A note of caution
This post is intense in the best kind of way. We’ve been dipping our toes into the levels of consciousness and hinting at the mystics. But those topics can be a bit removed from real life until we understand the bigger picture.
This post is (the beginning of) the bigger picture.
Is there any such thing as a true religion?
Recently we looked at what awaits us on the other side of Christian deconstruction.
And we saw that deconstruction is often a necessary phase to bridge between lower-consciousness Christianity and the higher levels of spirituality available to all humans.
But what is meant by higher levels of spirituality?
And is there such a thing as absolute truth when it comes to mapping spiritual realities?
Enter the mystics
As we progress into these higher stages of consciousness we’re able to access greater and greater levels of love within our lives. And as love becomes more of who we are, our daily lives are driven less by our ego1, which then allows more of the Divine light to shine through us.
While rare, there have always been a small number of humans throughout history who’ve achieved the very highest levels of consciousness. In many spiritual systems this is broadly referred to as enlightenment, although even with enlightenment there are many stages.
These enlightened few are often known as mystics, and they’re present in every viable spiritual system that we know of. There are Christian mystics, Buddhist mystics, Sufi mystics, Hindu mystics, Jewish mystics, Shamanistic mystics, and the list goes on.
Mystics don’t get their ideas from teachers or holy books. Mystics hold their truths based on direct experience. This might be difficult for most of us to understand or relate to.
Mystics don’t “believe” anything. They experience it.
And the advent of globalism over the last 150 years has allowed the research, sharing, and merging of the many mystical experiences recorded across cultures and geographies, as well as across the millenia.
The remarkable thing to me is the uniformity of concepts and ideas of the true mystics (all seemingly derived from direct experiences) regardless of which century, region, or spiritual background the particular mystic hails from.
Certainly they have different names and different emphases, but the broad structures and frameworks are both aligned and coherent.
A list of mystical attributes
The information I’m about to share will be difficult for many to believe.
Why?
Because both at a societal level and at the individual level the rationality of the Ambition (3) stage of consciousness currently rules the world. This is also the level of most people who are experiencing deconstruction, along with many agnostics and atheists.
And one of the biggest challenges of this rational Ambition stage is often the inability to imagine that there’s anything beyond that level.
And that’s perfectly OK.
Because while this stage might look like a spiritual rebellion or even regression to some, it’s actually an incubation period as the individual is being prepared, usually unconsciously, for a greater revelation of the Divine.
That said, here is a list of mystic attributes and concepts that seem to be present regardless of culture, spiritual background, or historical period.
Miracles
Also known as siddis or powers in some traditions. Many humans can do things that would broadly be described as miracles. This would include things such as healing, extrasensory perception, and the ability to defy physics (both within our material universe of spacetime, but also in the other realms) such as translocation, walking across water via levitation, etc.
You do not have a soul, you are a soul
Mystics understand that we are not human personalities who have a soul that carries on beyond the death of our physical body; rather we are eternal souls currently experiencing what it’s like to have a human, material body with a present-day personality.
Earth school
Earth is understood as a sort of school that allows souls to progress through the levels of consciousness until we all “graduate.” We have as much time and as many incarnations as needed to reach our destiny of becoming a realized being. Realization simply means understanding and remembering who we really are.2
Karma (or sowing and reaping if you prefer) is the primary law of the earth school. This spiritual law of cause & effect is key to understand as we make decisions on how to live.
The Divine isn’t in a hurry
God isn’t mad, nor is “he” sending anyone to an eternal hell. This is a true gospel and many can just rest in the comfort of this truth for a while.
The Divine isn’t in a hurry.
And while it certainly brings the Divine great pleasure to see us unfold towards a greater realization of who we really are, we’re also allowed the free will to find our own way there.
We each have as much time as we need.
And you’re exactly where you need to be.
Reincarnation
Every mystic I’ve encountered, regardless of spiritual background, understands reincarnation to be a basic fundamental of reality. This stance is consistent across the mystics of all faith traditions: Christian, Sufi, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Shamanic, and Indigenous spirituality.
Personally I was shocked to find all these Christian mystics who treated reincarnation as an absolute given.
Why do they believe this? Not because they read it in a book, but because they’ve experienced it. They remember some, if not all, of their previous incarnations in the same way you might remember who you used to be in high school.
Look around. The material world is filled with examples of death and rebirth cycles. The spiritual world is no different.
The idea of reincarnation was first quite disturbing to me3, as I had no interest in doing this all over again. This disturbance slowly gave way to curiosity which eventually led to peace.
But it took me a while.
What I eventually came to understand is that while my current personality might be tired, that’s likely because my current personality has been working like crazy to figure all this out since I was about five years old. And I tend to believe that this current incarnation of mine is a key one, meaning I’ve overcome certain obstacles this time that really held me up previously.
Or maybe I’m wrong and I always feel this way. I’ll let you know in 300 years.
Joking aside, I realize this is a sensitive topic, especially in the West, and I’ll write more on the subject of reincarnation soon.
A Diverse Ecosystem
The ecosystem of entities on “the other side” is even more diverse than our natural, material world that exists within spacetime.
Some of them are helpful.
I find the Christian streams of mysticism particularly instructive in this regard. They seem safer than some of the New Age thrillseekers.
When I first learned about all of this I was ready to visit a local metaphysical church, talk to a medium, get an Akashic reading, etc.4
Then I heard a couple of contemporary mystics talk about what’s called “the astral circus” and that sobered me up a bit on this topic.
Be careful out there.
Reality is a continuum
We’re surrounded by spiritual realms, both the ones you’ve heard of and the ones you haven’t. As an example the place most of us called Heaven is known to mystics as the Astral Plane or the Psychic Plane. It’s also considered the fourth dimension.
(Sounds a little new agey, I get it. But regardless of the naming, the concept is consistent across the mystical traditions.)
We currently have to die to get access to this place. Many mystics do not. They come and go as they please. Reality is a continuum that they can traverse at will.
Just as karma, or cause & effect, is the primary law of our third dimensional material world, in the fourth dimension the primary law is attraction & repulsion. This means that “Heaven” is a place where we are surrounded only by what we love.
In future posts I’ll share more about this fourth dimensional Heaven (and the other Heavens that lie beyond that.)
Rainbow Body
This might fall into the miracle category above, but it’s such a big one that it probably deserves it’s own spot.
Some enlightened masters, particularly in the East, experience the Rainbow Body phenomenon at the time of death. The master’s body shrinks over a few days’ time until it vanishes completely with the possible exception of maybe hair and nails.
Around the same time there are natural phenomena such as earthquakes, rainbows, and the appearance of strange lights in the sky. And the master may then reappear as a spirit to his followers, or disciples.
Sound familiar?
The Rainbow Body phenomenon has been documented for centuries (and also recently) among Tibetan Buddhists.
The New Testament is (mostly, sort of) accurate
Mystics, especially those in the West,5 believe most of the events of the New Testament happened, it’s just that the interpretations of those events is often a bit wrong.
Everybody loves Jesus, but they’re not entirely sure about some of the other folks mentioned in the NT, who end up mostly ignored.6
And the teachings we get of Jesus in the New Testament are mostly what he taught the crowds, rather than what he taught his inner circle. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as most of us probably need to focus mostly on love, rather than on how to manifest fish and loaves.
Jesus of Nazareth
I’ve seen time and time again where mystics, both Western and Eastern, explain that the Christ is literally in charge of much of reality, but just not in the way traditional Christians think.
And as we’ve talked about before, while there’s certainly some significance to Jesus’s birth and death, it was his life that mattered most.
Jesus came to teach people how to live. And his teachings 2000 years ago were based upon how people were living 2000 years ago. He was dealing with a culture that was largely at Level 1 (Dominance) and Level 2 (Obedience) in the stages of consciousness.
Two-thousand years ago when Jesus taught the people, he taught them not from the highest heights of his spiritual wisdom, but rather he taught the people at the level where they were at.
For some who were engaged in behaviors that were harmful to themselves and others (often Dominance level) he asked them to repent7, which really just meant to have a change of heart.
For those who were a little further along and perhaps a bit too rigid in their beliefs on right and wrong (Obedience level), he encouraged them to be more loving and to serve others, which are the actions that lead us further along the path to the higher levels of consciousness (Ambition —> Sharing—> Responsibility.)
And given the role Jesus apparently plays in all of this, what I’m about to say next might surprise you…
This isn’t a Christian thing
Jesus of Nazareth, at a minimum, seems to have been the greatest mystic the world has record of. And based on some of the most advanced mystics I’ve studied it seems likely that Jesus was the human personality of a superior Divine manifestation that emerged on the earth 2000 years ago.
That might be a fancy way of saying the same thing we learned in church, except in mysticism none of it really matters.
Unless you want it to.
There is no hell to be saved from and you’re already an eternal being who cannot die. Those two things can be true and you can also still be fascinated by the question of who Jesus was.
While the most advanced contemporary masters I’m aware of interact with a presence called the Logos that’s literally so powerfully intense that it raises the temperature of the room by 100 or more degrees to the point where the heat becomes nearly unbearable, there are also many mystics who interact with other distinctly non-Christian emanations of the Divine.
Why is this?
Probably for many reasons I don’t yet have insight into. But also because the Divine is diverse just as all of creation is wildly diverse. Just as all the many religious traditions are diverse, each with its own emphasis on certain aspects of the Divine.
The Divine isn’t in a hurry, and the Divine is represented by all of creation. Jesus is historically important in the context of the material world and the Christ is important throughout the material and spiritual realms, but the Divine has no ego in any of this.
And there are many mystics and other highly conscious humans who don’t relate to Jesus, the Christ, or Christianity in any way.
Why?
Ultimately because that’s not what it’s about.
Love
Love is what the whole thing is about. In the end we will each attain theosis, and we will each and all, every soul in the earth school, become pure Love. It will be at that point that our true missions begin.
There’s work to be done
Most Christians think the work was all done by Jesus and the purpose of their entire existence is to just get to Heaven and chill.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The whole purpose of the earth school is to develop us into the gods we were always intended to become so we’re able to effectively participate in the work of the Divine Plan.
But don’t worry, they’re won’t be any Zoom calls. The Divine Plan isn’t that sort of work. It’s more like the painter who can’t not paint, because it’s what they were born to do.
You were created for this work. And you’re gonna love it.
I’m not making this up
I know some of this sounds wild, and I’m not sure I would’ve believed it all a year ago. But in my many, many hours of study all of these elements keep coming back up time and again. And the more powerful the mystic, the wilder it gets.
Maybe the Divine is way cooler than we think?
If this all this is true, why isn’t it widely known?
I asked myself the same question when I first discovered these insights. Why hadn’t any of our spiritual leaders shared this info with us?
My best conclusion is that these leaders, even those with ties to the deconstruction communities who are trying to find a new way forward, seem largely unaware of much of what is shared above.
This is understandable for a few reasons.
First, most of this insight has been locked away in monasteries for close to 2000 years. It was deemed unsafe for the masses, and many mystics have had to hide their own abilities through the centuries due to intense persecution by the church itself.
The types of individuals who chose to rise to power within the church were rarely the same individuals who developed true spiritual power. And therefore the church itself has largely suppressed this information going back to the earliest days of institutionalization.
Furthermore, while the elite of the Catholic Church were likely very aware of this information through the centuries, the lay people were not. And so when the Reformation occurred, driven largely by the layity, these reformers and the subsequent Protestant denominations they established knew nothing of the mystical path.
And since Protestant denominations largely have no mystical heritage, they therefore have almost no mystical knowledge. And while some evangelical and charismatic churches seem to be able to gain limited access to spiritual realms, they are doing so at a rudimentary level, with results that end up being confusing or weird, rather than inspiring.
For those of you familiar with modern churches who “speak in tongues” or "fall out in the Spirit,” these are examples of what occurs when individuals at the earlier stages of consciousness try to access the other side. A novel experience? Perhaps. But probably not that helpful to the practitioner or others when it comes to advancing either themselves or the Divine Plan.
I watched people speak in tongues for about ten years with no discernible benefit.8
The second reason this info isn’t widely known is because there’s no obvious path. Mystics have been so rare historically that we have to really dig to understand that these things don’t happen by accident. This is true even when the mystic themself doesn’t fully understand the powers unfolding within.
It took me over a thousand hours of research, study, and thinking about this topic to be able to construct this post.9 What I mean by that is there aren’t many clear, succinct resources on how to access the mystical path publicly available yet.
But there is definitely a path. And we can find and follow it. And for anyone willing to do the research, all of this information is available. It’s hidden in plain sight.
Individual results may vary, but we can all progress.
When we hear about spontaneous awakenings where someone who seems completely lost in life suddenly wakes up to full enlightenment (Eckhart Tolle10 is one of many who come to mind) it’s almost certainly because that soul has been doing the necessary work for a very long time, through many incarnations.
And a third reason this info is largely unknown is because churches and pastors are so disconnected from these mystical truths that it’s left a vacuum for those who’ve had a mystical experience and need support.
In desperation these individuals have often had to turn to alternative sources of support, such as the various streams of the New Age movement, which Christianity often sees as a threat to both itself and (mistakenly) to the individual’s soul.
I once heard a prominent Evangelical speaker joke that she sometimes wished she could be a New Age witch. Her joke simultaneously contained both tremendous confusion and truth.
One day her dream will come true, but as she embraces her destiny she’ll not be classified as either a witch or a New Ager.
She will simply be someone who is living out her true destiny as part of the Divine Plan.
Blinded by the Light?
Before you hit the unsubscribe button…
I realize this has all been a lot. And the Divine Light can be blinding if we get too much of it at once. But I wanted to spark your curiosity and give you a preview of where we’re headed.
Mostly, I want to help get you excited for what’s possible. For what it seems we’ve all come here for.
Our time up until this point hasn’t been wasted. It’s all been preparation.
Can we tolerate a true Gospel?
Everything I’ve shared above is overwhelmingly good news.
It’s a true gospel.
But we’ve been conditioned to reject good news. To believe we somehow don’t deserve it.
Or maybe we’re OK with good news, but we just can’t tolerate really, really great news?
It’s time to open our hearts to the endless love and wonders of the Divine.
So what do we do with this information?
I used to hear about the mystics and their experiences and think they were random occurrences set aside for a chosen, lucky few who sat around and prayed all day.
While it’s true that mystics have historically been rare, I now understand that what we call mysticism is the destiny that eventually awaits each of us, whether that’s in this incarnation or somewhere further down the line.
These abilities and insights are different than what most of us currently experience, but they aren’t objectively weird. They’re actually what we all subconsciously long for.
Look around at our stories and movies.
Some of the most popular books and movies include characters who can do extraordinary things. Why does that sort of story resonate so powerfully with us?
Deep down we know what’s waiting.
The last 80 years have seen a consciousness explosion across the globe and there’s never been a larger percentage of humans on earth at the higher levels of consciousness than there are right now.
This elevation across humanity will only continue in the decades and centuries to come.
Mysticism is our collective destiny. It’s your destiny. Regardless of where you might be at right now.
Maybe we won’t experience these mystical abilities this year, or this decade, or even in this lifetime. But as the cliche goes, every journey begins with a single step.
And it’s helpful to know where we’re going.
When I die I will soar with the angels. When I die to the angels you cannot imagine what I will become.
-Rumi
What questions do you have about the mystics? Let me know in the comment section so I can reply…and so we can cover them in future posts!
We’ll go deeper on many facets of this topic in the coming months. I hope you’ll join us and please invite any friends or family members who share these interests.
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But let’s not throw out the ego too soon, as a healthy ego drive is needed to progress through the earlier stages of consciousness.
Some schools of thought, such as the Conversations with God series by Neale Donald Walsch, make the distinction that Earth is not actually a school because we’re simply remembering rather than learning. Technically this seems right, as the process is one of unfolding. Our soul self unfolds over time to reveal who we truly are.
My first real exposure to the idea that reincarnation might actually be true was the University of Virginia research that goes back over fifty years. If you want more info you can start here: https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/publications/books-by-dops-faculty/study-of-reincarnation/
I’m not saying this stuff is absolutely bad, but rather do your own research. I personally don’t have the personal margin to deal with the consequences of accidentally inviting a disincarnate spirit into my life.
It’s not that the Eastern mystics don’t believe the New Testament, it’s just that they’re often less familiar. Sort of like the way most Christian mystics have less familiarity with Buddhist texts and scriptures.
What is fascinating about “the other folks” such as Paul or the disciples is that the mystics often have insights on what these individual souls went on to do in subsequent lives and centuries. Just like us, they themselves have also been on a journey to higher levels of consciousness. The soul that incarnated as Judas Iscariot is not in an eternal hell, but rather has apparently been doing great work upon the earth even relatively recently.
The word “repent” derives from the Greek word “metanoia.” Chat GPT: And metanoia originates from the Greek language and means a transformative change of heart; especially, a spiritual conversion. In a broader sense, metanoia can also refer to a fundamental change of mind or a shift in one’s perspective or life direction, emphasizing a deep, meaningful reconsideration or a radical change in one's thinking and living.
But maybe I’m wrong or I’m missing something here. If you have insight on this please let me know in the comments…
I calculate that I’ve spent on average at least four hours a day, every day, for the last nine months reading, listening, and/or deeply thinking about this topic.
Eckhart Tolle was a puzzle to me for years. In my Evangelical days he was widely derided in the circles I was a part of. When I finally read his books in 2018 I was in awe, realizing I could’ve saved myself a lot of pain and time if I’d just read his books ten years earlier instead of attending church. He made it all so clear. My guess is Eckhart teaches at the level the masses are at, which is far below the level of insights he actually has. He gives people what they need the most now.
That part about the Logos and it raising the temperature about 100 degrees is so wild, that’s exactly what would happen when I worked for a church and had “secret” meetings where me and a questioning few would discuss higher level realities together. Every time we would start to dive deep the room would go white hot.
I like the term “astral circus”. I dabbled in that early on but I have decided to consider it, at this point in my life, irrelevant at best and dubious at worst. Of course, I’m open to have my mind changed but chasing experiences seems counterproductive.