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You don’t have to become a monk to be a mystic

You don’t have to become a monk to be a mystic

Last updated on: August 20, 2024 at 3:08 pm by Carl "Skye" McColman

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You don’t have to become a monk to be a mystic 2024-08-20T15:08:31-04:00 Carl "Skye" McColman

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A reader wrote to me recently:

Hello, I am interested in becoming a Christian Mystic. However I am not sure if I can join a monastery due to being a Baptist Christian. If you know any monasteries that I could join while being Baptist, please let me know. Also, I would like to know other ways to become a Christian Mystic besides joining a monastery. Thank you much for your help.

Thank you so much for your message, and you’re asking a great question.

As you know, most monasteries in the Christian world are either Catholic or Orthodox, and a small number of Anglican (Episcopalian) or ecumenical communities do exist as well. Meanwhile in the evangelical world, there is a movement known as the “new monastic” movement, which seeks to create intentional faith communities in the spirit of Christian writers like Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Shane Claiborne. Those communities often have a stronger focus on justice and service than on contemplation or mysticism. Still, contemplation is considered to be one of the “twelve marks” of the new monastic movement, so it is possible for a Baptist (or any other type of Christian) to find a spiritual home in the new monastic movement.

But before I go further down that path, I think my reader’s second question is the most important: “I would like to know other ways to become a Christian Mystic besides joining a monastery.”

Your question makes sense because, at least historically, many of the greatest Christian mystics have been monks (like Thomas Merton) or nuns (like Teresa of Ávila) or lived solitary lives (like Julian of Norwich). But especially in our time, the good news is this: y ou don’t have to become a monk to be a mystic.

Evelyn Underhill, Caryll Houselander, Cynthia Bourgeault, Simone Weil, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Howard Thurman and Dag Hammarskjöld are just seven examples from the last hundred years or so of great mystics who were not monks or nuns. One of these, Howard Thurman, was a Baptist! Hammarskjöld was a Lutheran, Underhill an Anglican, and Bourgeault an Episcopalian; for that matter, Simone Weil was Jewish (she was a Christian mystic because she was devoted to Christ, but there is no record of her ever being baptized so she has the distinction of being a Jewish Christian mystic). The moral of the story: God can call anyone to the mystical life, regardless of what your religious affiliation might be.

Historically, monasteries were great “incubators” for the mystical life because monks dedicated their lives to prayer, meditation, contemplation and study — as well as seeking to live a truly contemplative life as best they could. Because these are favorable conditions for mystics to thrive, naturally many of the greatest mystics were monks — and that’s still the case today, as monks like Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating or Micheal Casey (who’s still alive) continue to embody the best tradition of monastic mysticism.

But becoming a monk does not guarantee that you will be a mystic like Keating or Merton; likewise, you can embody a deeply mystical life without ever setting foot in a monastery. It is God (the Holy Spirit) who makes us mystics; not monasteries, or particular churches or even reading the right books.

So to answer the question: what are the ways that we can become mystics?

How to Become a Mystic Today

First of all, let me answer in a koan-like way: there is no “way” to become a mystic, inside or outside the monastery, for the path to mystical union is a pathless path, a wayless way.

The problem with the question “How do I become a mystic?” is that it implies there is a difference between being a mystic and being a not-mystic (or not being a mystic). I’m reminded of what is perhaps my single favorite nugget of wisdom from the Irish mystic, John O’Donohue, in his luminous book Anam Ċara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom, where he is commenting on the wisdom of the medieval German mystic Meister Eckhart:

Meister Eckhart… says that there is no such thing as a spiritual journey. If a little shocking, this is refreshing. If there were a spiritual journey, it would be only a quarter inch long, though many miles deep. It would be a swerve into rhythm with your deeper nature and presence.

The path to “becoming” a mystic is only a quarter-inch long, but many miles deep. In other words, we discover our mystical life not by changing ourselves externally (like, for example, becoming a monk) but by deepening our own inner life, inner awareness, inner silence, and inner knowing. Becoming a mystic means learning to pay attention to what is already there.

I watched a video this morning by a spiritual teacher who talks about her journey away from religion. I liked a lot of what she had to say — I’ve made no secret of the fact that I find my relationship with institutional religion to be fraught, and I know that’s true for many people today. But in the end, I found myself disagreeing with her message more than agreeing with it, for she implied that we need to reject religion because it gets in the way of being a mystic. That may be true for her, and for many people, and if it is so for you, then by all means run, don’t walk, away from religion. But to say “religion gets in the way of being a mystic” is just as limiting (and dualistic) as saying “you have to be a monk (or a Catholic, or whatever) to be a mystic.” Both of these statements imply that something outside of ourselves makes (or breaks) us as mystics. But that’s simply not true, certainly not in a universal sense. The barriers to being a mystic are all found within. Which means, of course, that the gates to the mystical life are all found within as well.

Some people find that joyful immersion into religion (or monasticism) gives them mystical flight. Others need to run off into the woods to be hermits in order to find union with God. Again, John O’Donohue is right: it’s the depth within that matters.

Obvious question, then: how do we plumb the “many miles deep” that is within our own hearts and souls, to discover and become aware of what has always been true all along? Another quote, this time from Thomas Merton’s famous epiphany as described in the book Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander:

At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak His name written in us, as our poverty, as our indigence, as our dependence, as our son-ship. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely…. I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.

The challenging news: there is “no program” for seeing the divine within. If I tell you, “Oh, you need to practice Centering Prayer” or “you need to read a bunch of books by the mystics” or “You need to give up meat and alcohol and caffeine” (or whatever), then I’m just leading you back into that realm of dualistic externalities. There’s no program, so I can’t tell how you how to become a mystic. Nobody can. I’m sorry, but that’s the reality.

I can teach you all about mysticism (I’m actually developing just such a class on mystical wisdom for my Patreon supporters, I hope to launch it early next year). I can read books with you, show you how to practice Centering Prayer, and discuss the difference between apophatic and kataphatic prayer. But I can’t show you the depth within yourself. That’s between you and God.

But that leads us to the good news in Merton’s words: “It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.” The God who resides hidden deep within your heart wants you to find that divine presence within. Your desire to”become a mystic” is a mirror of God’s desire for you. And since “the gate of heaven is everywhere,” literally any moment of time, any thought, any feeling, any experience, can be for you the gate into the heaven within.

So, being clear that this isn’t a “program,” let me finish with three gentle and general suggestions that I believe can help most people on their journey of discovering (and entering) the gate of heaven deep within:

Get comfortable with deep silence. Mystics from all cultures and traditions all seem to have this in common: a deep appreciation for both external and internal silence. They shun the noise and hurly-burly of ordinary life in order to find the space to think, to love, to reflect, and to know. As they become more comfortable with external silence, they find the challenge of dealing with how “noisy” our internal space is: the mind chatters like a monkey, and the heart generates a never-ending kaleidoscope of feelings and intuitions. So the real work is learning to find the glimmers of silence within — right in the middle of — the endless symphony of conscious awareness. Between every thought and every feeling is a tiny presence of silence: we are invited to find and rest in those silences, however small or fleeting they might be.
Practice compassion for self, and others, the earth, and God. Teresa of Ávila says that best measure of our love for God is how we love other people, and that especially applies to how we care for those in need or who are suffering. Again, there’s no one right way or one-size-fits-all approach. Some people are hands-on and devote many hours to feeding the homeless, volunteering at safe houses, visiting prisoners, and so forth. Others simply devote themselves to learning love through care for family and neighbors, living honestly, and seeking to deconstruct their inner privileges and prejudices. There’s no single way to practice compassion: but compassion is the heart of love, and love is the nature of God, and union with God is what mysticism is all about. So the mystical life is a life radiant with practical love.
Pay attention, pay attention, pay attention. There’s a wonderful story in the Hebrew Scriptures about Elijah on “the mountain of the Lord” where he seeks the presence of God. There is a mighty wind, but he doesn’t find God in the wind; then an earthquake, and then a fire, but still no encounter with God. Then comes a light silent sound, or a still small voice, or the sound of sheer silence (different Bible translations render it differently, but the gist is always the same). God — who is Compassion — comes to us through the silence. So we have to do more than just “get comfortable” with silence, we are invited to be so conscious, so aware, so attentive, that we learn to discern the silent presence of that still small voice. Of course, God (and God’s silence) and be found in all things (“The fullness of joy is to behold God in all,” declared Julian of Norwich). But learning to go deep within is a way to calibrate our attention so that we can find the God who comes to us through all things. When we learn that, then literally the entire universe shimmers with mystical insight — and divine love.

Are these steps all that is necessary? Not necessarily. Some people need religious or communal support; others need the great wisdom that is found in books; others need to lose themselves in loving acts of service for others. Many of us need times of retreat and regular companionship in prayer and meditation as found in spiritual direction. Again, because there is no program, we each have to find our own way along the wayless way. That may seem daunting, but it can also simply be an adventure. Just remember, at the level of your heart and soul, deep below the threshold of your mind and thoughts, you are already one with God. Becoming a mystic is not about changing yourself, but rather about learning to recognize who you already are.

Enjoy the (journey-less) journey!

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