Journey to the Center of the Soul

This "egodeath" does not mean, then, that mystics are zombies or inert bumps on logs. They are not inactive catatonics, lost within an inner world. Only a tiny, mostly irrelevant, part of the mystic dies in "egodeath." The greater part of her individuality remains and undergoes "rebirth." This great area of heartmind is the part of her being that expresses wisdom, love, joy, and peace. By comparison with this soul, the ego is like a hair on an elephant.

After their entheognostic soulblossoming, mystics are neither couchpotatoes nor computer mousepotatoes. Mystics are creative, active, bright, productive people. They are more alive than ever-- vivacious, fascinating, often electrifying.

A simple deadening of the brain has no value. To believe that it does is a twisted distortion of real mysticism, a lazy pseudomysticism called "quietism." Quietism is not an organized philosophy or faith, but simply a common misunderstanding of mysticism. It has a long history. Anyone who wants a full education in mysticism must beware this perilous counterfeit. Quietists promote the lie that all that one has to do is empty the mind, and sit, glassy-eyed, in some kind of catatonic trancestate. But real mystics teach that, after the self is undone, unselfed, or emptied, it is once again filled, resurrected, reborn. It becomes the Self of great Love, wisdom, tranquillity, and bliss.

Mysticism rejects quietism. For mysticism teaches that the mystic will always be moved and motivated by a fantastic, allembracing, stimulating Love. In this way, historically, mystics have not just walled themselves off in caves or closets. They have returned to the world of human beings, that active world, to become health-caregivers, ministers, poets, social activists, philosophers, teachers, scientists, inventors, writers, artists, and a spectrum of other contributors to the earthvillage. They have made everyone richer by their creativity, productivity, and Love.

Mysticism is highlighted by enthusiasm, even exuberance. It is breath-taking and exhilarating. It is actively and joyfully embraced, not just passively endured. It does not kill, but awakens, everything good in personality.

Let us be clear: The goal of mysticism is not a blank consciousness. The only reason that the mind is emptied is so that it can be again

filled-- by Love. The mystic's goal in surrendering is not to commit spiritual suicide, but to know re-creation in beauty, goodness, light, and Love. Her goal is to become the perfect willfree instrument of perfect Love in this world. Like a computer keyboard, chainsaw, or any other instrument, she realizes that she could not be "used" by the Mind of Love if she insisted on a personal will, and an agenda of her own. She really wants to cooperate most fully with Lovemind for the good of the whole. So, her goal is not complete inner death, but life, and more abundant life.

The mystic realizes that if she becomes quiet for the sake of quiet, if she simply withdraws into her mind without a clear goal, she could fall victim to the perverse notions of lazy quietism. The mystic's goal is to become the conduit of Love, to aid and help living creatures whenever, wherever, and however possible, to alleviate and lessen suffering, to bring peace. She is not seeking a drugged state of halfhypnotized passivity. She is repelled and horrified by this absurd distortion of her art. She has no interest at all in "becoming one" with nothing, in simply blinking out of existence.

Quietists, quite unlike mystics, use their numbed states to excuse themselves from obligations and duties. They are not only inertial, but escapist. Unlike mystics, they want to flee from an uncomfortable and challenging world. Mystics, by contrast, with their newly found Power, face each day with immense courage, fascination, and healthy anticipation, even though they are free from emotional expectations. They are more interested in life than ever before.

Quietism, the evil twin of mysticism, has been around since the Middle Ages. The mystic Ruysbroeck (1293-1381) denounced it as mere "idleness," something which mysticism is not. Underhill writes, "To let peaceful enjoyment swamp active love is a mystical vice." This leads only to spiritual deadends, and to absurdities such as complete indifference-- the opposite of active, committed Love. Love leads one to care sincerely for all creatures, but quietism leads only to complacency. Love leads to action and "inner resurrection" but quietism ends at "inner death." This is irresponsivity, an inner deadness.

How, then, does quietism compare with the "orison of silence (quiet)" of true mysticism? Orison arises from the soul, and so, is not actively induced by an act of egowill. It is not careless or weak selfabandonment. It is instead, in Underhill's words, "the free and constantly renewing self-giving and self-emptying of a burning love." In the mystical state, personality is not lost in a vague miasma of gray blandness. After their Mindblossoms, mystics do not vegetate into colorless beings, but become more interesting, fascinating, and polychromatic than ever before. They also increase creativity, originality, ingenuity, and productivity exponentially.

In real mysticism, the state of inner stillness is a smaller part of a much larger picture. It is a phase of development. But in quietism, it is the endstate. This is not lifenhancing, but unhealthy. There is no virtue, no gain, in simply disappearing, in doing nothing.

Taken to its logical extreme, quietism implies that any goaloriented spirituality is "unspiritual". So, quietism produces not only lazy people, but lazy snobs. For they actually believe that they, because of their inactivity and unproductivity, are better than others. To be fair, many quietists were actually seeking mysticism, but became lost and locked at the mystical stage of stillness, and mistook that for a goal, an end, rather than a means to an end.

In mysticism, no state precisely analogous exists to the quiet in quietism. The most similar, the ones that mystics call by the same name ("quiet"), are not goals or endstates. They are merely states of preparation. Also, they are not inactive "deadzones" in the mystical psyche. Instead, mystical "quiet" is an unconsciously active, dynamic quietude. When mystics enter the stage called "quiet," hard work is progressing "underground." Mystical "quiet" is anything but dead, or inactive. It prepares the groundwork for further work. Again, Ruysbroeck (1293-1381): "The possession of God demands ... active love."