| The Pursuit of TruthFrom the earliest times | | | | enigma, in time, there comes a moment of |
| in humanities existence there are those who | | | | great revelation and illumination. Sometimes |
| continue to search for ultimate truth. Why | | | | this is a gradual process and often occurs |
| are we here? Who are we? What is the meaning | | | | without our knowledge in the deep recesses of |
| of life? Such are the questions asked by | | | | our soul. Or, maybe it bursts forth in an |
| these spiritual explorers the mystics.Now in | | | | episode of illuminating brilliance. However |
| this present time the need to answer these | | | | it manifests itself here is a sense of joy |
| questions looms ever larger as our world | | | | which seems to lift us out of ourselves.Then |
| explodes with supercilious information and | | | | follows a state of peace and harmony that |
| dubious dialogue. Everyone has an opinion but | | | | words are barely able to describe, a |
| no one has an answer.We live in a time of | | | | perception of power and a personality |
| unrest and conviction. Unrest in our pursuit | | | | integration, we become one with the cosmos |
| of personal fulfillment and conviction in the | | | | and ourselves. We feel a sense of harmony, |
| traditional belief systems handed down from | | | | peace and a release from the historic and |
| those who came before us.Which Reality?On the | | | | genetic bonds that bind us. We become |
| one hand you have those who claim that | | | | ourselves, the way we were meant to be. For |
| knowledge is king and that if we study enough | | | | that moment we are life risen to a higher |
| or read enough or think enough the answers | | | | power.This is the point at which most people |
| will surely come. These individuals tend to | | | | stop. Refreshed by this experience they |
| believe only what they can see. There is | | | | return to their lives with a new perspective |
| nothing outside of the visible universe or | | | | and a better understanding of themselves and |
| the world in which they live. Their faith is | | | | the world around them. However, in time, the |
| based on sets of rules and creeds that should | | | | pressures and pursuits of life dim the memory |
| never be questioned.On the other hand there | | | | of this event and eventually it fades into |
| are those who, with a childlike awe, listen | | | | the background noise of day to day |
| to the music of their spirit. These are the | | | | existence.The Path to EnlightenmentThe mystic |
| ones who go beyond the veil and welcome the | | | | is constantly striving to subdue the old |
| unknown and the unknowable into their | | | | nature and replace it with the new pattern. |
| world.Such are the Mystics, men and women | | | | Having experienced the infinite the mystics |
| throughout time who seek to glimpse the | | | | can not be satisfied with life as they knew |
| living forces moving through and around human | | | | it before. This paradox becomes a driving |
| existence. Their faith is based on the | | | | force, a quest if you will, toward a closer |
| exploration of their inner selves and the | | | | union with this nameless reality. They wish |
| mysteries they find there.Toward the | | | | to posses this new found truth and become one |
| DivineThrough the ages many have endeavored | | | | with it.The trek toward the light leads |
| to define the role they play in the cosmos. | | | | through what many mystics call the "dark |
| Searching within themselves and studying | | | | night of the soul". A time of recurring |
| human nature their explorations have lead to | | | | darkness in the mind and depression of the |
| some interesting possibilities. One such way | | | | spirit that can go on for years. A time of |
| is a psychological and spiritual journey | | | | questioning everything yet never quite |
| called the Tao or the Mystic Way.It is an | | | | finding any answers. The memory of their |
| adventure that culminates in the condition | | | | moment of enlightenment is the sole force |
| called identification with the divine ground, | | | | that drives them on, but even this eludes |
| cosmic consciousness, self actualization, | | | | them.Then in the fullness of time a new order |
| nirvana or spiritual conversion. An | | | | begins to emerge. The pieces of the cosmic |
| illuminating episode which may be deep or | | | | puzzle begin to fall into place. |
| superficial, sudden or gradual resulting in | | | | Understanding replaces confusion and with it |
| the reorientation of personality into a new | | | | comes a new view of reality. Personality |
| order of being.A Deeper RealityMany people | | | | changes shape and soon a new inner harmony |
| have followed the Mystic Way and in spite of | | | | takes root, this time forever. For the rest |
| individual personalities the same basic | | | | of their lives the mystic maintains that |
| processes are involved. No matter what the | | | | sense of peace and power that began their |
| social or economic status of the seeker their | | | | quest. This is the goal of the Mystic |
| path to enlightenment is always the same. | | | | Way.Reaching the SummitLike that first moment |
| Common to all of them is the awareness that | | | | of revelation, no matter if it is sudden or |
| life is larger, or deeper, or more mysterious | | | | slow, the mystic makes the leap into a new |
| than it appears at first glance. That's how | | | | and permanent pattern of being. Peace and |
| it begins.It begins with an innate knowledge | | | | inner harmony lead to new and exciting |
| that normal life is wrong, out of step with | | | | insights into themselves. Their vision is so |
| reality. That there exists a deeper reality | | | | vast that perspective does not allow them to |
| than the one of which we are normally aware, | | | | see themselves as anything but a poor |
| an insight into something that does not | | | | representative of something much greater than |
| appear on the surface. A mysterious longing | | | | themselves. It is this that makes divine |
| to find that place of being where we are at | | | | growth possible. From here forward the mystic |
| peace with ourselves and the cosmos.Remember | | | | is involved in the active attempt to conform |
| when you stood on that high place or at the | | | | to this great mystery, to mold themselves |
| seaside or in a forest and felt something | | | | into the divine.It is possible that we humans |
| stirring inside you, a subtle joy and a | | | | have powers of which we are only barely |
| feeling and an awareness that you could not | | | | aware. Our lives are full of signs that such |
| describe but none the less somehow felt that | | | | powers and possibilities do exist. It would |
| you understood. A sense of belonging to | | | | be a tragedy for the human spirit to stifle |
| something greater than yourself and at the | | | | such musings. We can never become what we |
| same time being a part of it, this is the | | | | were meant to be living with the dogma of a |
| threshold of the Mystic Way.RevelationIf the | | | | flat cosmos. Human life may well be a far |
| desire to know is great enough and we are | | | | more enhanced, magnificent, and subtler |
| diligent in the pursuit of understanding this | | | | endeavor than we yet realize. |