Spiritual History

Part 1 of 12 in the series Spiritual History

Since the beginning of recorded history, there is evidence that humanity has consistently held a view on an essential core aspect to life that is connected to some concept larger/higher/bigger than the individual self.

This spiritual thread is what this series is about, looking at the spiritual aspects that have always been the heart of man-kind. Wherever there is good in humanity it is due to a call towards a moral and ethical framework.

This IQS series or stream of thought will start with the definition of spiritual mysticism, then look at how this spiritual awareness was present through history, in all major religions, and is not only relevant today, but presents a framework for the integration of scientific thinking with the metaphysical awareness that today’s quantum physics calls for.

MYSTICISM

So let’s start off this journey with an important word, mysticism. This is a word that should be known by all seekers of meaning, yet has been sometimes abused.

Mysticism” means the journey towards union with the god of your understanding. Mysticism can also mean direct, immediate experience of ultimate reality.

“Everyone is a mystic.
At some deep level we know that we are not mutually alienated from each other and that we do have sufficient being.
Rearranging energy from within is what mysticism does.
Raising the hidden knowledge of unity, rearranging our interior dynamism, is something we can practice.”
Dr Beatrice Bruteau

 For Christians, mysticism is union and communion with God. For Buddhists, it is realization of enlightenment. In Indigenous cultures mysticism is part of the reality of nature.

Evelyn Underhill’s classical definition is  “Mysticism, in its pure form, is the science of ultimates, the science of union with the Universal, and nothing else

A mystic is a person who achieves mystical experience or an awareness of divine mysteries, or one who sees themselves as part of ‘All human and divine love’.

So if you have some emotional prejudice against the term, please be aware that each and every major religious tradition reveres important mystics. St Francis of Assisi, Rumi, Buddha, and Thomas Merton are all well known mystics.

So are you, as Dr Bruteau suggests above, a mystic?

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| Spirituality: Cosmic/Natural Mysticism