Mysticism by Nic P. March 25, 2010

,     Our top secret presentation this morning was by Nic P. His topic was Mysticism. The whole group became very engrossed in Nic's self deprecating but moving presentation of some examples of mystical experiences that he has had.

Nic P. cited the following episodes:
     His pet canary died when he was a child and he and his siblings held a burial in which they made up rituals that were very moving and that he remembers with clarity to this day. He cites the Candle ceremony that one of our members, Jean H presented at Christmas time.
     Nic told us about living in Honolulu in his 20's and meeting an older man on the pier near his home who had sailed all his life and was looking for a small crew of 4-5 young men to sail from the Hawaiian Islands to Tahiti and the Society Islands. He joined the crew. His assigned time at the helm of the sailing ship was from 12 midnight to 4 AM. On clear nights, beneath the star studded heavens by himself on deck, he recalls strong mystical feelings. He appreciated the constellations; they became his friends. Several times during the longest sailing of 3 weeks he had a mystical experience in which he felt he could go on sailing on that plane forever to the end of the universe. His daily concerns disappeared. There was a sudden absence of any questions and no needs for any answers. From what Nic has read, this experience fits the definition of a mystical experience.
     Nic told us that he grew up on a ranch in Colorado. Some Trappist monks purchased a property near their ranch and built a monastery there. Nic has always associated a lot of mysticism with that monastery.  He attended mass there at the monastery and though he knew he was supposed to feel moved by the dogmatic portion of the mass, he experienced more mystical feelings relating to the communal nature of the mass with the monks present, something that he thought was more secular. In the end he realized what he had thought was secular was actually the spiritual. These experiences so moved him that he still travels to the Monastery whenever he returns to Colorado.

     In his research for this talk, Nic read The Cloud of Unknowing which is an anonymous work describing Christian mysticism written in the latter half of the 14th century in Middle English. This manuscript is a spiritual guide on contemplative prayer and other esoteric techniques from late medieval monastiacism. The tradition outlined in the manuscript has focused on discovering God as a pure entity, beyond a capacity for mental conception and so without any definitive image or form. This tradition has inspired generations of mystical searchers up to and including Teilhard de Chardin. The practical prayer advice in the book may be a primary basis for the contemporary practice of centering prayer, a form of Christian meditation developed by Trappist monks, William Meninger, Basil Pennnington and Thomas Keating in the 1970s.
     The text advises students to seek God not through knowledge, but through what is called "naked intent" and a "blind love." One is to try to put all thoughts except love of God under a "cloud of forgetting" and thereby piercing God's cloud of unknowing, with a "dart of longing love" from the heart. This form of contemplation is not directed by the intellect, but involves spiritual union with God through the heart.
     "Our intense need to understand will always be a powerful stumbling block to our attempts to reach God in simple love .... and must always be overcome. For if you do not overcome this need to understand, it will undermine your quest. It will replace the darkness which you have pierced to reach God with clear images of something which , however good, however beautiful, however Godlike, is not God." ---A quote from the book The Cloud of Unknowing.
     Nic went on to explain some of what he had learned about mysticism. He quoted that "Theologians don't make good mystics -- due to their intellectualism and due to their insufferable pride." In this case doctrine blocks mysticism.
     There is the question: Do you extend your sense of self so that self is expanded outwards encompassing widening spheres or do you experience a nullification of self when practicing mystically. Do you then join the other, whether God or some other external force. Nic stated that mysticism is everyone's own interpretation. If you follow a spiritual tradition's mysticism you may get where you want to go in that specific tradition, or you may discover another tradition altogether -- your own. Since some mystical traditions are hospitable to these different techniques and traditions and others are not, you need to find what works for you.
     One of our typically stimulating discussions followed: Father Chuck said that he thought the expansion of self is equal to self nullification. You have to nullify your self to expand it. The self's borders become indistinct and therefore the well circumscribed self is nullified.
     For a while discussion centered on the idea expressed in The Cloud of Unknowing that to get there, to that state of unknowing, you need to go through a state of forgetting. Todd stated that moving through that phase before arriving at a mystical experience and a time of enlightenment, there is a time of terror, almost panic. It is a very uncomfortable time before the peace of the experience arrives. Our new member, Kristina, described it thus: If you are holding on to a rope, dangling, and you need to let go and grab another rope to move on, that moment when you let go before you have the second rope in your hands is that moment of fear, or panic. You need to surrender and let go and then let the mystical experience take you over. Then is when we may experience the expansion of the self. There may not be something as intense as terror, but there may be a loneliness, a feeling of coming apart, a loss of connection. The challenge is to sit with it and not try to remedy it.
     Paul N. says that Buddhism talks about the discursive mnd being the source of this uncertainty and discomfort. We need to overcome that discursive mind and get beyond the fear and discomfort to achieve advancement toward enlightenment. Buddhism outlines practices to achieve this but it can be very uncomfortable.
     Someone commented that even Jesus Christ himself experienced those moments of doubt, and fear, most memorably when he was on the Cross.
     Several in the group agreed that there is this time of fear and discomfort, sometimes even terror to move through. A few others in the group had not experienced such a strong degree of such discomfort.
     Judy K. did say that she felt that if we have a mystical experience ourselves, we can't deny it. We know that this special spiritual event has occurred. We may try to explain it to someone else and it may not sound convincing but we ourselves do not need to be convinced.
     Someone asked why so many mystical experiences involve the nighttime sky, stars and heavenly bodies. It may have to do with our smallness in reference to the heavens full of stars. When viewing such sights, we are fully in the moment. We are filled with a feeling of appreciation and gratitude. We feel powerless but included. We didn't make this magnificent universe and at this moment of time we only have the power to observe.
     Dave likes the quote: Say WOW to the NOW!
     Shakespeare wrote: "Nothing is either good or bad but the thinking makes it so."
     We spoke of how we perceive the room and the people we are sitting with here in the Mindfulness Center. Some of us appreciate things similarly to others, but everyone has their own nuances of perception. Therefore there is not a 100% reality of the room. We make it what it is for ourselves only.
     The sutra says: "Things are not the way we see them, nor are they otherwise."
      Father Chuck says Plato described the world in mirrors. We see the reflection of our world and then go out and create it in our own minds. Hegel carried this idea further: he felt we create the reality around us and it is different for each of us.

Note: Portions of the text of The Cloud of Unknowing can be found at the following Website.
www.ccel.org/ccel/anonymous2/cloud.html

If anyone wishes to edit their comments or the gist of the discussion today, please feel free to enter comments. Everyone seemed to enjoy the depth of today's discussion.