I haven’t published a blog post in several months, because all of my writing has been devoted to my latest manuscript. I’m super excited about the prospect of publishing it because it covers how important love and suffering are to our personal growth and spiritual transformation. The book covers many aspects of both science and spirituality, and includes teachings from The Buddha, Patanjali, Jesus, Lao Tzu, and so many more great teachers throughout time.
There is an entire chapter on the love and suffering associated with Mystical Traditions like Sufism and the Kabbalah. Ever since my graduate training at CIIS, I have had a passion for Western Mystical Traditions. While most often ignored and suppressed by institutionalized religion, these traditions offer a rich experiential approach to monotheistic belief.
While it’s hard to find organizations that present mystical teachings, one huge inspiration has been Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation, which has been putting out an excellent series of podcasts called Turning to the Mystics. I’m also a big fan of the Let’s Talk Religion YouTube channel, which puts out incredible content. They have some great videos on Christian Mysticism, Jewish Mysticism, and Meister Eckhart.
And if you’re wondering what Christian Mysticism is all about, we can look at Bernard McGinn’s description,
The mystical element in Christianity is that part of its belief and practices that concerns the preparation for, the consicousness of, and the reaction to what can be described as the immediate or direct presence of God.
The keywords here are the “immediate” or “direct presence” of the Divine. Mysticism then is often described as experiential knowledge, rather than sitting around and talking about the divine, one communes with it.
There have been numerous mystics throughout time, many of which you might have heard of, like Rumi, Hafez, or St. John of the Cross. But it’s through the content of CAC and Let’s Talk Religion that I first found out about Mechthild of Magdeburg, a female Christian Mystic born in 1207. I found her writings incredibly intriguing, and so vastly different than other mystical writings throughout time.
The most intriguing thing about it was how, well, sexy it all is. Unlike most Abrahamic Religions which sun the “desires of the flesh,” the writings of Mechthild are permeated with it. They absolutely ooze with erotic desire for the divine. If you thought Hafez was spicy, Mechthild of Magdeburg makes even modern erotic fiction look tame.
The Let’s Talk Religion episode introduced this quote from Mechthild,
Then the bride of all delights goes to the Fairest of lovers in the secret chamber of the invisible Godhead. There she finds the bed and the abode of love prepared by God in a manner beyond what is human.
And I knew I had to find the rest of the text. It wasn’t easy, but I finally found the whole poem in God, Desire, and a Theology of Human Sexuality By David H. Jensen. I wanted to put it here so it would be easier for anyone to find, and be inspired by such a decadent and erotic relationship with God.
So, here goes:
Then the bride of all delights goes to the Fairest of lovers in the secret chamber of the invisible Godhead. There she finds the bed and the abode of love prepared by God in a manner beyond what is human.
“Stay, Lady Soul.”
“What do you bid me, Lord?”
“Take off your clothes.”
“Lord, what will happen to me then?”
“Lady Soul, you are so utterly formed to my nature
That not the slightest thing can be between you and me.
Never was an angel so glorious
That to him was granted for one hour
What is given to you for eternity.
And so you must cast off from you
Both fear and shame and all external virtues.
Rather, those alone that you carry within yourself
Shall you foster forever.
These are your noble longing
And your boundless desire.
These I shall fulfill forever
With my limitless lavishness.
Wow! First off, the writing is pure poetry. I love the combination of words like noble longing, boundless desire, and limitless lavishness.
These words seem particularly prescient to share because there is a debate in the mystical world on how to treat the writings of the mystics. There are several memes going around expressing how people misunderstand Rumi’s divine poetry as relating to one’s intimate partnership. Like this one:
And this one:
This makes us wonder, are mystical poems using romance as a metaphor for God, or God as a metaphor for romance? And I would say: both. The essence of mystical awakening is that of nonseparation, including that there is no separation between the human and spiritual, the soul and divine. So our personal love for our partners is divine love, divine love is expressed in the love we demonstrate to each other.
And that divine love can be intimate, close, orgasmic, and ecstatic too. This is the lesson of Mechthild and so many others.
