Mysticism...in a sense

What is a mystic? I had a discussion with a friend about logical and scientific explanations on the “unexplainable” and it brought up the question, “What is a mystic?” My friend suggested that mysticism is not the same as science. This made me think based on my own interest in the scientific realm. Topics of exploration like cells and chemistry and galaxies and stars have made me think about mysticism in a wider sense. This is what I said in the chat:

You said earlier that this Gaia theory guy was not a "mystic" but perhaps scientists like him are a kind of mystic because they are also reaching for things that cannot be seen by the naked eye or comprehended by the mind right away. They are unearthing things that might easily go completely unnoticed, whether it's by a physicist, chemist or biologist or whatever.

I suggested that mysticism as it applies to the metaphysical can easily be applied to rational science. When we look into the sky and see the stars, we yearn to see what’s beyond the stars, when we look at a plant, one of many plants, we encounter in our lives, we might ponder all the complexity of the plant. It’s like we ponder its germination and growth and how it interacts with its environment and how it creates chemicals and engages in photosynthesis and all sorts of complex chemical reactions. The whole engagement of one plant can be said to be a mystical experience because much of what goes on is a hidden, magical process in that we don’t know what’s going on. The chemists and biologists examine the minute little cells that create the chemical reactions, and the smallest parts of the plant, while the chemists explore the larger relation of the plant to the ecosystem it is a part of and how it creates oxygen. I further said to my friend that:

...seeing and experiencing and coming into contact with something more than what you know like atoms and cells and chemicals and distant stars and all manner of things that are still on this "level" of reality but they are still brought into focus, into conscious awareness by the scientist one could argue that all this stuff is also very metaphysical in a very physical sense.

I have been taking a great interest in the possibilities of all that are outside of my vision. Many may (validly) argue that much new age thought, like belief in fairies and angels and ascension and star people and all these other ideas are not approached logically, as if logic was a prerequisite for understanding reality, and that everything must adhere to a certain sense of logic. It is true that one cannot be taken in by every whim and every flight of fancy that one encounters in life. It is important to be able to really discern experiences and such. Yet I would suggest that we need to let faith guide us at times, as I said in the discussion with my friend, faith is about “opening up, expanding the physical which is what "metaphysical" to me seems to be about.” It seems to me that this is where rational science and multidimensional spirituality can find unity. It’s said that every experience pushes the barrier a bit further. Even now, scientists are still probing many aspects of earth based reality in order to get more of a view of the whole process, and they are also sending probes and aiming high powered telescopes into space to discover new stars and planets. Even then, each of these new planets may have an atmosphere and a landscape that e cannot even dream of. They are in the same reality, the same physical existence, yet are so different. So, with experience, one can come to a greater understanding of wholeness and connectedness. So angels and all manner of other wonderful possibilities can be just as real as the flowers we pass or anything else we see. It’s just a matter of having the right tools to see and understand them in a more complete way.

I am coming to understand that our best insights may not be from the respected, sources that we rely on for our inspirations and our knowledge. There comes a point when we may bare the necessity of following our own intuition because there are so many things being said that it is easy to be confused. We must re-rely on ourselves and our own insights. Sacred texts are important and hold great power, but they are the guide and we may come to a point where we have to let it go and really explore our own insights in the way that we incite them. I said to my friend that:

I am not afraid of my thoughts and insights. They are powerful results of a life spent on the periphery trying to understand it all. I have been perplexed and twisted by “culture” as I saw it, but at the same time, gaining much freedom in the process. As I sit here now, I am free, from many things that I see now would have held me back from my expansion.

I appreciate the insights that can be found in learning from the wisdom of others. Wisdom is a personal thing in that we can only find it ourselves. Wisdom is exploration and experience of yourself. It is expanding your own field of awareness. In another place, I define wisdom as:

every moment when we are made aware of the whole of ourselves and how
we interact with our environment. It is the awareness of the deep
interconnections of experience.

It seems to me that, “Mysticism is nurturing the spirit however you look at it.”