=1 "The mystic is always misunderstood"
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The mystic is always misunderstood
A mystery told, a mystery explained, a mystery spelled out remains a mystery. Explanation does not explain it away, it makes it even more obscure. Somebody tells you that you are immortal, truly, truly. But still you die. The Christ said to the Twelve: “Some of you won't die.” He didn't say all of you won't die. (no explanation!) Some of you will even have a soul one day. But as long as you doubt it, you simply won't ‘have’ one. Many people, when they read what the ancient mystics said about the Light or the Life, dismiss it with a shrug of the shoulders, as simply a figure of speech: “People always exaggerate,” just as when a political orator talks about democracy or socialism, or any other ‘ism’.
The great mystics of the past would not have spoken with so much reverence and awe of the mysteries if the Hierophant had merely explained in a philosophy class the arguments for or against immortality. Nor would it have been sufficient for him to show them the sex organs of a pig, as some modern historical researchers believe. The secret mysteries of Eleusis would not have known such a fame and such a unanimity among all the classical writers from Heraclitus to Herodotus if mystical experience was just come glamorous idea as so many people think – theories or musings about transcendence and ultimate reality. It would seem strange, if that were the case, they they should have had such a tremendous influence, made such a lasting imprint on this history of the race.
No philosophical or political idea could last more than a fashionable season if an inner experience or an eternal truth did not stand behind it. It is because freedom, justice and brotherhood are borne by such a transcendent truth that they have left their indelible mark on all political thought. But political theories about the application of these ideas: how to vote, how to govern, how to apply liberty and equality and fraternity – these come and go from one system to another just like the cut of our dress or the style of hats we wear.
What remains is the living experience: Truly there is no death. But our civilization is a real civilization only because of our great mystics, and it will live only as long as they live.