|
|
|
|
|
|
ineffable life experiences which affected us profoundly, but about which we could not speak to the majority of our acquaintances without driving them away. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Today, twenty-six years later, there are a variety of groups for a spiritually inclined, mystically minded or "illuminated" person to join for social support and education. I used to think the word "mystic" referred to a permanently spaced-out and irrational person who was strangely cut off from reality, until someone called me one. Since then I've learned that I am a generic mystic, and, as Gordon puts it, "In fact, all of us are born mystics . . . [because of] our capacity to experience wonder and a primal sense of connectedness . . . to one degree or another."
25 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
The men and women we call mystics differ from the rest of us merely by giving these experiences the place they deserve in everyone's life. What counts is not the frequency or intensity of mystic experiences, but the influence we allow them to have on our life. |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
By accepting our mystic moments with all they offer and demand, we become the mystics we are meant to be. After all, a mystic is not a special kind of human being, but every human being is a special kind of mystic.26
Brother David Steindl-Rast |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The great teacher and writer Joel Goldsmith, whom I refer to in later chapters, taught that the mystical life was a life lived by a person who recognized that the presence of infinite consciousness, knowledge, and love within him or her was the true reality. An important conclusion from this is that a mystic finds the source and substance of joy, peace, wisdom, and love within herself realizing that those inner qualities or the absence of them are the source of one's outer experiences. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've heard the aphorism "A razor must be sharpened before it is useful." My writings here are an attempt to record my quest on the path of sharpening, of learning to accept my mystic moments with all they offer and demand. My experience has been that I was offered a calling by grace, and that the gift or talent of healing has been accompanied by a responsibility |
|
|
|
|
|