What does it mean to say you're a mystic?

[Orbit]

What does it mean to say you're a mystic? Is your experience in relation to a monotheistic, polytheistic, or panentheistic conception of God? What is your spiritual practice? (So many questions, so little time)

 

[Vinayaka]

I assume you're asking individuals, not what individuals think a general definition, or explanation would be.

So my POV is: Henotheism, technically. I'm Hindu in a mystically inclined tradition. In a nutshell, it's a non-intellectiual exploration of inner worlds, where intuition and insight play important roles.

 

[nazz]

What does it mean to say you're a mystic? Is your experience in relation to a monotheistic, polytheistic, or panentheistic conception of God? What is your spiritual practice? (So many questions, so little time)

It means you believe in the direct experience of the divine however you conceive that

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Mysticism is simply realism in high definition.

 

[Willamena]

Mysticism is simply realism in high definition.

How do you figure?

 

[Ouroboros]

What does it mean to say you're a mystic?

If I told you, you wouldn't be mystified over it anymore.

 

[psychoslice]

For me a mystic is someone who see the universe as being mysterious, he see's himself as being one with all there is, not just the mind body. This realization cannot be put into words or made a concept out of, so therefore its mysterious, and hence the mystic.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

How do you figure?

I suppose it was an ugly way to put it. I was referring to the 'seeing more in less' thing. A mystic and layperson could look at the same tree and while it is exactly the same objective information projecting onto them both, a mystic draws more subjective information from it, but at the same time holds a simpler (thus clearer) view.

 

[psychoslice]

Yes that's a nice way of looking at it also Awe.

 

[ShivaFan]

All the Hindu adventures I have been magically lucky to walk down, in, through - (run... also) - for some reason, sooner or later, take me into the mystic or bump into really mystic type people. For me (not saying for everyone) however, this mystic "tweeking" is not a reference to inner (all by myself) looking but instead a presence, another looking back, outside of myself. Not yoga. Not siddhi power. Mystical - different. It causing one to "tweek for more". Sort of like love.

 

[Orbit]

If I told you, you wouldn't be mystified over it anymore.

Go sit in the corner, lol

 

[Willamena]

I suppose it was an ugly way to put it. I was referring to the 'seeing more in less' thing. A mystic and layperson could look at the same tree and while it is exactly the same objective information projecting onto them both, a mystic draws more subjective information from it, but at the same time holds a simpler (thus clearer) view.

Okay, thanks for the explanation.

 

[Quintessence]

I've taken to thinking about religion as having two fundamental categories. The first is what most people in my culture think about when they think religion - "traditional" religion where the practices, doctrines, or mythos is handed down to you by an external authority. Then there is "mystical" religion where practices, doctrines, and mythos are grounded in direct personal experience of the individual. These two models are not mutually exclusive, technically, but a religion tends to lean towards one or the other. You either ground your religion primarily in external authority, or you ground your religion primarily in your own personal authority. I call myself a mystic at times because I belong to a mystical religion. I work directly with my gods, and what I do is a practice far more than it is a creed.

 

[Sunstone]

I suppose it was an ugly way to put it. I was referring to the 'seeing more in less' thing. A mystic and layperson could look at the same tree and while it is exactly the same objective information projecting onto them both, a mystic draws more subjective information from it, but at the same time holds a simpler (thus clearer) view.

I agree with you to some extent, Sum. And yet, so far as I've been able to find out, it's far more likely that the mystic typically "sees the tree" with less distortion and bias, and in greater detail, than the non-mystic. It's not uncommon for people who've had mystical experiences of the oneness of all things to say that their ability to see things as they are, without distortion or bias, has improved following their experience. Apparently, a great deal of distortion and bias is somehow tied to the self -- to the psychological self -- and the mystical experience of oneness somehow affects that.

 

[Sunstone]

What does it mean to say you're a mystic?

I assume people who think of themselves as mystics could have any number of reasons for doing so, given how loose the term "mystic" is. For instance, I've heard people describe themselves as "a mystic" simply because they believed crystals have magical powers. There must be dozens of possible things someone might mean by calling themselves a mystic.

Having said all that, I myself tend to think of mystics as people who have had, and who've been influenced by, experiences of the One, or of the oneness of all things. Those are two slightly different kinds of experiences, but having either or both would qualify one as a mystic in my book.

Is your experience in relation to a monotheistic, polytheistic, or panentheistic conception of God?

I don't think deity is a necessary component, or a necessary interpretation, of the experience of the One, or of the oneness of all things.

 

[allfoak]

History of Christian mysticism
Early church
Although the essence of mysticism is the sense of contact with the transcendent, mysticism in the history of Christianity should not be understood merely in terms of special ecstatic experiences but as part of a religious process lived out within the Christian community. From this perspective mysticism played a vital part in the early church. Early Christianity was a religion of the spirit that expressed itself in the heightening and enlargement of human consciousness. It is clear from the Synoptic Gospels (e.g., Matthew 11:25–27) that Jesus was thought to have enjoyed a sense of special contact with God. In the primitive church an active part was played by prophets, who were believed to be recipients of a revelation coming directly from the Holy Spirit.

Christianity -- Encyclopedia Britannica

 

[Vouthon]

Mysticism: Part One: The Mystic Fact: I. The Point of Departure

"...The most highly developed branches of the human family have in common one peculiar characteristic. They tend to produce—sporadically it is true, and often in the teeth of adverse external circumstances—a curious and definite type of personality; a type which refuses to be satisfied with that which other men call experience, and is inclined, in the words of its enemies, to “deny the world in order that it may find reality.” We meet these persons in the east and the west; in the ancient, mediaeval, and modern worlds. Their one passion appears to be the prosecution of a certain spiritual and intangible quest: the finding of a “way out” or a “way back” to some desirable state in which alone they can satisfy their craving for absolute truth. This quest, for them, has constituted the whole meaning of life. They have made for it without effort sacrifices which have appeared enormous to other men: and it is an indirect testimony to its objective actuality, that whatever the place or period in which they have arisen, their aims, doctrines and methods have been substantially the same. Their experience, therefore, forms a body of evidence, curiously self-consistent and often mutually explanatory, which must be taken into account before we can add up the sum of the energies and potentialities of the human spirit, or reasonably speculate on its relations to the unknown world which lies outside the boundaries of sense..."

 

[Baladas]

When I say that I am a mystic, I mean that my spirituality is primarily derived from direct experience of the Divine, or the oneness of all things.
That said, I am a panentheist. My practices include meditation, introspection, self-improvement and seeking to make a positive influence on the world.

 

[arcanum]

A mystic is one who strives to know, experience, and see beneath the surface of of things: physically, textually, psychologically, and spiritually.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Apparently, a great deal of distortion and bias is somehow tied to the self -- to the psychological self -- and the mystical experience of oneness somehow affects that.

Interesting point.