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| A Home for Modern Mystics | ©2001 CNR | Vol. II, Fall Equinox Issue |
| Contents | |
| Modern Mysticism | What is Modern Mysticism? |
| Looking For God | Dan Wakefield, reprinted from BeliefNet |
| Workshops and Energy Therapy | It's what we do! |
| Confessions of a Spiritual Loser | Sage Ocean is Back! |
| Contact Info | Look here for more information |
 |
What is mysticism? The word conjures up many images, some of which are wildly inaccurate. There are references and cross-overs to magic and occultism, and vivid, archetypal images of cloistered clerics praying fervently in their tiny cells. Many claiming to be on a mystic path in the modern era don't quite match up with their ancestral counterparts of the Middle Ages or the Renaissance era; very few of them have ever even seen the inside of a monastery, convent, or ashram. ``Mysticism has gone mainstream,'' says noted author and medical intuitive, Dr. Carolyn Myss, in the audiobook version of her best-selling work, Anatomy of the Spirit. It has emerged from silence, mystery, and solitude to make inroads into the collective consciousness as a rather singular path to enlightenment.
It has been a singular journey, and describing all possible contributors to the phenomenon (historical, social, biological, political, and religious) is outside the scope of this article. It seems safe to note the general, but not always consistent movement of divine matters past the priestly caste and into the hands of ordinary men and women. Our earliest progenitors relied upon shamans, ``witch doctors,'' oracles, and prophets to decipher for us the intent of God (or the Gods, dependent upon culture). In many ways, the coming of Christ's consciousness into the world heralded and solidified this movement away from ``caste control'' of the human soul, eventually delivering it back into the hands of the individual. Though hundreds of years passed between Christ's crucifixion and the explosion of religious consciousness into mainstream consciousness, examined from our modern perspective the movement seems inexorable, indeed.
Today, 30% of Americans say they consider themselves ``spiritual but not religious,'' according to a poll published in December 1999 by USA Today. Forty-five percent say they rely on their own views, not religious teachings, to decide how to conduct their lives. Though religious hierarchies express concern that such beliefs ``endanger immortal souls,'' they are exemplary of the movement of spiritual and religious consciousness into the secular mainstream. Spearheading all such movements are the mystics, those for whom the idea of God is not enough, for whom the reality of God is everything.
In an era where personal development is chic, and self-help gurus abound, it can be difficult to find a true mystic's signal amidst the noise generated across the band. Mystics seldom wear signs or labels declaring themselves as such; as with their forebears, modern mystics tend to guard the details of their relationship with God quite closely, as the private and intimate dynamic it is. More confusing yet, the symptomology and stresses of the mystic way--voices, visions, inexplicable actions, automatic writing--have been and still are sometimes confused with mental pyschosis, rather than signs of a soul enrapt in its journey toward the Divine.
It is also true that many mystics do not recognize themselves as such, which renders it difficult to place them in our classification-driven, label-happy world. What is left to guide those who would follow that well-trodden path are hints and clues, many of them left to us by the writings of those who have gone before, from which can be derived a set of commonalities by which mystics, and mysticism, may be identified.
First, the disciplines (and they are disciplines, make no mistake) involved in mysticism are active, and practical. The Mystic Way to union with the Divine is a thing that pervades one's whole life. It is a driving force, a seductive desire; once one has tasted the sweet breath of the Beloved, nothing can ever be the same again.
Our mystical forebears were able to retreat into cloistered seclusion, and they pursued mystical union with the single-minded intensity which any athlete, artist, or scientist might be familiar. St. Teresa of Avila, already cloistered at Convent of the Incarnation, even surrendered her weekly visits from friends so that she might devote herself entirely to God. Before her, St. Catherine of Siena secluded herself in a tiny room in her house in the Via Benincasa, shut away from her family and her life, a three-year period which concluded with her vision of the Mystic Marriage. In many ways her spiritual successor, St. Catherine of Genoa also drove herself to the brink of collapse and exhaustion, secluding herself from the world in order to surrender herself and her soul to God.
Few of today's mystics have that luxury. Instead, they often find themselves juggling that same fervent desire for enlightenment right along with careers, families, children, relationships, mortgages, traffic jams, and chest colds. However odd it may seem, mysticism is a whole life process, for both cloistered and uncloistered mystics. A mystic quite practically uses that very list of distractions and others like them in an active, often systematic sense, as reminders, challenges, and lessons on their path to higher consciousness. Mysticism, for these devotées, is not a thing about which they hold an opinion. It is a holistic lifestyle, a way of approaching every thought, every choice, every action.
Though somewhat (and regrettably) hackneyed from overuse, the familiar Christian acronym WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?) illustrates one technique which Christian mystics might use to bring themselves into closer alignment with God. Any mystic would do well to invoke that discipline into their daily lives by pausing to ask and reflect upon how Jesus might react in any given situation. Other saints and masters may also be used in this fashion; applied conscientiously, their lives and examples can provide guidance in a modern mystic's daily life ``in the world, but not of it.''
Socrates' words also apply: ``This is that life above all others which man should live, [...] holding converse with the true Beauty, simple and divine. In that communion only beholding Beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but Reality [Itself]; [...] and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue, to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may. Would that be an ignoble life?''
That said, the second characteristic of mysticism is its transcendent, spiritual nature. The ultimate goal of a mystic has nothing to do with adding, subtracting, rearranging, or improving anything in the physical world. Though she uses her life in the world to teach or remind herself what it is to be fully conscious of Divine Reality, she remains aware that her aims transcend her life and existence. She cannot neglect her duty to the illusory ``many,'' but her heart and mind remain ever fixed upon the changeless and ever-changing One.
Thomas á Kempis wrote: ``Grant me, Lord, special grace to rest in Thee above all creatures, above all health and fairness, above all glory and honor, above all dignity and power, above all wisdom and policy, above all riches and crafts,[...] above all gifts and rewards that Thou mayst give or send besides Thyself, and above all joy and mirth that man's heart or mind may feel. And also above all angels and all the company of heavenly spirits, above all things that are not Thyself.''
This characteristic distinguishes mysticism from the occult. A mystic knows the Divine by communion, a direct intuition of the Absolute. He ``has God,'' and needs nothing more. Though a mystic will expend his personal energies profligately on behalf of his fellow men, he neither needs nor craves ``power'' in the sense the world has defined it. The occultist, on the other hand, wishes to improve the known and visible world with the help and intervention of the invisible world. His ends are for manifestation in the physical universe, rather than for the simple and profound state of being with the Divine. Even though his ends be lofty and altruistic, the means by which he achieves them differentiate him from his true mystic brother.
St. Catherine of Genoa said: ``I wish not for anything that comes forth from Thee, but only for Thee, oh sweetest Love!''
Rabiá, the female eighth century Muslim mystic, adds: ``Whatever share of this world Thou dost bestow on me, bestow it on Thine enemies, and whatever share of the next world Thou dost give me, give it to Thy friends. Thou are enough for me!''
The third characteristic of mysticism is also perhaps the most distinctive: The driving power of mysticism is Love. It is the true business of the mystic; it is the means and the end, the method and the manner which illuminates and informs him and his activities. This is Love in the truest, fullest sense of that word. As Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) described it in her treatise on ``Mysticism,'' such Love is ``the ultimate expression of the self's most vital tendencies, not as the superficial affection or emotion often dignified by this name. Mystic Love is a total dedication of the will; the deep-seated desire and tendency of the soul towards its Source.''
Encyclopedic volumes have been written upon this point, upon which all traditional mystics have agreed. The business of mysticism is all about Love, not power, glory, respect, riches, admiration, mundane relationships, or material possessions. Though the mystic may well experience any or all of those things, they occur as ancillary to the mystic experience. They are not at root cause.
St. John of the Cross:
In the inner wine cellar
I drank of my Beloved; and, when I went abroad
Through all this valley,
I no longer knew anything,
And lost the herd which I was following.
There He gave me His breast;
There He taught me a sweet and living knowledge;
And I gave myself to Him,
Keeping nothing back.
There I promised to be His bride.
Now I occupy my soul
And all my energy in His service;
I no longer tend the herd,
Nor have I any other work
Now that my every act is love.
The poet and mystic Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273), newly popularized for a modern audience, wrote at length about such Love.
Whatever I say in exposition and explanation of love,
When I come to love I am ashamed of that explanation.
The speech of the tongue may elucidate,
But speechless love is yet more clear.
The pen hastily writes, but when it comes to love, it shatters in two;
When the intellect tries to explain love, it becomes helplessly stuck, like an ass in the mud.
It is love alone that can give proper expression to love;
The proof of the Sun is the Sun itself; if you seek proof, then do not avert your face from Him.
Those loves which are for appearance only are not love--they are a disgrace!
Such shows of love must be abandoned;
In its place, real love must grow. All that is other than the true ``I'' must be slain.
Poetry is lovely, but it should be emphasized that this is no mere literary exercise; or, if it is mere exposition, it must be taken as a mirror which reflects souls caught up in their passion for God, in their Love of the Divine. It is untamed, chaotic, quixotic, and selfless. Our mortal, spoken languages are not up to the demands such inspired devotion place upon it, requiring mystics to use the most florid metaphors imaginable to convey their experience of the Beloved. Larger than life in this world of death and taxes, it is simply impossible for any true mystic's love to do any less than consume their old life (usually while rebirthing it into a newer, higher, better form).
There are results to living the Mystic Way, which follow directly and easily from the changes required by the first three criteria mentioned here. Those results lend themselves to inclusion in the distinguishing characteristics of mysticism, so distinct are they from the results of occult or philosophical theories and practices. Mysticism is more than mere hunger, it is also the complete reorganizing of one's being (conscious and unconscious) under the goad and spur of that hunger. Mystics from all traditions appear to agree on this point: Such desires and hungers are worthless unless they impel the whole person towards higher consciousness, the Divine, or God.
Again, the word ``discipline'' must be brought to bear, for it is true that such a remaking of self is the result only of arduous emotional, mental, and sometimes physical struggle. It is what the self requires of the self, no more or less than daily, rigorous devotion to the journey towards God. Such devotion requires a high degree of self-discipline, which cannot be contrived or faked, and it is well to note here that for the vast majority of mystics, the length of the journey is measured in years.
Evelyn Underhill once more provides a clear, succinct analysis: ``The end and object of this `inward alchemy' will be the raising of the whole self to the condition in which conscious and permanent union with the Absolute takes place; and man, ascending to the summit of his manhood, enters into that greater life for which he was made.''
A mystic has beheld the Divine, and strives ever-after to be worthy of it. All negative moral judgments, all self-serving acts, all self-deceptions, all lies, all facades, all vanity, pride, egotism, greed, and doubt, to name but a few, must be cast off of the personality in the same way a snake sheds skin, or a liberated felon casts off his chains. These are heroic acts which never make the headlines, and yet are the necessary and eloquent product of the mystical journey. Wishing does not make it so; there are no short-cuts. It is, truly and literally, a labor of Love.
It may be well to iterate clearly: Mysticism in its truest sense is not self-seeking. It is a ``self-noughting,'' as Julian of Norwich said. Those who enter into the quest for mere self-satisfaction, the ecstasy of Divine Union, supernatural powers, or an end to suffering are, according to St. John of the Cross, ``spiritual gluttons.'' The mystic enters the journey because he finds that he must, and that there is no arguing with that quiet, insistent call of the soul. He discovers that he seeks without certainty of success, and that the passion of such seeking defines the rest of his life.
O soul, before the world was
I longed for thee:
and I still long for thee, and thou for me.
Therefore, when our two desires unite,
Love shall be fulfilled.
- Mechtild of Magdeburg
Rev. Alesia Matson is co-founder and Secretary of CNR's Board of Directors.
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I eagerly awaited my first instruction from my spiritual director. I was a recently re-minted church member after 25 years of being away from any kind of religious practice, a lay person eager to ``make up for lost time,'' to go deeper into the understanding and practice of spirituality. My minister had recommended I try spiritual direction, an age-old Christian discipline in which seekers meet with a religious counselor to discuss ways of deepening prayer, discerning God's will, and seeing how God is working in their lives.
Now here I was at my first meeting with my newly assigned spiritual director, who I was thrilled to learn was a Roman Catholic nun. As a mainstream Protestant, I felt a nun would be able to fill me in on mysterious practices with beads and incense that would provide secret shortcuts and greater access to the divine. My pen was poised and notebook ready for the nun's assignment that would surely introduce me to exciting, arcane practices.
``I want you to look at a tree,'' she said.
Is that all? I thought.
She must have supposed that since I was a Protestant, I wasn't capable of more than the simplest challenge. As it turned out, that assignment became one of the most rewarding spiritual exercises I have ever done. The tree in fact looked too complicated, and I settled on a blade of grass, which I meditated on, as per instruction, for 20 minutes a day for two weeks, keeping a journal of the ways that God seemed manifested in the grass he created. Among the words I wrote were ``resilient, tenacious, dancing, dependent, alive, reaching, responding.''
That was the first of many lessons and experiences in which spiritual direction enriched my life, so I'm glad to see that the practice is becoming more widely known and available to more people in Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, as well as to seekers who may not have any church affiliation but are trying to find their way to God.
Last spring, I gave a workshop at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church's Middleton Center for Pastoral Care and Counseling in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, a new facility that's offering spiritual direction among its programs. The Center's brochure explains that in our present high-speed, high-tech life, many people want to explore the spiritual dimension and satisfy the desire described in the 42nd Psalm: ``As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.''
While I was giving my workshop, I met and talked with Gayle Kerr, one of the two spiritual directors on the Center's staff. She is a bright, personable, 53-year-old woman with two grown sons, who studied five years to earn an M.A. in holistic spirituality with a certificate in spiritual direction from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. Kerr sees 25 people a week individually in spiritual direction, as well as leading sessions in ``group spiritual direction'' and retreats and courses on ``experiencing prayer.'' This work, she says, is ``the joy of my life.''
Kerr is one of those people who seems to genuinely radiate a serenity that gives you confidence and trust. I could see at once why people would enjoy and benefit from meeting with her to explore questions of spirituality. The people who come to her seeking spiritual direction, she said, ``want a deeper relationship in their prayer life; [they] need to connect with God. Helping and guiding people with such purposes is wonderfully fulfilling.''
``A woman I saw last night said, `I have a hunger for God; I feel an emptiness I need to fill.' Some people come who aren't members of any church but are trying to find a way back to faith. Some feel their prayer life is 'dry or parched.' I see prayer as a relationship with God, and in any relationship, it's not all dramatic peaks and valleys; sometimes it's just plodding along-but that doesn't mean God isn't there.''
Sometimes she suggests scriptural readings, psalms like 139, which eloquently shows God is always with us wherever we go (``Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising''). Sometimes she recommends gospel stories of Jesus ``showing compassion.'' She asks people in this process to read scripture not for ``information'' but rather to help with the ``formation of our own souls.''
``Some people come to spiritual direction hoping it's a kind of cheap therapy,'' Kerr says, or ``they think it's easier than the hard work of building relationships. They think they can solve their problems just by praying harder.''
When people come with personal problems that seem more in need of psychotherapy, Kerr refers them to one of the counselors on the Middleton Center's staff-they have eight providers, including marriage and family counselors and addiction counselors, in addition to the two spiritual directors.
Kerr sees her directees twice a month at the beginning of their work, and then once a month after the basic relationship has been established. There is a sliding scale for payment, from $30 to $50, though the Center offers grants for those who can't afford those costs, charging only a $10 administrative fee per visit.
Perhaps the most difficult part of spiritual direction is ``discernment,'' helping people know God's will in making decisions, hearing ``the still small voice'' within. Kerr said one of her directees was torn between going on her church's trip to the Holy Land, which she felt an obligation to do but felt a knot in her stomach thinking about, and taking a sabbatical in New Mexico, which gave her a great sense of peace. ``Go with the peace,'' Kerr counseled. ``Where the peace is, that's where God is.''
Dan Wakefield is a regular columnist for BeliefNet.com and author of the memoirs Returning: A Spiritual Journey, and How Do We Know When It's God? He can be reached via his website, at danwakefield.com.
In contrast to our former schedule, all workshops and
therapy sessions outside Northern California must be arranged
ahead of time by those interested in attending. Fees and
locations for all workshops and therapy sessions can be
negotiated by
contacting CNR at the phone number listed below.
The Art of Conscious Living
This three hour workshop gives participants an
overview of consciousness, and how one can use one's daily
life as the canvas and palette for creating a conscious
style of living. Covered in the material: basic chakra
information, human energy field, conscious creation,
judgements, depression, chronic fatigue, guidance,
concluding with a Q&A
session.
hosted by Rev. Alesia Matson
The Spiritual Power of the Seven Chakras
Enter into the modern hero's journey of learning to tap into
the power of the human chakra system to heal your illnesses
and regain authority over your spirit. The chakras are
illuminated by discovering the mysteries, challenges, and joys
of each. This workshop is four to six hours, which includes a
Q&A session afterwards.
hosted by Rev. Alesia Matson
Bliss: The Path to Liberation
From the time we're born to the time we die we live as slaves
to the programing of the collective mind. Called the dragon of
``THOU SHALT'' by Joseph Campbell, it never occurs to
most of us that we've become slaves to ``the way things are,''
and that being slaves we never discover our bliss. Join
visionary mystic Michael Matson on an exploration of the world
of THOU SHALT and how to gain your freedom.
hosted by Rev. Michael Matson
Enduring the Dark Night of the Soul: A Modern Mystic's Survival Course
Spiritual depression resembles psychological depression, but
there are differences which psychologists can't address. Join
spiritual teacher, healer, and ``modern mystic'' Alesia Matson
for solid, practical advice on surviving your own ``dark
nights.'' This workshop is three to four hours in length,
which includes a Q&A session afterwards.
hosted by Rev. Alesia Matson
Energy Therapy and Crisis Intervention:
Outside
the northern California area, individual counseling sessions
are bundled together with workshop trips where possible. Trips
to deal with emergencies are, of course, handled on an
individual basis. Call for appointments, or to arrange
appointments for an entire group (more economical!).
For emergencies, don't hesitate to page! Pager: (707) 440-4823.
Confessions of a Spiritual Loser
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Yes, I'm still at this journaling business. My life has been a racing blur lately--I've barely had time to keep up on the Twelve Meditations for Inner Sanctity these days, what with my mother-in-law's visit and the summer solstice celebrations, the kids' summer camps, plus the remodeling we're doing in the kitchen. Plus, well, I haven't really been feeling much like my usual self of late. I mean, my spiritual pathwork is so important to me, but lately I've felt as if I'm just spinning my wheels, not getting anywhere. I know we were developing this relationship, you and I, and I really am sorry for letting it drop--but you haven't missed much. I've been a bit of a drag, recently. It's that ``Spiritual Loser'' stuff again.
I began to get the feeling that something was terribly wrong just after Beltane and May Day. I'd told my husband (who is certainly not a Spiritual Loser) about the careful work I had been doing to clear and charge my chakra centers. I was cautiously proud of the time and effort I'd put in to it, and the minor physical and emotional problems I'd managed to clear up by so doing.
So of course, his next big leap in development included an intensive experience that took over and charged his chakras for him, all while he lounged around in bed. Here I was, left with at least two chakra centers that wouldn't even align properly and a tremendous amount of work to fix them, while he gets his done while he sleeps. I mean, what is this? Jiffy Lube for the soul?
You see--or maybe you don't, so perhaps I should explain. Chakra centers are the locations on your body where whirling energetic funnels suck in tremendous amounts of ethereal energy. There are, to the best of my knowledge, seven of them: One on top of your head, one where you sit, and the five centers spaced more or less evenly between. The middle five are sometimes said to have dual aspects--one end of each protrudes from your back, shoulders, or head, depending on location. The other end sticks out the front so that they form pairs. Then the narrow ends in the middle all connect into your spine, which serves as a vertical power conduit.
Each of the seven chakras corresponds to different types of energy. There are as many theories about which corresponds to what energy as there as there are self-help gurus out there now, but there are some commonalities. The root chakra, at the bottom, channels the coarsest form; which is the basic life energy we need simply to keep drawing breath. At the top, the crown chakra pulls in the very finest form of energy, the very stuff of which God is made, you might say.
They're all sort of like ethereal blenders. When they've all spun up properly, you're healthy, functioning on high energy, and everybody likes you. If there are problems, you may be sick, depressed, or overweight, and even your friends begin avoiding you like last week's mackerel.
In my meditations on my chakra centers, I had always perceived the third one, at the solar plexus, and the fourth, at the heart level, to be off-kilter, careening crazily off at an angle and spinning like mad. Puzzling, when you consider that none of the people I knew who paid attention to such things could detect it. I had only begun the process of figuring this mystery out when the man I married decided to make it look embarrassingly easy.
I've been depressed ever since. That's related to the third chakra, in case you were curious--being uncertain of your self-worth.
Maybe I ought to give up the Twelve Meditations for Inner Sanctity, and just concentrate on getting some inner sanity. Margie (who's speaking to me again, finally, after that Drumming Circle disaster at her house last year) told me about a workshop entitled ``Healing Mandalas of Mystery'' which helped her over some of the blocks she's been experiencing. I think I'll give it a try--besides, there's always more anonymity in groups, right?
Love,
Sage Ocean StarOrchard
(No, it's not my husband's name. I
changed it when... Oh, we'll get to that another time.)