With this post we begin a series on the subject of mysticism, drawn from texts intended for inquirers wishing to know more about Sufism and the Sufi Movement. Although ‘mysticism’ is popularly misunderstood, it is inseparable from the Sufi message. One of the stated goals of the the Sufi Movement is: To discover the light and power latent in mankind, the secret of all religion, the power of mysticism, and the essence of philosophy, without interfering with customs or beliefs.

There is one God and one Truth, one religion and one mysticism; call it Sufism, or Christianity, or Hinduism, or Buddhism, whatever you may. As God cannot be divided, so mysticism cannot be divided.

It is an error when a person says, “My religion is different from yours.” He does not know what religion means, for there cannot be many mysticisms, as there cannot be many Wisdoms; there is only one Wisdom. It is an error of mankind to say this is Eastern and that is Western, which shows only lack of wisdom.

It is the divine truth that man has, no matter what part of the world he belongs to. It is also an error when man distinguishes between occultism and mysticism. It is an error to say this is my eye and that is yours. The two eyes belong to one soul. When a person pictures mysticism as a branch of a tree which is Truth, and he says that mysticism is a branch, he is wrong, for mysticism is the stem which unites all branches.

And now coming to the question, what mysticism really is. Mysticism is the way by which to realize the Truth. Jesus Christ has said, “I am the Truth and I am the Way” for there is only one way. There is another way, which is the wrong way. Many religions there are, but not many wisdoms; many houses of the Lord for worship, but one God; many scriptures, but one Truth. So there are many methods, but one way. And either it is the right way or the wrong way.

The methods of gaining that way of realization are many, but there are mainly four: by the heart, by the head, by action, and by repose. A person must choose from among these four different methods of developing himself and preparing himself to journey on the way, the only way, which is called mysticism. No religion can call it its own, but it is the way for all religions. No church can say that it belongs to it, for it belongs to all churches. No person can say, ‘This is the way’ of that which he has chosen. All others are getting there by the same way.

Often people have imagined that a mystic means an ascetic, that a mystic is someone who dreams, a person who dwells in the air, someone who does not live here on the earth, a person who is not practical, that a person who is an ascetic must be a hermit. For this is not the case in reality. And very often people want to see the mystic as a peculiar sort of man, and if there is someone peculiar, they say that is he. This is a wrong conception, an exaggeration, one-sidedness. A real mystic must show equilibrium, balance. He will have his head in the heavens and his feet on the earth. The real mystic is as wide awake in this world as in the other. A mystic is not someone who does not possess intellect. He is not someone who dreams. He is wide awake; yet a mystic is someone capable of dreaming when others are not, and is capable of keeping awake when the rest cannot keep awake. A mystic strikes the balance between two things, power and beauty. He does not sacrifice power for beauty, nor beauty for power. He possesses power and enjoys beauty.

As to the restrictions in the life of the mystic, there is no restriction; there is balance, reason, love, harmony. The religion of the mystic is every religion, all religions, and yet he is above what people call their religion. In point of fact he is religion, for it is not any religion, it is all religions. The moral of all religions is reciprocity. To reciprocate all the kindness we receive from others, to do an act of kindness to others without intending to have appreciation or a return for it and to make every sacrifice, however great, for love, harmony and beauty.

The God of the mystic is to be found in his own heart, the truth of the mystic is beyond words. People argue and debate about things of little importance, but mysticism is not to be discussed. People want to talk in order to know, and then they forget all. Very often it is not the one who knows who talks much but he who wants to know. The one who knows, but does not discuss is the mystic. He knows what happiness is in his own heart. Besides to put it into words is to put the ocean in a drop of water.

Yet there is a wine the mystic drinks and that wine is ecstasy; a wine so powerful that the presence of the mystic has become wine for everyone who comes in his presence. This wine is the wine of the real sacrament, the symbol of which is in the church. One might ask, “What is it, where does it come from, what is it made of?” You may call it power, a life, a strength, which comes through the mystic, through the spheres every man is attached to. The mystic by his attachment to these spheres drinks the wine which is the sustenance of the human soul. That wine is ecstasy, the mystic’s intoxication. That intoxication is the love which manifests in the human heart. Once the mystic drinks that wine, what does it matter if he is sitting on the rocks in the wilderness or in a palace? It is all the same. Neither does the palace deprive him of the pleasures of the mystic, nor does the rock take it away. He has found the kingdom of God on earth, about which Jesus Christ has said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.”

People strive for many things in this world and last of all seek the spiritual path. And there are some different ones who say, “There is a long life before us and when the time comes that I must awake, I shall awake.” But the mystic says, “That is the one thing I must attend to, all other things come after that.” It is of the greatest importance in his life. Should he by working for realization of God neglect his duties in the world? It is not necessary. There is nothing that a mystic should renounce in order to have the realization of life. It is only to give the greatest importance to what is of the greatest importance to his life. For every man gives it the least importance. The mystic gives it the first importance.

One may ask, “Is the life of a mystic meditative?” Yes, but the meditation for a mystic is like the winding of a clock. It is wound for a moment, and all day long it goes by itself. It does not mean that he must think about it all day long. He does not trouble about it. A Shah of Persia used to sit up all night for his night vigils and prayers. And a visitor coming to pay him a visit wondered at his meditating, and that after all the day’s work! “It is too much,” he said. “You do not need meditation.” “Do not say that,” was the answer. “You do not know. For at night I pursue God, and during the day God follows me.”

Your moments of meditation set the whole mechanism in running order, as a stream running in the ocean. It does not in the least take away the mystic from his duty, it only blesses every word he speaks with the thought of God. In all he thinks or does is a perfume of God, that becomes a healing, a blessing. And now there comes a question, “A mystic who becomes kind and helpful, how does he get on amidst the crowd in everyday life? The rough edges of everyday life rubbing against him must necessarily make him heart sore.” Certainly they do. The heart of the mystic is more sore than that of anybody else. And where there is only kindness, only patience, then it takes away all the thorns. It is like the diamond being cut. So the heart being cut becomes brilliant. The heart, being sufficiently cut, becomes a flame which illuminates the life of the mystic and also that of others.

To be continued…