I am life. I am Mystic.
Jesus, Hildegard of Bingen & Me
Hildegard of Bingen (1089 to 1179) was a notable figure in medieval Scholastic thought both because she was a creative and independent thinker & an influential woman in a time and culture we think of as dominated by the male-oriented Latin church. She devoted considerable thought to understanding the natural world and was reputed to be a gifted healer. Of special note is the impact of her visions on her own cosmology as well as on later thinkers. Even today, there are popular mystical groups associated with Hildegard, and one can buy current recordings of music she composed.
Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)
1. The Source of All Being
"I am that supreme and fiery force that sends forth all the sparks of life. Death hath no part in me, yet do I allot it, wherefore I am girt about with wisdom as with wings. I am that living and fiery essence of the divine substance that glows in the beauty of the fields. I shine in the water, I burn in the sun and the moon and the stars. Mine is that mysterious force of the invisible wind. I sustain the breath of all living. I breathe in the verdure and in the flowers, and when the waters flow like living things, it is I. I formed those columns that support the whole earth … I am the force that lies hid in the winds, from me they take their source, and as a man may move because he breathes, so doth a fire burn but by my blast. All these live because I am in them and am of their life. I am wisdom. Mine is the blast of the thundered word by which all things were made. I permeate all things that they may not die. I am life."
This is a profoundly mystical statement by Hildegard of Bingen. Mysticism is defined below to get around the common use that the forms of the word 'mystic' suffer in our culture.
2. Mysticism
- Mysticism emphasizes a direct, unmediated connection with a loving God and the spiritual equalityand/or unity of all peoples. This is a radical idea for its time: no priest, shaman or other person is necessary to a direct relationship with the divine, for life is ever present in all.
- Each of the major religions brought forth a mystical wing or subgroup in the postclassical period (Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, etc.) For instance, Islam has its Sufis, Hinduism has scores of sects, many of them mystical, Vedanta for one comes to mind as having been much written about in English.
- Because of its emphasis on non-hierarchical spiritual equality, mysticism offers an avenue to influence and authority to people otherwise excluded from political and religious structures. This was true in Hildegard of Bingen's time and it seems to be a consistent attribute of mystical religions through the centuries.
This final point makes mysticism, in its many different forms, attractive to Americans who seek a spiritual way of life, but find traditional religious practice and churches confining and patriarchal. We've all been there. Some of us became agnostic or atheist in the face of the power mongering and pettiness we have experienced in various traditional American churches. Some of it has been downright mean and shameful in ways that good people just can't stomach.
3. The Challenge of Discussing Faith with the Unchurched
So the problem I always run into when discussing a life of faith with those who live without participation in spiritual community is that they don't have a clue that there are those of us who don't think we need anyone else to think for us about religion or to lead us. It never occurs as a possibility to most people because the only religious people they hear about are the fundamentalist or evangelical Christians or the folks in other religions that can be equally fundamentalist in their point of view. That is not who I am and I know a lot of people who have come to a similar spiritual path.
So what does a minister who doesn't believe their role is to come between the individual and a direct experience of the divine essence of life do professionally? We teach. We leave practice to the individual. We do have our experience to share and the benefit of a lifetime of scholarship, but we aren't telling anyone how to live their lives. We just don't. That doesn't work anyway. Look around. Do you see that kind of leadership as ever having worked for humanity at large?
4. We think differently about Jesus
Another thing that many mystics believe, and I do believe this too, that whatever powers it is said that Jesus may have had, that those same powers reside in each and every one of us. That's one of the reasons that we can actually help one another. Hildegard of Bingen thought so too. It opens the whole wide world for exploration and adoration to us, just as it was opened to Jesus. What might we do with our lives that matters, what choices might we make, if all that exists is the body of God? What indeed.
When we see that God is all there is, there is nothing but what Love we can share with the Divine in the many parts that it plays.
Happy Holy Days
More than anything else, we want to send you our Love, & our wishes for Peace, Prosperity and all the Good Things for Each and Everyone on Earth. — Dan & Susanne
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Comments
I Have a H of B cd and I got into the first, most "popular" piece.
I just want to let you know I support you and this. Blessings.
Thanks, Susanne! This is a powerful post that resonates with me on so many levels. The two sentences above sum up what I have been trying to say on OS each time we talk about faith or belief in God. I am not a simpleton, but one that feels I have plenty of "proof" to see the world as I do/we do. I don't need someone to lead me, but I read and study to grow in my understanding.
Mysticism is wonderful as a definition for a portion of what I believe. Mysticism blended with a humanism that allows for the possiblity of shaping our world through the Creator's gifts to all of us, in conjunction with all of us and the One God. I think definitions are the confusing aspect of our discussions. As I discussed with my teacher recently, it is hard to put a label on what we believe with it being a compilation of so many aspects of life and faith.
Again, well done, Susanne, with much thanks for sharing your clarity of thought on this subject!
I wonder if Hildegard's teachings (her music especially) traveled. Two of the most famed Sufi mystics followed within a hundred years or so, and so much of their poetry is from the same place.
Many people have heard of Rumi (from the Bill Moyers specials on PBS). The Coleman Barks translations are great.
Hafez, the great Persian poet, fewer people have encountered. He was translated by Gertrude Bell (yes, the same Gertrude Bell of Iraq fame -- but her love of Hafez' teachings shine through), still one of the best translations in English IMO:
NOT one is filled with madness like to mine
In all the taverns! my soiled robe lies here,
There my neglected book, both pledged for wine.
With dust my heart is thick, that should be clear,
A glass to mirror forth the Great King's face;
One ray of light from out Thy dwelling-place
To pierce my night, oh God! and draw me near.
Thank you, Susanne, and Happy Holidays.
WOOF
Look at This Beauty
The beauty of this poem is beyond words.
Do you need a guide to experience the heat of the sun?
Blessed is the brush of the painter who paints
Such beautiful pictures for his virgin bride.
Look at this beauty. There is no reason for what you see.
Experience its grace. Even in nature there is nothing so fine.
Either this poem is a miracle, or some sort of magic trick.
Guided either by Gabriel or the Invisible Voice, inside.
No one, not even Hafiz, can describe with words the Great Mystery.
No one knows in which shell the priceless pearl does hide.
- Translation by Thomas Rain Crowe
- From: Drunk on the Wine of the Beloved 100 Poems of Hafiz - Shambhala 2001
Usually at this time of year (Advent) I'm just finishing a punishing round of Messiah performances around the area. This year, I am taking it easy and just singing "He Shall Feed His Flock" at midnight service instead. I will think of you and all my OS friends, churched or unchurched and just wanted to thank you for this piece. Hildegard of Bingen has always held a fascination for me both for her music and her mysticism.
Merry Christmas!
Marsha
I would also recommend John Wycliffe if you are not familiar. While not a mystic, he evidenced what I believe to be a direct connection to a higher power. He was very influential in England in the 1300s in reducing the power of the Catholic Church, so much so that he is known as the Morningstar of the Reformation.
His great leap of faith was the contention that the clergy have no inherent divine right and are under grace only so long as they follow the will of God. Obviously that did not sit well with the Catholic Church -- 50 yrs after his death his bones were dug up and burned on orders from the Pope.
Wycliffe later argued that the same reasoning ought to apply to kings, an argument that caused him to lose favor with the crown, especially since he was suspected of having encouraged a peasant revolt.
Wycliffe was a man centuries ahead of his time, and his influence can be seen in the well-known formulation "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." Thus did the Divine Right of kings and popes fall to ordinary men.
Thanks again. Wonderful contribution.
A much later poet (19th century) in the mystic tradition is from my original neck of the woods: Mirza Ghalib. He wrote in both Urdu and Persian, and though he hasn't been translated much into English, his poetry and mystic teachings are part of the current living literary tradition in India.
While in the garden, suddenly I broke into my soulful song;
It was like you were in a school --when the bulbuls took up the chant.
Ever since Thy Oneness I perceived, rituals and creeds I do not need.
All things that divide, now form my faith: ever since I saw Thine Oneness's face!
So many were the arrows shot at me, they no longer hurt or sting.
So many were the hardships I withstood; they now don't mean a thing.
--T. P. Issar, Ghalib: Cullings from the Divan, rendered in English
The ending is not that felicitous, but the rest, I think, is quite beautiful. Robert Bly has also translated some of Ghalib's poems, but some of it seems labored.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
An enthusiastic yes, to the section on mysticism. We don't need to be led, we don't need to belong to a congregation. The Life Force, the Higher Power is within us all, and we each choose our own path. Enlightenment means finding that we are indeed that Power made manifest, and we are thus powerful creators in our own right.
I also love the Sufi poets and Hafiz, and Rabindranath Tagore of India. Such powerful stuff, so beautifully said! Thank you for inviting me here - this has been a delight.
I am intrigued and very pleased you posted information supporting the "personal" connection with the finer realms.
rated........very much.
When I return home from visiting family I will see if I can learn some more about Mirza Ghalib. I actually even like the ending to the poem you shared, the difficulties we encounter mean nothing when standing beside the Love that we have shared. A strong reminder in the days that we are currently encountering!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and all of yours.
XOX to Blubberstick & Kimber from Teaser & the Firecat
But I care. Thanks to my Mom---who figured out how to get her Phd in religious studies after a career as a therapist and raising 4 kids (and this was LONG before this was a social issue---this was something she just did) and my sister---who has recorded H von Bing music (google Robin O"brien and you'll find it) I know who this is---and I couldn't imagine a more wonderful thing to write about at Christmas
from her time didn't have to cover themselves from head to foot)
Didn't Jesus say, "that where I am, there you may be also"?
This particular year , this Holyday time, Solstice season, seems to have quite a strong vibe of Divine Feminine Energy happening.
I just had a profound experience around the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Virgin in the sense of Virgin meaning a woman who belongs to
herself, not the meaning that the patriarchy declared it to mean.
Thank yo for this post, and I think perhaps I'll see about a bio
of Hildegard, do you have any recommendations?
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
compassion on this world
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Interesting class you got going here. Glad I stopped by.
Have a safe and happy trip to Portland.
I recently came across an interesting distinction in which a writer talked about the difference between "religions of revelation" (e.g., Judiasm, Islam, Christianity) vs. "religions of spiritual journey" (e.g., Zen Buddhism). It seems to me that mysticism is a way of bringing more of a "spiritual journey" aspect into these "revealed" religions. That means that the mystic usually ends up getting into trouble when he or she fails to adhere strictly to the revealed "script." I was wondering if H of B also ran into that kind of trouble somewhere along the way.
Speaking of spiritual music, there's a group I think you might like. My first guitar teacher Julia Banzi and her husband Tarik are the core of the Al-Andalus group. Tarik is from Morocco and comes from a Sufi background. They play some very gorgeous and interesting music. Julia plays flamenco guitar and Tarik is a master oud and percussion player, and they often perform with other musicians.
If you're interested, here's a link to one of their albums where you can also listen to a few samples:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/alandalus2
I recently took some publicity photos for them, and you can see them in my "blog annex" --
http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=51715&is_preview=1
Thanks again for the post, and I hope your trip to Portland is successful. I'm just east of Portland, and we're basically frozen in place here.
peace
I do wish that we would pay more attention to the idea that God really is not only "up there" but is also "in here" in us. Jesus said as much when he told the disciples that they (or "we" as the disciples of today) were they truly his followers, would do even greater works than he had done. I doubt they believed that then no more than most of us believe it now.
I do not believe that we all need to be in a "congregation," although many, many people function better within organized and predictable settings. Not all are individually minded and self sufficient enough to go it on their own.
But I also believe that God clearly calls us into community and to common purpose. That community can be a few friends (we call the early Christian gatherings "house churches" since there were no church buildings, per se) and such a community can be found in a place like OS. But I do believe that few of us are made to be alone, isolated totally from others.
Even the mystics worked within a system, loose as it was, that supported them. Brother Lawrence found mystical and profound theological truths while washing dishes. There is certainly no one avenue to enlightenment, now or in the past.
This is very good, what you wrote, Suzanne. Very good and provocative in the best meaning of that term. I look forward to more good things from your pen (fingers?) ;-)
Have a blessed and peaceful holy season.
Monte
I am heartened that as many people responded to this as have thus far. OS is not the easiest place to post such writing as this, but little by little, those who are willing find each other wherever we are.
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mishima666, you're right, mystics do get into trouble. I know I do from time to time and one only has to read the tales of the Mullah Nasruddin to see that there is a tradition of challenge and solution. As far as Hildegard of Bingham goes, I believe the protections provided by the monastery worked to her advantage.
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Eric & Alan, So nice to see you here!
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Monte, Thoughtful response, as ever. I certainly didn't mean to imply that I think there is not a need for spiritual community. I just think the structure of that community is very different than in conventional, top down religious organizations and that mystics have found a multitude of ways to meet and express that need for spiritual community. I deeply appreciate what you are saying with the example of Brother Lawrence. "There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it." I always see that continual conversation in you Monte. Have a lovely time in Myrtle Beach.