05.26.08
The Mystic
This is a stage many people never reach at any age. While there are no statistics on what percentage of people ever reach the Mystical level, we can assume it would be somewhat rare before middle age. Most likely it is more typical of older people who have had time to let all their life experiences “gel” into a form of wisdom that gives them this perspective.
Here it is very important that we establish a clear distinction between this Mystic level of faith and what popular culture may refer to as “mysticism.” Mysticism is a term that is used very loosely and can be understood (or misunderstood) in several different ways. In some cases it is used in by those claiming involvement with it to indicate an unusual sensitivity to and ability to commune with supernatural forces. It can fairly safely be assumed that most people making these claims lack authenticity or at the very least lack availability of any scientific proof of their claims. The word Mysticism is more often used in a pejorative sense to dismiss the seemingly over easy claims of its proponents. In our case we can ignore all those other connotations. The particular meaning of the word for purposes of this blog has nothing to do with magic, the occult, paranormal experiences or past life regressions.
I like the description offered by Newberg and D’Aquili in “Why God Won’t Go Away.” They said Mystical experience is “ …nothing more or less than an uplifting sense of genuine spiritual union with something larger than the self.” (p. 101) The Mystic then, is one who experiences his faith in this way. To belabor this point, it is not the presence or absence of transcendent experiences that characterize the Mystic. Such experiences may come into play here but they do not define the Mystic.
Most of our Mystics are firmly grounded in the here and now of our worldly existence and their level of spiritual development is not dependent upon the ability to see the future, travel to other dimensions or have out of body experiences. So what then do we mean by Mystic?
Our Mystic level is analogous to what Peck called his Stage IV the Mystic, Communal Stage.
Well, first let’s talk about the word Communal. What Peck meant by this is that people at this level have moved beyond the self (as in selfish) based stage of the Lawless, past the Institutional (meaning group in a superficial sense) based stage of the Faithful, beyond the again self (as in individual) based stage of the Rational, and onto the communal (meaning group in a deeper sense) stage. Can you see why these stages are so poorly understood and how this concept escapes the notice of anyone who has not read and studied this in depth?
Anyway “Communal” for the Mystic means this person is concerned with the whole of humanity or the whole of the universe. They are not only concerned with their own welfare, that of their particular group or with strict adherence to truth like the Rational. Rather, they would transcend the differences among us all and try to find ways to work toward the welfare of every being.
When we look up the word “Mystic” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mystic - 6/24/08) we find the following:Etymology: Middle English mistik, from Latin mysticus of mysteries, from Greek mystikos, from mystēs initiate
It comes from the same derivation as the word “mystery” and this point can be used to illustrate a huge factor in understanding the Mystic. When Peck used the word Mystic, he also meant someone whose approach to spirituality causes them to seek out the “mysteries” of their existence. We can perhaps understand this better in contrast with the other stages. The Faithful tends to need answers. Pat answers in fact from the institution that is giving him his religion. He needs certainty, needs to know. A big part of the Faithful person’s approach to religion is that it gives them answers. It allows them to escape the mystery. Moving along, if we examine the approach of the Rational toward answers, well, he doesn’t want his answers to come pre-formed from an old institution. He wants clear explanations from science so he can make up his own mind about what he believes. In the absence of sufficiently clear answers from science, or as a means of escape from something he may recall as an injurious aspect of the religion of his upbringing, theRational may reject religion altogether, rushing perhaps toward an answer of some sort just to put closure on an issue that might otherwise give him trouble. Though not as strongly as the Faithful, the Rational level person also wants answers.
In contrast, the Mystic neither needs nor particularly wants answers. To him the beauty is in the pursuit of answers. He is an explorer for whom the means is more important than the end. For the Mystic the Unknown has more appeal than the known.
For the Mystic, the overriding trait is unity. There are different ways to interpret this concept. In some cases, your Mystic will say we all are one. This could be taken literally and mean that they have undergone some sort of transcendent experience in which they came to “know” that we all are one. Or they might just mean it metaphorically. Perhaps they only mean that what we do either for or against another person acts to an equal extent for or against ourselves and to an equal extent for or against the better the overall wellbeing of the universe.
The Mystic in terms of governance understands laws as serving a certain purpose. In an instance where an established law does not serve the purpose for which it was intended, the Mystic will feel free to circumvent the “letter” to preserve the “spirit” of that law. In this sense, the source of authority for a Mystic is in the spirit.
Rather than choose a religious stance that wants to exclude billions of people, such as is common among the Faithful, the Mystic will tend to choose a belief system that can include everyone. Maybe the God of their particular church applies only to a small segment of humanity. But the Mystic will tend to interpret that god as a metaphor for a larger being that could include the god of other religions, that could apply to everyone.
Though they may use the same terms as the Faithful when speaking about God, the Mystic will tend to have a different view of god the the one the Faithful person is thinking of. When they say god is everywhere they don’t mean he is behind closed doors checking to see if you are committing any sins. They mean he is everywhere as a part of all creation. He is partly within them and they are part of him. Their god is more of an inner god, similar to the quaker religions “inner Light.”
Sacred texts are revered by the average Mystic but that does not mean he interprets them literally. Though not often prone to make the distinction between literal and metaphorical meanings, the Mystic most likely holds a totally metaphorical interpretation to everything in their sacred text, be it the Bible, the Koran or whatever.
In terms of prayer, the Mystic is less likely to beg for personal favors. Especially not specific personal favors. In their humility they probably recognize that they may not know the overall best outcome in a given situation. Some bad things wind up having a good purpose in the long run. So the Mystic probably would not pray to have his immediate specific problems solved but would likely pray instead to find the meaning behind his various experiences, to effect the greater good, whatever that might be, or to help someone in need, even though for example, if the person is seriously ill, it might mean that they should die sooner. This is what is meant by the greater good: we personally may not know which is the better outcome in terms of (let’s go ahead and use this term) the will of God. Rather than pray for specific personal favors, the Mystic is more likely to have the humility to be willing to pray for the greater good in a situation - though it might cause temporary pain or not be what he is hoping for.