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How can words convey the depth and sweetness of unconditional love, the soul’s joy in coming home to God, the stunning revelation that despite all your errors, you are forgiven? How to describe the realization that your every thought and deed is known, and the bliss of being shown that your soul is pure, not because you are perfect, but because you are willing to acknowledge your imperfections?
How is it possible that you can think about anything and know instantly, at an infinite number of levels, its very essence? How to convey the perception that everything is interconnected, crafted of an intelligent light that forms a seamless matrix from which all matter springs?
In the last 10 years, we have started coming out of the closet. Movies about angels, life after death, and God are increasingly popular, as are television programs and books. While some people define interest in such things as New Age, mystical experiences have been reported in every religious tradition for thousands of years. They are more Old Age than New Age.
A mystic sees beyond the illusion of separateness into the intricate web of life in which all things are expressions of a single Whole. You can call this web God, the Tao, the Great Spirit, the Infinite Mystery, Mother or Father, but it can be known only as love. Spiritual awareness is not something that you wish upon yourself or get from going to one or two self-development classes. Spiritual awareness is something you develop after you have awakened from a long sleep or after you have experienced an amazing shock (or shocks) in your life.
It can also come because you are tired of being tired. It can come because the walls inside your heart ache. Spiritual awareness can come because you have had one final day of feeling either something is missing or you wish you were somewhere else. When you are in these spaces, prepare yourself for the ride…spiritual awareness is right around the corner. It is yours for the taking.
Mysticism isn’t just for people who sit on a mountaintop, waiting for revelation. Mystics are every-day people – just like you and me and the neighbor next door. Anyone who experiences or seeks to experience God on a personal, intimate level is a mystic, whether he/she knows it or not, whether she/he believes it or not, whether he/she would use that word to describe themselves or not.
What is mysticism? Following is a definition from an article by Jane Beach featured in the Science of Mind magazine: “Mysticism is an immediate, direct, intuitive knowledge of God or of ultimate reality attained through personal experience. Wide variations are found in both the form and the intensity of mystical experience; however, it is not dependent on the form, but solely on the quality of life that follows the experience. The mystical life is characterized by enhanced vitality, productivity, serenity and joy as the inner and outward aspects harmonize in union with God.”
Excerpt: Modern Day Mystics by Temple Hayes
For more inspiration and information: http://templehayes.org/
