The first, and always most important, is the expression of the mystic apprehension - the direct view of reality and those things connected with it.
My way has, for over 20 years, been buddhist. Buddhism provided the training, the discipline, the burden. It provided a means for me to extricate myself from the very excellent Episcopalianism of my upbringing. I was given top notch christianizing, including having a mother and step father who were ordained in the church. My parents were always deeply involved in the church and, on the whole, it was a beneficial environment.
Buddhism allowed me to step away from the orthodoxy of my youth and into a new and different orthodoxy, one that accorded more closely with my internal life and experiences. It, ultimately, provided the fuel for the flame that was lit by the Persian poets, and ultimately the Sufi way.
Having lived two orthodoxies very fully, I found myself moving beyond the need for adopting a new orthodoxy in the guise of Islam.
So, that’s the background, at least in summary, for my first concern.
The second is to meet new friends, of whatever faith (including none) and background. I am an esoteric theologian, but I realize that most readers of this site will be from judeo-islamo-christian backgrounds. Thus the tendency in these posts to talk in the vernacular of these faiths, and to frame concerns within their scope. The christian system in particular, holds some special attraction — the corpus vulgaris of western christianity, especially in the US, has some decidedly strange ideas about their own religion, its progination, its implications and its imperfections. Because of my study and upbringing, I am able to be both an insider and an outsider to christianity.
As a related concern, I am, obviously, concerned with conteracting, in my own small way, the anti-intellectualism of the common US citizen. I am equally opposed to intellectual facism. We have these amazing and wonderful organs sloshing about in our skulls. We do a dis-service to our fellow man to not use them, develop them, and having done so, to share them - sweetly, honestly and lovingly.
It is, for me, ultimately an issue of appropriate balance. To use the body, to use the mind, to use the spirit in the dynamic spiral of our existence.
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Addendum: I have received some messages that show a particular trend in thought about mysticism/spirituality. There are many who think that intellect and spirit are opposed. They are not. Mushin (no-mind) is not a call to mindlessness. Dhyana is not to supplant the functions of study and thought. These are complimentary modes of being, that over time, are woven together in a mutually supportive symbiosis. They are further ignited by a passion for the beloved.
Another clarification is on my position on faith communities/religions. I hold in very high regard holy men and women of many faiths. They put the living water back into the metaphors. Khan, Merton, Benedict, Atisha, Patanjali, Roach, Kabbir, Kashyapa… They are a huge procession af men and women whose hearts transcended doctrine. Men and women such as these are still among us — many more than you might guess. They are from all walks, all traditions, including no tradition. Most were revolutionaries for their time - some are revolutionaries for ours. They express the beloved in the body of their tradition, and flavor it with their experience. These are for me, my bretheren; their words and deeds part of a heritage.
This richness is vital to the richness of the mystic experience. I am shaking this great tree, I want to hear the movement of the leaves. I want to hear the song they make.
