In today’s society, to be a mystic sounds about as reputable as being a vampire slayer, but this is only because most people don’t know what a mystic is and they also don’t know that it is highly likely that they themselves could probably be considered The Mystical Teachings Of Jesus. There is a natural word association between mystical and magical that stereotypes the great mystics of our times as someone who has been granted some special powers from some source, magical or spiritual. Yet, some of the most well known mystics would tell you that being mystical is really only the search and pursuit of truths that go outside the boundaries of the physical or logical. There is nothing magical or secret about it, but certainly a pursuit down a mystical path may create some magical and mystical experiences.
Who among us has not experienced some event which might be described as awesome (meaning truly in awe of, as opposed to slang usage where just about everything is awesome), wondrous, or mysterious. Some common examples of these types of experiences might be a beautiful sunrise or sunset, star gazing, child birth, a chance encounter with a wild animal, a touching human moment. These experiences can sometimes leave us speechless or dumbstruck for a moment as we make room for them into our pre-existing notions of reality. These experiences defy our notions of daily reality and therefore lift our consciousness to a new level, at least for a moment or two.
The actual word, mystic, from the Greek word mystikos, means initiate. Being an initiate too can have some sinister overtones, such as being an initiate to an occult-ish scary sect (really I think we all watch a little too much tv). But being an initiate simply means that you “just started” or are new to something. And for those of us that find life a constant learning experience, being an initiate is a perfect description. Certainly I don’t think many of us can claim to be masters.
Mysticism in its most basic sense is simply the idea that truth and knowledge can come to us in many different ways and forms. Mysticism is the acceptance that everything cannot be logically explained and being excited to understand the gap between the logic and unknown. You do not need to commit yourself as a mystic or sign up on any mystic registration, but to be a person that ponders the imponderable might certainly qualify you, if you so choose. Here are a couple of other indicators that you might be a secret mystic:
- You are curious by nature and find new learning about non-material topics interesting.
- You believe that reality can be a combination of direct experience, intuition and insight.
- You are imaginative, creative, or even fanciful at times.
- You find theories and stories about myths, folklore, Greek gods, aliens, bigfoot, etc. – fun, interesting, debatable and possible.
- You love movies like The DaVinci Code, Angels & Demons, Matrix, Peaceful Warrior or Truman Show.
- You question your own ideas about God, Jesus, Religion and Social Norms and Culture.
- You like to debate or talk about concepts such as paradox, reality, morality, dreams, origin of man/universe/cosmos, consciousness, super human phenomena.
