Pineridge Blog
A ‘mystic’ is someone who experiences God and is transformed over a lifetime to live and love more fully. A mystical encounter is an experience of the presence of the Living God like the Moses meeting God in the burning bush, Jesus experiencing God’s love “descending like a dove” at his baptism, or Paul experiencing the presence, forgiveness and love of the cosmic Christ on the Da-mascus Road. Often mystical moments are far less dramatic, like Elijah, who felt alone, afraid and overwhelmed, knowing God in the “still small voice.” Outwardly it seems that nothing has changed, but inwardly everything has changed.
Those who have been called mystics in the history of Christianity, the Mystical tradition, are those who have not only had a trans-forming experience of God but have felt compelled to guide oth-ers to experience God more fully. For them it is not about “making mystics,” or impressing others with their own extraordi-nary experiences, but it is about helping us all to wake up to the reality that we are each mystics in our own unique and ordinary way. It is coming to realize, as one mystic said hundreds of years ago, “God is a circle whose center is everywhere and whose cir-cumference if nowhere.”
The Mystics is a group that meets from 1:00-3:00 pm on Thurs-days in the Eddy Room to read, discuss and pray together in the great Mystical tradition. Mystics resumes Thursday September 6th.
All are welcome to join us again or for the first time. No previ-ous mystical credentials are necessary. The only requirements are an open mind and an open heart and the willingness to begin again and again.
We will begin Thursday with a six-week video series of the inter-views Bill Moyers did with Joseph Campbell for PBS 25 years ago on “The Power of Myth.” These excellent videos are about the earliest and deepest stirrings of religious experience in humanity and invite us into a conversation about experiencing the Divine in familiar and unusual ways.
After that we will see where the Spirit leads us next.
Jim