The Modern Day Mystic
So……I am excited! After three years of reading libraries of books, undertaking some deep, deep practices and fascinating research, and scribbling away furiously, I am going to reveal some of the material from my new book at a lovely festival called Breathe in August. This festival is organised by someone very special who I have known for a long time and she has invited the top International teachers of Breathwork to run workshops and talks there (in amongst some other fantastic offerings – including an outdoor swimming pool). It’s going to be quite an experience…unforgettable…unmissable!
As many of you know, I am a Doctor and lecturer in Psychology (expertise in self-awareness), an author and the Director of a social enterprise called Awespace.org(check it out). I am also an inspirational speaker, a very loving mother and over the last few years people have been starting to refer to me as a modern-day mystic… Ooooo fancy! To be honest I am not particularly fond of titles as they lead to all sorts of pre-conceptions and the idea of a mystic certainly brings up all types of associations and imagery. For example, that I am going whip out a crystal ball and appear shrouded in a purple mist (although that might be quite entertaining). But….as the mist starts to dissipate what emerges is nothing ‘all singing and dancing’ but actually something rather private and something really quite humble.
The etymology of the word Mystic, we can trace to The New Testament and the verb muoand this simply means ‘shutting the eyes and mouth to experience mystery’. That’s pretty nice…and something softens in me when I hear this. We are also pleased to discover that whilst religion is exoteric i.e. it comes externally, that Mystic is esoteric i.e. it is internal or contemplative. Grand narratives, or being told what to do, or what to believe (externally), have become increasingly difficult for many of us and therefore religion problematic for many modern-day seekers. We are talking about unseen forces here and as we have seen again and again in the past these have been exploited. It becomes difficult to know what to believe, it is sometimes difficult to know your new-age bullshit from the life-changing practices. Moreover, these unseen forces have been side-lined and mocked by traditional Western Science, but …these forces can never be ignored or pushed away even if they are obscured. We are in a new epoch and these unseen forces are creating (as Nikola Tesla predicted) the greatest of revolutions. And, this is not just in quantum mechanics (where the unseen forces are kicking ass) but within each one of us. In the book I call this wonderful internal transformation, The Silent Revolution of the Self.
Each of us has a different and unique understanding of our own internal worlds, of our own belief systems. If we choose to tune into our internal world, transcend the chatter of the mind and recognise the life-force within as a deep intelligence we are stepping into the mystical realms. The words of the ancient mystics become so beautiful and profound and they touch us so deeply that they bring us to tears. We learn to sense and develop an internal barometer to gauge and be guided by the unseen forces (and to sniff out the bullshit). A more beautiful world of many different realms then opens up. We become the Christopher Colombus of our own internal world, embarking on an adventure of a life-time. We thrive…,life becomes more simple, we become more humble and everything all of a sudden makes just perfect sense.
Jeannine
xxx