Most religions have their mystic traditions - schools of thought founded on the idea that deep spiritual understanding is hidden, is not readily accessible to all, but requires some form of initiation and much study to be revealed. Jewish Kabbalism, Sufism in Islam, Zen Buddhism fit this description; Christianity does not have such well-known mystic schools. Gnosticism, which flourished among Christians and Jews around the second century, was ultimately denounced by the Church of Rome as a heresy, and persecuted accordingly.
The acquisition of secret knowledge - in contradiction to Christian teaching, which holds that the Church holds all received truth - was once a risky endeavour. With the Holy Inquisition rooting out heresy, people with unorthodox views would indeed hide them and engage in secret rituals with passwords and levels of initiation. To this day, Christianity continues frown on esotericism as something difficult to control; something it associates with New Age or even the dark arts - black magic - tainted with Satanism.
The occult, knowledge of hidden secrets, appeals to our innate interest in for mystery. Yet the search for meaning in secret symbols tends to attract those with an inclination towards restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests - the Asperger's spectrum.
There's another personality aspect to interest in mysticism; a superiority complex. Adepts tend to believe that their intellects can grasp that which weaker minds cannot. It must be said, however, that Zen masters would disabuse any monk who offered such a view.
The mystic traditions interest me more than the main streams of religious thought; Catholicism is an open book; there are no mysteries - if you seek salvation, here it is, in the form of the Catechism - something simple enough for a child to understand. Asking questions of the priest, the intermediary between you and your God, is not considered good form, especially if he is unable to answer them. In a church claiming to be for everybody (katolikos, the Greek for universal) regardless of personality type, there is no room for the hermetic or arcane, the mystical or the occult. The Catholic church is for the neurotypical.
It is my belief that spiritual growth requires an openness to learn and an active desire to gain insights - and through them to grow in understanding.
Mysticism appeals to some, but not all. Many will find weekly religious practice within their own faith as being central to their pathway to God. Others might find it not fulfilling enough, and seek elsewhere in parallel.
We are on a spiritual quest, an evolutionary journey from Zero to One; we are aware that we perceive and that awareness should grow, within our lifetimes - and beyond - but we must keep searching.
Indeed, one lifetime is not enough. My intuition says the journey is infinitely long; at death we shed our Ego, but our consciousness continues - it will grow, it will evolve, it will gain in understanding - until finally it shall unite in God. All in God - God in All - the Destination.
Lent 2022: Day 14
Between Serendipity and Proactiveness
Lent 2021: Day 14
Prayer
Lent 2020: Day 14
Choose the music for your religion
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