Swimming deep in mystic waters

“My perceptions are changing. And so are my dreams.”

I call these writings, mystic tales, yet I confess at the beginning of this blog journey I’d barely an idea of what the term, ‘mystic,’ actually meant. In retrospect, the entitling of this blog was a prophetic call to understanding something so dark and holy that only in recent weeks is beginning to sound in my spirit more vehemently that ever. It seems I am being drawn in to a richer understanding of this mysterious world of mystic thinking. Therefore this post and those to follow may be more to my benefit than yours - to illuminate the meaning of this mystery of mysticism. Follow along if you dare, but I’ll be honest once more here and say, if I had any power to turn back myself, I’d end the journey here…

Everything is quiet around me and my days are filled with sorrow. I am turning off the world and silence is piercing my soul. I say, with worldly understanding – “I am depressed!” With Christian knowing, I cry – “It is my sin!” But it is neither. I am coming to know the dark and holy…what fourteenth century monastics knew as “The Cloud of Unknowing;” what some described as “the night of the Spirit.”

“Come up higher,” the Spirit says, “and I will show you things.”(1)

Higher. Beyond mere sense and perception. Beyond mere emotion and feeling. Beyond illusion and unto Reality.

This is all I can explain so far. I am sure it cannot make much sense. It is a matter of Spirit, and those battles can hardly be understood by even the one who's taken up their sword. For now, I will say no more of something so unknown. From what I study (and there is much written) these are the early stages of mystic preparation – the ‘purification of the senses’ and the ‘purification of the will.’ The former to do with disciplining the attention (or the mind) is commonly known as Recollection; the latter dealing with a re-orientation of the heart (its affections), which the mystics lovingly know as Purgation. (2)

‘All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.’


1) Revelations 4:1
2) From Evelyn Underhill, Practical Mysticism.