The Mystical Life

Why choose the mystical life and not any other life style? This question lies at the root of mysticism. Elucidating this question can be helpful in showing the motives of most of the mystics, about whom you'll read here on the Mystical Site. It makes clear why they lived the way they did and why their choice was so important to them.

The choice for the mystical life almost always results out of discontentment with life as it is. Most mystics have gone through deep misery and through great losses, before they made their decision to stop the life they had lived up till then, turn inward and find a religious answer to the riddle of life. Sometimes they had lost their dear ones, sometimes they had lost their wealth or had not succeeded in getting what they longed for. Or they had been through wars and had seen the horrors of human cruelty. They had deeply felt the lack of love in their fellow men. Sometimes they had been victims, sometimes they were only sensitive to the harshness of human intercourse. If there wasn't a crisis in their life, then there surely were deep feelings of unfulfilment. Because their life outside mysticism was unfulfilled.

As they grew older they came to the conclusion that everything in life was vanitas vanitatum outside their relationship with the god inside. Sometimes they gave up the 'worldly life' and became monks or hermits or took up some other form of ascetism. Sometimes they lived on in the world but looked at it in a completely different perspective. Their life never became the same again.

The crisis is an important phase in the life of every mystic. It's the incipient of a new life to come that will result in deeply felt happiness. But as a phase it is close to hell. In this crisis the mystic is so thoroughly convinced of the meaninglessness of a life without the god/Brahman, that this feeling of misery and sorrow and this craving for fulfilment never leaves his memory again. He will always refer to this moment of crisis and will always say to himself: 'This never again. Until now I have erred and was lost. I gave trust to the wrong principles. I looked for wealth, fame and glory in the world of men, but all I got was envy and mistrust from my fellow men and in my own soul I hated myself. I felt spiritually poor, though I was one of the richest. I ended a Job on a pile of dirt. Outwardly full of success, inwardly a miser. No, this never again. There must be another way in life.'

Words like this were spoken by St. Paul when he was on the road to Damascus and saw the sign. Words like this were spoken by the Buddha when he left the palace and saw the suffering of mankind his father had always tried to conceal from him. Jesus spoke these words when he was alone in the Garden on the night before his crucifixion. Every mystic has spoken these words and every person who lives with his heart will one day come to utter them.

It's something no man wishes another man. But at the same time it's all in life that can ever be hoped for. It's the great religious paradox, the glory of life, being hell and heaven at the same time. This despair, this misery, this utter rejection, this life on the edge of death with no hope left at the moment, this crying out 'Father, Father why hast Thou forsaken me?', these are words that can only open up a brighter future. Because from this moment on the mystic gives himself over to the higher force that sustains the world. From now on he places himself in the hands of the god.

This spiritual crisis in a man's life is not restricted to a certain culture. It happens not only in the Christian or in the Indian tradition. It is something natural happening all over the world, because it belongs to the entelecheia of the human being, being a sign of growth, even if the beginning is terrifying. For when a man comes for the first time into contact with the force he initially shivers and is at great loss. The purifying energy of it so contrasts the anxiety and the feelings of tension in the body, built up for years, that the contact results in a shock condition. The force wants to do its work and make body and mind clean and pure again. But all the time it was stopped and obstructed by the mind, which was focused until then on the outside world. Now for the first time, through the catalysing effect of the crisis, the mind is turned inwards where the force resides. The crisis forces the soul to stop and take a look at its condition. Behind its pitiful condition it becomes also aware of the force, the witness of our consciousness. Like the horses of Helios the force kicks at the bolts of the door to get out. When this great force for the first time breaks out, it's like hell, because its powers are so great and it starts a war on all the tensions in the body. The soul enters the purgatory.

After the momentary crisis begins the phase of the via purgitiva in mysticism, the phase of purification, the purgatory. Through spiritual change, initiated by the crisis and accompanied and aided by spiritual exercises like meditation and prayer, the soul of the mystic slowly recovers and is transformed into 'a new birth'. From now on the soul is treading the spiritual path. It is 'cleansed of his sins', as it is called in religious language. This means that the soul of the mystic surrenders itself to the non-ego. By this surrendering and by this overall resignation all the wrong ethoi of the character are slowly dissolved. The pure kernel of the human soul is liberated from its cloisters and begins to shine. Mystics call it 'the great liberation'. Without this liberation the human will is fettered to its drives, instincts and its emotions and is enslaved by them. Only now the soul of the mystic becomes truly free.

This process of purification takes months, sometimes years depending on the condition of the nervous system of the incipient mystic. But he always gets the signal from within that the road he is travelling on is the only way to go. Sometimes he doubts, sometimes he even despairs, but the daimon inside always tells him to go on. And it is not something trivial that's awaiting him. He is on the road to heaven. During this via purgitiva he sometimes gets glances ahead of the 'kingdom of heavens' that awaits him. On unaware moments (usually not during meditation or prayer, but afterwards when he at least expects it) the ecstasy, which is always connected to mysticism, breaks through. The mystic sometimes finds himself with tears on his cheeks, wondering about the beauty of things. Sometimes he hears music or sees a beautiful painting and he feels suddenly the depth lying beneath the surface. He suddenly becomes aware of the intentions and the timeless message of the artist, of which the artwork is only a vehiculum. Through the cracks of his old ego, which is melting away, he sees dimly the light of heaven. But these moments of ecstasy are only transitory and are merely forebodes of the bliss to come.

After this phase of purification the second stage in mysticism begins: the via illuminativa, another step on the ladder towards enlightenment. After much meditation and prayer the mystic slowly becomes aware that his old individuality is dissolving. He isn't so much anxious or upset about life anymore. His tears become tears of joy and beauty and his laughter becomes the Homeric laughter of the gods. He begins to feel that his soul (his Atman as it is called in Vedanta) is not touched anymore by incidents that used to upset him. He gets the notion that the 'I' he thought was his ego, is really something different, more like a witness to his doings. This 'I' is being felt as a source of strength and comfort. The 'I' comes to stand aloof from his actions. In the Upanishads this is beautiful described as becoming free of the enticement of 'the fruits of action'. Whatever the mystic does, he is not affected by it, be his action joyful or saddening. He always feels tranquil and full of peace, because he becomes more and more centred in godliness. He begins to feel like the Epicurean gods in the intermundia. But he is not at the end of the ladder yet. Because in this phase there still is a difference between his 'I' and his surroundings. He still is living in the old delusion that there is a gap between himself and the world. He still sees himself apart from other men and nature. His 'I' is still in a single river and has not yet dissolved in the ocean of cosmic love. But at this time the mystic does not want to go back anymore to his old life. The ecstasies happen more frequently and are so overpowering and deep, that by now the mystic is not a believer anymore: he has become a knower of Brahman, that beautiful phrase of the divine Sankara, that sums it all. From now on Brahman is being more and more experienced. The mystic becomes a knower. But this still is not enlightenment.

Enlightenment is the culmination of years of spiritual work. It is not something that befalls a man in the flash of a moment. It grows with the years and it is only gradually realised. It is the third phase in mysticism, the via unificativa, the unio mystica as it is called in Mediaeval mysticism. It is the goal of every mystic, being the perfection of the human being in unification with the force. This enlightenment is not only a mental condition but it is also physical. The body in this stage feels very light and transparent. It is always at ease with itself and with its surroundings. It radiates a peaceful tranquillity, that is never disturbed by outward circumstances. Because the body is not upset by violent emotions and disturbances, it doesn't easily 'wear out' through the years. It stays young for a considerable time and is regenerated at every meditation, because the rejuvenating force of nature can work freely. That's why many mystic has had often a very 'boyish' or 'girlish' countenance.

But enlightenment is foremost a mental condition. The mystic at this stage of growth is full of contentment. He doesn't crave anything anymore, because he has found where everybody longs for: self assurance, pride, autarkeia, inner contentment and above all: a deep love for all. Only at this stage a man can say: 'love thy neighbour as thy self', because by now there is no fundamental difference between his own self and the self of his neighbour. At this stage the ego consciousness is completely vanished and has given way to the feeling of being part of everything. The old feeling of being separate is gone. The self of the mystic has become the god/Brahman. That's why St. Francis preached to the birds, because he felt no separateness between himself and the animals. All creatures are witnesses of the intelligence and goodness of God, Francis thought. Love comprehends the whole of nature.

I want to stress the fact that enlightenment is within the reach of every individual, in whatever religious tradition he lives. Enlightenment is something natural happening to the man or woman who will turn inward to find his god. It can even be obtained by the mind through art and science, as a number of artists and scientists in history have shown, although never as completely as by the viae mysticae. It comes when it is the least expected. It comes when it isn't reached for anymore. The man who will give his life to the god will easily obtain it, because the force gladly bestows it on mankind. It is our natural condition. It is our birthright. We only have lost it because of illusions.

Sign our guestbook!