| This is an article from Carl's previous blog, Conversations Across the Table, originally posted on Thursday, April 14, 2005
I read a very strange statement the other day. “Mysticism is the longing to get closer to God through means that aren’t Godly. It’s about obtaining knowledge of things forbidden for ‘the secret things belong to God’ (Deut. 29).And it is often feelings-based. But faith must come by hearing the Word of God, not through experiences.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t note the source of the quote.
I find this notion that any knowledge is forbidden strange, and that we must not trust to experience but only “by hearing the Word of God” can be we have “faith.”
I gather that the Word of God can only be found in the Bible and be interpreted for us by chosen ministers.
I’ve known many ministers, and read many of their writings, and rarely have I found much agreement among them. I have an “Encyclopedia of the Bible” and “The Catholic Encyclopedia,” and I don’t find a lot of clarity in either. Sometimes these writings are helpful in my research, but none have brought me closer to God.
As I write these words, I hear the sound of a waterfall just outside my window, and in the background there are sounds of birds. The new spring air comes in my window and brings with it the “feelings” of Life everywhere and of the presence of God (Goddess, Creator, Deity, Universal Force, the Source, the Mighty I AM) in everything. In words, I “feel the presence of God.”
Are such feelings ungodly? Are they illegal?
I don’t believe it!
Is Mysticism bad? What about the many mystics of the Church named “saints?” What of the many mystics of other faiths than Christian? What of Pope John Paul II who was both a mystic and a man of this world, and a man most likely to be proclaimed a saint by the next pope?
I believe mysticism is a legitimate path to God, a return to the Source, a fulfillment of life’s purpose. It is not the only path, or perhaps even the “best” path – although I suspect that whatever works is the best for whom if works.
How can one person proclaim any path to be ungodly?
|
