Discovering the Mystics

The second article was written at a stage when I was thrilling to my discovery of the writings of the mediaeval mystics. Julian of Norwich was a particular source of pleasure. I read biographies of people like Francis of Assisi and John of the Cross and meditations from Meister Eckhart (what marvellous names some of these people were given!) and, partly because I lived quite near the town where she had lived, I took an interest in the lesser-known, but strange and fascinating, Marjorie Kemp of Kings Lynn. I had formerly ignored such people because my narrow-minded evangelicalism had made me shy of "Catholic saints". But I was fascinated to discover what treasures lay in the writings of these people whose lives and doctrine were so different from my own.

My experience as a former Pentecostal and Charismatic made me alert to ideas of personal inspiration and revelation and I found that I could relate to these inspired ancients and sense who they were and how they felt. Thank God, I did not live in hard times like theirs but even in 20th century luxury I felt in some ways close to them. Most significantly, they were not afraid to see God in new ways; nor were they afraid to speak about what they saw. They preferred to follow the call of God's Spirit than to follow the strictly laid pathways of their institutional religion.

By broadening our minds to learn from those with different backgrounds and traditions we can learn more about the many faceted nature of our great God. By recognising our own consciousness of the divine we will continue to learn, but still leave enough that we do not yet understand to engage us in an eternity of discovery - but there are risks...

©Derrick Phillips
1994

/Mystic risks