You've met Teresa and John, but have you met the new cast of mystics?
Meet all 12 at the Modern Mystics School!
How do you pray contemplative prayer? (Including demo!)
with Kelly Deutsch
Ever wonder how to pray contemplative prayer?
In this short video, I show you just how to get started.
Keywords and Tags:
Mysticism
Divine intimacy
Spiritual journey
Contemplation
Sacred
Neuropsychology
Ancient wisdom
Modern science
Embodiment
Ecstasy
Divine union
Transformation
Spiritual practice
Presence
Search for meaning
Theology
Gnosis
Esoteric knowledge
Interior life
Stillness
Love warrior
Union with God
Infinite longing
Books /Websites
00;00;00;04 - 00;00;25;19
Kelly Deutsch
Mysticism can feel like a pretty intangible thing. It's hard to grasp by definition. We use words like darkness, episodic cloud of unknowing, and it's pretty common to have experiences that feel mystical but may have been more intuitive or serendipitous. That's why many of the mystics point to qualities or fruits in the mystics life to discern whether someone is a mystic or not.
00;00;26;26 - 00;00;55;11
Kelly Deutsch
Curious if you fit the description. Here are six of the signs the mystics name that you too, might be a mystic. Number one, you know that love is the deepest reality. You know in your bones, that you are deeply loved, that your dentist is deeply loved, that your one eyed cat is loved. But those apple trees outside in your yard, that the most heinous criminal, that they are all deeply loved.
00;00;56;20 - 00;01;04;00
Kelly Deutsch
And it's likely that you've come to this knowing by some profound experience, by being tenderly loved in the midst of your own mess.
00;01;06;18 - 00;01;31;13
Kelly Deutsch
Even if your emotions still get swayed, you can return to this foundation. It's the sea bed underneath all the waves, and it's the water to wherever you're splashing around, be it up top where all the commotion is or down in the deep where it's still and slow. You know that you are constantly surrounded by swimming in, breathing in love.
00;01;32;18 - 00;01;35;05
Kelly Deutsch
You know that love holds everything in existence.
00;01;37;07 - 00;02;07;07
Kelly Deutsch
Number two, you have a longing for divine intimacy, even if you're not 100% sure what that is. You crave it. Why? Because you've tasted it before. You've experienced this ineffable presence that stills you and communicates with you in the quiet. It's probably not levitation or ecstasies, but it might be a love that embraces every single cell of your body.
00;02;08;06 - 00;02;38;09
Kelly Deutsch
Might be a serenity or a bliss. You can't help but want more And that longing is both painful and beautiful at the same time. And it fuels your search. Number three, you're okay with uncertainty You recognize that the answer to most things in life is not a binary either or A or B, it's both. And it's inclusive. Some call this non duality.
00;02;39;17 - 00;03;04;19
Kelly Deutsch
The foundation of this okay ness with uncertainty is that you know that the deepest truths are a mystery. You know that the beginning of wisdom is saying, I don't know, nearly every mystic will speak of that ineffable be that cloud of unknowing deep. I know not what. It's an acknowledgment that God, the Divine is far bigger than we could ever fit.
00;03;04;19 - 00;03;38;01
Kelly Deutsch
Inside our tiny brains. It's like Augustine, the African mystic said, if you think you've understood God, it's not God you've understood. So when Hinduism says God is many and Judaism says God is one, and Christianity says God is one in three, you're okay saying, I don't know. You can live the questions and remain open before them. You befriend the mystery the fourth sign you might be a mystic is you're becoming a more loving person.
00;03;39;14 - 00;04;10;10
Kelly Deutsch
When you love someone and spend lots of time with them, you start to pick up some of their qualities when you spend lots of time with love itself, you become more loving, which makes sense. You know, when you felt so deeply loved, you can't help but want to share that love with others. And so the way you respond to life starts to change what you talk about with your friends, how often you snap or lose your temper, or start speaking up for yourself or for others.
00;04;12;03 - 00;04;37;10
Kelly Deutsch
In fact, according to the Mystics, this quality is the hallmark sign of genuine mysticism. Teresa of Avila, John the Cross, so many others, they'll all say that the key to determining whether an experience or a person is mystical is whether or not it leads to a growth in virtue in other words, are you becoming more loving, courageous, humble?
00;04;38;27 - 00;05;09;08
Kelly Deutsch
Number five, you're detached What does that mean? To be detached means you're open handed and receptive before reality versus grasping and controlling and worrying. You know that everything is a gift like terrorism. Lissu would say our role is to receive when you're detached, you can let go of your expectations of what you want reality to be. This is not easy, people.
00;05;09;19 - 00;05;42;15
Kelly Deutsch
Let me say that again. When you're detached you can let go of your expectations of what you want reality to be. That means I can let go of my expectations that my health be different than it is, that politics be different than it is that my spouse be different than they are. I can want them to be different I can work towards that end, you know, by taking care of my body and my health, by lobbying for systemic change in politics or maybe having a tough conversation with my spouse.
00;05;43;03 - 00;06;10;01
Kelly Deutsch
But I know the results aren't up to me. That's open handedness detachment also looks like humility because you're not attached to your ego. You're okay looking foolish or appearing selfish or even looking intelligent. Or caring. You don't even really care if you're mystic. It doesn't matter so much to you. What matters to you is being one with God.
00;06;11;18 - 00;06;37;08
Kelly Deutsch
And that leads us to number six. The sixth sign that you might be a mystic is your light hearted this naturally flows from detachment because you can take things lightly and laugh. You don't need to hold on to this pious seriousness you realize the most important things are the ones that are given, not the ones you achieve. You're okay with your imperfections.
00;06;37;14 - 00;07;01;20
Kelly Deutsch
You know that you won't even be light hearted all the time. You know that you won't always be detached or perfectly loving. You're working on letting go of your ego, but you also know that your ego will never die, and you're okay with that. So you'll still feel angry and insulted and resentful sometimes. But you're able to hold these feelings lightly and know that they're not the final answer.
00;07;02;24 - 00;07;30;20
Kelly Deutsch
Instead, you find a place of curiosity, like wonder why that anger feels so intense. As a result of this, you become more settled in your own skin. You realize you have nothing to defend, nothing to prove that you don't have to strive so hard. You live a normal human life and relax into the knowing that you are not in control.
00;07;31;08 - 00;08;02;01
Kelly Deutsch
It's not all up to you, and a profound love holds you and everything else in existence. So those are the six signs. You might be a mystic. You know that love is the deepest reality you've longed for. Divine intimacy you're okay with uncertainty. You're becoming more loving, detached and lighthearted. John of the Cross, one of my favorite mystics summed up these qualities just perfectly in one of his poems.
00;08;02;21 - 00;08;31;03
Kelly Deutsch
He says, He who is sick with love, whom God himself has touched finds his tastes so changed that they fall away like a fevered man's who loathes any food he sees and desires I know not what which is so gladly found. The fact that you're here listening to this shows you're already on the path because the truth is, we're all mystics in the making.
00;08;31;27 - 00;08;41;17
Kelly Deutsch
The longing, the restlessness that brought you here. That's the invitation That's the divine already moving in you drawing you two divine union.
00;08;43;22 - 00;08;55;05
Kelly Deutsch
I hope you enjoy this video or podcast wherever you listen to it. If you found it helpful, please consider liking subscribing or sharing it with others. Thanks for watching