Part 4: Our Common and Universal Inheritance

‘Only The Mystics Will Survive ‘

Theme 4 : –    Our Common and Universal Spiritual  Inheritance.

‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father (The Source of all life)’

An important Pre-Amble

This topic and its conference talks were delivered to, and focused mainly on, a Christian audience. Consequently, the following theme draws mainly from the Christian Tradition and focuses on some of the reasons that the formal Christian Churches are struggling to retain members in the West and that many are either losing all contact or looking for spiritual wisdom in the East..

Another point about these reflections is that they are the author’s response to Ishpriya’s words. It is a well known fact, that if 30 people attend a talk, there are at least 30 different interpretations. These reflections are honestly made and directly connected with Ishpriya’s theme. However, they are filtered through the ‘cultural eyes and ears’ of the author. Where reflections are not directly rooted in Ishpriya’s talks, these are shown in brown type.

Finally, although these brief reflections focus on Christianity, readers from other Faith Traditions could find many of its points familiar with their lived experience and certainly the overall conclusions apply to all.

For what is Mysticism? It is not the attempt to draw near to God,  not by rites or ceremonies, but by inward disposition? Is it not merely a hard word for 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within'?   Heaven is neither a place nor a time.                                 Florence Nightingale

The Web of Life

Humankind has not woven the web of life; 
we are but one thread in it. What we do to the web,
 we do to ourselves. 
All things are bound together. All things connect.

–Chief Seattle a  Native American 1780-1866

The Early Christian Communities

In this part of her reflections, Ishpriya addresses some of the issues and reasons surrounding the fact that many Christians, and those from a Christian Culture, have turned to the East when searching for a spiritual path. She began by re-examining our common (Christian) Western spiritual inheritance, an inheritance which is very often unknown or forgotten.  She provided a ‘sketch’ of the growth in western spirituality and reminded us that (initially) it grew out of its Palestinian context, where ideas from   both Eastern and Middle Eastern mysticism were well known. Jesus was an itinerant Teacher who, like the Gurus of India, attracted the marginalised of society with his deeply spiritual, yet radical, teachings on love and a way of being.

The Bible

However, after 2 or 3 centuries the scriptures of the Christian Tradition were chosen, settled and closed. This led to what Christians now call the Bible, with its Old Testament, which is the heart of the Jewish Scripture and the New Testament which portrays the accepted ‘norms’ of the Early  Christian Church.  By this time, the followers of Jesus, who were first called ‘Followers of the Way,  had grown into a series of communities which together formed  a recognisable ‘Church’. This Church had its hierarchy and a set of sacraments, rites and rituals but with the Bible a central platform for teaching and spreading the ‘faith’.

All other books or scriptures, some reputedly written by disciples who knew Jesus were literally ‘suppressed’. The Council of Nicea in 325 a.d, convened to provide the Emperor Constantine which a formal Church doctrine, finally decided the books that were to be included or excluded. Thus the modern Bible was formed.  At the time of the Reformation, Protestant Churches refused to accept the Apocrypha and thus the Protestant Bible was formulated.  Only fairly recently with the discovery of the Qumran ( Dead Sea) Scrolls , a collection of 972 texts discovered in the mid 20^th Century,  which amongst other things , contain a series of alternative texts from the Jewish Scriptures ( Old Testament), have offered some new interpretations  which are now widely published on the Internet. Another significant find was that of ancient Coptic Scrolls. These were found in 1945 in the Nile Valley and are known as the Nag Hammadi Documents. These contain four Gnostic Gospels, plus other Christian writings,   which throw a more ‘mystical’ light of the life, teachings and life of Jesus.   

In addition, the ‘revelation’ of the Mystery, which can never be fully known by mere humans, is ongoing . Each generation is best advised to understand that much of Scripture is written in mythical language. Now a ‘myth’ is not a fairy tale, it is a mystical , symbolic , metaphorical form of writing about deep truths that need careful reading, contemplation and reflection. In every generation, each individual has to take the ‘text’ of the Scriptures and apply 4 modes of reading it. These are to first read  the literal text and then to test it out  by ‘reading’ it through  three further ‘lens’  These ‘lens’ are the  spiritual message of the text, then the moral  ( present day) message and finally the mystical message. This method of examining Scripture is very ancient and certainly goes back almost 2000 years. Unfortunately, many modern day readers of Scripture have lost this and rely solely on a literal reading of the text.

It is advisable to be aware that Scripture merely gives guidelines and these guidelines have to be interpreted in the light of other aspects of the unfolding revelation. For those who believe in Creation and the Mystery behind it, then we know that no words can fully describe this Mystery and that all revelation from whatever profession are part of the unfolding of Creation and the on-going revelation. Therefore, Science and Cosmology have a part to play in humanities understanding of the Mystery and therefore, they too are part of revelation. In short, modern science is re-telling the Creation story and adding to our understanding and awareness of the Mystery or Source of Creation.

In addition, like love , spiritual wisdom is a universal quality. The Scriptures and writings from other cultures and traditions form a vast reservoir of wisdom. They are a Universal Heritage. They form part of the vast banquet of spirituality which each culture and tradition offers. Christianity has its offerings to make but we need to feel free to make use of texts and teachings from this vast reservoir  and so we return to Ishpriya’s theme.

Priest and Sacraments

All this led to two reasonably unique aspects which underpin the Christian approach to mysticism. The first are its heavy reliance on Scripture, and acceptable Scripture at that. The second is its ecclesiastic tradition, which is one of structure, hierarchy, central control, sacraments and its sacraments and rituals which only the hierarchical priests can perform.

NB  This is not an exclusively Christian trait but is part of all the mainstream ‘patriarchal’ religions.

These two ways or  two main pillars ,  are seen as the almost exclusive means of accessing the mystical. Historically,  other approaches were, and are,  frowned upon or discouraged. This differs from the Eastern Tradition, with its emphasis on the relationship between the Guru and  the disciple and  its emphasis on the experiential nature of mysticism. In the Christian Tradition access to the immediate experience of God is through the two main doors of Scripture and the Ecclesiastical.

In addition, Christianity has always been cautious and wary of  an individual’s ‘ mystical experiences’ and frowned upon individuals experimenting in mysticism. It has, in this way,  blocked this avenue of access to the Mystery , albeit at times unconsciously. Therefore, unlike the East, we have not developed a tradition of spiritual guides and gurus and this may explain why westerners who are seeking guidance look to the Eastern Faith Traditions.

Note :-  There are exceptions in Western Christianity. These spring from Celtic Spirituality

( which is my cultural root). Celtic Christianity, which retained many of its pre- Christian roots, was less influenced by mainstream Roman Christianity. It retained the practice of encouraging the Spiritual Aspirant to find an Anam Cara  ( Soul Friend). These were people of wisdom and not necessarily members of the established Ecclesiastical order.

Many from the East feel that Christianity is merely involved and pre-occupied with ‘Sin and Social Work’ and less interested in how individuals can be guided and supported on and in their own unique spiritual journey. Increasingly, with the growth in our multi cultural society, Christians are being both challenged and enriched by their contact with other traditions. Part of this challenge is to find the roots of our own Christian mysticism and its tradition. This requires us to revisit Scripture and to realise that ‘ We find God in the life of Jesus the Christ.’

There are numerous examples of this tendency of the Institutional Church opposing and persecuting Mystics. Two famous ones are St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila. John of the Cross, a great Spiritual Master, was tortured and persecuted by his own Religious Order, because of his ‘mystical’ writings and teachings. Teresa, who recognised the great need for ‘reformation’ in both the Church and her Order, she too faced great opposition. Another example is that of Meister Eckhart. He is arguably the greatest mystic of the Medieval Christian Church. He  was persecuted and threatened with excommunication because of his radical teaching on the nature of the Mystery and how we can relate to and with this Mystery.

Eckhart preached about the paradox of the Mystery, there is nothing we can really say that defines the Mystery, his teachings have some resonance with those of Daoism, one of its great Teachers Lau Tsu wrote this ‘ The Dao ( the Way) that can be named cannot be the Dao’

Laughing God

Two of Eckhart’s quotes are shown below. These demonstrate his ‘radical’ theology and why many conservative and fundamental Christians, both in his time and now, find him challenging.

“My Lord told me a joke. And seeing Him laugh has done more for me than any scripture I will ever read.”

God cannot be referred to as "good", "better", or “best” because He is above all things. If a man says that God is “wise”, the man is lying because anything that is wise can become wiser. Anything that a man might say about God is incorrect, even calling Him by the name of God. God is "superessential nothingness" and "transcendent Being"..."beyond all words and beyond all understanding. The best a man can do is remain silent, because anytime he prates on about God, he is committing the sin of lying. The true master knows that if he had a God he could understand, He would never hold Him to be God.' 

Now to return to further points from Ishpriya.

Ishpriya suggested that we could begin this by examining three texts from Scripture. These were from the New Testament and St John’s Gospel, namely John 10:30, John 14:9 and John 16:7.  These , she contended, were ‘great sentences’ similar to the great sentences and sutras of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. Sentences that required study, reflection and contemplation, because they contained great truths and were examples of a mystical experience. She then focused on each of these in turn and examined them and their mystical meaning and context.

She then  both reminded  and emphasised to listeners that in  John’s Gospel the Source is referred to as Abba the Father.  But first the three texts which reveal great truths that are at the heart of revelation about the Mystery..

The Heart of Revelation

‘I and the Father (The Source of all life) are one’ 
John 10:30

‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father 
(The Source of all Life)                                                     John14:9                                                                                           

‘I must go (disappear) otherwise the Spirit will not come to you’            John 16:7

Ishpriya explored these  and suggested that they were deep and great mystical sayings. They demonstrated the mystical experiences of Jesus the Christ who felt a oneness with the Source (Abba – the Father).

A potential problem for Christians is that they could be so ‘blown away’ by Jesus and thus  become too pre-occupied with Him and his earthly life. This could result in our failure to both realise and thus  fail to see a mystical and deeply helpful and wonderful truth. This was, that through the life of Jesus  and His  way  of Being we could find a  medium through which we can see the Source, the Mystery, the God  Jesus referred to as Abba ( Daddy).

Ishpriya then looked at some of the signs and qualities of Jesus and His teaching, she particularly focused on compassion, hope and joy. She remarked on how, in their anxiety to find answers to the critical challenges facing them, Church Authorities and Leaders were frantically into re-organisation and trying to find more resources.  She ended we a reflection on what was really needed for ourselves, our world and our spiritual future.

What the world needed was people of compassion, hope, joy and understanding. It did not need re-organising or more resources etc.  It merely required each of us to develop our holiness (wholeness) and mystical awareness.

How aware am I of my  own spiritual inheritance and  do or could  I make use of this?

How helpful could I find  spiritual inheritance from other Traditions i.e. Universal Wisdom ? 

What else struck me about the concept/idea of  the phrase ‘Our Common Inheritance’?  

If I could only do one thing different in my spiritual practice, what ONE THING would I choose? 

Postscript   


Our understanding of who or what ‘God’ by whatever name we call it; is extremely important in our efforts to make sense of ourselves, our environment, creation and the cosmos. This then prepares us to be open to the signs of mysticism in our life. Ultimately, the more we begin to realise and know about the Mystery , we so easily call God, the less we either can or want to sayy. Ultimately, our mystical journey leads us into silence and solitude.

The next part of this series is Theme 5  :- ( <click link)   Responses to Questions Part 1 - Developing a Mystical Consciousness

This  fifth ( 5^th)   part  will appear shortly. Meanwhile, if you are interested in the Spirituality of the Satsang then visit the following websites:

www.international-satsang.org

www.satsang-companionship.org.uk