Mysticism
is when God’s presence becomes experiential for you, as opposed to intellectual.
Mystics are not talking about belief systems, but rather a felt sense of
Mystery. A hallmark of mystics is the integration within themselves of
what I have identified as the Ego’s Four Splits. To create our mental ego, our
false self, there are Four Splits that the mind goes through. I’m going to very
simply describe the Four Splits for you and show you how, in embracing the way
of the mystics and people like Francis, we just might “get it” earlier than at
the very end of our lives.
The First Split is the split
between my self and your self. “I’m here, and you’re over
there.” We would call that dualistic consciousness. We learn to see this
way as children, and most of us live with it for the rest of our days. In
the first half of life (and for many, into the chronological second half of
life), we spend most of our time just accentuating and accessorizing that
separate self. “This is me. That’s you. I’m better than you; you’re
smarter than me. I’m better looking than you; you’re wealthier than me.” It’s
all about separation, and using the self as the central reference point.
The modern word we use for this Split is the ego. This is the first Split to
form, and usually the last to die.
When
Jesus commands us to love our neighbor and to love the enemy, he’s training us
in overcoming this split. What you do to another, you do to yourself. What you
do to the neighbor, you do to Christ. “You are one in God, and one in me,” so
it becomes what Julian of Norwich calls “Oneing”: overcoming the splits, little
by little, so in the end there’s just One. As Jesus said, “I and the Father are
one.” The whole point of Christianity is the experience of unity with creation,
with the neighbor, with the enemy, and with God. This creates a basis for
universal mysticism. God is not so far away. God is not so transcendent. God is
not found in glory, but in humility. It really re-positions the spiritual
journey. Now the goal is the bottom, not the top.
Richard Rohr
