The Wonder of the Mystic

Wonder. Awe. Amazement.  Moments that captivate us can be a gateway to mystical experiences. In exploring these moments in life that lead us to stand outside of ourselves, what can we learn about spirituality and mysticism? 

The following is a text version of this posting.

Near the end of his life, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me.”  Heschel was a Polish-born rabbi, scholar, theologian, and, most importantly for us today, a mystic.  Deeply rooted in his Jewish tradition, he understood that the experience of wonder, awe, and amazement formed the doorway to mystical experience.

A mystic is someone who experiences and perceives the presence of the Divine in life.  For many, this presence is a feeling, a sensation, or an awareness.  Many people connect mystical experiences with prayer and spiritual practice.  Heschel offers another perspective.  While he was a devout person of prayer who took his tradition very seriously, he understood that wonder at the experience of life itself was the foundation for the experience of the Divine as well as for happiness and fulfillment in life. Heschel recognized the importance of life itself.  One of his famous quotes was an affirmation: “Just to be is a blessing! Just to live is holy!”

It’s important to realize that Heschel affirmed the sacred nature of life even though he faced great hardship.  While he escaped interment in Nazi prison camps and was able to make his way to live in the United States, many of his family members died at the hands of the Nazis, including his mother and sister.  Having lost family, friends, and his home, he continued to embrace life and its goodness.

As I read Heschel, what strikes me is the importance of wonder in his life.  Wonder was foundational for him.  That’s captured in his statement, “The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living.”

My question is where do we find this wonder?  Heschel didn’t associate it with success, wisdom, power, or fame.  No, wonder is the outlook we bring to living each day.

A simple Jewish spiritual practice is to each day, go outside and look up at the sky.  No matter whether you are in a city or suburb or the country, just look up.  Take in the sky above us.  It is a source of wonder.  Whatever is happening in the sky, day or night can lead us into wonder.  Looking up at the sky also gives us perspective.  Our lives, especially our concerns and worries, seem very small when we see them from the perspective of the sky.  Further, we sense who we are in relationship to all things.

Think about where else you experience wonder.  Perhaps in the sunrise or sunset.  Perhaps seeing the love and kindness expressed between people.  Perhaps it’s watching a child jump into a mud puddle and screaming for joy.  Wonder comes to us in so many ways, but we need to be open to looking for it.  We need to be open to experiencing the wonder of life.

As we grow in the experience of wonder, we are pulled more out of ourselves and our preoccupations and begin to experience the mystery that animates all of life.  When we pause and experience wonder, we’re drawn into a sacred awareness.  This is an entry point to mysticism, to experience that there is something more to life than our ego, that there is something of the Divine essence in us and in life around us. 

I think the beauty of Heschel’s work is that it enables us to consider life and the human spirit in a different way.  Heschel opens us to the spiritual dimension through the experience of wonder.  That wonder leads us to a profound mystical encounter with the Source of all that is.