The path of the mystic

 

I agree that we cannot remain silent about things that are ‘ineffable’. What has inspired me a lot is reading people's mystical experiences. Those that could bring back some of the Divine wisdom back through the barrier of ineffability. I would go as far as saying it is the mystic's duty to bring down the Divine into the world of materialism.

Between knowing a fact about a thing and knowing its nature. To know facts about something, you use the intellect, reasoning and language, but to know the nature of something, you have to become one with it. It is like giving all the facts of a mango to someone that have never seen one. But does not matter how good your explanations are, you can never give the person the experience of tasting a mango. This is the conundrum of the mystic.

Instead of asking how we know that the Divine has revealed himself in a particular tradition, we could ask how I can experience the Divine myself.

Imagine there is an isolated community which have evolved with zero or very limited emotions. They have very highly developed intellectual capacities and normal physical abilities. Their society is organised using their amazing intellect, and through this, all their physical needs are met.

Now imagine a man from this community travels to a far distant land and falls deeply in love with a woman. This deep love overrides his intellectual reasoning, and her physical well-being becomes more important than his own. After a few months, he travels back to his community and is faced with the ‘ineffability’ of explaining to them what ‘being in love’ is. This is the conundrum of the mystic.

How can the mystic use intellectual language to express the burning light of the Divine shining out from his heart? How many times does the mystic need to hug his companions to give them a glimpse of the experience that they are all one with the Divine and always have been? How does one describe the burning compassion of the flame of love in your heart to others who only have the tools of the intellect and physical body? This is the conundrum of the mystic.

The only way to know the nature of the Divine is to experience it for yourselves. Jumping off the cliff of the intellect into the heart of the Divine. Falling and falling into the everlasting deep waters of Divine love flowing around you and flowing through you. Until your heart explodes into a song of everlasting love. This is the path of the mystic.