I like to think of mysticism as the art of meeting reality, or the art of richer and deeper awarenesses. ... It is an experience that comes unbidden ... [It is] a very special experience ... of that Oneness, a rare and wonderful realization of what always is but of which we are seldom aware, flooding in to overwhelm the illusion of aloneness, separateness. ... There are moments when life seems vivid and resplendent, when a more than mortal splendor breaks in, when there is a touch of grandeur and of glory in just being alive. ... In our experience ... of those moments when we're rapturously one with the wonder of all that is, we have some indication of what has been meant by the mystic experience.Jacob Trapp was a Unitarian Universalist minister who served congregations in Salt Lake City, Denver, and Summit, New Jersey, he was the editor of Modern Religious Poems and author of the hymn, “Wonders Still the World Shall Witness.”
Prayers by Jacob Trapp
Mysticism is what you experience when you manage to "switch off" from the constant clutter of just existing.
ReplyDeleteIt is, I think, closely related to intuition, where what you find will reflect where your conscious thoughts have been (at least I have found it to be so).
Mysticism is, I think, what you experience when you succeed in "switching off" the constant clutter of your conscious mind.
ReplyDeleteIt is closely related to intuition, and usually (at least in my experience) relates to matters which you have either just encountered (perhaps a sunset?) or had been considering consciously some time previously.
this was lovely to read-
ReplyDeleteI've been going to the mysticism reading group regularly at New Unity in Islington the last few months.
A great group- we have a different reading each time, which we read at the group then discuss our own interpretations of it & our own experiences relating to it also.
Would be great to have you join us some time :)