The Mystical Experience in Connection

When you think about the word 'mystical', what comes to mind? Maybe you think dragons and the mists of time, something mysterious, or the opposite of concrete. Google "mystical meaning" and here's what comes up from the Oxford Dictionary:

1. relating to mystics or religious mysticism. "the mystical experience" 2. inspiring a sense of spiritual mystery, awe, and fascination. "the mystical forces of nature"

I refer to the transformation I've undergone since birth as a mystical one. I've experienced and still am experiencing a mystical transformation. Do I understand all of it? No, but here's my point–ALL of us experience transformation throughout our lives and it's the mystical that fascinates us. It's the mysterious events that happen in our lives that we remember.

One modern mystic was Thea Bowman, a black Franciscan nun. Reading about her life, she was amazing, smart, outspoken and clearly a leader for her time and ours today. While I'm not Catholic, nor a member of any church, her message speaks to all of us:

As outspoken as she was, Thea was also a gifted peacemaker — one who demonstrated rare joy and optimism at the often daunting work of facilitating interracial dialogue and understanding. “I can introduce my black friends to my Hispanic friends to my Anglo friends to my Asian friends to my Native friends,” she said in one interview. “I can be the bridge over troubled waters. I can take you by the hand and take you with me into the black community. I can walk with you into your community. And if I walk with you into your community, I don’t walk as a stranger, I walk as your sister.”  (Shannon Evans, Grotto Network, How Thea Bowman Set an Example for a Divided World, June 22, 2020)

Thea Bowman also said that coming together as one or seeing eye to eye, doesn't start in a church building, it starts outside our cliques, communities and churches. I agree. While Thea was talking about ethnicity, I'm talking about polarization especially between each other's points of view when we attempt to find common ground, but can't even agree on what's true and what isn't. It grieves me that polarization has taken over nations. Serious erosion of facts replaced by opinions over time is undermining everything we thought was fact.

Unfortunately, our responsibility in that erosion has also been lost as we point to others as the 'fakes'. We've forgotten how to dig for the truth by fact checking and by paying attention to history. It's our responsibility to dig for the truth outside of our own known sources. If we all agree the world is flat, we're not likely to believe anything else until our minds are open enough to entertain another viewpoint.

The other important point that struck me about this Franciscan mystic was her drive to get out there to understand and connect with people of every race and ethnicity. The definition of mystical above, in both meanings, uses the words "religious" and "spiritual". Those two words produce a negative response in me even though I was brought up in a religious family and still consider myself spiritual, as in open to the Spirit of Creator of All That Is. I have to look at that response to understand why. Perhaps I see 'religious' as a label that doesn't fit me and 'spiritual' as a limiting word for my experiences. Maybe that's why I love the word 'mystical'.

A mystical experience takes the type of connection Thea Bowman talked about to another level. It's walking with another in their space, connecting in the common space, and allowing ourselves to be present to what unfolds. And if we do or don't arrive at a consensus, we will have, at least, forged a deeper connection. I think Carolyn Myss sums this experience up perfectly when she says:

A mystical experience takes you from one realm into that which is uncontrollable and you adjust to the uncontrollable. (Carolyn Myss, The Mystic - The Power of Archetypes, 4:51 - 4:59)

There's another element to consider. Do we really know what our biases are? Can I genuinely listen to another's viewpoint without filtering them through what I already, and probably subconsciously, believe? The only way I know to get past my own biases, or filters, is to pay attention to the emotional responses of fear I have when listening. If a word or concept triggers a fear response in me, asking for clarification about what that word or concept means to the other person will help me understand the beliefs of the other person and, hopefully, lessen my fear.

We, as a species, tend to want to control our narratives and/or put forth agendas of disruption. Controlling and disrupting produces disconnection and misunderstanding to the point of chaos. When we open ourselves to the mystical we let go of our need to control and disrupt. Our task is to figure out what we want. Are we comfortable with the unknown or the mystical in life or do we want to control and disrupt those who disagree with us?

Carolyn Myss goes on to say that the experience of the sacred in mysticism is something you don't know until you experience it. That description tracks with my experience. I wouldn't call myself a mystic, but I would call myself one who is fascinated by the mystical in my lifelong search for meaning and purpose. Again, Carolyn Myss puts her finger on the crux of that search.

It's a need to feel what it is you're looking for.... At its core, what a person is looking for, is how do I break free of being afraid of myself, of my fear of my inner life, of my fear of my intuition, of my fear of inner guidance. How am I liberated to follow the deeper instincts in me so I can truly free myself? It's a quest to free the power of your spirit as opposed to the constraints that you may have put on your life because of circumstances, or because of who you think you should be, or because of choices you've made that just don't fit you." (Carolyn Myss, The Mystic - The Power of Archetypes, 16:54 - 18:08)

Can we truly have a mystical experience in connection with others? I submit that deep connection is one that doesn't attempt to change another's viewpoint, but seeks to listen and understand it. We don't have to agree on everything, but if we can find one concept we both can agree on, we will have opened the door to the mystical realm.