
choose the path of the mystic. It is a deeper walk of
a disciple. Many are called, few are chosen.
The benefit to our society of more mystics, more Spirit filled modern
day prophets, is the awakening to our intense need for
God in every area of our lives. Mystics transcend the
normal things in life, those “big deals”
to the rest of us. Money, property, prestige and power;
the mystics before and after Christ typically have disdained
all that. They have truly walked the road less traveled.
Bearing in mind that God does the choosing should keep
us humble, avoiding spiritual arrogance. More is revealed
to those able to bear it. The responsibility of that
revelation inspires humility, praise and gratitude.
It will be a lifetime of accepting and understanding.
The results are profound peace and joy, a sense of completeness
and oneness with God.
The great result of this journey is to know ourselves as
God knows us.
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Scripture taken from the
Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright ©
1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights
reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International
Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered
trademarks of International Bible Society. Use of either
trademark for the offering of goods or services requires
the prior written consent of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy
Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used
by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton,
IL 60189, USA. All rights reserved.
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Recommended
Reading
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God
Hunger: Discovering the Mystic in All of Us
by John Kirvan |
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"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one." |
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(NIV) |
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