The mystic is not a special kind of person. Every person is a special kind of mystic.
~ William McNamara
Who me? Mystic? I think you have the wrong address.
One of the sad if not tragic and costly losses within Christianity over its 2,000 year history was the loss for centuries of its mystical tradition. In the 1960’s, many American youth who were not merely interested in turning on, tuning in, and dropping out, headed east (and I don’t mean to New Jersey) in pursuit of spiritual experience and wisdom that seemed to point toward something different from either the rigid religiosity of their parents or the diluted, dull, or passe Christianity that became a compromised civil religion in mid-twentieth century America justifying or turning a blind eye to racism, sexism, and war in Southeastern Asia. The most sincere were looking not merely for experiences, but as earnest youth in every generation do, for an experience that was true, deep, ineffable – something that touched them intimately and moved them in a significant way.
However idealistic or Pollyannaish the motives of some if not many of these seekers, however juvenile and suburban some were in their claims of chasing enlightenment, I believe it pointed to a serious unsatiated hunger and an inherent inclination and yearning for the divine that lies deep within each and every human person.
About this same time, the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton, one of the most prophetic social critics of our time, wrote from behind his monastery walls in the hills of Kentucky, not only about racism and the violence of war, but also about the contemplative tradition within Christianity. Many seekers found their way to him. Others did not. More than any other person, Merton recovered for this time and this place the vision, history, and treasure-trove of wisdom found in the Christian mystical tradition and in the process made it accessible to all.
Merton was the first modern spiritual guide to expose and dismantle the misconceptions within Christianity that the mystical life was only for some fictitious spiritual elite. Merton’s insights were all the more poignant because, enamored with his own new found faith and spiritual exuberance, he originally thought he was among the privileged few who from various monastic communities hidden on mountain tops and in desert oases throughout the earth were holding the world together with their prayers and piety. Over time he discovered nothing could be further from the truth and he quite openly shared his embarrassment over his youthful display of self-superiority and self-importance. Through his study and personal experience, he came to the realization that the core riches available to monks were equally available to persons who lived outside the monastery. The life of spiritual intimacy and depth that engender full human living were offered by God to all, not reserved for a favored few.
William McNamara, a Carmelite monk influenced by Merton follows his lead when he states, “The mystic is not a special kind of person. Every person is a special kind of mystic.” He means each person has the potential to live the mystical life. I agree. With few exceptions, each and all persons have the innate (God-given), capacity and call to be a mystic. Thirty years ago, in a similar vein, the imminent Jesuit German theologian Karl Rahner said,
The Christian of the future will be a mystic or he or she will not exist at all, if by mysticism we mean . . . a genuine experience of God emerging from the very heart of existence.
Ruminate on that for a while, and after you’ve swallowed, we can take a look at what we mean by mysticism, and what it might mean for us to be mystics.
When you hear the word mystic – what words or images come to mind? Are you more comfortable with the word contemplative? If yes, why?
Pax to the max,
Dan
NB! I use the terms mystic/contemplative and mystical/contemplative interchangeably.