Mysticism’s Deep Experience

Mystics experience a unique depth in life.  Colored by the unitive dimension of mysticism, day-to-day living takes on sharper hues.

The following is a text version of this posting.

Mysticism.  It’s a topic that’s commonly discussed today in spiritually oriented groups.  On social media platforms, there are groups and threads dedicated to mysticism.  It’s a topic that’s confusing to people.  Is it religious, is it spiritual, is it both, or is it neither?  Today, I am exploring the experience of mysticism.

Mysticism is commonly described as union with or absorption into what is absolute in life.  What’s absolute in life?  That depends on a person’s belief system.  Perhaps the absolute is understood as God or Divine Being.  Perhaps the absolute is the energy that animates life itself.  Perhaps the absolute is a hidden mystery woven through life.  Or perhaps it’s something else.

Mysticism isn’t oriented to religious doctrine.  In fact, throughout history, mystics who shared their experiences with others usually got in trouble with religious authorities because those experiences weren’t congruent with religious doctrine.  Mysticism also has nothing to do with secret knowledge, unsolvable mysteries, or some kind of hidden truth that no one else can experience.  Such things are part of Gnosticism or spiritualism, not the experience of mysticism.

Again, mysticism is the experience of union, communion, or even absorption with that which is beyond us, that which is absolute.  It’s the experience of oneness with something more than what is apparent to us in daily life.

Mysticism is most often rooted in contemplative prayer, meditation, or practices that draw us both into ourselves and lead beyond ourselves, like native drumming or Sufi dancing.  Mystical experience can’t be programmed.  But it is more likely to be part of the experience of those who regularly engage in deep spiritual practices. 

Many people seek out mystical experiences believing that such experiences are deeply peaceful, healing, and somehow wondrous.  While mystical experience can be all of those things, remember that mystical experience draws us into union with what is.  Part of what is included in “what is” is pain, suffering, and grief.  Mystical experiences can draw us into deep experiences of the pain of the world, particularly as the planet suffers the ravages of our environmental crisis and so many people suffer in the world because of war and violence.  Mysticism is not an escape.  Instead, it’s a step into a deeper reality.

Some people think that mystical experience makes them somehow special.  While mystical experience is indeed a special gift, mysticism draws us out of ourselves and into something greater than ourselves.  In mystical experience, our individual identity, our ego, becomes smaller and less significant in the vastness of what we experience as absolute in life:  God, Mystery, Energy, or whatever name we name it.  Feeling special about oneself as a mystic is essentially contradictory to mysticism.  Instead, mysticism can be a humbling experience.

My experience of mysticism is that mystical experience impacts every aspect of who I am.  It’s not just about the spiritual dimension of my life.  I physically feel the experience in my body.  My mind and emotions have a different acuity or sharpness.  I also am much less aware of myself than I am at any other time. 

Years ago, a friend of mine described his mystical experiences to me and said, “When it begins, all I know is that I’m gone.  I’m out there somewhere.  I don’t know where and I don’t know what I will experience.  But it changes me and the way I see myself and others.”

In many ways, I think that’s the gift of mysticism.  By experiencing a deep connection with what we believe to be Absolute in life, we change.  We are open to something more and become less focused on ourselves.