To many modern Christians, words like
"meditation," "mystic," and "mysticism" bring to
mind Eastern religions, not Christianity. Certainly Eastern religions are known
for their mysticism; however, mysticism is not only a vital part of the
Christian heritage as well, but it is actually the core of Christian
spirituality. Mysticism simply means the spirituality of the direct
experience of God. It is the adventure of "the wild things of
God."
The direct experience of God is a kind of knowing,
which goes beyond intellectual understanding. It is not a matter of
"belief." It is marked by love and joy, but it is not
"emotional experience." In many ways, it is better described by what it is
not. To describe what it is, we must use metaphors—the marriage of the soul
to Christ, the death of the "old man" and birth of the "new
man," being the "body of Christ."
Jesus proclaimed "I and the Father
are one," (Jn. 10.30) showing the world what the
union of God and man can be. Christian mysticism is about nothing else
but this transforming union.
Christ is the sole end of Christian mysticism.
Whereas all Christians have Christ, call on Christ, and can (or should) know
Christ, the goal for the Christian mystic is to become Christ—to become as
fully permeated with God as Christ is, thus becoming like him, fully human, and
by the grace of God, also fully divine. In Christian teaching this doctrine is
known by various names—theosis, divinization, deification, and transforming
union.
A common misconception about mysticism is that
it's about "mystical experiences," and there are many volumes on such
experiences in religious literature. But true mysticism is not focussed on
"experiences" (which come and go) but with the lasting experience of
God, leading to the transformation of the believer into union with God.
To know God directly shows that mysticism is
different from any passive or legalistic kind of Christianity. It means:
Some readers may find this unsettling. Maybe you
believe it doesn't apply to you, because you "know" that your church
is purer and more correct than others. Even if that were true, is it a
substitute for knowing God directly? Or, you might also feel that trusting the
Bible alone gives you knowledge of God directly from the Source. But it was
written by mystics, listening to God speaking his Word in their hearts. Is it
possible for you to read it directly, without the conceptions of your language,
time, culture, and personal history? Are you sure you wouldn't understand it
very differently if you were reading it, say, in third-century
The religion we call "Christianity"
changes, but God is eternal. Mystical faith wants to know this unchanging God
to whom Christianity leads us, the One behind the beliefs and the words, the
One whom beliefs and words cannot describe. We want to follow Jesus' example
more closely, and go beyond the religion about Jesus, and take
the religion of Jesus: the knowledge of the Father and
unconditional love he had, and urged us to have.
I believe that everyone who wants
to love unconditionally is a mystic. All children are born
mystics, and if you were once a child, you were once a mystic. Christian
mysticism is following the example of Christ as he followed the Father. And
mysticism is not by any means restricted to Christianity: the Bible says,
“everyone who loves is begotten of God, and knows God.” (1 Jn.
4.7) God speaks in various ways, in every time and every place to
"whosoever will." Other pages on this site treat non-Christian
mysticism.
Mystics range the gamut of walks of life, from
intellectual priests such as Frs. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Matthew Fox,
to laywomen like Bernadette Roberts and Katherine Nelson. The mystic way is
old, but timeless—it is alive, and ever-new for each one who chooses it. It may
be inviting you to begin this adventure of divine transformation and discovery.
…
But when Jesus declared "I and the Father are
one," (Jn. 10.30) he proclaimed in himself the union of God
and humankind, and he offers it to all who follow him (he gave the power to
become sons of God to all who believe. (Jn. 1.12).
From there, the mystic heart is seen in the
letters of the apostles: Paul reached the divinized state of losing his
"self": I no longer live, but Christ lives in me! (Gal.
2.20) James wrote that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of
Lights, in whom there is neither variation nor shadow of turning. (Jas. 1.17)
Peter proclaimed that Christ even descended to hell to liberate imprisoned
souls, (1 Pet. 3.19) and John understood the most sublime truth of
God's essence: God is Love! (1 Jn. 4.8,16). This is only the
beginning. Every century has been influenced by Christian mystics—from apostles
and martyrs, Church Fathers and Desert Mothers, to monks and nuns of religious
orders, to the lay mystics—men and women and boys and girls in every century,
in every denomination, in every walk of life.
Source: http://www.frimmin.com/faith/mysticismintro.php