"Out Of The Box"

Just encountering the word seems to automatically flood the mind with images of scantily clad, skinny, wild- eyed, bearded males hanging out in remote caves and mountain ranges, developing intensely intimate relationships with their belly-buttons while channeling esoteric wisdom like, "wet birds do not fly at night."

"Not so," say the Wise Ones. They remind us that we can be "mystics" while putting in time as the CEO of a Fortune 500 exercise or as an unwed mother of nine kids making it happen in the gut of a fierce big-city ghetto. Mysticism isn’t about what’s going on in the temporal world of ever-changing form... it’s about remembering that, though you may be currently "in" that world, you ain’t necessarily "of" it.

Being a mystic means going beyond the obvious and the immediate and beginning to let your mind play with the possibility that there is something more going on than that which meets the eye. Something not visible to ordinary ways of seeing. A dimension of the Kingdom that simply isn’t available to form-oriented reason and intellect. An ancient Reality that reveals itself only to those who have prepared themselves to take a leap of faith and intuition into the Sea of Eternal Oneness. . . back to a living, loving relationship with the Mystery that they "see" saturating and permeating the Whole Existence.

The mystical orientation, or experience, is always the same, whether Taoist, Hindu, Native American, Buddhist, Christian, Hebrew, Muslim or what have you. All mystics live with an abiding awareness that all Creation is a seamless, inseparable expression of the Force at Play. As Krishna put it to Arjuna, "The Illumined One sees himself in All and All in him."

Or as the giant 13th century Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart observed, "To watch a child pouring water into a glass is to watch God pouring God into God." Or again, "Going around looking for God is like sitting on an ox looking for an ox to ride." Or again, "The dung in the stable and God are one. The fleas and the cat and God are all One."

Do you want to see God? Are you ready for this? Try looking into a mirror.

Now that’s a take on theology that will rattle some cages. As Carl Jung observed, "The unapologetic mystic has always been a thorn in the side of the dogmatic and creedal church, but it is to the mystic that we owe all that is best in religion and humanity."

Recently, on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, the headline said, "MYSTICS CHANGING THE OLD-TIME RELIGION: A CHALLENGE FOR CHURCHES."

The article brought out the fact that a growing population of spiritual seekers are seeing Truth in teachings embraced by religions outside their traditional persuasion and are now insisting these fresh insights be included in the doctrine of their hometown churches. As the article put it, "They are altering the religious landscape and demanding that their churches recognize the beautiful and valid spiritual paths that are outside the orthodox Judeo-Christian traditions."

Jacob Needleman, a professor of philosophies at San Francisco State U. expressed it this way: "They (the mystics) are helping re-define the meaning of religion. Religion is not about obeying rituals, rules and social correctness. It is a means for transforming the interior life."

Could it be, folks, that scarcely two years into the 21st century we are bearing witness to the Ghost Dance of the traditional and orthodox Christian churches? The ones out there doing their best to preserve dying institutions with dead-tired mythology, doctrine, and worship form?

Valid questions, and certainly ones for us to keep in mind lest we get so bogged down in tradition we forget to keep the Unity experience a fresh and provocative experience . . . an eternal invitation to rub shoulders with a mystical insight so profound it gives the visionaries who embrace it the power to set themselves free from all manner of self-imposed suffering.

But I’ve got a hunch this merry band of mystics we call Unity will never let that happen. Your fresh and vital mysticism combined with your commitment to authentic spiritual inquiry and intentional transformation fills our Unity Center with a unique vitality that nourishes our commitment to remain a cutting-edge spiritual resource. A place where all beings can gather to explore and reflect upon a vast sea of ancient Wisdom reflecting the essence of every sacred teaching the human family has found healing, refreshing and inspirational.

It’s my sense that individual churches, irrespective of their denomination, who cling to the old ways and refuse to honor and embrace the mystical theology of Wholeness and Oneness will eventually perish.

At the same time, those visionary churches that choose to change and grow into spacious, inclusive statements of God’s eternal Love for the Whole Creation will become dynamic spiritual centers whose influence will be felt throughout the planet.

Viva la mystic! Viva Unity!

Enjoy the Grace.
--Chad

© 2002 Rev. Chad O'Shea

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