Was Jesus a Mystic?...

Exploring the the Relationship Between Mysticism and Religion

A Story
by Laura Ellen Shulman


A young man has his own very special relationship with God - an internal mystical connection with his Source and the Source of all. This is a relationship through which wisdom, knowledge and insight is gained regarding the nature of God, human nature, life in this world and how human beings are related to and ought relate to God and each other. This young man puts this understanding into practice in his own life. He loves others as he loves himself because he knows everyone is united as one in God. He has a unique and refreshing view on life. He is happy and at peace and this shows in his very being.
People are attracted to him by the love he shows for them and the insightful things he has to say. They listen and try to understand but very few of them have the benefit of the same relationship he has with God. It is this relationship that makes the difference between hearing what he has to say and truly understanding it. ("He who has ears, let him hear")
People try to act as he acts. They take his verbal lessons and the example of his life as guidelines for living a moral life and as practices that will lead to spiritual enlightenment. They too wish to relate to God as he relates to God. What these people do not realize is that acting as if one has this relationship/experience with God does not necessarily result in the experience. What they do not realize it that the way this man acts and what he knows is a result of the special relationship he has with God; it is not what caused that relationship.

How did our young man acquire his "very special relationship with God" in the first place? Was it initiated by God or by this man? Was it accidentally stumbled upon? Approached gradually? Was it perhaps just in his nature? Any or all combinations of these or other methods? Who knows. Maybe even the mystic does not understand how it all came to be. But it is something wonderful that he wishes others might share in and so he tries to share with others what he does know.
However, try as he might, the mystic cannot transfer his relationship with God to another through words and deeds. He is constrained by the words and imagery familiar to those of his culture. He can do little more than speak in metaphor and parable. But the folks he is speaking to cannot know where metaphor leaves off and literal explanation begins so they become confused and debate what it is the mystic meant.

"I and the Father are one"
- a simple statement of mystical union with God.

Folks cannot conceive of such a thing as humanly possible. These mystics are so rare that no one he meets has even encountered another like him before and so they begin to think he is unique, that he is not really human, that they cannot possibly become like him. He must have been born like this. Rumor and misunderstanding spread and he is turned from being a simple "carpenter's son" into a teacher and then into a potential king, a prophet and finally, a God. "We cannot hope to be like him," they say, "because we are mere mortals and he is divine, a god incarnate."

When this man dies, all that is left of this relationship between a single human being and God is words and deeds - creed and ritual practices. This religion is all the outside manifestations of an inner experience. But it is an empty shell with no guarantee of becoming the real religion of the heart - the original religion of the mystic who unintentionally started it all. One person's personal religion becomes the religion of a community but something is missing from it. Practices and creed can be passed down from generation to generation, from person to person, but mystical experience cannot be passed down. Mystical experience can only be born anew within each heart. ("You must be born again")

"You are not far from the Kingdom of God"

"The Kingdom of God is within you"

But you are either there or not. No one else can get you there. Ultimately it all lies within you to be open to it. No minister, no guru, no ritual does it for you. These are only catalysts for those who are already "not far from the Kingdom of God." How to get "not far from" it? There is no universal formula. Some things work better for some folks, others for others. And most times none of it works at all because the majority of people pursue the externals of their religion without any notion that there is something more before and beyond the surface. Even if they do realize there is something missing from their religious life, they have no idea what it is. No words of explanation from someone who does know can tell them because that missing bit is all internal, beyond words to express. It is ineffable. To understand what it is one must know for oneself what it is.

Mystics are human but what most humans do not realize is that humans are one with God - that it is in the nature of all humanity to know this special relationship with God. It is, however, not a relationship found in the practice and creed of superficial ritual and religion. It is a relationship found only in the heart.
The practice of religion is a result of the mystical relationship, not the cause of it. External religion develops out of our internal relationship with God, not the other way ‘round. Religion is the way of life of one who knows God - the way of life of the mystic - and it can take any form. Religion without that mystical connection to God is not true religion. The externals of religion - that which can be observed in the world - have little to do directly with religion of the heart, with the direct cognition of God - the Source and Unity of all that is.