Are you one of those blessed by the mystical? Perhaps you believe it’s beyond you or that it doesn’t exist at all. Mystical experience, or the sudden awareness of God’s presence, is a common phenomenon in the lives of human beings. Yet it’s almost completely missing from the world presented to us by society and the media. What little we do encounter tends to be popular fiction, shown out of context. This gives no insight into what really happens or the role of Christian mysticism in history.
An icon of Elijah in the wilderness ~ Bagabondo/CC BY-SA ex. Wikimedia Commons
There are no manuals or quick hacks for making mystical experiences “happen” to you. They come by the grace of God, yet the historical record shows that they come to every kind of person, of every race and belief system, no matter whether people do good or evil. These experiences didn’t just come to a sudden stop with the beginning of the Age of Reason (which we could as easily call the Age of Doubt). They’re happening all the time, so why don’t you hear more about them?
Here’s a clue, from the story of the prophet Elijah, who was no stranger to mystical experience. He had to flee for his life and took refuge in a cave in the mountains. There, we are told, “the word of the Lord came to him.” Elijah is told to “Go out and stand on the mountain . . . for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. (1 Kings 19:11b-12)
Because God is all-powerful, people expect to be overwhelmed by his presence. Great winds, earthquakes and fire seem to be the logical sort of phenomena to signal “God is here.” Elijah’s story says otherwise. He first hears God in the quiet of the cave and then in the sheer silence when the display of natural forces comes to an end on the mountainside. Try and imagine the immensity of that silence after the incredible noise of splitting and tumbling boulders, howling wind and roaring fire.
The most common instances when people are suddenly aware of God are extremely brief. They come through the well-known five senses, as well as other senses identified more recently by neuroscience. Very often they come at the moment when there is a sudden lapse of attention. The split second when you lose focus on your material surroundings is the opportunity for God to make his presence known.
Now ask yourself this. How often does your life allow you to lose focus on what is happening all around you? It’s a difficult thing to do in our fast-paced, multitasking lives where most of us have multiple roles to fulfill. The culture of what is referred to as the “developed world” is one of constant attention-seeking.
Everyone wants you to pay attention—to what they are saying, doing, writing, selling, and what they want you to hear, see, analyze, buy. Your parents, your children, your friends, your employers, politicians, artists, marketers, everyone wants your attention.
Time to relax and let your mind wander is a precious commodity in such an environment. Because so many mystical events are fleeting, you can easily lose them among the competing demands of the everyday. This is because most aspects of daily life call for decisions and actions on your part. The presence of God demands only that you stop, wonder and accept the experience. Who has time for that? It is no wonder that the truly mystical rarely makes a mark today.
Yet more people do encounter the mystical than you may imagine. After all, the sudden awareness of God’s presence is a deeply personal event. It is something to be cherished and thought about often. No one wants to expose something so precious to the cold cynicism of skeptics or the rolling eyes and pursed lips of doubting friends. Even those who are part of a church community will frequently be heard with polite forbearance rather than joyful acceptance.
Where do you find the mystical in this day and age? You find it in stillness and solitude. You find it in the absence of electronic media. You find it in the record of God’s interactions with humans throughout the ages, beginning with the accounts in the Bible and continuing with the words of the known mystics of history. You find it in studies by learned men and women who have made this search before you.
Have you had the experience of God’s presence? What has helped your awareness of it? Share your ideas, questions or comments on this post below. If it would be helpful, you can find the Comments Policy at the bottom of the Nuts & Bolts page.
Further reading:
You can read the account of Elijah’s encounter with God in Chapter 19 of the First Book of Kings, although his full story begins with Chapter 17 (the two Books of Kings were a single book in the original form). Like every biblical character, Elijah is full of human faults and his story is a composite of tales and traditions. Nevertheless, he is one of my favourite prophets, not least for the epithet “troubler of Israel” given him by King Ahab, who “did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.”
The post image above is the Icon of Saint Elias in the Wilderness from St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery near Florence, Arizona. (Elias is a transliteration of the Greek version of Elijah’s name.)
You can find more notes and references on mystical experience elsewhere on the Anselm’s Quest website.