THE WAY OF THE MYSTIC: SILENCE AND LOVE

We all have, or most of us do have those moments that, without our wont, we are transported by the reality of something that strongly defies our senses. There is an experience of God lived in the total nudity and silence of one's being. That happens when for instance, we are overwhelmed with a reality that leaves us with infinite joy. That kind of moment that Paolo Coelho defines as miraculous when something fills us with awesome delight, and indescribable joy.

For most people it is the realization that they are loved. They become speechless, word and sound lose their import, what is important is the silence through which God takes possession of us. Through this very silence, we become present to our own thoughts, to our own self....we see our misery, but we are not frightened by it; yes, because we possess that light that carries us beyond it.

Simone Weil captures one of such moments she lived in very beautiful words. Physically suffering, she had fixed her gaze on the thoughts on God, concentrating all her energies on the idea that she was the beloved of God the Father, she had prayed the Our Father with that child-like attitude which is confident abandon. The result was that peaceful silence as she describes in the following words:

"Silence which is not an absence of sound but which is the object of a positive sensation, more positive than that of sound. Noises, if there are any, only reach me after crossing this silence."

I believe that we are not all mystics, we are not all given the grace of mystical transports. We are not transfigured like Christ, or serene like Buddha or so ascetic like neither Gandhi nor Mohamed. But we are all mystics of a certain kind because we can enter into the world of love. Love is a reality that any human can touch; love is a truth that all can tell; love is a language that all can understand and communicate.

The simple thought that we are loved can transform us completely and definitely. None is exempt, even the dumb and the deaf; the numb and crippled. How many people lost their faith in God because they witnessed the absence of love in people whose presence in their lives was of great significance? And how many people find God by simply walking the path of compassion, the path of the human heart? There are great mysteries and great miracles taking place around us and everywhere there are signs of love. We can meet them, just in a little corner of the road. We can find it in an insignificant gesture accomplished gratuitously, those simple acts that stress the value of our personhood, of our dignity.

I have often wondered why in the midst of the afflictions of life certain people still maintain their serenity, their inner calm. I have come, after a long search to believe that the answer lies in the deep interior of man, in that space where he is transformed and where he transforms things he comes into contact with. The person with that spiritual space does not tire out of routine, he/she can do the same things over and over again, he/she may have to go through the same ritual, but

he/she is perpetually renewed from within. One can exult in monotony because of the light that broadens within oneself, a light that is continually invigorated by the things one accomplishes.

An old mother wakes up knowing that she has to cook food for her household. She gathers the necessary stuff for it, each time as always. Slowly, she repeats the same ritual, gracefully, without feeling bored, because she is guided by the light of the love for her household.

Nothing seems to be given to man for which there is no pay. He has to win everything through relentless toil and sacrifices. But his greatness is not in what he/she accomplishes. It is in the will to rise above his/herself, in the decision to triumph over his/her condition, in that willingness to drink deeper from the silent wells within. And the way to this triumph, is the interior way. The way of love is the only way that can transform the human person. It conquers everything in him/her. It renders his steps light... It is there where the glorious revolution of his humanity has to begin. It begins when he/she starts realizing that he/she is made for love, that the noblest of all he/she possesses is the capacity to give and receive genuine love.

At this point, nothing enters and nothing passes through the silence of our interior that is not already illuminated by love's very light. If you can recognize that spark of love and yield to it, you are a mystic. It means you have gone beyond the limits of your ego into that sphere of silence where everything becomes wonder and prayer