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Hi, I'm Sophy ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter. This week we'll talk about visions and mysticism.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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Visioning and Spiritual Mysticism
For the purpose of this article, I’ll be using the terms mysticism and visioning
somewhat interchangeably, even though I DO realize
they don’t always mean the same thing in everyday nomenclature.
In broad terms, "religious or spiritual practitioners of mysticism traditionally hold that there is a deeper, more fundamental state of existence hidden beneath the appearances of day–to–day living. Seeking both internal and external union is the goal of a mystic, as one seeks the truth about oneself, as well as about one's relationship to others and the rest of the cosmos. A mystic's motivation for such an arduous endeavor may be unique to the individual and culture, but usually relates to the religion or spiritual practice they follow. Generally approached through the purification processes of prayer, meditation, contemplation, and a wide variety of other means, the mystic seeks to transcend any constraint to his or her direct experience of the divine." (from wikipedia) In some cases, those mystical experiences results in powerful visions or dreams.
Judaism, of course, is filled with the visions of the great prophets, who were believed to have received visions and messages directly from God to share with the people of Israel. Remember Ezekiel’s vision about the dry bones in the valley? That’s one example. And the passage from Isaiah 11 is another well-known vision found in Hebrew Scripture, a sort of ancient “I have a dream” prophesy which speaks of the possibility of a peaceable kingdom of God, one that we can dream into being as a community of faith. And those visions are followed by centuries of Jewish mysticism and visioning, most particularly within the Kabbalah branch of Judaism.
The history of Christianity is also filled with those seeking and receiving visions from God. Paul is one of the first recorded Christian receivers of a vision, the one that occurred at his conversion on the road to Damascus, followed through the centuries by mystics, such as Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, and Julian of Norwich, who intentionally entered states of meditation and prayer which produced a variety of visions, many of which were often written down in precise detail to share with others. More modern mystics within the Christian tradition include Simone Weil and Thomas Merton.
Followers of Zen Buddhism and the Sufi branch of Islam also seek and receive visions as part of their own brand of mysticism, and many native peoples embark on a “vision quest” as a rite of passage in some Native American cultures. For instance, in traditional Lakota society the vision quest, for which the Lakota word literally means “crying for a vision” is one of seven main rites of passage. Typical vision quest preparations involve a time of fasting, the guidance of a tribal Medicine Man, and sometimes ingestion of natural psychoactive substances (most often some plant matter with hallucinogenic effects) which facilitate a spiritual or mystical experience. Vision quests are undertaken for the first time in the early teenage years within the Lakota culture, and the quest itself is usually a journey alone into the wilderness seeking personal growth and spiritual guidance from the Great Spirit, similar to some of Jesus wilderness sojourns and prayer journeys.
Those are just a few examples of the spiritual practice of visioning within religious settings, and while some might consider the resulting visions to be the product of overactive imaginations or hallucinations and not necessarily messages from a divine source, those who receive them are usually convinced that they have received the gift of their vision for a purpose from the Sacred, whether it be for individual growth or community sharing. But visions and mysticism are not confined to religious or spiritual practitioners. While certainly it can be argued that receiving a vision itself is part of our larger spiritual self, some receive visions in their everyday lives that come quite suddenly, out of the blue, without any obvious search for it, or at least, in unexpected ways even if we were searching for one. And they may be as powerful and meaningful as one received by a lifelong mystic. Or perhaps a vision will come to us in a less obvious way, like a powerful inner voice or being able to see something with fresh clarity.
Elizabeth Gilbert shares a mystical experience she had in her book, Eat, Pray, Love. During a particularly difficult time in her life, when she was contemplating ending an unhappy marriage, Liz found herself speaking directly to God for the first time in her life, from the floor of her bathroom, where she lay sobbing. As she cried out her words to God, she shared the depth of her pain and begged God to tell her what to do. Should she leave her marriage? Should she stay and try to work it out. She ended her prayer chanting, over and over, “Please tell me what to do. Please tell me what to do. Please tell me what to do!” She writes, “I don’t know how many times I begged. I only know that I begged like someone who was pleading for her life. And the crying went on forever. Until – quite abruptly – it stopped. Quite abruptly I found that I was not crying anymore. I’d stopped crying, in fact, in mid-sob." And then she heard a voice inside of her head, her own voice, actually, which said: "Go back to bed, Liz." She writes, "It was so immediately clear that this was the only thing to do" in that particular moment in time. Go back to bed.
What about you? Have you experienced a spiritual vision of any sort in your life? Or perhaps you have suddenly comprehended an inner sense of wisdom that becomes clear to you for the first time? Do you write about it? Perhaps an idea or vision even occurs to you as you are writing, and a new poem or story emerges. While I respect the tradition of mystics from a variety of religious paths, one thing that has become clear for me in recent years is that one doesn't have to be a "professional mystic" in order to dream dreams and experience visions. Nor does one have to receive a traditional type of blinding vision with a booming, otherworldly voice in order for it to be an legitimate message from the Sacred Reality, or perhaps even from our own spiritual core. Rather, one just needs to pay attention, and listen, because more often than not it's the still small voice that calls to us.
Peace! Sophy
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Below you'll find some offerings from other WDC members about visions and mystical experiences. Please let the folks know if you read their piece by leaving a thoughtful comment or review.
First, several poems about visions or mystics:
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|  | The Circle (E)
This poem is close to my heart and expresses my Native American beliefs.
#1299827 by PolarB  |
And a memoir:
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Here is a response to my last newsletter about the Fall Equinox! Hope to hear from more of you next time! And don't forget to pass on subject ideas for future newsletters. 
From Helen McNicol
Spare a thought for those on the other side of the world...it's spring in New Zealand!
Lucky you! I love Spring too! I did specify in my newsletter that the Autumnal Equinox was happening in the Northern Hemisphere, which is where I live. That said, the changing of seasons is a universal spiritual theme, even though which season we are changing from/to does depend which side of the world we live on! 
    
Please keep your comments and suggestions coming! Until next time! Sophy
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Spiritual: October 24, 2007 Issue [#2016]
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