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Mystical Moments

Mystical Moments

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by Rev. Elizabeth Rowley,
Spiritual Director
February 5, 2020

The Science of Mind teaches that “a mystic is one who intuitively perceives Truth and who without conscious mental process arrives at Spiritual Realization.” (Holmes, Ernest. Science of Mind. Page 419)

A few years ago, I spent a week on a silent retreat with Adyashanti at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California. On one of my breaks, I sat on the deck outside of the main lodge/lobby, which overlooks the ocean, surrounded by huge oak trees. There were caterpillars everywhere. They were hanging from the trees, falling from the trees, crawling along the deck railing and the ground. I was journaling when my timer went off, alerting me that it was time to get up to return to the meditation hall. As I stood up, I heard the words softly in my mind, “Be careful, you’ll step on your own head.”

That is the embodiment of oneness, an understanding of the eternal verity that I am that. It was a profound revelation, a knowingness beneath all the layers of conditioning, uncovered in the depth of silence. I am that.

I stood up cautiously, moving slowly so as not to step on my head and made my way back to the meditation hall. Later that day, I realized that something remarkable happened. I had experienced a very sacred and mystical moment, as I intuitively perceived the Truth without mental process.

Now, as I move through each day, I bring loving-kindness into the world, remembering that I am a part of the whole, we are interconnected, and my actions affect those around me. I choose to be love.

When we think of mystics, usually the great prophets, inspired writers, and illumined souls come to mind such as Jesus, Plotinus, David, Solomon, Robert Browning, or Homer. I believe that mystical experiences occur in each of our lives in the spontaneous moments of the intuitive realization of Truth.

Consider the musician who writes a song, creating something out of nothing that sounds beautiful and pleasing. Many musicians will tell you the song just came to them. From where did that song generate? That is certainly a mystical experience as the individual realizes they received a song from the invisible presence of their Creator, the Divine. In that moment of recognizing the song did not arrive by mental process is the realization of Truth.

In the same sense, a teacher might have a mystical moment in their intuitive perception of Truth as they connect with their students. Then in a brief exchange from teacher to student, the student gets the lesson.

Similarly, the artist who waits for Divine creative inspiration sits down to paint and reveals a masterpiece. The moment the artist realizes from where the inspiration came is mystical.Whether you have an experience of perceiving the Truth while cooking dinner or planning to build something at Home Depot, when you arrive at Spiritual Realization without mental process, you are having a mystical experience.

And so it is.

Rev. Elizabeth Rowley

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