Recently I have been thinking of ways to express mystical encounters that I experience from time to time--usually when I am studying, writing, listening to music, or helping others. Sometimes I have these experiences when I am praying or when I am with a group studying the Bible or when I am reading the Bible.
The “naïve” Christian considers God as a being from whose care one hopes to benefit and whose punishment one fears. A profounder sort of Christianity takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of the universe that reveals to us an incomprehensible being whose systematic superiority makes human contribution utterly insignificant and yet—at the same time—in a counterintuitive way that remains unexplained, makes human contribution a vital part of the great cosmic ocean of thought. This conviction of a supreme, holy, unexplainable being produces an intoxicated joy at the beauty and grandeur of the world that seems more like a feeling or emotion than a thought. This mystical experience that only can originate outside the brain is a thought-feeling from God that is best expressed through music and poetry. We might call this process “grasping cosmic loving-intelligence.” This cosmic loving-intelligence came in human form as Jesus Christ. Most of the time we are unaware of this cosmic loving-intelligence. On rare occasions, some “spiritual puff” may stimulate a sudden, brief rapture that impresses the mind and heart with an unwavering conviction—“I have just encountered the divine.” This mystical experience fills one with the desire to act toward others with kindnesses, warmth, good-cheer and generosity not to receive a reward but as a way of expressing a cosmic encounter.
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