Mysticism- a Foundational Look

Mysticism- A Foundational Look

We must approach mysticism, which comes closest to overcoming the hierarchical masculine concept of god– a mysticism to be sure, in which the thirst for real liberation does not lead to drowning in the sea of consciousness… The mystical certainty that nothing can separate us from the love of God grows when we ourselves become one with love by placing ourselves freely and without guarantee of success on the side of love.

Dorothy Soelle                                                                                                                                         Cited in Christian Mystics

Matthew Fox offers us a further description of Soelle’s words in this statement:

“Soelle understands a healthy mysticism to be the best antidote to the dangerous “masculine concept of God.” A healthy mysticism leads to” real liberation” that is, to prophetic action. It does not wallow in a sea all by itself, drowning there in illusionary incantations. The essence of the mystical experience is a “certainty that nothing can separate us from the love of God.” This certainty builds courage and freedom and a willingness to love…. Is this kind of mysticism alive and well in us and around us?”

What is most tragic in this statement is not the truth that mysticism must be free of the patriarchy or from an excessive, exclusive masculine reference point for God. The tragedy is in the institutional history of the Western Church, where this appeal to a juridical father figure or just to the use of exclusive male imagery in writings and in hymns. By insisting on this, the composers effectively exclude a holistic view of God; and that there is a hesitant, halting acceptance that there is a welcoming, compassion perspective that accompanies a more feminine and nurturing sense of the Divine. 

While there can be merit found in attending to laws, rules, and ethical guidance, the path of the mystic requires a feeling of enchantment; the desire to love above other ritual or dogmatic concerns. The desire for connection, to love, to care etc., cannot be adequately represented by the masculine alone.

Among the many Scriptural references for inspiration, we can get from reading Paul’s Epistles. This one, in Romans 8, has always consoled me and given me needed strength to work through my salvation, (another Pauline reference) that both Soelle and Fox quote: That nothing can separate us from the love of God”. 

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God…(KJV) 

There is certainty, comfort, freedom, and hope in those words for me…