Contemporary Mystic

Two-fold Pathway

The contemporary mystic is called to represent an invisible power in the world through a personal spiritual practice, through the power of prayer, through living consciously and practicing compassion, and through becoming a channel for grace.…A mystic without a monastery serves visibly in his or her personal life, among friends, family, co-workers, strangers, and adversaries, and invisibly through prayer and channeling grace into the greater world. Caroline Myss Entering the Castle page 29

The contemporary mystic is called to a two-fold way of life. Firstly, she must live a life of daily personal prayer and secondly, emanating from the power of that prayer she will carry on her spiritual practice by living a conscious life of sharing God’s grace and compassion in the world.

Without the daily spiritual practice of getting in touch with the Sacred One, the mystic will not be able to carry through with channeling God’s grace as she lives and works among her daily contacts.

Even those who live a cloistered life in a monastery or convent cannot avoid the second part of a mystic’s responsibilities. Monks and nuns, however desirous they are of wanting only to be with God in prayer, have responsibilities to those with whom they live and work—prayer life generates, receives, and overflows with grace, which emanates into the world and touches those who are near and far, seen and unseen.

© Judith Lawrence

Deeper Experience of God

Quiet morning canoe ride

Many people are being called into a deeper experience of God in many ways. That is what a mystic is—someone who wants to engage in direct dialogue with God. That desire ignites an interior flame that burns for the rest of your life, lighting your way.…Perhaps you feel a mysterious stirring deep within you, a restlessness or anticipation that you don’t understand. Perhaps you have a sense that you need to get in harmony with an unseen order—it could be the beginnings of your mystical birth. Caroline Myss Entering the Castle Page 25

Many ordinary people find themselves drawn to a inner spiritual search. People who live well-ordered, successful, and meaningful lives find themselves drawn to something more. It is often those who live lives full of satisfaction, that recognize a need for something more—not more goods or money but more understanding of the meaning of their lives.

Perhaps they first come to this awareness because they feel the need to give thanks to someone for all that they have achieved in their lives, all that they have been given. But who is this elusive someone to whom they should give thanks? And where do they begin to search for this someone?

Once you have spoken of or thought about the desire to find a relationship with this unseen God, you are given guidance or an answer to your unspoken desire. You may be led to a book or a person that will help you. You will know that this answer is from God because it fulfills all that you were looking for. The following verse from Isaiah sums it up, I think:

I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! Isaiah 65:24

©Judith Lawrence

Mystical Renaissance

The Mystics’ time has come again. This second great mystical renaissance has been brewing for decades, as we’ve been asking the questions that bring the divine in direct contact with our souls: “For what purpose have I been born?” and “What is my spiritual path?” and “How can I receive guidance?” These are not ordinary questions. They are spiritual invocations, invitations for God to come closer. And when God hears them, God does exactly that. Caroline Myss Entering the Castle Page 19

Some say that since Jesus walked the earth people have been trying to enter into a spiritual union with God. There have been enhanced waves of mysticism from time to time, such as the time when hermits flocked to the desert in the early years of Christianity; and the time of the medieval mysticism of the Beguines, of those within monasteries and convents, as well as those walled up in anchorages, such as Julian of Norwich.

Today, we are living in a time of another wave of mysticism, not a time when people necessarily leave the world in order to follow their desire to have a spiritual union with God, though some do, but a time of mystics living and working in the world, among their families, their co-workers, and their friends, while practicing a daily spiritual life of prayer and contemplation in order to find God’s guidance, purpose and spiritual path for them.

These people may not be found in our houses of worship, they are not always “religious” people who go to church services on Sunday, but they are people who are trying to find a way of living their lives in and through God in all aspects of their daily lives.  

Many have been disappointed and let down by the Church but that has only made them search for another way to be in spiritual union with God. They have no quarrel with God only with church hierarchy that remembers only those who have money to give their aging and needy buildings but do not think of those who can no longer get to church by themselves though they may have served the church long and faithfully throughout their days.

God does not forget them; God leaves the ninety and nine to search for the one who is lost and, when the lost is found, carries him on his shoulder and takes him back home.

© Judith Lawrence

Called by God

Labyrinth Walk

Once you are called, you have no choice but to follow. …The call awakens you to what is beyond.

The masters also reveal that we do have the strength and faith deep within our spiritual core to answer the call and embark on the journey into the beyond. …Once you open yourself to God, once God shines a direct light within your soul, your life becomes a journey of faith. Mysteries will seem to fill you to overflowing, but faith and prayer will help you face both the known and the unknown. Caroline Myss Entering the Castle Page 17/18

We are called by God to be united with him. The initial call, when answered, is a once in a lifetime call but there may be many other calls as we journey along—calls of redirection, calls of renewal, calls to rededicate ourselves to God.

“The call awakens you to what is beyond,” says Caroline Myss, and the thought of what is ahead of us, if we answer that call, may scare us into trying to evade giving God a positive response to his call.

We have read of the excuses given by Moses when God asked him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 3); we have seen the evasion of Jonah when he was called to prophesy to the people of Nineveh (Book of Jonah); we have heard how the religious leader responded to Jesus by turning away in sadness when he was told, “There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Luke 18: 22

When we receive a call from God we also receive the strength and faith needed to respond to that call. We will need to call up the strength and faith deep within us in order to answer God’s call and a daily prayer life will assist us to face both the known and unknown as we go along our spiritual journey.

© Judith Lawrence