Spiritual Thinness: The veil of Consciousness and Spiritual Receptivity

A short reflection on Spiritual Thinness

 In support of a local Celtic Spirituality Group…

I would like to add briefly to your discussion of the “thin places” and how this concept contributes to mystical and spiritual awareness… Since this is one of my principal areas of study and it was addressed in my book on spiritual definitions, experiences, and time, I wanted to offer some of these background ideas as some supportive material for your study and discussion…

Another way to look for or to recognize a “thin place” is to understand the relationship between time and space, and between the idea of what the Sufis and other mystics refer to as the “veil of consciousness”.

In the article from your Celtic studies, the author rightly sees the thinness of places related to their inherent sacredness, not just because that are historically holy or set aside as divine real estate. What makes a place holy for any of us is its ability to “take our breath away” or to “speak to our hearts” in ways that transcend or breakthrough the ordinary ways of perception and comprehension. In these places, in these moments, our eyes and hearts open to more infinite possibilities, and dissolve the distances and the thickness between the place, the time, and our awareness.

The “thinness” is analogous to the veil… Sometime you can see through but is a slightly distorted way… The Orthodox icon functions in a similar way… To alter perception, and to change the possibilities of how an image or an experience can truly transform you- inviting you into a sustaining sense of the holy, if only briefly, as an essential moment, a gracious wrinkle, a whispering call that attunes you to the allness of God…

One mystical and biological fact- that thin places or where the sacred can be most readily found in nature are where there is an abundance of negative ions in the air. Those ions are what can relax and center us-

and generally speaking, as a preface to a “thin” experience, one needs to be more pensive, relaxed, and receptive to receive spiritual cues and clues. In fact, one of the reasons that there is so little known and understood about spirituality today connects directly to our cultural willingness to be distracted, mentally cluttered, overly task oriented and too plugged in to perceive the magic and the mystery of a soulful call- to plant the seed surely and successfully on receptive soil without rocks or thorns, becoming “The Good Soil” to allow God to reach our attention, or to capture our hearts.

Among these natural places where the negative ions are the most prevalent are beaches, mountain tops, and deserts… Which connect to our historical collection of sacred places around the world religions and to our cultural places that are considered enjoyable- capable of producing joy!

Given that we occupy some space in the Low Country, it is most likely that walking a beach can present these thin or liminal opportunities for us. (The word liminal is a more psychological term for this veiled time, this time of thinness when God’s wisdom and grace can quickly appear or break through into our consciousness.)

There is a relationship between time and grace, between holy time and space. As mystics around the world affirm, we live in two worlds and in the two time zones of the mind and heart called Chronos and Kairos. In a recent class I gave on spirituality and time, I outlined these ideas, and I will give you a quick synopsis.

As it relates to “thinness” clock time or Chronos cannot impart these lessons or give us entrance into the mystical and gracious. While clock time is necessary for the functioning of culture and its organization, and its invention has supported the development of religion as a social institution,

it remains secular, and often unimaginative. The contrast is found in the concept of Kairos, or as the Gospels put it, in “the ripeness of time or the readiness or the fulfillment of time. This is the Aramaic translation of the word Jesus used in the Beatitudes when he said “Blessed…”

Kairos is simply and profoundly when grace happens. It is the time of break through or breakdown when the ego is moved aside and the soul responds to a call, a nudge, a whisper of God calling to us in ways that shift our awareness or that can restore our sense of wholeness and holiness.

(not that the mystical truths cannot arrive with a “two by four” or with a harsh wake up call! Most mystics are also realists when it comes to God and how humanity needs to wake up from its many cultural and personal delusions! What can distinguish a romantic idealist from a mystic or a saint is the recognition of the necessity of this second approach!)

The qualities of luminosity, thinness, etc., can also be known as the appearance of a “peak experience” best known in the works of humanistic psychologist, Abraham Maslow. Instead of giving you a long discourse on these definitions, I will defer to Br. David Stendal Rast, a popular and insightful Benedictine scholar who has often written about the bridge between the mystical and the religious, and between the psychological and the spiritual:

“Peak Experiences” give us a glimpse of God-view that can lead us to a full and fulfilled life through dedicated practice. It is up to you to create a mystic life for which your background, experience, and talents have uniquely prepared you. And what will it look like?

Many perceive the “Peak Experience” as a direct encounter with truth, beauty, goodness, integrity, simplicity. These will become the guiding values of your life. Above all, your life will be determined by that deep sense of belonging which softens the rigid boundaries of our small ego and liberates us to experience our oneness with all- with all there is, and with the transcendent “More” beyond all.”

Well, I hope that adds a little more to your discussion! Peter