More and more people have been asking me lately “The Mystical Teachings Of Jesus” There seems to be quite a lot of blurry, confused notions and outright misconceptions about the word. And yet, it is perhaps one of the most important words pointing toward a fundamental truth about who we are at the soul of matter. Mysticism is about how we can come to live within the fullness of our true nature.

In a very real sense, because mysticism concerns the essence of life, it is audacious to even try and define it. Words are insufficient, often in the way of understanding. That to which the word “mysticism” refers, is a quality of presence that is quite literally beyond and before any words. Still, and like others, I feel compelled to try and come as close as I can to pointing toward something that speaks of our original nature. I beg pardon in advance for the terrible insufficiency of language and the limits of my own mere glimpses into these realms of an endless sacred mystery. Still, let me try.

A mystic is one who, above all else in life, desires to know, not in the intellectual sense of knowing, the deepest truth of existence. A mystic is one who senses more to life than making a living or being of service in the world although these things are both necessary and good. The mystic, however, is looking beyond an exclusive or preoccupied focus on these survival or self-actualization to something more. He is looking to discover the deepest truth of our being as incarnate souls; to understand our greatest potential as reflections of God; to realize our wholeness within the ground of all. The primary interest in life for the mystic is to discover truth, to know God, to see into mans whole nature. The mystic sees all of life as an abundant opportunity to discover, realize, and express the Divine.

Mysticism springs from an insatiable curiosity for understanding the essential questions of life: matters of God, creation, the infinite and the human potential for knowing truth. The mystic is in reality the ultimate scientist who, looking beyond the apparent or obvious in all matters, asks, “Is this that I am seeing reality or the illusions that stem from fear?” “What existed before this sense of reality?” “What existed before my mental constructs, my beliefs, my self identity?” “Who is this that observes and is self-reflecting?” “What is at life’s very source?”