The Blackwood River, Augusta, looking north east, one of my mystical places.
Mysticism comes from thε Greek root of μυω, which means to conceal. Mysticism crosses every religious boundary and belief system. That which is mystical is hidden. In the great debates about God from a Christian point of view there is the mystic view that God is both knowable and unknowable at the same time, that as such, there are elements of God that are visible, definable, but that mostly, God is concealed and unknowable.
Many have pursued mystical experiences. Aliester Crowley (1875 – 1947) was one of the most famous occultists of the twentieth century, trying to make connection with a world beyond. Carlos Castaneda trained as a shaman and explored mescalin using peyote as a mystical experience, inspired by the Toltec. Timothy Leary went with the synthetic drug LSD. There are trance groups, fasting practices, musical experiences, ritual practices and more. True tantra, like Tibetan Tantra, was only ever a form of meditative practice whereby the delay of orgasm and the control of orgasm is said to increase ecstatic experience, but for the purpose of prayer and meditation (and should not be confused with “Californian tantra” as I call it, or with Hindu left hand practices). Kabbalah originated as a Jewish mysticism, but now has non-Jewish paths as well. A number of celebrities have dabbled in Kabbala from Elizabeth Taylor to Madonna.
In the third and fourth centuries Christian men and women from Israel, Jordan, Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa went in droves into the deserts to develop a communal and contemplative life. And from John Cassian to Theresa of Avilla, to Thomas Merton, a few Christians became mystics, seeking the unknowable God.
I think the unknowable attracts, and we pursue it, partly to make it known, to unravel the mystery, to bring the hidden into full view, in the main, to experience what is concealed. Most of the writings of mystics that I have read reaffirm that God, Other, the divine, is unknowable, but that in the journey of mysticism, there is connection, ecstasy, love, wholeness, union and more.
For me any sense of the divine comes more through nature and the contemplative. The photograph shows a familiar walking space I take in, some days it is beautiful, some days it just is, but always it evokes a sense of mystery, of the divine in some way. There is something about certain places that does that for me. Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Elachbutting Rock, Boranup Forest, and more, are places that move me deeply, places where I sense an otherness beyond myself or other people. I have felt ecstasy in these places, I have been overcome with joy, they can be erotic (in the pure, emotive sense) experiences, I have experienced deep inner stillness, and sometimes a confusion of feelings rushing in all at once. Such things tell me I am more open in these spaces, yet I also know that my openness is also because I sense something more. This for me is the mystical.
As Van Morrison wrote in his song “Into the Mystic” – “Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic.”
I stand in silence mystical nature envelops the heron smiles ©Paul Cannon
Van Morrison “Into The Mystic”
Paul,
pvcann.com
parallax 
“Californian Tantra!” HahaHA!!! 😆
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🙂
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Thank you for another wonderful information! Michael
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Many thanks Michael
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Thank you Paul, for always very interesting information and great insights. Have a good day. Michael
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“We were born before the wind …” and in us is an insatiable desire to know the wind, nature, the divine, within us and outside us. It is indeed the journey and not the arrival. As Anaïs Nin wrote, “there is always more mystery.”
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Yes indeed Ana, and thank you for sharing. Love Anais.
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peaceful photo, informative post, lovely song … mystical experience to visit your posts 🙂
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Wow, thank you Kate.
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you’re most welcome Paul
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🙂
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“…yet I also know that my openness is also because I sense something more.”
Right on, brother.
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Thank you sister, appreciate that.
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Have you read Underhill’s “Mysticism”? It changed my view of Reality.
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I have Mitch, and ditto, profound stuff.
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Like the naked boy doing head over hills folded leg flips during a high dive, we all of us open souls say to divinity wherever we find it, “WOW, MOM, WOW, MOM, WOW!!!
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I love that response, funny and clever, thank you for that David.
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Love your haiku!
Dwight
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Many thanks, appreciate your encouragement, and high praise.
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You are welcome!
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Quite an interesting post. I’m grateful that you shared it.
Your discovery of the mystical in nature makes a great deal of sense to me. For one thing, the inclusiveness of nature — not merely in the sense of being all there is (to some of us at least) — but inclusiveness of both the spider and the fly, so to speak. The inclusiveness of nature echoes the inclusiveness of a mystical experience.
I write extensively about mysticism on my blog, having first become interested in it forty years ago. I take a bit different approach to it than is common, however — and to save you some time (Should you drop by my blog), I’ll briefly explain what mysticism means to me.
To me, the hallmark or sin qua non of mysticism is THE mystical experience. There about 16 or more experiences people commonly term “mystical”, but the one that concerns me as definitive of mysticism is the experience that crucially involves an abrupt cessation of subject/object perception replaced by a form of perception in which all things are in some sense One.
Most mystics call that One “god”, but about 22%, I recall, do not. Needless to say, the experience is hugely transformative. It can seem to change everything.
If you’re curious about discussing it further, I’ve written about it here, among many other posts:
https://cafephilos.blog/2017/04/04/mysticism-is-a-whore-allow-me-to-introduce-you/
Please do not feel under any obligation to follow the link.
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Always happy to continue the converstion, especially on that topic, thanks for the link and the convo so far. In my research, the movement from subject/object to One invokes a true Dark Night (though not in every case).
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Saint John being the most famous example of the Dark Night of the Soul. On the other hand, there are people who without any preparation or expectation suddenly one day have a mystical experience. Strange.
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Yes, wonderful – breaks process and systems thinking.
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Insightful
>
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Thanks Lyn
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