When we abandon the mystical aspect or nature of things, we have done ourselves a disfavour. We have punctured, or debased, our own faith, or belief, in a miracle called life, or living. Remember: mystical experiences happen in modern life, just as much as it did all through time
Our life is like the seasons.
It is simple; it is complex; it is also, at times, prickly. Yet, in the midst of happiness, or chaos, it is as exciting as a nail-biting T20 cricket match.
It also seems like everything in life is happening at the same time – health, career upheavals, looking for better accommodation, children's education or marriage, improved finances, among others. To make matters all too knotty, one of us in the family may be at a different plane, or season, while someone else may be perched at an equally different level.
The important thing is one should understand what we are going through – to bring balance. If we don't, for whatever reason, we get emotionally isolated.
This triggers anxiety, depression, as also stress.
Our life is akin to the cycles of several seasons overlapping each other, too.
The only way we can bring stability is by way of a connect – a connect with ourselves and with others around us. This, too, is part of a set of scales, or balance.
Because, our sense of spirituality forms the fulcrum on which relationships, values and a meaningful purpose in life are all founded. This is best described as mystical; it includes all the things that cannot be fully explained, thanks to our inability to comprehend the unique connect that exists between us and divinity.
Each of us is unique. We are also as distinct as our fingerprint, or signature.
This and other equally characteristic features, such as our temperament, likes and dislikes, or even idiosyncrasies, define each of us.
This includes our mystical side, or spiritual essence, also essentiality– of all the experiences and happenings that we know happened, because we experienced them.
Carl Gustav Jung, the legendary psychologist-philosopher, called them a 'jig of faith', or synchronicity – you'd call them extraordinary moments, or mysterious phenomena.
Jung's explorations into mysticism provided him with the grist to explain the thinking mind as the conscious mind that discarded "that which it does not understand".
He, therefore, chose not to reject it. His argument – just because we don't understand something, at a given point in time, it does not give us the ticket to dismiss it as bunkum. His insightful observations echoed the words of philosopher-theologian St. Augustine, "Miracles do not happen in contradiction to nature, but in contradiction to what we know about nature."
Put simply, human spirituality is all-inclusive; it is not constrained. When we abandon the mystical aspect or nature of things, we have done ourselves a disfavour. We have punctured, or debased, our own faith, or belief, in a miracle called life, or living.
Remember: mystical experiences happen in modern life, just as much as it did all through time. It is as common as political, sports triumphs or successful sales calls.
We have all, in like manner, experienced the portent of a spur-of-the-moment dream – one that predicted a certain outcome that actually occurred days later. This is not just your narrative; it is as much everyone's story, too.
We have heard of innumerable tales celebrating the present-moment, not the wonders of a past, or futuristic, event, too. This is akin to searching for cosmic signs on the path of spiritual development, or looking for pointers in the labyrinthine mysteries of life.
It is all part of the jigsaw puzzle, all right – not the actual portrait. Yet, it is a component of everyone's life. To experience it, you need not be a mystic. You just need an open mind and the willingness to embrace the mysteries of life without the need to fully understand the hows and the whys of the cosmos.
We are not simply mechanical hardware, reflexes and electricity, as some of us habitually think. Our mind and body are actually one– a grand intelligence, too. Mind, or consciousness, leads to manifestation in the body. Our emotions are the neuropeptides, or receptors, of information.
They connect major systems of the body into one unit that we call the 'body-mind'. Modern research tells us that we can no longer think of our emotions as having less validity than physical, material substances. We must see them instead as cellular signals involved in the process of translating information into physical reality – or transforming our mind into matter.
Emotions connect matter and mind, and vice versa.
You may describe this as a complex web –a sophisticated network that offers composure and also forgiveness.
So, whosoever breaks into reality from the psychic and peak experiences of being – with an enduring understanding – can comprehend one's own wakeful and healthy state. This relates to the integral psychological chart of the individual.
It is also useful in our healing practices.
There is a growing body of work, especially New- Age literature, which is in step with the diseases of the soul – a discipline that adapts both traditional and spiritual treatments with modern psychology. The list is obvious: meditation, yoga, shamanism, holistic or integrative medicine.
These initiatives are, of course, all-embracing. For example, a therapist who works with the body, the shadow, the persona, the existential self, the soul and the spirit, knows that all of them may join one's consciousness in an extraordinary cosmic dance. This is, for sure, nothing short of a return journey to the self and spirit – a voyage that gains ground and stirs our entire spectrum of being into balance and also spiritual bliss.
To achieve this delightful prospect, one ought to be the 'Archaeologist of the Self'. Because, when you enter this state of being, you will unearth the future, not the past. You can, in so doing, dig into your identity, too – to find the beyond, the emergent, the newly-arising, and not the already realised.
This is part of understandable psychology– a simple tool that enables us to fathom the resonant depths, or wisdom, of our soulful self.
Nidamboor is a wellness physician, independent researcher and author
A version of this article appears in the print on November 15, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
