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Mysticism and the mystic
What is
mysticism?
Why love can be used
to access Divine Truth
Applied mysticism
Related topics
When the word mystical or mystic is used to describe something or
someone, many probably begin to think about strange and/or unusual
occurrences and individuals who have profound visions and/or
experiences of some type of the unseen world. Visions, conversations
with spirits, seeing through time and the like are some of the
things individuals consider mystical. But of course, there are many
others. Mystics tend to be seen as individuals who have deep
religious experiences. Many see a mystic as someone who grows into
mystic or becomes a mystic after a long period of study, practice,
instruction, devotion to a spiritual and religious tradition.
Whereas a
shaman has a profound mystical experience that completely
changes their life and amounts to more to having an accident, the
Ultimate Accident, where they are thrust into an alternative
reality, the mystic tend to grow into the alternative reality
through some type and/or kind of religious or spiritual tradition.
In this regard, the individual who is described as a mystic or
having a mystical nature mystic tends to be seen as someone who is
not fully present and engage in the physical experience. That is,
they tend to act differently and seem to be of a different world
than the rest of us. To many the mystic and mystical deal with
profound spiritual issues and experiences and are not of the
physical world. To others, the mystic is a little bit crazy or
delusional and mystical things tend to be more magical if not
deceitful. But the question is, “Is what is described here within
the Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity mysticism?”
What
is mysticism? (Top)
Mysticism as typically defined is
characterized as a belief that through
love, in particular, a spiritual love, a man or woman can
achieve a direct and immediate consciousness of God, Divine Truth or
whatever you may call it, without the use of reason or any of the
ordinary senses. The mystic is one who obtains such understanding
and experience through love. Why there is a belief that
consciousness of God and/or Divine Truth is accessible through love
is discussed below. Of course
what exactly is meant by love is another issue for there are as
many definitions and interpretations of love as there are people.
Mysticism affirms the idea that truths about the unknown and unseen
elements of Creation may be directly apprehended by intuition and/or
meditation. Here again, the mystic obtains such truth by directly
though intuition and/or meditation. As we can come to see if you
explore creativity, such truths can be gained in this manner. They
can be accessed through relatively simply techniques using our
intuitive guidance and can contribute quite powerfully to any
creative effort. In fact, accessing the
deep undercurrents of Creation discussed in this technology can
give, but will not necessarily give, what one calls a mystical
experience every time they are entered.
In many ways mysticism is that aspect of humanity whose focus is on
accessing and developing a working personal relationship with the
Source of Creation. It is a working relationship because the mystic
can use the understanding to recreate their life and the world of
their experiences. To the mystic, the relationship with the Source
of Creation is not a “text book” knowledge that remains in the mind
and not acted upon. Rather that mystic live his life as the
application of what he or she has come to understand about the
Source of Creation.
It is a personal relationship because the mystic by themselves and
usually alone acts on their understanding in the way they personally
know and understand the Source of Creation. The do it in their own
way. Although they usually use a religious or spiritual tradition to
access the Source of Creation they rely on their own experience of
the Source to live their life even if it opposes the very religion
or spiritual tradition it used to access the Source.
The true mystic is like a true shaman. They do not follow the path
of another unless they have eaten of that path, digested that path
or way of another, and made it part of themselves as one would eat
any food. It is now their path, not the path of any other. An apple
is no longer seen as an apple once it is eaten. So too the path of
any other. Once it is eaten and digested it should no longer look
like the path from which it came. If it is the say, it has not been
eaten and digested. In this regard, many individuals have mystical
experience but never really become a true mystic. Rather, they stay
wedded to a tradition. Most individual are afraid to eat the apple
and make it their own.
As practiced within any given spiritual or religious tradition,
mysticism will attempt to develop a relationship with the Source of
Creation as defined and/or perceived within that tradition. However
using a spiritual or religious tradition as the vehicle to have an
experience of the Source of Creation will not give you that working
personal relationship. It is here the
shamanic experience as originally understood becomes very
important and is in fact a form of the
Ultimate Accident. The original, or true, shamanic experience
was a mystical experience where the individual has an experience of
the Source of Creation independent of any particular spiritual or
religious tradition including the traditions, social or otherwise,
native to the individual’s immediate world. Often that immediate
world is the shamans family, tribe or extended local family. The
original, or true, shamanic experience was, and still is, probably
the mystical experience that is the purest and most free of any
beliefs of mind.
It is said the original, or true, shamanic experience because
traditionally, a person became a Shaman only after they had some
type of unexpected mystical experience. One did not study or
apprentice to become a shaman. The original
Shamanic experience often occurred during an illness, accident
or some other mind shifting occurrence. The one who had the
experience did nothing to obtain the experience. That is, they were
not practicing any rituals, reciting any chants or prayers, not
doing any drumming or anything to induce the experience. It was
after the experience the person became a shaman. Prior to the
experience, the individual did something else and most probably had
no desire, aspiration or even consideration of being a shaman. It
was something that happened to them. In essence, the experience they
had can be called the
Ultimate Accident.
Usually what happened in the tribe was that the individual underwent
some life transforming event. They then sought out the tribe’s
shaman, a medicine man or woman, a tribal elder or the like to
understand what they experienced. It was then an existing shaman or
similar person would take the individual into a apprentice
relationship. Yet the relationship was not to apprentice the
individual but help them to understand, access and use the power the
stumbled into.
In many ways what the mystic and mysticism is to a spiritual and
religious tradition, shamanism and the shaman is to the spirituality
and religion to an indigenous tribe. However both have the potential
to create and establish a unique personal experience of the Source
of Creation. Whether they do is another story.
Any practice, apprenticeship, training program, physical practice,
and the like does not lead one to a true experience of the Source of
Creation. It can’t. Because of how we create our experiences by what
we think and believe, any experience we have through practice is a
created condition by mind. To have a true unbiased experience of the
Source of Creation, we must be out of mind and outside any thoughts
we hold. Contrary to popular belief, we cannot be trained to become
a Shaman or a mystic. Any program you under go is only a focusing of
our own mind to create a particular experience. The issue of mind
and the experience of the Source of Creation is discussed in the
topic “The
problem of mind and the experience of the Source of Creation - the
trap of mind.”
One of the best ways to have an experience of the Source of Creation
is to become lost in creative play and allow the creative play to
turn into the
most creative state of being. That state of being then puts you
at the door way to have the
Ultimate Accident and an experience of the Source of Creation.
It essence we will have your own shamanic and mystical experience
without the trauma that usually accompanies the initial shamanic
experience that causes one to stumble into shamanism and/or
mysticism.
Although most mystical practices have become associated with
spiritual and religious traditions that tend to see the body and
physical creation as somehow removing us from Divine Truth, Tantra
is an exception. Tantra is a view of mysticism that is characterized
by the belief that through physical love and sexuality accompanied
with the appropriate spiritual practices, a direct and immediate
consciousness of God can be achieved. Although this is true, Tantra,
as is any other spiritual or religious approach one takes, is
hampered by the intention for which we undertake the practice.
But, Tantra has some additional problems. Because sexuality is the
second most creative state we can enter, the intention we hold
for engaging in Tantra become much more important than when we
engage in any other spiritual tradition. The use of sexuality
amplifies both the stated intention for engaging in sexuality but it
amplifies the beliefs we hold around sexuality, spirituality and the
like that go with our consciously stated intention. The issue here
is whether you engage in Tantra for the opportunity to engage in sex
and sexuality or we engage in Tantra because of the sexual energy
that awakens or is expressed in the creative endeavors we under
take. There is an enormous difference in the two and a profound
impact on what we will create in and with our life. The issues of
sexuality and how they relate to creativity are discussed under the
web page
Creative Sexuality.
Why love
can be used to access Divine Truth
(Top)
It is in the discussion of
spiritual and physical love that one can being to understand why the
mystical path is based on the belief that it is through love that
Divine Truth can be ascertained is quite simple. It is indirectly
discussed in the topic, “Symbolism
of the Heart.” In this discussion, it is said the flow of energy
that sustains us arises from the intention for our life that caused
us to come into physical existence. We look to the symbolism of the
heart for this flow of energy lies at the source of our being and
sustains us much the way the heart lied deep within our being and
sustains our physical body through the flow of life giving and life
nourishing blood. Yet the flow of energy that sustains us ultimately
arises from the Source of Creation. It arises from the desire of the
Consciousness that lies within Creation, the Consciousness of all
that is, a Cosmic Consciousness, to share itself with a playmate as
discussed in the
Creation Story for the Creativity Perspective. It is the desire
to share that sustains us. In one way, that desire to share arises
out of the deepest and most profound loneliness and is the
ultimate pain we all face. Yet at the same time it is the
deepest and most profound love one will ever experience. Hence
accessing the source of our being, that flow of energy, is to access
love and Truths of Creation in the deepest possible love. It is the
mystic who access this both this love and pain for they are ultimate
one and the same. This is why we must learn to not deny our pain but
explore its origins for all that we seek in life ultimately arises
from a profound loneliness and desire to share. It is there we find
the Source of Creation and all the creative power/Creation Power we
can access.
Applied mysticism (Top)
Because the heart is usually
associated with love and/or mystics and the heart is symbolic of the
flow of energy that lies at the source of one’s creative powers, one
can see why conscious creativity as described within the Releasing
Your Unlimited Creativity technology can be called applied
mysticism. Applied mysticism is not about becoming a mystic. Rather,
it is rather becoming a conscious creator in that we access the
truth of our own being. That is we love ourselves sufficient to
allow the full expression of the truth of our being to be revealing.
In that love of ourselves we can give the same gift to another. We
cannot give what we do not have. Until we love ourselves true to who
and what we are and can give ourselves the space to freely unfold
our truth, we cannot give that to another. Applied mystics as is
conscious creating is accessed through our own heart, the symbol of
the flow of our
creative life energy and
our creative spirit. It is the source of our
creative powers/Creative Powers. It is to consciously act on
what we know to step into the world and change the world based on
the intuitive understanding we have gained in accessing the flow of
energy that sustains our being.
Related
topics (Top)
The creative spirit and the spirit of spirituality/religion
Creativity and spirituality
Creativity and mysticism
Shamanism and the Shaman
Synthesize our understanding
The mystical experience
Bridging the seen and unseen
The love of the
mystic
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