In broad, theistic terms, the mystic may be defined as one who is intimately bound in dynamic union and reciprocal relationship with the deity. A mystic “experiences to an extraordinary degree, the profoundly personal encounter with the energy of divine life,” writes Ursula King.66 The word “mystic” comes from the Latin word mysticus and the Greek word mystikos, meaning “the mystical.”67 In ancient Greece, one who has been initiated into the mysteries of existence and the esoteric knowledge of the realities of life and death was known as mystes (mystic). They were the ones who were initiated into a superior wisdom and whose eyes of sensation and reason were closed for a while in order to perceive everything through the eyes of faith.68 King characterizes mystics as those who perceive the presence of God in the whole of creation and in all sentient beings, “leading to a transfiguration of the ordinary all around them.” The touch of God,
however, “is most strongly felt deep within their own hearts.”69 The spiritual vision of the mystic is characterized by the manner of looking at all that is visible and material as housing the divine. Therefore, the more deeply the mystic experiences union with God, the more profoundly she is united with God’s creation.70
Going back to the roots of “mysticism” will disclose the rich treasures of its wisdom and knowledge. The word “mysticism” implies “mystery,” and is derived from
66
Ursula King, Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies throughout the Ages (Mahwah, New Jersey: Hidden Spring, 2001), 3.
67
V.F.Vineeth, “Mysticism,” in A Concise Encyclopedia of Christianity in India, ed. Errol D’ Lima and Anthony De Silva (Pune, Mumbai: Jnana – Deepa Vidyapeeth and St. Paul’s Publications, 2014), 611.
68 Sheila Kannath, A Journey into Mysticism (Palakkad: Mercy College, 1993), 1. 69
King, 3.
70
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the Greek verb muw, meaning to close the lips, eyes and ears, and to shut the doors of fleeting senses and passions. Withdrawing from everything external and sinking within oneself allows a person to receive inner, divine illuminations.71 The Oxford English
Dictionary gives the meaning of mysticism as “the belief that knowledge of God and of
real truth can be found through prayer and meditation rather than through reason and the senses.”72
Evelyn Underhill’s definition of mysticism may be applied to all religions: Mysticism is the expression of the innate yearning of the human spirit
towards total harmony with the transcendental order, whatever may be the theological formula in which this order is expressed. This yearning with the great mystics gradually takes possession of the whole field of consciousness; it dominates their whole life, attains its climax in that experience called mystic union, whether it is with the God of Christianity, the World soul of pantheism or the Absolute of philosophy. This desire for union and straining towards it, in as much as they are vital and real, constitute the real subject of mysticism. Through this, human consciousness reaches its further and richest development.73
From this perspective, then, mysticism may thus be construed as an inherent longing for complete harmony and union with the transcendent order, a longing which increasingly takes full possession of the entire scope of human consciousness and desire.
According to the Christian tradition, God has placed a deep longing in the human being for self-transcendence. Humans are endowed with a spiritual sense that opens up inwardly just as the physical sense opens up outwardly. Augustine of Hippo speaks of the
71
Harvey Egan, Christian Mysticism: the Future of a Tradition (New York: Pueblo Publishing Company, 1984), 1; There are different types of mystics: some are engaged socially and politically for the liberation of the oppressed people and others withdrawn from the world as contemplatives to live a solitary life or to purify the world through prayer and contemplation.
72 A.S. Hornby, ed., Oxford English Dictionary, New 8th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010),
1012.
73 Evelyn Underhill, The School of Charity and the Mystery of Sacrifice (New York: Green and Co., 1965),
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“eye” of the soul and the “ear” of the mind, and others refer to the “eyes of faith,” which open up to higher spiritual realities.74 Thus, the mystical dimension opens the inner eye to experience the divine intimately.
The mystical sphere is not restricted to Christianity. The first letter of St. John declares that, “everyone who loves is begotten of God, and knows God” (1 Jn. 4:7). Every great religion has at its core a mystical dimension. These religions have fashioned great spiritual leaders and teachers, men and women who have encountered God and experienced deep personal transformation.75 That which is common to the mystical and contemplative dimensions of all the religions is the experience of awe.76 As a result of this wonder, the mystic finds the transcendent everywhere, in all things, and above all, in every person.77 A beautiful passage from the Svetasvatara Upanishad reflects this sense of the all-pervasive presence of the divine at the heart of everything, which constitutes the essence of mysticism:
All heads are Your Head, all faces Your Face,
You dwell in the cave of the heart and all hidden places. Through the whole universe, You have extended Yourself. You are Shiva, the auspicious, the ever-present Lord.
74Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon on the Words of the
Gospel, Mt. 10: 28, ‘be not afraid of them that kill the body,’ “Delivered on a Festival of Martyrs,” accessed December 5, 2015,
http://kingsgarden.org/English/Organizations/LCC.GB/LCIS/Scriptures/Fathers/Doctors/AugustinOfHippo/ Sermons/Sermon15.html.
75 Somerville, 170. 76
Somerville, 170-173; Somerville explains that “there is a mystical element at the core of all the great religions: in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. . . The constellation of the world’s religions constitutes an organism of beliefs and practices for which the mystical spirit is the common thread sustaining them all. It unites them according to what is least contingent, relative, and culture bound. Mystics and contemplatives the world over have similar experiences.” The “awe” experience as each one come in contact with the center of the soul is common to all, though their outward expressions may differ.
77
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With hands and feet everywhere, eyes and ears Everywhere, heads and mouths everywhere, You have filled up every corner of space.
Smaller than the smallest and larger than largest.78
In the Christian tradition, this mystical sense finds expression in the basic insight that all people, from the least to the greatest, bear the image of God and are thereby accorded intrinsic value as extensions of God’s very self.