So I discovered today I’m for sure not a mystic. Oh, I’d suspected it for a long time-but I really do love to meditate, so I thought that maybe, in my own way, I might be.
Nope. Not at all. Mystics meditate into nothing. They have moved beyond emotional experiences. They turn away from insights. They stay with the silence-but only the silence. Listening, but never hearing. Emptying and opening–but never filled.
That is one way to meditate. And it may be the way you love–in which case, I’m glad you enjoy it. Maybe you are a mystic!
But if you can’t get into meditation that way (or if you don’t even want to try) then let me show you another path.
Because that’s not the only way. There’s a way of meditating that’s more like knitting a soft blanket for the baby, or making a kitchen table from a plank of hand-rubbed wood. It’s pretty normal, everyday stuff. And it’s easy!
Oh, it’s not ‘thinking as usual’. Meditation puts you in God’s embrace. Your mind grounded in scripture…your awareness moves down, opens out and takes in. There are thoughts in meditation, as well as spaces between thoughts. Emotions, and images. There are tender times, and times of pain. Times of emptiness and distraction, too. And sudden joyful surges of being held and loved. Sharp amazements of truth, bursting with glory.
Hum… Talking about meditation is a little like talking about music. No matter how hard you try, it’s still just talk and not music! Yet though it’s hard to describe meditation, the things I learn in meditation are very real, and comprehendible, even after the meditation is over.
Perhaps this kind of meditation is just ordinary, homely stuff. But to me it’s lovely, special and important-and if you’ve never done it, you might want to try.
In your mind, just imagine sitting in a porch swing, in the evening… becoming aware of the gentle rustling of the leaves in the breeze… and a friend there beside you. A friend who is also God. Who knows your deepest heart, and yet still cherishes you. He is more wonderful to you than all the most wonderful people you can ever imagine-and He promises that more and more you will be like Him, living this very experience of loving, and being loved, out into the world.
Actually, I’m glad I’m not a mystic. I love the piercing sweetness of my world when He’s in it with me. I love having God show me how different it all looks from the inside out.
Maybe you’d love it too.
“…the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:26-27.
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Source by Deborah Kukal, Ph.D.
