The Mind of God

 Karl Rahner, the greatest theologian of the 20th century, once said, "The Christian of the future will either be a mystic, or he will be nothing at all."    Now, in the 21st century, I see Rahner's statement taking shape.  There is so much "nothing at all" in our culture that we now have a name, a label, for it -- nones, referring to those who have no religious affiliation. But even among those who call themselves Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, etc., there seems to be little mysticism among believers.  I think maybe it's our culture, which places little or no value on mystical experience -- indeed, in the age of science, mysticism is regarded with suspicion.

In the Garden of Paradise, man was given a choice -- to live by Wisdom / The Tree of Life, or to live by his knowledge of good and evil/ science.  In other words, we can enter into the mind of God, and live, or we can choose to live by what we can see, taste, hear, and see -- which leads to death.  In the desert, Jesus repeated the lesson Moses gave the Israelites:  Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3).

Mysticism is not magical; it is not "out there;" it is not reserved for a few.  Mysticism is simply entering into the mind and heart of God, learning what it is that "comes forth from the mouth of God," and leads to life.  In the 55th chapter of Isaiah, the prophet speaks for God:

"Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?
 Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
 Give ear, and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.....
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. 

Mysticism is nothing more than "giving ear," listening to the Holy Spirit instead of to the voices all around us.  When we read Scripture, we read with an ear cocked to the Voice of the Spirit within, Who teaches us as we read.  When we pray, we pray not so much our of our own minds, but listening to what the Spirit prays in us.  If we have accepted the Gift of Tongues, we are able more easily to let go of the persistent thoughts of our own minds and enter into the mind of the Holy Spirit. The Gift of Tongues essentially shuts down, or at least occupies, the language center of the brain, and opens our minds to receive the thoughts of God.

In the Book of 1 Corinthians, Paul tells us "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" ---but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.  It is not "far away," or "out there;" it is in our hearts and minds:  We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

....that we may understand.....The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned....for who has known the mind of the Lord....But we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:6-16)

 It is more than clear that God wants to communicate His thoughts, His mind, His heart to us.  He sent Jesus Christ, the Word Made Flesh, to reveal to us His own thoughts --- Have you been so long with me and you still do not know the Father? Jesus asked Philip.  If we are thirsty enough to read Scripture, to ask for the Gift of the Holy Spirit, to listen to Jesus, the spoken Word of God, we can know the mind and heart of God.  And that, that, is what makes us ordinary people "mystics."