As a lifelong mystic, I resonate with much of Jose’s essay, while knowing by experience that most don’t relate to this particular lens of life. So if you are a mystic . . . I imagine you will feel you’ve crossed paths with a kindred, reading this post. For everyone else — perhaps it will provide a glimmer of understanding re: mystics you may know. This is largely what 2012 is about for humanity. ~W
by Jose Arguelles
(courtesy Noosphere Forum)
The mystic is a stage in the conscious evolution of the spirit that occurs when the externalizing structures of perception known as “personality” have exhausted themselves and the attention or awareness is turned inward toward a dialogue with the soul. Henceforth, the cultivation of the soul succeeds in importance the dominating expression and cult of the personality (ego).
While this has sometimes been attained as an individual realization or, even more rarely, by a small group or school, never has the mystic been the fully conscious stage or goal of the entire species. Traditional Tibetan, Islamic or Hindu societies have come close to inculcating a religious, if not a wholly mystical value, into their social structures. But there is a question of whether, under present circumstances, mysticism or the mystic ideal can ever be socially institutionalized.
To the true mystic, or mystical cultivation understood as a stage in the conscious evolution of the spirit, there must first be an exhaustion of the externalizing worldly personality with its ego, story-line, and games. This represents a natural turning away from so-called normal societal and even biological norms. It is for this reason that the mystic is often perceived as a threat to the mainstream society.
The cultivation of the soul and its oneness with God—the Absolute—is the chief preoccupation of the mystic, who, generally, could care less for the values of gain, fame, personal power, pleasure or even family life. And yet, it is characteristic of the fully evolved mystic that he or she will develop an unsurpassably profound compassion for the entire fabric of life, not just for his/her family, tribe, nation, or, even, species.
Thus, to consider the mystic as a stage in the evolution of the entire species has profound implications for the structure of human society and, indeed, for the future of the species and all of life on Earth.
The fact is that the human species will not have peace on Earth as a universal phenomenon until it has passed, en masse, into the mystical stage of development. This step is inevitable. All the mystics throughout history have been but the evolutionary forerunners of this next, inevitable stage of human evolution.
Not only will the humans attain peace through pursuit of the mystic goal of divine union, but within several generations, of their own accord, they will have scaled back their population to a mere fraction of its present number. Furthermore, in pursuit of its mystical goal of divine union by whatever path is suitable to the disposition of the adept, the human species will abandon its present technological lifestyle and material encumbrances, replacing them, instead, with an all but invisible psychotelepathic solar technology.
Once this ideal is comprehended and deemed possible, then, to this noble end and out of supreme compassion, must the present day mystic devote his or her entire life. In the unification and synchronization of all mystics to this common goal, lies of the purpose and attainment of cosmic healing.