Children
of Abraham
Richard L. Shafer[1]
This
month we continue asking, “What is mysticism?”
The goal of all mystical experience is to know God. According to David Torkington, [2] “Almost
all the main world religions have developed a mystical teaching….to help every
serious searcher to go beyond the simple religious practices of the beginner to
experience the action of God, who gradually makes His presence felt within.” It’s about loving God and one another,
totally.
“To
be a mystic is to simply participate here and now in the real and external life,
in the fullest, deepest sense which is possible to man. It is to share, as a
free and conscious agent - not as a servant, but as a [child] - in the joys of
travail of the Universe: its mighty onward sweep through pain and glory to its
home in God.”[3]
Þ
In the practice
of Jewish mysticism, “Living an ethical life, being pure of heart, and
remaining socially integrated continue to remain the touch stones of character
for Kabbalah….Ecstasy takes the place of intellect, joy takes the place of
suffering and devotion takes the place of messianism.”[4]
Þ
“Sufis – the
mystics of Islam - provide us with a variety of means of knowing God, including
service, love, and self-discipline.”[5]
Þ
The mystic path for
Christians leads through mediation on Jesus to contemplation of God. Praying and offering ourselves to God, we
open to the Holy Spirit, and hence become more open to God’s love.[6]
The mystic’s spiritual
journey can be described in stages of purification (see last month’s column),
transformation and union with God. Transformation
is the stage where one “changes”. The resurrection
of Jesus surely illustrates one notion of transformation.
We read in Ephesians, “….put
off your old nature….”[7] Such transformations are also illustrated in
the stories of Saul of Tarsus and St. Francis.
These two actually took on what we would call now new
personalities. They illustrate well for
us the result of having chosen to live out the first two commandments with
their whole hearts.
The prophet Isaiah speaks
about transformation too: The lion is
our most aggressive individual nature and the lamb our most passive. The child “who shall lead them” represents
the child in each of us, the part of us which (who?) retains wonder and
receptivity. So at transformation, our
“lion” and our “lamb” reconcile with each other. This reconciliation comes when we encounter
God, and that encounter changes our very being.
With much practice, we might
reach the final mystical stage called “union” with God. At union one actually feels the presence of
God, and feels the resulting power and freedom. Torkington says it’s then we then feel the “mystical
love that Jesus continually experienced….but also the inner strength….the inner
power and vitality needed to live Christ-like lives….”[8]
Copyright Richard L. Shafer
2005
[1] This is one
of a series of occasional columns in which the author, raised in the Christian
tradition, searches for common ground and common history among the teachings,
beliefs and practices of the Abrahamic faiths -- Islam, Christianity and Judaism
[2]
http://homepage.virgin.net/david.torkington/6.%20Transformation%20by%20God.htm
[3] http://www.meaningoflife.i12.com/introduction.htm. Attributed to
[4] THE SHAMBHALA GUIDE TO KABBALAH AND JEWISH MYSTICISM,
by Perle Besserman. Shambhala,
[5] Fadiman, James and Robert Frager, ed. ESSENTIAL
SUFISM, p. 197
[6]
http://homepage.virgin.net/david.torkington/6.%20Transformation%20by%20God.htm
[7] Ephesians 4:22-24
[8]
http://homepage.virgin.net/david.torkington/6.%20Transformation%20by%20God.htm