Mystical

A friend told me the other night that I was "mystical".  But what does "mystical" really mean?  I thought it was funny he said that, so I had to go look up what this really meant and see if he was right.

Again, Wikipedia describes it like this:

"Mysticism (from the Greek μυστικός, mystikos, an initiate of a mystery religion)^[1] is the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. Mysticism usually centers on a practice or practices intended to nurture those experiences or awareness. Mysticism may be dualistic, maintaining a distinction between the self and the divine, or may be nondualistic."

What I gather from this definition is that someone who is being "mystical" is someone who can sense things beyond what we can see, hear, touch, measure, etc.  An extra awareness that you just feel.  This could be just that "gut feeling" you get in certain situations or maybe something greater like a tug on your heart or your mind that goes against your current plan.

My mom told me that the day her mother died, she was driving home from work and as she came upon the freeway exit for her mom's house a nudge (or small inner voice) to take the exit to go see her.  Unfortunately, my mom pushed this feeling aside.  She reassured herself that she can stop by her mom's house anytime.  My mom drove this route every day, she could (or so she thought) stop there the next day instead.  Her mom (my grandma) died that night in her sleep.  That inner voice she heard could be an example something mystical.

I often try to go with my gut feeling on things.  Listen to any small inner voices you hear.  I do believe most people "know" what is right for a given situation.  Should you take the job or not?  Should I go to college, which college, what do I study?  Is this person right for me or not?  Deep down, I believe we all know.  It's a matter of whether we listen or not.

I have not always listened to that voice, to my gut.  Sometimes it needs to be yelling at me for me to pay attention and actually take action.  Especially if the action is not easy.  But it's still very important to listen, to take action, follow your heart.  That is the only path to happiness; true genuine happiness.  We all have an optimal path to take to get to our respected destinations.  We can get off path easily when we ignore these signs.  But doesn't mean we can't jump back on course when we see what has happened and make steps to correct for it.

When I was a Christian, this same feeling was said to be from God or the Holy Spirit guiding you.  Many religions attribute their deity to this feeling.  Yet, I believe this feeling exists regardless of any religion.  The religion is just a nice way of describing and understanding it.  It can help people believe and listen.  Ultimately, it is all the same thing and all has the same purpose of helping you along your path in life.