Mystics, Consciousness & Mysticism
A personal relationship with I AM
Knowledge from within through revelation
I AM THAT WHICH I AM. I am twia. Twia has no definition. Twia has no meaning. Twia is I AM. There is no other than I AM. It cannot be compared. It is consciousness in existence, or the whole of the all without distinctions. It is your true nature, remembered in the room within. I AM is the mystic within who knows the way. To follow your true nature is to be the mystic that you are.
Mystics know their gods personally—no religion, no ritual, no intermediaries required. The divine is experienced directly rather than worshipped. What is the essence of this experience? Therein lies the rub, as they say. It varies as much as mystics do themselves. Mystics usually approach the mystery of existence through the path of their religion—and there are many paths—but not always. The mystic is immersed in the journey of finding their true nature in the god they seek. The mystery of this cannot be said. It can only be known inwardly.
Mysticism itself is not another religion, although mystics often have a home in an established belief. There are mystics in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, etc. Mystics include Jesus, St. Francis, Rumi, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Shankara, and Dogen. But mostly, whether they are members of an established religion or not, mystics seek a personal bond with I AM. They come to remember their own true nature, which I call twia. I believe that to remember twia is to sit in the still silence of the room within. To be in this moment is to touch the eternal. Then you know that you are the energy that is I AM. You realize that you are consciousness expressing existence like a dancer expressing dance. I like to think that mystics know they are the dancing that is the dance.
Mysticism arises from inner consciousness, or awareness. Religion is a ritualistic relationship between a god and those who worship it. There is a gulf between the god and the worshipper that is bridged by sacred law and the morals and practices of its execution. Mystics recognize the divides between the various gods and their worshippers and seek to close the divide for themselves by personalizing their relationship with their god. Unity with their god becomes the mystic’s quest. Jesus, for example, broke the Sabbath of his native Judaism, which was a crime, and he called Yahweh, the terrifying god of his time, Abba. Abba, for Jesus, was a personal god, as dear to the heart as a loving papa, and Jesus did not need the Sabbath to know him as a loving son.
Traditionally, the mystic strives to crack the cosmic egg of their religion to bring new answers to old questions. They follow a path inward to know their god and who they are in relationship to that god. Yet, they seldom abandon their religion entirely, but rather become a force within its outward structure. They are a push behind believers having a personal relationship with the god of their faith. Direct revelation may occur between a god and a mystic. This may lead to personal cracks in the cosmic egg while their religion itself remains intact. The relationship with their god is no longer a dogmatic experience but a life experience of personal knowledge. The mystic follows a personal path of awareness to know their god within.
I am not a mystic, but I do have thoughts about the god within. For me, that god is consciousness. I like the term consciousness as a classic portrayal of existential mysteries, but not as a depiction of a traditional god. Consciousness is not a creator that I would worship or fear. Instead, it offers me a construct for explaining the origin, meaning, and purpose of my life. I find it to be a worthy representation of the eternal reality that lies beyond my transitory existence. I like to say that consciousness is the emptiness that is nowhere, the eternal field of infinite possibility. Consciousness is totality—inconceivable and unfathomable. It is a mystery hidden behind the limitations of the me of the body. It is disclosed in the room within—not in words, but by revelation. To receive, enter the room within. I AM will embrace you and you will know.
You know consciousness in silence. There are no words that can say. Words simply point the way to the door of the mystery, where your own true nature beckons you to enter. Listen to twia. Do not identify with the me of the body and its words. It is not you. The body-personality is a transitory projection of separation in consciousness. Do not become attached to it. You are the eternal reality that is I AM. Unbind your self-worth from the me of the body. Let it serve you in the world without attachment. Then you can witness your body-personality in the world while living wisely from within. Be the mystic that you are. Twia knows the way.
Mysticism transcends religion, without go-betweens, to touch the eternal aspects of the unknown personally and directly. Transcendence is universally authentic among mystics. Mystics from different religions and spiritual paths all come to know the one true nature. Mystics know that whatever your worldly background, that which you seek within is the same under any name, and you are that. The me of the body lives in a transitory world of desire and expectation, pleasure and pain, and happiness and sorrow. The mystic knows that this is not our reality. You are not the body, or its personality by whose name you are called. You are I AM. You can know this from within without words. The words can point the way, but they are not the destination. A teacher can guide you to the room within, but they cannot carry you across the threshold. You will enter on your own when ready, and without words. To enter is to be a mystic.
Mystics realize their essential unity with consciousness. The mystic’s life expresses I AM. As a mystic, you realize that the mysterious power behind existence is your own. You are personally in touch with eternal consciousness. The visible world loses its meaning as being real, and you find your reality beyond the body. You know as a mystic that the depth of your humanity is not in the me of the body. You find that your true capacity is in the uncreated, unending reality that is consciousness. Mystics realize that they are not their personality or body, but that they are I AM. It is in I AM that existence lies as consciousness expressing what cannot be real—which is the thought of there being anything other than consciousness itself. This thought of separation becomes illusion in consciousness. As a mystic, you witness the illusion as the dream that it is. Your attachment to existence is removed once you enter the room within. You no longer place your meaning in the world, and you are released from the cycle of birth and death that is separation.
Consciousness holds the thought of separation that is expressed as existence. Instead of reaching out to a divine principle through ritual, worship, and prayer, remember twia. When remembering twia, you will see, through the eyes of your true nature, the whole of the all that is consciousness in existence. No longer will you look at the world through the eyes of the me of the body and perceive only separation. Life, you will find, has no purpose or meaning of its own. You, as the me of the body, make it what it is, so do not try to make something out of nothing. As often implied, you are an actor, and all the world is a stage. On this stage, you play at separation with desire and expectation, pleasure and pain, and happiness and sorrow. Change the script. Enter the room within. Release the joy and peace that is your true nature. The world will turn in a new direction for you.
Mysticism is about there being no difference between you and the whole of the all. You are I AM. You are consciousness. You cannot be other. To consider other is to think of separation. Separation cannot be real. What you experience as other is existence. Existence is the manifestation of separation. You know existence as the world you in which you live as the me of the body. None of existence is real. You are not your body. You are not your personality. You are I AM—whole, complete, perfect, eternal. You do not know your true nature until you enter the room within. Until then pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow seem all too real. Such perceptions are difficult, if not seemingly impossible, to deny.
The world you experience is not independent of you. In truth, it has no existence of its own. It reflects your desires, expectations, and attachments. Its meaning is yours. It has no meaning of its own. Mysticism looks past the meanings of life as seen by the me of the body. You, as a body, find meaning from cultural history and religious beliefs, which are expanded by personal experience. The mystic has eyes that see through culture, religion, and experience to the reality within. The mystic touches upon eternal consciousness. The mystic sees the misrepresentations of reality in existence. Knowing that existence is imbued in consciousness like unicorns in a child’s dream, the mystic is aware of the dream and awakens to reality. The more you know of the dream, the more you open your world to consciousness in existence. Then, as the dust of the world clears, you see with greater clarity. You step into the light of twia, and your perceptions of separation diminish as twia illuminates the whole of the all for you to see.
Release your attachment to the world. The me of the body is limited in scope. Give yourself over to twia. Mystics release themselves to the eternal. To touch the eternal, they enter the room within. They awaken to their true nature in the still silence of I AM. In ignorance and fear, the me of the body struggles to survive the cycles of birth and death as a soul thrust into manifestation by thoughts of separation in consciousness. Change your thoughts. Let the soul slip back into the unity from which it came. Until then, you are entangled in Marley’s chains.
Mysticism confronts the illusion of existence by opening the door to reality. The mystic remembers twia by walking the path that leads within. The cosmic process of the universe is transitory. Its ever-changing nature is not real. It is an illusion of reality. The mystic knows this. The mystic knows that our true nature lies in consciousness and not in the illusion of our existence. You are I AM. I AM is consciousness-expressing. The world of your existence as the me of the body is, in truth, your own expression. The mystic awakens to this reality by entering the still silence of the room within. The finite nature of the world brings fear and ignorance to the me of the body and it feels lost and alone as a soul in what seems to be an endless cycle of birth and death. The soul battles with fear to reduce its suffering. To break the cycles, end the battle. Do nothing. Enter the room within. Remember twia. Twia knows and mysticism points the way.
To point the way, mystics mostly use the spiritual language of their religion or spiritual community. Their mysticism flowers in their home garden. Jesus, for example, stepped out of the norm but remained a Jew. His mystic teachings reflected his views on Judaism. Although not their purpose, mystic teachings can seed new religion and ritual. The teachings of Jesus, for example, seeded Christianity as his followers struggled to find their way after his death. Struggles come because the me of the body does not feel fulfilled unto itself. There is a sense of lack and a need for communion with something greater. This is the way of the world. The way of the path is to remember that you are I AM. You are the one. There is no other. You will not find your way by kneeling before the altar or searching the heavens. Mystics such as Jesus say to turn within. Jesus broke the Sabbath of his faith in many ways, but he knew his true nature within. He called it the kingdom of God. He asked that you join him there. I think he would have been shocked that Christianity grew in his name instead. To me he was more about loving-kindness and seeing the whole of the all than he was about the power of empire as embedded in the early Church.
Mysticism is a loving relationship between you in separation and your true nature in reality. It is remembering that you are I AM and that you and your true nature are not separate. Religion too often sets you apart from your true nature. Philosophy might bring you closer. But it is mysticism that can reunite you as one. Mysticism is a system of thought that derives knowledge from within through revelation. The revelation is your own knowledge as twia. Twia knows. Twia guides you. To follow twia, transcend the world by entering the room within.
Mystics look within to contemplate the mystery of existence. The room within offers access to the unknown. Herein, mystics transcend the world and the me of the body to be embraced by their true nature. What cannot be known in words is revealed through revelation from I AM. You are I AM. There is no separation between you and I AM. Knowing this guides the mystic in life. The mystic lives in full awareness of I AM. I AM is consciousness in existence, or the whole of the all. You are the whole of the all. There is no other. As a mystic in the room within, revelation confronts you with your own reality, which is that which I AM.
I AM is consciousness-expressing. There is consciousness and nothing else. The appearance of separation in the world is a thought within consciousness that cannot be made real, much like a unicorn in a child’s imagination. The expressing of this thought in consciousness is I AM. You are I AM. You are consciousness-expressing. This is your true nature. As I AM, you are aware because I AM is awareness. You are discrete awareness in form. You cannot know this alone because it cannot be learned by effort. It is beyond knowing in body and is revealed by twia. Through revelation you remember twia as your true nature. Twia can cleanse the past and open your eyes to see through the dust of the world. From within, you find ears to hear the still, small voice of silence that is twia. With twia as your guide, you practice holding peace of heart always. You become loving-kindness without thought of desire or expectation. As loving-kindness, you express your awareness of I AM in the world—and the appearance of separation gives way to knowing the whole of the all.
The mystical experience arcs across the ages. It is universal in its realization. A perennial philosophy, as described by Aldous Huxley. For mystics, the search goes inward to gain a personal relationship with a deity or spiritual power. It becomes an experience of union, unity, and oneness of all. Mysticism transcends existence to liberate you from the me of the body. It reaches into the realm of the room within. Herein, the mystic overcomes perception and judgment. Mystics practice freeing themselves from the limitations of the body-personality to live in the world without desire and attachment. In mysticism, you know that you are not contained in the me of the body; that the body-personality is not you and that it cannot hold you in your entirety. You are greater than your perceptions of existence.
A most fearful perception in body is that of death as oblivion. To overcome this fear, many possibilities for what lies beyond the grave have been constructed. To live in fear is to contend with dying. The fear drives your existence, resulting in constructs of gods and after-death scenarios. Rituals, rites, and religions abound to ward off oblivion. Attachment to the body-personality is strong. Fear of its loss is the bane of humanity. Desires, expectations, and attachments feed your hopes for survival. These lead to pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. Suffering from perceived loss ensues while you try to transcend death by clinging to existence and its stories of salvation after death.
Personally, I believe that what I cling to has no meaning, except that which I give to it. There is no god that has created me. I am not a pot placed in the world by a potter. I am not blessed with grace from a divine being. My body is a random outcome of evolution governed by the laws of the universe. My personality is a projection of thought in consciousness governed by genetics, culture, and personal beliefs. My existence is simply a thought of separation in consciousness that cannot be made real because my reality is I AM—whole, complete, perfect, and eternal. My existence has no meaning because there are no distinctions for comparison in consciousness. To realize that the me of the body is a meaningless illusion of separation begins the great awakening for all who enter the room within. I have not yet chosen to enter and to live my life as twia, so I do not consider myself a mystic. But, as is true for everyone, I will enter when ready and be greeted by my inner mystic, which is I AM.
Mystics are among those who have entered the room within. In their varied practices, they share a few common tenets. Among these are a non-attachment to worldly ways and things. Desires, expectations, and attachments hang low, if not unseen, on their horizons. Mystics live in the moment, release the past, and let the future tend to itself. Prayer gives way to knowing. Hope is abandoned. Instead, mystics accept life in the moment with peace of heart always. They live simply, showing loving-kindness to all. A practice of meditation, contemplation, and sitting silently in the room within governs their lives. Ultimately, they gain a personal relationship with their true nature, however they see it.