How do you take a train of thought from insight to knowledge to actual mystic experience?

Question

(Isn't that how it's done? The inner path to truth?) We already have all the right answers. It's an open book test.
"We are divine." "All that Is within us." "We are spirit AND flesh." "We all have inner senses" "We are all one", etc., but it's not enough to have all the right answers?
You have to do the math and come to those conclusions on your own? To 'click on' the experience as the truth dawns on you? How long would one have to follow a trail of insights to reach the experience of TRUTH? Minutes, days, years? Does it depend on the truth being sought? Do all paths lead to the top of the mountain?
Would you have to know where to veer off the beaten path? If a train of thought comes to a dropping off point, do you know when to take that leap of faith in order to pick up the trail again? How do you know if you've gone off on a tangent and can you retrace your steps to get back on track? Can two people follow the same train of thought and reach the 'top' together? Just curious....

philmeta: brother...the spirit of the question, not the letter.

how far down the rabbit hole to you want to go?

lol! I mean 'do'

"..swept up in a gestalt of comprehension..."?

cosmicshaktifire: Teacher...

What about the phrase "pray unceasingly"
What do you think that means?

Answer 1

Following a trail of insights, following clues, picking up keys....
this is very significant to this mystic process. The data that has been contained within the self has been abstracted, so there never seems to be a clear cut trail to its source -the path is convoluted...I use the notion when I am on the trial of something, that there are no "throwaway thoughts".

That I am "in process", the most random things will surface -and if the mystic allows them into the process as 'part of', rather than tossing them out, they will offer up amazing clicks, or keys....
lifetimes of judgements can literally line up in an instant -think of a row of hooks, and an arrow being shoot straight though dozens and dozens of them....all of the accumulated judgements associated with that issue are addressed and released in an instant -bam!!!
The random thoughts are drawing these all together, in ways you don't recognize until there they are, all in a row. Then they make sense. Some are hints and subtle suggestions, some are forthright and clear. All will become part of the track, if they are let into the play.

These truths, they are universal and highly individual, all at once. Some carry more weight for the seeker, some not so much. The real bangers, they can throw you for such a loop that you can loose the ability to think as you normally would, or to be able to function within your body....it can be a very intense all-consuming process. And that is the key too, to understand that it is a process, and that there is fruit, wisdom to be gleaned. To hang on for the ride of the emotions, let them do their thing, and then shift out and up as soon as you possibly can, to see the bigger picture.

The experience of self as mystic has everything to do with seeing into the abstract, the arc-types, symbols, and accepting them as such. Those in their "right minds" will dismiss these things, as coincidence, as having no weight, as being silly to attend to. The mystic hunts them daily, they are our greatest pathways into our own psyche.

It is a dance for sure, and I have had some pretty halarious experiences of "misreading". But oh well ~ to play the odds, I have had hundreds, thousands, more that were right on. We exist as non-literal energy expressions, as well as dense form. How ever do we connect at those levels, if not through these means?
Phychics, mystics, receive impressions, whisps of suggestion...it is abstact energy. There are fleeting images, shapes...There are tones that the human ear cannot descern, and yet bends towards them.... some perceive texture, a scent of a thing...it is all valid, it is all on the trail of a cognition....

To be willing to go out on a limb, explore this nebulus and shapeshifting world of the abstact requires a different set of senses, that must be developed. Trial and error, working on skills with a friend - these things make a difference.
The depth and nature of connection between people makes a huge difference to success. Lovers are the most amazing mystics together....and I do believe two can get to the top together...sometimes on a similar path, sometimes totally opposite paths! And yet,still they meet, if the desire is there. To come together in such a way, with a like~intentioned soul, is to open the worlds to the Divine.....to perceive self as Self, and refected in your lovers eyes....there is nothing like it .....

Sunmaster ~*~ teacher to us all....


EDIT: praying unceasingly puts one into an unlimited and available state of mind, drawing dowm divine grace to enliven ones dreams into the manifest. There is a difference (to me) between praying to a "father", and praying to create focused intent for your life, and a state of grace within which to receive movement, inclination from beyond the human mind, into spirit, into Gods Grace and heart...

Answer 2

SKIP the mystical experience. Only the ego is attached to it - or worse - fears it NOT happening like the 'top of the mountain' metaphor.

Ecstatic light bulb experiences are better left to worldly pursuits - the Eureka of a mathematical proof, the bliss of the athlete or performer. The inner path to truth - as stated several times above - is to resonate with the truth of who you are, the authentic Self, essential nature - WHAT you love as the divine experience is your purpose for being here. Only the ego's fears and attachments distract you.

AND, SKIP following a trail of insights, or you'll never get out of the ego maze and experience "eternal aliveness." Examine your external experience of reality, notice how you feel about it, and begin giving up what you do not want. There is no simpler path back to the truth that is unique to each of us. "You know them by their fruits."

Answer 3

The Mystic experience happens due to the open-ness of the seekers mind. The seeker not satisfied with the world view of God and man/womankind opens up to the esoteric. The Mystic experience far transcends what can be thought. I see it as first dissatisfaction with the way things are then becoming open minded then turning to seeking, then the inner teacher begins to appear as the outer teacher, books are read people are met etc. Then one day out of the blue the Mystic experience comes very suddenly. The Mystics all have the experience first then try to put it into words, the words then are mistaken as the truth and dogma appears. The time from starting the quest until the experience seems to vary from person to person.

Answer 4

You speaketh my language, brother. Some experiences have taken a lifetime to accomplish, some a moment of time. Pure pleasure at the synchronicity. I use code.

I have built up an entire network of 'personal ' code that triggers events that make me watch the unfolding events, and consider my actions.

Life is mystical, if mystical means not apart from the ordinary. I agree with Eve completely that our head has to give attentiveness to the world that we live. And yet it goes way beyond that. The world that we live is a menu of choices and opportunity.


I'll dig that rabbit hole to China if I have too. Or wayyy, way beyond. Just to run into a dear friend that I haven't seen forever at the grocery store. Weaving ordinary moments of meaningful experiences into your life, because you recognize the 'thread of your existance'.

All the desires of your heart made manifest cannot happen without the process as you have described. Insight, knowing, manifest.

Nevermind the fact that some of us have a rather large agenda of 'nothing' to do. It'll be fun, trust me!

TAGGED by the Cosmic Task Force for the Spreading of
((((((((((((((Heart Manifest))))))))))))))))))

Answer 5

You know... for the longest time, I was like all others, trying to find the right path to the top of the mountain. I searched and searched for that "perfect" path up to the top.

Until one day... still down at the bottom... I felt a tap on the shoulder. It was God! And He told me that it didn't matter which path I take, for they all will eventually get there! That's when He gave me a hug and told me to have a wonder-full journey!

This was a huge weight off my shoulders! I finally felt like I had the answer! I understood! And, thus, I did what I was told...

I began to climb... and climb... and climb...
And, low and behold, I finally reached the top!

This is when I was shocked beyond all belief...

It wasn't that there were already others at the top before me; I had expected that... no... It was what they were doing! They were all trying to claim "King of the Mountain!" And that's when I felt this grueling twinge within me... I had climbed this mountain for the Very Same Reason!

What was I thinking? Did I think I would be something "better" by reaching the top? Did I make this journey for nothing?

I didn't know what to do... so I did the only thing I could think of... I looked for God again! Maybe He could tell me what to do now!

But, guess what? I couldn't find God up here at the top of the mountain. There were no taps on the shoulder this time! I was at a loss, in that moment, and decided to sit down on a rock and think, amongst the sea of Kings of the mountain. That's when it hit me... I knew what I had to do!

And thus, I began walking back down the mountain.

Answer 6

I believe that 'insight' IS the mystic experience. Why do we have the idea that we must have a 'wow' factor with ordinary knowledge? Insight is an ordinary coming home to the self where it has always been.The small insight moments are the awakening. There is no path to take in the here and now. Cheers

Answer 7

Trains of thought run on their tracks in little circles. Thinking never led anyone outside of their own mind much less to truth. as you've already noticed, conceptual understanding is not enough. This is all that thought can do for you.

A significant turning point on the 'path' is the realization that conceptual understanding has never been the goal, and Truth can never be found by the mind. Instead, what has been happening is the gradual disillusion of illusion. Mind, ego, and all of it's concepts, are part of that illusion. The search for Truth ends in ego death.

Answer 8

It takes as long as it takes. The experience is solitary but each that does it moves us all a little closer to it. When your mind gives you no direction follow your heart if it has love. The love will guide you. Sometimes we are aware, sometimes not so much. If aware enough I can look at me through your eyes. The knowledge is the experience. Knowledge without experience isn't knowledge at all. If all else fails just endeavor to love. Sometimes love is the best we can manage. Sometimes at the top of the mountain with no teachers to tell us what to do next love will guide us into right action.

Sorry I'm not so inspired tonight. I'm struggling to love. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh-1JVctSOY
♥Blessed Be♥
♥=∞

Answer 9

If you have train of thoughts you are not confirmed of any thing you are only day dreaming. first confirm certain thoughts then close your eyes and visualise them by sitting in a comfortable position every day 2 to 4 times. This will take you to actual mystic experience to those few thoughts.
Shrikant S. K.

Answer 10

I'm a "via negativa" mystic, an apophatic -- complicated words for saying my practice is all about getting REAL simple.

My path to date has been all about stepping out from under thoughts, shedding their hold on me, letting myself be let go from my "thought" identity.

Put simply, my path is honesty ... deep, deep, ontologically deep, honesty.

Thoughts to me are "conceits." I do not trust my own notions, let alone someone else's.

So I've been drawn to the "Unknowing" mystics of the West (like, Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius, the anonymous author of the Cloud of Unknowing, John of the Cross), and to the Zen teachers in the East -- totally different religious imagery, a totally identical spiritual practice.

The Living Truth is always already there, before we make it up, before we conceptualize it, before we think a single thought about it. So one way, the way I know, to touch it, is to make that train of thought go backwards ... perhaps using a one-word thought (a "sacred word," a mantra, a "Mu") as a hand-rail conductor to escort me in the direction of that thought's source. Using a thought to quiet thoughts, using a thought to bring me into intimate proximity to where thoughts come from ... and then letting it go.

And then finding myself selflessly sitting in something I cannot deny. Something I did not think up. Something astonishingly obvious, immediate, and ... well, quite a bit more "clear and distinct" than dear Descartes' "I think therefore I am." It's more like, "naked awareness 'therefore' undeniable being."

It's mystical because it is life-changing in its utter
and beautiful facticity. And it's mystical because it is so necessarily and matter-of-factly before words and thoughts (anything we can't think is going to be a "mystery" to ordinary discursive cogitating).

But it's eminently verifiable in direct experience. It's exquisitely natural.

So I go "dark" and ultimately find illumination there ...

a kind of illumination that helps me see ... tearfully and gratefully ... that those who do work in the light, those who do see Living Truth in form, those who do work energetically with sign and symbol, those who can and do dance the world in transformational beauty ... are my friends and lovers and teachers.
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