Militant
Mystics
“I like
to say that I practice militant mysticism. I'm really absolutely sure
of some things that I don't quite know.”
Rob Bell
Aren't we all pretty sure
of some things we don't quite know. There are many things we can't
access with our senses—we can only feel them energetically. For instance, the chakras. There are adepts who can see them,
but most of us cannot. Nevertheless, we can do a chakra meditation in
which we focus attention on one particular chakra, let's say the
heart. It is located at the center of the sternum, in the middle of
the chest. If we concentrate on that location and allow an image to
surface, it will show us with our inner eye, how that particular
chakra looks. The images I see in books, such as Barbara Brennan's
Hands of Light, show a cone of color, in this case, green, extending
from the body in front and back. It looks something like two small,
spinning tornadoes—with the points meeting in the spine. In
meditation, we can use imagery (and intention) to open and expand it,
or to close it down. Even though we may not be able to see it with
our eyes, we know it's there because we feel the expansion and
contraction of the energy.
Most of us say we
“believe in God.” We cannot see God, but we feel very certain
that God exists. We don't know the nature of God, except that most of
us feel a benevolent presence. We experience God as loving, as caring
about us individually. Perhaps this is a conditioned response based
upon what we learned as a child, but even those who had no religious
training can feel that kind presence. We believe because we feel it.
Carl Jung taught that
from birth each of us has an original sense of wholeness, which he
called the Self, or the “psychic nucleus.” As we grow, we learn
to see ourselves as a separate being, and experience all the
inconsistencies and wounds of a typical human life, which erodes our
experience of wholeness. It is in the second half of life, after we
have gained sufficient ego strength, that we are able to rediscover
our wholeness—our unity. It now encompasses all of our life—both the
wounds and the joys, the ordinary and the sublime—gathered together
as one. The Self is usually depicted as a circle within a
circle, a circle divided into four quadrants, or a mandala. I see it
as an inner light-body, like the sun.
There are many more
things that we believe to be true, though we cannot see them. Our
five senses are limited in their scope. We have to trust ourselves
enough to know what is true for us, whether we can reach it with our
senses or not. This grasp of what is real for us is as solid as a
tree or a rock. It is our Truth. It is not mystical in the sense of
being, as my friend Suzan would say, “Nanu-nanu,” but it is part
of the mystery and nature of reality. We can call ourselves “militant
mystics,” or we can call ourselves believers in the mystery. Either
way, we are whole and one with all that is.
In the Spirit,
Jane
No comments:
Post a Comment