The emergence of an everyday calling sounds far different than the ringing of temple bells or the melodic chants crying out in a Buddhist monastery or Catholic convent. Because what we frequently encounter in today’s world can be the lonely inner cry of any one of us.
Read MoreNot all mystics are the same. There are many types, including Christian mystics, Buddhist mystics, Jewish mystics and Sufi mystics. Some would never use the term ‘mystic’ in describing themselves.
Read More‘Mysticism’ is about doing, rather than about thinking or feeling (some might say it is about being, which is true, but in the sense of how one’s state of being is transformed by exposure, experience and practice, rather than through trying to be a certain way, which is just imitation).
Read MoreThe way Castaneda wrote was immediate and compelling, beautifully crisp and concise, yet sometimes also astonishingly poetic and resonant (we owe to him exquisite phrases like ‘unbending intent’, ‘controlled folly’, ‘dark sea of awareness’ and ‘active side of infinity’). And his mysticism was actual, not theoretical. It involved realising unimaginable possibilities, marshalling extraordinary discipline and finding considerable courage. Above all, it communicated a sense of adventure.
Read More“The opening of the mysterious pass is the most abstruse and most essential mechanism. It is not, as various practitioners of yoga say, in the forehead, or the navel, or the bladder, or the genitals, or between the kidneys and the navel, or between the kidneys and the genitals.”
Read More“While the discoveries of modern physics, the most successful of our physical sciences, may be described using complex geometries and mathematics, the source of many important and fundamental theories in physics is mysticism.”
Read MoreSilicon Valley finds itself in the crosshairs of consciousness. Mostly because they are hacking their way ‘inward’ through apps, mind hacks, biofeedback, micro-dosing LSD and yes, massive corporations hiding their ulterior motives.
Silicon Valley’s “We can solve anything” mindset champions the notion that we can find ways to hack the soul, using high tech to bring about technologically-induced soulful bliss. According to Mikey Siegel, it is essentially an overturning of the so-called guru model, including the one-teaching-works-for-many approach.
Read More“My personal break from the mold was a gradual discovery of what worked and what didn’t” particularly resonated with me, too.
‘Mysticism’ is about doing, rather than about thinking or feeling (some might say it is about being, which is true, but in the sense of how one’s state of being is transformed by exposure, experience and practice, rather than through trying to be a certain way, which is just imitation).
Read MoreWhen certain doors get opened, the wise old sayings tell us that they can never be shut again. I’ve found that to be true. It’s also true that when certain doors get opened, you are going to encounter some unimaginable things. And sometimes they are devastating and deeply consequential. They might even kill you.
Irina Tweedie studied Sufism. In her studies she focused on kundalini, or ‘the fire’. I studied in martial arts. In my studies we focused on movement and flow, or on ‘ki’ energy. One person studies fire, another water.
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