Part 1- Moving into Mystical Consciousness

‘Only The Mystics Will Survive ‘

Theme 1:                Listen to the Spirit

A movement into Mystical Consciousness

Aum bhur bhuvah svah  

Tat savitur varenyam 

Bhargo devasya dhimahi 

Dhiyo yo nah pracodayat 

“We meditate on the transcendental glory of Savitur (God)

 

Who creates everything.
 
May He stimulate and illumine our minds. ”

 Om Shanti , Shanti, Shanti

The Gayatri Mantra (an ancient chant or prayer from the Hindu Vedas)

This is One of many translations

Welcome to this the first in a series of 6 Blog Posts that explore the topic of Mystics. One definition of a Mystic ( which appeared in the previous, introductory, Blog) is defined as  a person   ‘Inspiring a sense of mystery and wonder’.  The brief chant of the Gayatri Mantra  above, which can be heard in Ashrams all over India, is a translation of what is perhaps the oldest recorded Mantra known.  It is recorded from the Rig Veda, the ancient scriptures of Hinduism. It conveys the awe and wonder of the Deity and the purpose of any relationship we have with this Mystery we call God ( Savitur ).

Our theme  in this 1^st Blog is ‘  Listen to the Spirit - A movement into Mystical Consciousness’.   Now ‘Only the Mystics will survive’  is a statement for our current  world situation.  It is statement that has been made by several modern  Christian theologians  e.g. Karl Rahner, Matthew Fox, Raymundo Pannikar  and many more. But it implies certain questions and these are ; what is it we need to survive and how come only those who are mystics ? 

Now these are questions which members of the International Satsang Association , whose Teacher is Sister Ishpriya, have been reflecting on for over 20 years.  One  of the central threads that run though Ishpriya’s teaching, and the spirituality of the Satsang,  is the urgent need for everybody  ’ to remain awake, with open and listening hearts and remain ready to ‘read the signs of the times’   But what are we  staying awake for and what are we listening for and how can we develop this ‘listening’ heart?  Ishpriya reminds  us that deep listening is an attitude we all need to develop. However, all too often,    ‘We hear what we are listening for’. So she encouraged  each of us to be open to ‘listening to the Spirit’.

So to return to the question,  What is it that Only the Mystics will survive? She reviewed the many dramatic and recent changes in our  human understanding of the Cosmos and of Planet Earth. We had now 'moved off the Planet'  . This was a Quantum Leap. As a species we had looked back , from space, at our World, our Home and this was a big change in our collective and individual consciousness. There was now no going back to old understandings. This  faced us and also some of the formal Faith Traditions with many new challenges.

The first  challenge was and is our  need to acknowledge and recognise the challenge and risk facing our human family and the  world.  Will we survive the global change – the greed and destruction facing our Planet and necessary the  quantum leap is our awareness and consciousness ?  Physically the quantum leap has happened. We, as a species, have left this planet and looked back. We have 'left our house and walked out into the garden of space'. We are watching creation unfold as science discovers more about our cosmos , its make-up, its beginnings and its unfolding evolution. Whether we have recognised or accepted the emotional, psychological and spiritual aspects of this Quantum Leap is debatable.

However, even the fact that  the physical  leap has taken place challenges  much of our  traditional and fundamental Theology and thus our  understanding of God the Reality This is not a new challenge, the spiritual masters of all traditions have advised us to learn to discern the unreal from the Real.  This is succinctly put in the following translation of an ancient Hindu Mantra :      

Om .. O Lord

Lead me from the unreal to the Real.

Lead me from darkness to Light.

Lead me from death to Immortality.

 Peace Peace Peace

 In Western Theology  we have faced similar changes and challenges in our past. When we thought the world was a flat plate, then  our theology had a simple model that suggested God was in the heavens above and hell was below. Then, after many attempts to either deny or suppress the truth, scientists discovered and proved that  our world was a globe and thus was  not the centre of our Universe. This led to a change in our concept of God and we had to reconfigure our view of God, our world and our species. The next challenge was evolution, still today many try to deny this. However, for the many it has led to an entirely new and awesome view of creation and thus our view of the ‘One who created all this ! ‘

Exploring the Vastness of Space

 In the recent past with giant strides and advances into the macro- space of the cosmos   and the nano-space of the interior and small, we have a much better view and understanding of the vastness of space and the diversity of flora, fauna and species.  We now have the concept of an ever-expanding Cosmos. All these advances in knowledge challenge our concept of God. It requires us to re-think the nature of The Source or Mystery  and our relationship with God who is this Source , by whatever name we call it.  Ishpriya,  emphasises , along with so many Integral and Spiritual Teachers , that it is Only the Mystics  who could survive this challenge and thus   chart a  safe course through these changes.  It is important  to acknowledge that we all have the capacity to be mystics.  Mysticism is not an exclusive call or gift for the few.

But how could we begin to accept this truth, that we all have a mystical capacity?. We can all  too easily take the comfortable and mistakenly 'safe'  way out and claim that only ' special and holy people' had this capacity. Ishpriya suggested we needed to pause and challenge ourselves and that the lines in Psalm  8, from  the Hebrew Scriptures  could be  of assistance.It is an example of a spiritual response to the wonders of the heavens.

The wonder of the heavens

Lord, our Lord,   
how great  is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory  in the heavens.
 When I consider your heavens, 
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, 
which you have set in place,'Who am I 
that you should create & care about me?'

Reflecting on these words could help us to both  create and convey awe and wonder at Creation and the Cosmos. She further suggested  that this 'awe' was, and is,  a  typical example of a mystical experience.  We have reached a stage where we need to recognise and accept that Our theology is influenced by our Cosmology. This affects all cultures, civilisations and everybody  on our planet.  Mystics are people who are ‘wide awake’, discerning and willing to accept responsibility to respond to the challenge and change. This is ultimately what lies behind each of us having the courage and awareness that enables us to read the signs of our times .

To see the world
in a grain of sand

We live in a world  and a Universe of such great beauty, complexity  and wonder. Everything is inter-connected and shares the seeds of DNA. The English poet Blake , like many others through time, have seen the inter-connected beauty. Blake wrote about this in his poem  Augeries of Innocence. Below are the first and last verse which capture something of the wonder of Creation and the power and light of the Mystery.

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And Heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm  of your hand

And Eternity in an hour.

God appears, and God is light,

To those poor souls who dwell in night;

But does a human form display

To those who dwell in realms of day

Like a boat in stormy seas

In facing this challenge we begin to both recognise and acknowledge the quantum leap that faces us at the emotional, intellectual and spiritual levels. These are stormy times for both our Planet and our Human Family. Ishpriya used an analogy to vividly highlight these times. She likened our planet to  a small boat in the vast seas of the Cosmos. We are all in this small boat as we sail through the  stormy seas of great change  and only the Mystics can help chart a safe  course for the crew and passengers. In addition, when a boat is in peril and in danger of sinking, it requires all on board to begin 'bailing out' !

The problems we face are serious and require people of wisdom and discernment. Many in Authority in all of our institutions either lack wisdom or else frantically cling to old ways or old dogmas. In doing so they merely increase the chaos and polarise debate. It is not a case of either we cling rigidly to the old ways or we completely change, life seldom is that simple. As in the natural world, ' there can be no change without conservation'. Wisdom requires we reflect on the issues and choose the  perennial richness and truth from the Universal Wisdom of the past and the changes required to steer a new and safe course.

The preceding reflections focused on the challenges and choices facing us all as we enter a vital stage where a  great quantum leap in consciousness is taking place . We live in times of great change. All around us we both see and are increasingly becoming more aware of great  climatic, intellectual, emotional and financial changes . These both  require and demand our focused attention. We are being challenged  to accept the  responsibility  to develop our mystical awareness of the Reality we call God.  Ishpriya ended this theme by posing some questions to guide our reflections. Readers may find the following questions helpful :

What is it that causes me to get that sense of awe?


How wide awake, discerning and responsive am I to the challenges that face our human family ?


Where do or could I feel uncomfortable in all this?
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 effects how we relate to ourselves, others and our environment.

The next part of this series is Theme 2 :- Face to Face :- A Direct Experience of the Mystery.

The second installment  of these Blog Posts 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    
This has  a resources page with many pdf downloads