The Way of the Mystic is Both Interesting and Chall...

Why are you so afraid of the word "mysticism"? Perhaps it makes you think of the eastern religions - Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism - and you want nothing to do with them. You are an adherent of a religion of the book. You believe in the Bible, not in the Void. Your religion is a religion of facts. Okay, but it is also a religion of faith. What exactly is faith? Classic definition: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. So your religion is not entirely a religion of facts. It also involves the unseen and the creation of what is seen from what is not visible. Very interesting.

And what is mysticism? I shall first give you David Downing's take. He gives William James' definition: a mystical state is a "consciousness of illumination". This illumination involves new insights, which elude description in words, creating a sense of an overpowered will, and is experienced in a short period of time. Another intriguing definition Downing explores is given by R. M. Jones: rather than a new idea or insight, a mystical experience transforms "what one believes into what one knows".

Mysticism is, of course, mysterious, elusive, and a bit esoteric, maybe. But, is not God mysterious and elusive? Is not the universe in which we live beyond our comprehension? Do we not all experience awe and wonder when we really stop to think about the world? We cannot understand our own existence, so why should we be able to understand God's? The mystics experienced that which cannot be fully understood by reason alone. Are some mystics fakes? Sure. Do some babble incoherently in a way that helps no one? Of course. But that does not mean that the mystic way is completely off or completely unhelpful or dangerous. Mysticism is simply another way to express one's relationship with God and another way to experience God through nature, through contemplation, and perhaps through direct encounter.