The prophet Mohammed once said that a scholar who writes about mysticism without having had any mystical experience is like a donkey carrying a load of books. In other words, if you haven’t had the experience you don’t know what you’re talking about. As Einstein said, it is emotion, and emotion is impossible to describe with words. One cannot really know what it is like to fall in love, to lose a child, a spouse or a parent unless one has had the experience.
From my own experience with mysticism, I certainly agree. The primary characteristic of mysticism is that it is an experience. It is difficult to describe it to anyone who has not had this type of encounter. The awareness that comes in these mystical moments reminds us that we are more alive than we can imagine.
Until seventeen years ago, I had brushed off any mystical experience that I’d had as simply psychic phenomena or even occult in nature. I had drifted away from Christianity, my birth religion, or any conscious connection to God. Everything changed in 1989 when I became nearly bedridden from Fibromyalgia. During those long days and nights, nothing relieved the fatigue and severe muscle pain. I made two choices that changed the course of my illness and my life: I stopped taking the pain pills that clouded my mind and made me nauseous and, for the first time in years, I prayed. I simply asked God for help.
A few days later, an answer appeared like a Technicolor movie. With my eyes closed, I saw a rising sun covered with a dark shadow so that its golden rays were barely visible. The scene slowly changed to a bright blue sky with puffy clouds. As the clouds parted, I saw the face of Jesus. His warm and loving eyes looked directly at me. As his face faded, a series of three-dimensional capital letters appeared one by one spelling the word FUTURE.
This inner vision was a turning point for me. I couldn’t explain the vision and, truthfully, I did not realize its significance until years later. That moment, however, was the beginning of change within me that has evolved over many years. The shift from being so mind-centered to a more heart-centered awareness has opened me to a better way of life. I do struggle sometimes but, more often than not, I am aware of these struggles. It is my choice whether to hold on to the mind games or to allow my heart to take over.
For many years I felt a deep yearning for something, but I didn’t know what it was. Today I realize that I searched everywhere for love, and most of the time in the wrong places. Becoming helpless with a condition that I could not cure or control changed my life. My mind lost a battle, and my heart directed me to look within.
Since then I have been blessed with many mystical experiences and have come to understand that there is a much greater world within than the one we see with our physical eyes. We have yet to match the radiant light and beauty that some call Heaven. And yet, we can be just as awestruck by the beauty around us if we only take the time to see it from the heart.
Those who choose to uncover the inner mystic embark on a road that is not easy to travel. Although it can be exciting and inspirational, the mystical journey is filled with ups and downs, detours, curves and dead ends. To fully awaken and to walk this path requires a level of dedication and commitment that most would not choose. But there are many Mystics who have chosen the path and have been willing to share their experiences with us.
Everyone is touched by a sense of the mystical, although it may not always be recognized for what it is. There are many paths leading to God that share a “Universal Truth,” which the mystics know. Everyone can learn from the mystics—through their writing, their poetry and their processes—how to move toward a clearer vision. We all are invited to be in close relationship with the Holy. How that connection takes shape is really up to the individual.
Written for you with Love,
Rev. Dr. Barbara Rasp
If anybody asks what Sufism is, what kind of religion it is,
the answer is that Sufism is the religion of the heart,
the religion in which the thing of primary importance
is to seek God in the heart of humankind.
Hazrat Inayat Kahn (Sufi Mystic)
From my own experience with mysticism, I certainly agree. The primary characteristic of mysticism is that it is an experience. It is difficult to describe it to anyone who has not had this type of encounter. The awareness that comes in these mystical moments reminds us that we are more alive than we can imagine.
Until seventeen years ago, I had brushed off any mystical experience that I’d had as simply psychic phenomena or even occult in nature. I had drifted away from Christianity, my birth religion, or any conscious connection to God. Everything changed in 1989 when I became nearly bedridden from Fibromyalgia. During those long days and nights, nothing relieved the fatigue and severe muscle pain. I made two choices that changed the course of my illness and my life: I stopped taking the pain pills that clouded my mind and made me nauseous and, for the first time in years, I prayed. I simply asked God for help.
A few days later, an answer appeared like a Technicolor movie. With my eyes closed, I saw a rising sun covered with a dark shadow so that its golden rays were barely visible. The scene slowly changed to a bright blue sky with puffy clouds. As the clouds parted, I saw the face of Jesus. His warm and loving eyes looked directly at me. As his face faded, a series of three-dimensional capital letters appeared one by one spelling the word FUTURE.
This inner vision was a turning point for me. I couldn’t explain the vision and, truthfully, I did not realize its significance until years later. That moment, however, was the beginning of change within me that has evolved over many years. The shift from being so mind-centered to a more heart-centered awareness has opened me to a better way of life. I do struggle sometimes but, more often than not, I am aware of these struggles. It is my choice whether to hold on to the mind games or to allow my heart to take over.
For many years I felt a deep yearning for something, but I didn’t know what it was. Today I realize that I searched everywhere for love, and most of the time in the wrong places. Becoming helpless with a condition that I could not cure or control changed my life. My mind lost a battle, and my heart directed me to look within.
Since then I have been blessed with many mystical experiences and have come to understand that there is a much greater world within than the one we see with our physical eyes. We have yet to match the radiant light and beauty that some call Heaven. And yet, we can be just as awestruck by the beauty around us if we only take the time to see it from the heart.
Those who choose to uncover the inner mystic embark on a road that is not easy to travel. Although it can be exciting and inspirational, the mystical journey is filled with ups and downs, detours, curves and dead ends. To fully awaken and to walk this path requires a level of dedication and commitment that most would not choose. But there are many Mystics who have chosen the path and have been willing to share their experiences with us.
Everyone is touched by a sense of the mystical, although it may not always be recognized for what it is. There are many paths leading to God that share a “Universal Truth,” which the mystics know. Everyone can learn from the mystics—through their writing, their poetry and their processes—how to move toward a clearer vision. We all are invited to be in close relationship with the Holy. How that connection takes shape is really up to the individual.
Written for you with Love,
Rev. Dr. Barbara Rasp
If anybody asks what Sufism is, what kind of religion it is,
the answer is that Sufism is the religion of the heart,
the religion in which the thing of primary importance
is to seek God in the heart of humankind.
Hazrat Inayat Kahn (Sufi Mystic)
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