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May/June 2008 Spirituality
The Everyday Mystic

by Julie Applegate

True mystics, such as Rumi, Meister Eckhart, St. Teresa of Avila, Jesus, Krishnamurti and Buddha, have had a lasting effect on the consciousness of humanity. Mystics have a profound ability to ground the inner experience of spirit.

What is mysticism?

Evelyn Underhill's Practical Mysticism, a classic work published in 1914, gives one of the clearest discussions on the subject. She writes, "Mysticism is the art of union with reality. The mystic is a person who has attained that union in greater or less degree, or who aims at and believes in such attainment."

The question that then follows: What is reality? The answer becomes a bit of a circular experience, because to understand reality Underhill says one must be a mystic.

It can seem impossible to provide words for that which is beyond words, beyond thought. It is an experience. My best description is that mysticism is an experience of losing oneself, one's boundaries and feeling, knowing that there is only one absolute life, folding into God, spirit and light. It is an ecstatic place of pure peace, an awareness that what we see on a day-to-day basis is not the true nature of reality.

Defining mysticism is like defining an orange. We can define an orange according to a scientific category by describing what it looks like and how it feels. We can even say that the orange is delightful tasting and very nourishing. Still there is no way one person can convey to another person what an orange tastes like. That is up to the one tasting it. So it is with the experience of reality.

Mystics show up in all religions. Mystical experiences are available to us all by the very fact that we are part of life. It isn't the special person, although it seems that some are born more inclined toward mystical experiences. Mystics are normal people who have had an experience that transcends their normal senses or as Underhill says, "aims at and believes in such attainment."

In The Holographic Universe, author Michael Talbot writes about Valerie Hunt, a physical therapist and professor of kinesiology at UCLA. She found that if our focus was simply on the material world, our energy frequency cycles per second are about 250 or within the normal range of the biological frequencies of our heart. People who attain frequencies at 900 or above, Hunt calls mystics. She says they possess information and the wisdom to know what to do with it. "They are aware of the cosmic interrelatedness of all things and are in touch with every level of human experience. They are anchored in ordinary reality, but often have both psychic and trance abilities."

My first mystical experiences, though I did not recognize them as such, were in nature. I lived with my grandparents who were snow birds. They had a farm in Idaho but lived in Arizona in the winter. I was able to enjoy living in town and having many friends in the winter, but then return to the farm in summer. There, as an only child, I immersed myself in the creeks, pastures and hay fields of country living. As a small child I loved both homes, but I particularly loved the farm even though I had no other children with which to play. The farm developed in me a sense of union with my environment where on occasion, I simply felt at one with all of it. Of course, I didn't know that was anything special, it was just my life.

As an adult, my interest in mysticism grew and I have had some very profound experiences. In one, I was participating in a group meditation led by a very awake individual. I think the experience had more to do with my proximity to an awakened teacher than anything spiritually mature in myself. I had every desire to be awake, but I was definitely not. During the meditation, I felt myself as an identified personality completely disappear and sink into utter nothingness - dark and silent. The void was absolutely peaceful and delicious.

Remember this nothingness is the nothingness that is everything. There was consciousness of experience but no identity. Then identity began to float up and I became concerned that I would disappear. I was not afraid of disappearing as an identified consciousness, just that it would be very inconvenient for the class. Once I began to think, I returned to everyday awareness.

Mystical experiences do not come when we are seeking them. They come unaware during spiritual practice. Mysticism is not about avoiding life but embracing life. Mystical experiences are fleeting. At best they awaken us to a deeper faith and love, informing us of something vast and wonderful.

Julie Applegate, a New Thought minister for 13 years, is founding minister of Open Spirit in Portland. With Molly Eacret, she co-leads Stillpoint, a contemplative community within Open Spirit. Visit www.openspiritcommunity.org.