Don’t let the word “mystic” scare you off. It
simply means one who has moved from mere belief systems or belonging systems to
actual inner experience. All spiritual traditions agree that such a movement is
possible, desirable, and available to everyone. In
fact, Jesus seems to say that divine union is the whole point! (See, for
example, John 10:28-38 or John 15:1-9.)
Some call this movement conversion, some call it
enlightenment, some transformation, and some holiness. It is Paul’s “third
heaven,” where he “heard things that must not and cannot be put into human language”
(2 Corinthians 12:2, 4). Consciously or not, far too much organized religion
has a vested interest in keeping you in the first or second heaven, where all
can be put into proper language and deemed certain. This keeps you coming back
to church, and it keeps us clergy in business.
This is not usually the result of ill will on
anybody’s part; it’s just that you can lead people only as far as you yourself
have gone. Transformed people transform people. When they talk so glibly about
what is always Mystery, it’s clear that many clergy have never enjoyed the third
heaven themselves, and they cannot teach what they do not know. Theological
training without spiritual experience is deadly. As Pope Francis says, such
preaching bores “the one who is doing it and also the one who has to listen to
it.” Richard
Rohr
______________________________________________________
I always wanted to be a “mystic”
I always believed that faith should be
in some profound way “mystical”
there is no question in my mind
that this things we are all about
that some call religion
and others just call spirituality
is about experience
Jesus was an experience
that is
for
sure
and faith is really all about the heart
and only
in some
small
way
about the head
it is all about that moment when we “get it”
when something deep inside us (call it what you
will)
connects with something big
really big
when the infinite
becomes the intimate
a
mystery! 
No comments:
Post a Comment