Mystical Experiences of Reality
A discussion and illustration of the phenomena by a contemporary mystic.
Dr Lloyd is a professor of mechanical engineering and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He refers to himself as a “quantum mechanic”. (Wikipedia)
Mysticism is not a religion, a cult, or a dogma. It is an overpowering infusion of an individual experience of an indescribable reality of existence beyond general human experience or understanding.
This Mystical Experience of Reality (MER) reveals a view of all things known and unknown in which all things have always had and always will have their existence in one description or another, where all things are and we are that, and the experiencers of this MER feel an accepted part, now and forever.
All this is imparted in a feeling of personal acceptance so powerful it extinguishes mere human love which is just lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego.
This non-human, mystical, experience of cosmic love is profoundly humbling, generating a rebirth, an individual reincarnation that fills the recipient with profound gratitude, a cleansing of all human concerns in a dissolving joy of final true belonging in everything.
The recipient now exists knowingly in an everything that is everlasting, where everything is known, where all is well.
There is no question of the recipient of this knowledge practicing it. He or she IS it, forever.
Why the recipient becomes part of the developing human manifestation of this Reality again after this experience is not clear. After the MER, being human again seems a constant, unpleasant, inconsequential challenge only mitigated by the certain knowledge that though being human is an incurable condition, it is terminal.
So a mystic’s practice becomes just being, now knowing what they are – something more than just human.
Reality awaits, practice or no practice.
ANSWER: No. Mysticism is not a religion. Religions are man-made institutions, spiritually irrelevant to the Mystical Experience of Reality (MER) that defines the mystic.
MER and the Mystic ARE mysticism. Mysticism is just the human word for the phenomenon. Reality itself has no name for it. Mysticism is Reality and Reality is everything known and unknown in which everything lives and has its being. It is far beyond “religion” and ordinary human understanding yet.
Historically, the mystic experience is not based on any known human mental or physical attribute such as religions. The main religions, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism*, were primitively inspired by but not based on the unknown, indescribable Mystical Experience of Reality (MER). How could they be, they had no experience of it, and experience is the reality of wisdom. (Incidentally, also the very basis of science).
* (The other religions, sects and cults, are based on needy emotional myths with little or no spirituality).
As such, religions are based on the unsubstantiated belief that if their followers in the absence of MER rely on faith, hope and belief, (“Fake it until you make it”), they will eventually cause MER to descend upon them. It doesn’t.
So in the absence of any real experience of MER, religions make up their own rules, dogmas, moralities, ethics, regulations, ideologies, political persuasions, cultural accretions, observances, procedures to create their interpretation of the phenomena.
Religions believe MER is about being better humans, thereby fulfilling human destiny. It is not. (Jesus, and others since, mistakenly interpreted MER this way too. So that’s why, on the biblical and historical evidence, Jesus’ mission failed. Reality is in charge, not humans however enlightened).
Such human notions result in failure to achieve the mystical experiences of mystics because the experiences are caught, not taught.
Humans are chosen for the experience by something unknown outside human experience. The ones who experience MER appear not to have any attributable qualifications for such a phenomenon to happen to them. Neither epoch, age, gender, nationality, culture, geography, human experience or education appear to be a qualification to experience a reality of existence unknown to ordinary people throughout human history.
Some mystics in history have had no option but to disguise themselves as members of one of the religions of the culture of their time so as to avoid mutilation, excommunication, torture, incarceration, crucifixion or other death.
Later mystics have learned the powers of invisibility. Human development today largely but not reliably or everywhere, allows mystics to speak out unhindered if they want to. Many don’t want to. Why would they? How can they describe what ordinary humans are not yet wired to understand? They can prophesy, but humans and mystics alike are not good at timing their prophecies. Clearly the kingdom of heaven for instance is not at hand and hasn’t been for 2,000 years.
So it’s unlikely a mystic will be found espousing a religion or anything human for that matter unless they have very good reason, a reason that’s probably nothing to do with humans anyway.
Basically, the mystic witness is that being merely human is not what it’s all about, certainly it’s not about religions or being religious.
Some scientists say existence is a construct of the brain.
Others seem to assume the brain is just an inert fleshy mud that is activated to receive knowledge, or is made conscious of a reality of material existence, (matter).
Others suggest the brain receives and transmits consciousness of a “spiritual” reality.
However, the mystic receives knowledge of a completely independent existence separate from brain or matter. Nothing in the mystic experience suggests to the mystic that anything human, neither the brain, heart or stomach are involved in the transmission of that knowledge or is of any consequence to the mystic, any more than what makes a car go when the driver turns a key or presses a button or whether the car is using gas, natural gas, electricity or charcoal.
Some scientific thinking seems to suggest scientists are only mechanics at heart, the wheel still central to their thinking?
So the answer to the question, “ARE THE HUMAN OR MYSTIC EXPERIENCES ILLUSIONARY?” is – No, the things we call illusions, such as human (matter) or mystical (“spiritual”) experiences of existence, do exist. But despite all the assumptions and intuitions aboutning, including the one I feel good about that humans are evolving into pure spirit, like butterflies from a chrysalis, it seems no one can be empirically sure yet.
In the meantime, I take great comfort from the spoken lesson of my MERs (Mystical Experiences of Reality) that All Is Well. I take that to be meant as a comfort to me, that everything is as it should be and humans are not in charge.
The word mindfulness is “manmukh” and can be safely ignored as a spiritual distraction.
(My teacher used this – Sanscrit? Urdu? – word to describe anything human).
Anything human is a distraction from the spiritual way. The spiritual way is human destiny.
So my teacher abjured us to use “manmukh” as a navigational tool of discrimination and discernment, to enable us to keep humaness, “manmukh” at arms length.
However, our dwindling personal humanity was not to ignore the need to be mindful of our duties while here as sons, daughters, nephews and nieces, neighbours, friends, colleagues, patriots etc, though not to let any of these potential hindrances distract us from our spiritual way.
(Personally, I have now used “manmukh” to steer me through the Gordian knot of human experiences with a personal mantra to meet my human duties by being Legal, Decent, and Honest, but that’s all – no further attachments, just legal, decent and honest).
Detachment, discrimination is key. This is the truth of spiritual mindfulness, in my experiences of the mystical experiences of Reality.
This blog post by lewislafontaine is from Carl Jung Depth Psychology
The words “many are called, but few are chosen” are singularly appropriate here, for the development of personality from the germ-state to full consciousness is at once a charisma and a curse, because its first fruit is the conscious and unavoidable segregation of the single mi individual from the undifferentiated and unconscious herd.
This means isolation, and there is no more comforting word for it. Neither family nor society nor position can save him from this fate, nor yet the most successful adaptation to his environment, however smoothly he fits in.
The development of personality is a favor that must be paid for dearly. But the people who talk most loudly about developing their personalities are the very ones who are least mindful of the results, which are such as to frighten away all weaker spirits.
Yet the development of personality means more than just hatching forth monsters, or of isolation. It also means fidelity to the law of one’s own being.
For the word “fidelity” I should prefer, in this context, the Greek word used in the New Testament, nioris, which is erroneously translated “faith.” It really means “trust,” “trustful loyalty.”
Fidelity to the law of one’s own being is a trust in this law, a loyal perseverance and a confident hope; in short, an attitude such as a religious man should have towards God.
It can now be seen how portentous is the dilemma that emerges from behind our problem: personality can never develop unless the individual chooses his own way, consciously and with moral deliberation.
Not only the casual motive – necessity – but conscious moral decision must lend its strength to the process of building the personality.
If the first is lacking, then the alleged development is a mere acrobatics of the will: If the second, it will get stuck in unconscious automatism.
But a a man can make a conscious decision to go his own way only if he holds that way to be the best. If any other way were held to be better, then he would live and develop that other personality instead of his own.
The other ways are conventionalities of a moral, social, political, philosophical, or religious nature.
The fact that the conventions always flourish in one form or another only proves that the vast majority of mankind do not choose their own way, but convention, and consequently develop not themselves but a method and a mode of life at the cost of their own wholeness. ~Carl Jung; The Development of Personality.
Does this apply to the mystic state?
From, “The Greatest Achievement in Life” by R. D. Krumpos. This short, comprehensive account of living mysticism today can be found at suprarational.org. The book is a comprehensive account of mysticism experienced today.
Oh boy! This reblog could be contentious.
It’s somewhat bigoted and prejudiced in my view. I cannot accept whopping generalisations, though in this case the author does provide some light provenance for his assertions.
As the article is a needed heads-up on the subject though, it’s re-posted here for you to decide:
by Zeno The Stoic April 12, 2018
Self help gurus are guaranteed fakes. So are all other self anointed gurus. Avoid them – run for your life and keep your purse locked.
I have parked this article under the category “health”, since I find self help gurus the most insidious but you will find this species of pariah in every walk of life and every area of commerce.
I first noticed them in finance: such people are a huge danger to your wealth. They promise you will make millions in up and down markets by buying their absurd courses. It is likely they have never traded in the financial markets and that if they have the exercise was a failure.
It is all about money: getting yours.
The Dalai Lama doesn’t need to peddle books, nor does the Archbishop of Canterbury. They may be worth listening to, they may not. But at least they are not looking for you to finance their expensive lifestyles. Much the same can be said for qualified doctors or therapists. At least they have (usually!) had a rigorous training in a recognised discipline.
The real con artists are those who sell books, courses and seminars telling YOU how to achieve happiness and contentment when THEY have singularly failed to achieve any measure of well being and are as far removed from nirvana as it is possible to be.
Reblogged on Mysticexperiences.net
Is this seemingly spontaneous trend leaping out of the religious frying pan into the ‘human-spirit’ fire …?
Is it missing the phenomena of the mystic experience of Reality (MER) that drives human evolution?
Perhaps mysticism being hidden behind the secret password of ‘direct experience’ makes such oversight inevitable …
So perhaps the only solace in this current trend is its emphasis on the individual. Perhaps it’s the inevitable human flight from failed collectivism which is the antithesis of ultimately real human evolution.
Aren’t Ananias and Sapphira of the bible and today’s massively failed national attempts at collectivism a warning wreckage?
Individualism is the essence of my mystical experiences of Ultimate Reality.
So perhaps the current trend away from religions to individuality is significant enough, for now – a step along the way.
*See ‘Spiritual but not religious’ on Wikipedia for a comprehensive study of the trend.
Most humans won’t reach their full potential or achieve spiritual free will. Does this explain the perennial state of human agitations, disappointments and struggles?
Science can’t deliver either attribute. Science isn’t in the same reality. Nor will any human effort, if the mystic experience is to be believed.
Humans have free will only within their developing human attributes, as dung beetles etc. have their free will within theirs. But in spiritual Reality free will does not exist, is redundant, in my experience.
Mystics on the other hand do achieve their current potential but for them free will is not an option or a consideration – they are Reality, where free will is irrelevant.
Mystics are emptied of their humanness to the point of human invisibility, (interestingly, a Sufi teaching tradition). They are free and as fully developed to their potential here as they can be.
Even if mystics announce themselves, most humans are not developed enough to understand they exist. So that’s why mysticism remains largely invisible, non mainstream, whatever characteristics it adopts.
However, scholars, theologians, scientists and philosophers etc. know the mystical experience of Reality (MER) exists and have even suggested mystics are, for example, “a new species”, the leading edge of human evolution, or “the better part” of spirituality.
So why can’t everyone achieve mystic status?
There is no evidence mystic fulfillment can be taught, only caught. Teachings don’t help though they might induce numinousness, empathetic secular enlightenment but only as a pale, insubstantial shadow of the real thing.
So the question has to be asked: Is human evolution impeded by a humanity so full of itself there’s no room left for what mystics are given freely?
My experience suggests there are those others who are spontaneously beset by an indescribable but undeniable yearning for the ineffability of the numinous; Seekers. If you are a Seeker you might find solace in the following four suggestions I have identified as
If it doesn’t work, will most humans ever reach their full potential or remain bogged down in the limits of human freewill?
C.G. Jung [Letters, Volume 1, Page 282] by lewislafontaine
Anon.
He writes:
“Finding the soul, even if that was possible, is less significant than living in the soul.
“Most of us live in our immediate emotions, our extended minds and our ever present bodies until death. Few of us live through the soul, constantly aware of the divine essence in us.
“It is the spiritual life which gives true purpose to our human lives. It is spiritual life which continues after this brief stay on Earth.
“It is the spirit in each of us which unites us with the spirit in All: all people, all sentient beings, all seemingly inanimate objects, and the divine.”
Mysticism is not a religious experience. Religion is not even spiritual. Nor is mysticism for that matter, but the two are at heart very little to do with each other anyway.
Religions recognised the existence of the mystic experience but could not replicate it so made up coercive human rules of morality and ethics instead then enforced them – then and now …
So religions were born, faking Ultimate Reality. (Like reading the bible backwards and upside down).
In my mystical experiences of reality, described in my web pages, mysticism has nothing whatsoever to do with any manifestation of the human race, or even of humanity itself, let alone its religions. Is that why religions are being abandoned, failing, falling under the weight of their artificial “spirituality”?
The human spirit is very different to the mystical experiences of Reality I experienced. The human spirit, in my view, is not compatible with the mystical experience of Reality.
A mystic is one who however unworthy has experienced the mystic experience of Reality, (MER).
I doubt if a contemplative, a religionist or an academic who only sees the phenomena of MER as a subject of general anthropomorphic study – or anyone for that matter who sees MER as a human construct, a mere emanation of the human brain – is a mystic or has any experience of the phenomenon.
This effort to assimilate mysticism into merely human experience is an obfuscation of revealed Reality – bereft of hard evidence; sincere no doubt, but sincerely wrong.
Is this idea of assimilating mysticism into a totally unrelated human construct an academically anthropological acculturation, what some wisdom traditions refer to when they talk about “The Negative Principle” and its bedeviling work – what early primitive religionists called the work of Shaitan, the Devil?
If so, no problem! – on some scientific evidence, humanity is barely consequential anyway; mysticism is beyond, and limitless.
* If I say “me” or “I”, this is not meant to imply my experience is the final say for you. It is not, necessarily. My use of “me” and “I” are meant to issue a cautionary caveat, to invite discussion, comment and sharing. My experiences are of course true evidence so far as I am concerned but anecdotal by definition. Seekers must keep going on their present path until they can’t, then stop – discard, and move on. They can be comforted by the mystic tradition that That which they seek seeks them, just them. There are no failures. All is well.
