"Now he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"    (Acts 9:3-4)

        Both Saul (Paul) and Naaman experienced what I would call "mystical experiences" as illustrated in the texts above.  Naaman might be classified as a miracle, but it still was rather mystical.  After all, Elisha didn't even come out and wave his hand over the leprous spot on Naaman.  Elisha sent a messenger out to tell Naaman to wash in the Jordan, seven times.  The Bible is full of mystical experiences.  Yet, we rarely speak of them in mystical terms.  We refer to them, rightly so, as miracles.

       I think we call them miracles because miracles have a chance of being explained.  Our Western minds need explanation.  We have been raised in a culture that demands to know how and why things work the way they do.  We have even given a name to the things that are mystical and called it a science, Parapsychology.  We have taken the experience of persons who have "died" and come back to life and given their experience a name.  We call it "life after life" experiences.  People have gone so far as to try to determine what happens, chemically, in the body to explain life after life experiences. There is nothing wrong with this.  However, it is still a mystical experience.

       Some years ago I read a book describing a person's life who immersed himself into Eastern meditation.  Through the example of his life he told how he had "out of body" experiences.  By implication the reader could have the same by following the methods described in the book.  It was interesting that the author, typical of a Westerner, spelled out the minutia of a mystical event.

        One mystical experience I have had occurred when I was seventeen years old.  It was during a communion service at a church camp.  I experienced a moment, or was it numerous minutes, in which time stood still.  I experienced peace and serenity like I had never before, nor since, known.  I suppose some might have called it an "out of body" experience.  It really doesn't matter to me what it is called.  I chose to believe, and still do, that it was of God.  I also chose to interpret that experience as God calling me to ordained ministry.

         Since that time, I have had a few other mystical experiences.  No one experience quite like another.  I tend to think many of us have had mystical experiences.  We just don't talk about them very much.  We wouldn't want people to think we are crazy.  Being a Westerner, I suggest the following:   1. Appreciate what you experience in life;  2. Be FULLY present in each moment of life.  (I find this very difficult.);  3. Check out your experiences with persons whose spiritual and ethical qualities you respect. (We don't need any more Texas Massacres.);   4. Recognize that it is okay not to have mystical experiences.  Mysticism is not the only way God works in people's lives. As we journey through life, may we be open to experience God in many ways.
 

Dawn Breaker #52: Everyone's experience of God is unique and to be appreciated.