Mysticism is a funny thing.

After over a decade of exploring nonduality, contemplative spirituality, and religious mysticism I find that people relate to the word in a few fundamentally different ways.

For some people, the word Mysticism

1) conjures up overly flowery and other-worldly images.

2) is reserved for a select few truly graced and holy people.

3) is connected too closely to spiritual fluff, coming across as too woo-woo.

4) is arrogant: to call oneself a mystic is to claim an identity “high” above everyone else.

Perhaps each is a legitimate understanding for a word that has become somewhat convoluted.

But I stand with the Rev. Matthew Fox when he writes:

Mystics must come out of the closets, must gather to share their stories that we might set fire again to our tired and cold civilizations. [1]

So, what do you make of the word?

Are you a “mystic”?