What is Mysticism ? - DIVINE WISDOM
Nothing in the world can bring us happiness and satisfaction except divine wisdom. All other things which seem to suffice our needs will show their importance for a moment, but after that moment has passed there will be the same longing. It is only in divine wisdom that our life's purpose is fulfilled. The basis of mysticism is to be found in that saying of the Bible, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things will be added unto you.' Thus the search of the mystic is for that kingdom, for God, and in that search what does he find? In the search for God he finds himself.
Mysticism teaches communication with the self and enables the self to communicate with life. Also, the way to learn mysticism is quite different from the way in which one learns other things. In learning these one communicates with things, but in learning mysticism one communicates first with oneself, and this enables man to communicate with the outer life. It is not only a legend of the past that saints and sages spoke with trees and plants, with animals and birds. A soul that can communicate with life, with the self, can communicate even today with animals and birds and trees and plants.
Often people picture a mystic as a dreamer, as someone who is intoxicated, a drunken man. But in reality, to the mystic everybody else is intoxicated, for the knowledge of mysticism is soberness. The mystic's consciousness makes him sober, for he begins to see things more clearly.
Mostly he cannot speak about it, because his language is not always understood. People have reason to consider a mystic to be like a drunken person. He does not take notice of things that everybody else takes notice of. He does not attach any importance to things that everybody else considers important. He does not give as much thought to himself as everybody else does. He does not look at everyone in the same way as other people do. He does not judge people in the same light as everybody else judges others. He does not think of God and man in the same way as every other person does. Naturally, it becomes difficult for the mystic to live in the world where his language is not understood, while he understands the language of all others. Before we have spoken to the mystic he has heard us speak. Before we have expressed our thought he has read it.
Before we have expressed our feeling he has felt it. That is why a mystic can be in communication with another person better than one could ever imagine, and thus the best definition that can be given of mysticism is that it is communication with life.
No doubt a mystic is born a mystic. It is a certain type of mind which is born mystical. But mysticism can also be acquired. A soul who is born a mystic will from his cradle show mystic tendencies. But mysticism which is acquired is a greater achievement, for then one has made a normal progress towards divine wisdom.
Now the question is, how does man communicate with his self? By self-analysis. No doubt there is a danger in self-analysis. When a person is always wondering how wrong he is, how bad he is, how wicked he is, or how stupid he is, he will never stop worrying and troubling about himself, and the further he continues in this way, the more he will find in himself the spirit of wickedness or stupidity. Perhaps throughout his whole life he will find that same spirit in himself. The mystic delves deeper in himself in order to discover what it is in him that gives him the sign of existence, what it is in him that lives and what it is that dies, what it is in his being that is limited and what it is that is beyond limitation. By meditating on this a mystic communicates with his self. And in order to communicate with others he removes the barrier which stands between one person and the other, between 'I' and 'you.'
As to the religion and the moral of the mystic, the mystic has one moral and that is love. And he has one aim in his religion and that is to make a God a reality. Therefore, his God becomes a greater God than the God of millions of people who only imagine that there is a God somewhere. To him God is a reality. How can one make God a reality? Since we are able to make what is unreal a reality, it is very easy to make reality real.
There was a Brahmin who was worshipping his idol, and a man came along and said to him, 'How foolish! You are a high-caste Brahmin, you have such great culture, and yet you worship a God of stone which you have made with your own hands!' The Brahmin said, 'If you have faith this god of stone will become a real god to you, and if you have no faith even the formless God who is in heaven is nothing.' The idea behind this is that we do not know the reality of God because we have made real all that is unreal before us. We are impressed by it. We live in longing for it.
We pursue it. We live in it. And so from morning till evening we are, so to speak, wrapped up in this world of illusion, in all that is unreal and that covers our eyes from reality.
Nothing in the world can bring us happiness and satisfaction except divine wisdom. All other things which seem to suffice our needs will show their importance for a moment, but after that moment has passed there will be the same longing. It is only in divine wisdom that our life's purpose is fulfilled. The basis of mysticism is to be found in that saying of the Bible, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things will be added unto you.' Thus the search of the mystic is for that kingdom, for God, and in that search what does he find? In the search for God he finds himself.
Mysticism teaches communication with the self and enables the self to communicate with life. Also, the way to learn mysticism is quite different from the way in which one learns other things. In learning these one communicates with things, but in learning mysticism one communicates first with oneself, and this enables man to communicate with the outer life. It is not only a legend of the past that saints and sages spoke with trees and plants, with animals and birds. A soul that can communicate with life, with the self, can communicate even today with animals and birds and trees and plants.
Often people picture a mystic as a dreamer, as someone who is intoxicated, a drunken man. But in reality, to the mystic everybody else is intoxicated, for the knowledge of mysticism is soberness. The mystic's consciousness makes him sober, for he begins to see things more clearly.
Mostly he cannot speak about it, because his language is not always understood. People have reason to consider a mystic to be like a drunken person. He does not take notice of things that everybody else takes notice of. He does not attach any importance to things that everybody else considers important. He does not give as much thought to himself as everybody else does. He does not look at everyone in the same way as other people do. He does not judge people in the same light as everybody else judges others. He does not think of God and man in the same way as every other person does. Naturally, it becomes difficult for the mystic to live in the world where his language is not understood, while he understands the language of all others. Before we have spoken to the mystic he has heard us speak. Before we have expressed our thought he has read it.
Before we have expressed our feeling he has felt it. That is why a mystic can be in communication with another person better than one could ever imagine, and thus the best definition that can be given of mysticism is that it is communication with life.
No doubt a mystic is born a mystic. It is a certain type of mind which is born mystical. But mysticism can also be acquired. A soul who is born a mystic will from his cradle show mystic tendencies. But mysticism which is acquired is a greater achievement, for then one has made a normal progress towards divine wisdom.
Now the question is, how does man communicate with his self? By self-analysis. No doubt there is a danger in self-analysis. When a person is always wondering how wrong he is, how bad he is, how wicked he is, or how stupid he is, he will never stop worrying and troubling about himself, and the further he continues in this way, the more he will find in himself the spirit of wickedness or stupidity. Perhaps throughout his whole life he will find that same spirit in himself. The mystic delves deeper in himself in order to discover what it is in him that gives him the sign of existence, what it is in him that lives and what it is that dies, what it is in his being that is limited and what it is that is beyond limitation. By meditating on this a mystic communicates with his self. And in order to communicate with others he removes the barrier which stands between one person and the other, between 'I' and 'you.'
As to the religion and the moral of the mystic, the mystic has one moral and that is love. And he has one aim in his religion and that is to make a God a reality. Therefore, his God becomes a greater God than the God of millions of people who only imagine that there is a God somewhere. To him God is a reality. How can one make God a reality? Since we are able to make what is unreal a reality, it is very easy to make reality real.
There was a Brahmin who was worshipping his idol, and a man came along and said to him, 'How foolish! You are a high-caste Brahmin, you have such great culture, and yet you worship a God of stone which you have made with your own hands!' The Brahmin said, 'If you have faith this god of stone will become a real god to you, and if you have no faith even the formless God who is in heaven is nothing.' The idea behind this is that we do not know the reality of God because we have made real all that is unreal before us. We are impressed by it. We live in longing for it.
We pursue it. We live in it. And so from morning till evening we are, so to speak, wrapped up in this world of illusion, in all that is unreal and that covers our eyes from reality.
In order to find goodness one must find wickedness to compare it with. When we have found both, then both become clear. Wickedness will show what goodness is. In order to find reality we must gather the knowledge of what is unreal, and this is not difficult. In our ordinary language we use the word false. False is not that which is not real. All that is subject to change and destruction may be something in appearance, but it is never that which it pretends to be. All this existence which is before us and which is subject to change and death is not reality. It cannot be reality; but we can only see this when we have acquired some knowledge of reality. If we do not look at it as unreal, we shall not have the desire to find what is real. We must find out what is unreal and acknowledge it as unreal; then alone can we go on to the next step which will be to find reality.
