People have often asked or challenged me, “Why study mystics from so many centuries ago? What can they possibly have to say to us today?” It is true that early Christian mystics knew nothing about the Renaissance, the industrial and scientific revolutions, or the technological age. Yet, they knew most intimately what we postmoderns most desperately need: primordial freedom born of stillness.
The early mystics experienced awareness and divine union that eludes most people, including most Christians, today. They had holistic vision. Their educational and cultural development was occasionally (not always—have you met St. Augustine or St. Hildegard of Bingen?!) lacking by today’s standards. Yet, their state of consciousness was timeless. There are three themes of the great mystics that I want to explore in this chapter, explaining how and why I am personally drawn to each of them:
1) Nature Mysticism
2) Still Small Voice
3) Stillness and Silence
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Also by Amos Smith, Healing the Divide: Recovering Christianity’s Mystic Roots
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