While theological study continues to be an immense gift to the world, one can easily get trapped inside of endless discussions about abstract ideas with little emphasis on experience or practice. In contrast, mystics honor the experience of the essential mystery and unknowability of God and invite us to do the same. The more you know, the more you know you don’t know!
The above quote from Richard Rohr’s daily email, prompted me in a couple of ways. First, it reminded me of a post I wrote in 2006. In that post I reflected on my ambition to become a mystic.
Mystic…one who recognizes the presence of God in the mundane. A person who can sense the power and presence of God at work; who has the ability to see the real hand and power and presence of God. Someone who is so connected to the spiritual world that it changes how they live in the physical world. (Josh Graves)
An ambition fueled by Brother Lawrence, with his dramatic expressions of seeking and living in the presence of God were almost overwhelming.
I walk before God simply, in faith, with humility, and with love. I apply myself diligently to do nothing and think nothing which may displease Him. (Brother Lawrence)
Hidden in the crevasses of my mind, that ambition has run in the background of my life over the years. Rohr’s words opened a forgotten storage box of faded notes.
I though about disenchantment. As I have written before:
Living in a disenchanted age is the most significant challenge we face in seeking a relationship with God
In our disenchanted age, reliance on human ability, reason and scientific laws for purpose and meaning and answers to the problems of modernity rejects the transcendent as irrelevant. Accordingly mystics are persona non grata.
Pandemic, social and political upheaval have exposed our our arrogant self-sufficiency. Faced with inexplicable and uncontrollable forces, Superman has encountered kryptonite. In desperation, we cry out to Moloch and prepare appeasing sacrifices. Christianity, assimilated and subjugated into irrelevance fails to provide transcendent hope.
In the vacuum of our disenchanted, secular despair, the mystic’s voice is most needed to remind us of the power and presence of God at work; and open our eyes to see the real hand and power and presence of God.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Pslam 23
A mentor of mine once said you become dumber with more education. This concurs with Richard Rohr’s statement about greater knowledge revealing greater ignorance. Ironically, the smarter or more educated we become, the more we realize how little we truly know! Perhaps this is what Socrates meant when he claimed to be the wisest human alive because he knew that he knew nothing.