Observations from 15 Years of Studying Mysticism and Conventionalism

2012 was specifically a year of travel and visiting various groups of mystics.  Nevertheless, 2012 was only one out of fifteen years of my spiritual and religious studies, both informally and formally.

I have visited, studied, and participated in both the mystical and the conventional branches of those who say they love Jesus.  I have sat in Orthodox pews, Catholic prayer halls, mystical gold clouds, and seen people's teeth turn gold right in front of me.  I have made many observations, but one major conclusion.  

This blog discusses both the observations and the major conclusion from 15 years of study.

OBSERVATIONS:

- The Orthodox Church in Canada is amazingly mystical (mysticism is defined as the experience of God). I witnessed miracles in the Edmonton Orthodox church.

- The Pentecostal church can be shockingly conventional (those who profess to believe in a powerful God but are unwilling to pray for healing, miracles or anything supernatural)

- Our nationality plays a major role in our translation of love, the experience of God, and the conventions of our faith.  I learned this the hard way when travelling to places who are rather "muted" in their expressions of love to one another.  That doesn't mean that they do not love; but it does mean that love is a language that often requires a translator!

- There is a burgeoning group of Christians in every denomination who think as Kingdom people, not as nationalists nor denominationalists.  These are the ones to watch, for some fun Christianity.

- Each person's emotional and relational health has a strong correlation to their spiritual development.  Those with love, inheritance, and security are more able to connect and relate with God, than those who are broken, confused, or wounded.

- Exponential--those who have and given blessings, get exponentially more, whereas, those with hurts and trauma, get exponentially hurt and depressed.  

I could go on and on…but let's get back on point.  Here are two reasons that I write this blog:

1) Clearly I enjoy the mystical, the mysterious and the quantum side of God and His Kingdom and I will continue to write about it, perpetuate it, grow in it etc.  Those of you who also enjoy this, read my blog, have invited me to speak etc.

2) The realization, that if the mystical experience of God is devoid of practical and measurable love (the kind of love people can rely on and the kind of love that perseveres, covers, and blesses), then without tangible love, all of the mysticism is still just "noise" (noise is explained in 1 Cor 13).

The second point was extremely shocking to me to come to terms with.  For, if I can prophesy, speak in tongues, and raise the dead, but I do not have the matching (and greater) love/charity that 'SHOULD' go with it…then my mystical experience is no more authentic than the guy trading pigeons in the temple.

SHOCK SHOCK SHOCK.

You mean, I can move mountains and have missed the target?  I can walk through time, space, and the heavenlies, but miss the point altogether? Ya, I know that the Word talks about this, but for some reason, the impact hit me in a new way, all over again.  So I have been humbled, shocked, and awed that my attempt at reaching the heavens, could still be 'iniquity' (defined by he or she who does what is right in their own eyes).

SOBERING REALITY CHECK.

Now I am not going to throw out the mystical baby with the conventional bath water simply because I don't understand how it all works together.  Clearly, I need the left hand and the right hand to work together.

What I do have is a "Love Litmus Test".  For me, I can tell if I am loving or unloving when I measure my reaction to jerks.  JERKS are the biggest indicator of my ability or inability to love accurately.  I have had a few jerks in my life (extortion, betrayal, slander, abuse etc).  Those people really know how to grind my gears!  Arg, I can't stand the harm that they have caused me.  JERKS!

And yet, THOSE very "jerks" are the ones I am called to love, just as much as I am called to love the people I actually like.  GAH!  Why are the jerks in my life the very ones who are teaching me about my own love-limits?

Oooooo, that can be frustrating and they can be frustrating too.  But you know me.  I am always looking for the optimistic turn around to take a negative against me into a positive for me.  And I must do the same with those jerks!

I will win by learning to love the jerks who stole, robbed, defiled, humiliated, and scorned me.  They are now my love-litmus test.  If I can love them, then I can love.

BACK TO MYSTICISM & CONVENTIONALITY

Many of my friends are mystics and Wild Ones, while many more of my friends are conventional and as tame as a sheep on a Welsh hill.  The point is this: whether they are wild or tame; nice or jerk-ish; mine or yours; European or Canadian...all are one in Jesus.  At least, that is what my Bible tells me.  In reality, many of us are still separating one from another.

It is time for change.  It is time to participate in the culture of love that "covers" people, not separates them.  It is time for letting the wheat and the weed grow together, and let it sort out in the end.  

Are we there yet?  I am not sure that I am.  Sadly, I am still working on loving the jerks in my life.   I need both the mystical and the conventional branches of my faith community to teach me how to love those who are seemingly impossible to love.  Sometimes, that even includes myself.

MAJOR CONCLUSION:  

Convention and Mysticism are both necessary in order for us to love accurately from Heaven to Earth

Convention gives us family, homes, function, form, roles, relationships etc (this leads to a positive mental health).  Mysticism gives us adventure, possibilities, dreams, invention, and invigoration (which we need for positive mental health).  Both convention and mysticism are necessary for each other to function and grow.  Generally speaking, convention offers maturity in love (stability, safety etc), while mysticism offers healing, quantum, kingdom and miracles.

BOTH CONVENTION AND THE MYSTICAL ARE NEEDED, BECAUSE WE ARE NOT YET ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE (even if Paul managed it, I have not yet met anyone else who can).

Just to throw an additional card into the hand, consider this: the Christian God is Triune (3 bodies, 1 essence).  If our God is so complex, then why do we expect ourselves to be anything less?  We may have many denominational bodies...but surely we can be of ONE ESSENCE!!!

So my Dear Dear Mystic friends--go hug a Conventionalist today and learn about the rudiments of love.

My Dear Dear Conventional friends--go hear a story from a Mystic today and learn about how wide and deep and expansive God's Kingdom is with its miracles, phenomena, and possibilities.

Let's show each other love and blessing; rather than focus on the things that we simply do not understand in one another.

ADDITIONAL CONCLUSION:

We are part of a blended Christian family who has been divorced and remarried thousands of denominational times;
it is time that we embrace it by embracing each other!

3 Dreams, 3 Realities, 3 Status Updates - The life of a 30+ year old, Christian Woman

Today a friend asked me, "What happened to your blog Elizabeth?"  Good question!  The answer is swallowed up in what I call 'Learning to Be Nomadic: The Life of Dreams, Not Yet Fulfilled.'  In the time it takes to process and cope with an unpredictable life, I have left my writing to the wayside.  So today, I pick up my writing implements. 

DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for the happy-go-lucky ones with their head in the sand.  This is an open look at dreams versus reality in the life of a Christian, single woman in her earlier 30’s.

I will present 3 Dreams, 3 Realities and their existing statuses with notes on how the experience has left an impact.   The point of sharing personal stories is progressive, not linear.  You are invited to process your own story alongside or in juxtaposition to mine.  The choice is entirely yours. 

While you read this blog, please consider what your dreams are, and what their status is today.  You might be encouraged at the progress you have already experienced or you might be shocked to realize that your dreams are not yet fulfilled either.  Nevertheless, let’s grow together!

Dream #1: Go to Africa and work in an orphanage (since age 4).

Reality #1: Haven’t been to Africa (yet) and still haven’t had the opportunity to work in an orphanage (yet).  Dream is +25 overdue, but still alive.  I have travelled to over 10 countries, 3 continents, and have volunteered with trauma, healing, deliverance, wholeness, etc., but not with any orphans specifically and not in Africa. 

Status: Active; to be completed.

I love children and have always wanted the opportunity to love, cover, protect, and provide for large groups of children who are orphaned, abandoned, or unwanted.  To me, working in an orphanage is a luxury, an honour, and a dream.  So this dream will stay ‘active’.  In the meantime, Isaiah 54 keeps me comforted.  And, as you will note later in this blog, I am developing a slightly better understanding of what an abandoned (or orphaned) person may go through. 

Dream #2: Marry and have children (my own and/or adopted)

Reality #2: Single, no children

Status: WTF?!? (What’s the flaw??!)  The distance between this dream and its hoped-for-reality has been AGONIZING.  I would sometimes describe the experience as: heart-gouging, bone-sucking, depression-causing, faith-challenging, and even mind-bending.  I would not recommend this experience for anyone else.  I have had to learn how to cope.  In some ways, I have chosen good coping skills such as good counsel, hobbies, etc.  In some ways, I have chosen bad coping skills such as blame, confusion, depression, wrong guys etc.  This whole aspect of life and reality is still a major work in progress.  I cannot control it, and so I have released it and have chosen to work on my own life in the meantime.  I have gone for prayer, Sozo, healing retreats etc.  It all helps to heal, but has yet to cure this hope-deferral.

Singleness and rejection are touchy subjects for many women in the church today.  Since we were young, we dreamed of being a princess with a man who will come and sweep us off our feet.  We read Christian literature that talks about being captivating, living with purpose and so on.  Yet, in reality, the church dating scene is rife with rejection, blame-shifting, distortion, sexual deviation, abandonment, lies and appears to be devoid of any redeemable purpose.

The church dating scene is truly a mess and an antithesis to who Jesus is for the majority of participants.  Entire dating websites and healing ministries have been erected to address the scores of Christians who have been bloodied by the Church Dating Scene.  Take a survey of your own church and check out the large section of singles and count how many potential or previous relationships are represented in your church alone.  It is astounding.

The messages that those failed relationships bring to people are: “I am just not worth marrying” or “I need to try harder to be loved, chosen”.  The process of deferral, rejection, not-close-enough, is destroying so many good people.  And the dating wheel keeps turning as people try match after match, without yielding better results.  I watch as the same men pursue woman after woman, looking for Eve.  It is an insatiable game of lose-lose.

Today’s Adam blames today’s Eve for not being perfect.  Yet, today’s Eve is looking for an Adam who will create a garden for her to dwell in.  At some point, there will be the breakthrough men who realize that dominion, in this case, is about tending to the garden they are placed in, rather than dreaming of the garden that is already gone.  Where are the Boaz’s?  Where are the Joseph’s (Jesus’ step-dad)?  Rise, oh please rise, and create a safe haven for the Ruth’s, Mary’s, and daughters of your King.

So fellas out there--be the redeemed man that Eve’s are looking for.  Eve is not your salvation--Jesus is!!!  Be Jesus in flesh to the women in front of you.

Dream #3: Purpose, Assurance, Stability

Reality #3: WHAT AM I DOING? WHERE AM I GOING?  WHY CAN’T I STAY PUT?

Status #3: Another WTF (What’s the flaw?).  The area of purpose is so challenging for a woman whose base dreams are still pending.  Furthermore, I have learned that being single, on a single income, and reliant on the goodness of others, means a high level of unpredictability.  If a landlord changes their mind on a rental, my house (tent) moves.  If a business connection changes or an employer changes, my income prospects move too.  In 30+ years of life, I have yet to know what it is like to be grounded in one location anymore than a tetherball is grounded to a distant pole that is the centre of a revolving life.  In this regard, the only thing within my control is the speed, tenacity, and attitude I possess while spinning in a vague resemblance of ‘forward’.  At every turn, I hope for something new that is good.

So there it is.  3 dreams have been listed, with 3 realities that contravene those dreams.  Such is the all-too-common life in the church; we are ever pursuing, rarely resting, frequently seeking The North Star.

I am a descendent of an ‘Evangelical Diaspora’ (term coined by me).  I’ve been scattered to the winds of infrequent hope-deferred, while being told that joy is all mine!  The paradoxes of faith versus reality are astounding.  Thank GOD, that my hope is not fully in the things of this world or depression would play a bigger role in my life than it already has begun to.  

I am resolving the disparity between faith and reality with loving & secure relationships, community, and roles in the community.  I like to sing, make music, celebrate successes of others--so that is what I do!  I encourage and I desire encouragement.  I love and I want to be loved.  I cry, I scratch my head, I get frustrated, and I can get overwhelmed.  It is in those down times that the Psalms bring wind to my sails.  I need to choose my comforts wisely.  I’ve learned that food and fickle men are NOT good comforts.

So what do I take away from this?  I purpose to have purpose, I intention my choices so I can see measurable results and so on.  Most importantly, I surround myself with life-giving community who have experienced hope fulfilled so that I can learn by their experience.  The goal of this is to share in life giving relationships, secure bonds that are full of Truth and Spirit, love, and security.  In these, my Being is uplifted and restored for a journey through a ‘Relationship Wilderness’ (term coined by me).

After reading this blog, I have observed an irony: that I am more of an orphan than I realized.  Perhaps the people I want to help are the people that I can relate to??!  We are told to comfort those with the comfort we ourselves have received (2 Corinthians 2:3,4), ESV.  Perhaps, just perhaps, my experience in this ‘Relationship Wilderness’ is training so that I can truly love the orphans with a love that is both practical and inspired.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5, English Standard Version (ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

FOR MORE INFO: Go to: Elizabeth's Inbox 

How Our Thoughts May Impact Other's Strengths

I have been on the hunt to better understand discernment, love, and how God ties us together in Christian Community.  I have noticed that many people have a HIGH sense of who likes them, and who doesn't.  This is most noticed when dealing with rejection.

Sometimes someone will say, "Hey I don't feel accepted by these people."  Those same people will deny it and sometimes even blame the issue on rejection-itself.  However, I had a growing belief that those who sense rejection might simply have a hyper sense of discernment that is distorted through pain or a lack of stable love.  (They discern correctly, but respond with pain instead of victory).  Therefore, with love, the distortion will be removed and we can see one another more clearly.  

Recently, I found an "experiment" that reveals whether our silent, positive or negative thoughts can impact another person's strength (literally).   The "experiment" is quite basic and is not of a scientific or clinical nature.

Nevertheless, for those who are willing, let us read the information and each pray "God, please search me or know me.  Please find anything wayward way [or negative thoughts] within me and lead me in the way of everlasting."  Ps 139. 

"God, please show us if we love one another, even in our hidden thoughts".

I want us each to be strong. 

In intentionally-loving thoughts,

Elizabeth

-----------------------

Written By Martha Beck

"Humour me," I tell Virginia.  "Let's try something.  Hold out your arm, parallel to the floor.  I'm going to push down on your hand.  You resist me.  Keep your arm stuck out straight".  Virginia plays along, and I give several experimental pushes.  Sometimes as I push [down on her arm], I think, 'You're a terrible person!'.  Sometimes I think, 'You're fabulous!'.  I try to keep the pressure consistent and my face expressionless.  Just as I expect, Virginia's arm feels much stronger when I'm thinking positive thoughts about her.  When my thoughts are negative, she's as weak as a kitten.

Virginia doesn't like this.  She frowns and demands many repeats, just as I did when I learned this homespun experiment from two social-scientist friends.  I was stunned at how noodlelike my arm became when my friends though negative things about me.  Since then I've repeated this process with dozens of clients.  When speaking to groups, I often choose two volunteers (one pusher, one pushee), who test their strength as everyone else in the room thinks critical or supportive thoughts about the person being pushed.  I give the crowd random hand signals--thumbs up for nice vibes, thumbs down for mean ones--that can't be seen by the volunteers.  The group's thoughts should not affect the subject's strength.  But they almost always do.

Grab some friends and try this experiment yourself.  If your group is anything like the ones I've worked with, you or your compadres will find your arm strength varying in response to one another's thoughts.  Perhaps one of you will insist that this shift happens because you were communicating subtle cues through facial expression, body language, or some other physical action.  Could be true, but whatever the mechanism--telephone telepathy or imperceptible physical signs--the fact is that many people are sitting ducks for social contagion.

"Dexification" & Freedom

Russell Bishop wrote a very profound article on the subject of "dexification", which refers to the negative cycle of self-justification. Click Here to read Bishop's article: Dexification - Russell Bishop


As Christians, we can get stuck somewhere between Truth & Forgiveness in a most peculiar way (usually involving some distortion, contortion, and fear).  In so doing, we can get caught in the cycle of defending ourselves.  Such defensiveness, proves the absence of peace, acceptance, and love.  Who wants to be around us when we are like that?  It isn't the "contagious love" that so many people seek.


So how do we stop "dexification"?


This is where grace & repentance (true change of ways) comes into play.  Grace gives us everything we need for holiness and righteous living (this definitely means the ability to love our neighbours and forgive whatever issues we may have with ourselves or others).   Repentance is the state of heart that defines the changes we manifest.  Both grace & repentance requires that we believe God exists, God is good, and that God's view of our lives brings a good result.


On the flip side, if we take over for God, and put ourselves in the judge's seat, then we allow for excessive introspective thinking that leads to us to simply focusing on ourselves again.  Such self-focus is like a vacuum that sucks goodness and abundance into a negative hole.  Blech!  Who wants that?


So, when we break-free from self-based reflection, and allow God to search us and know us (Psalm 139:23), then we can release the need to "fix" or "judge" or "rectify" ourselves.  So now we are talking about repentance again.   John Mulinde points out that only God can bring true repentance: Click Here for his 1 hour, life-changing talk: John Mulinde, IHOP, March 1, 2011.


Some summary thoughts on repentance:


So, to break down all of the cycles and threads within these concepts, here are a few snapshots today's blog:


- If you find yourself stuck, dexifying, or otherwise self-focused, try the next few steps
- Be open to God as the author of Truth (yes, there is such a thing)
- Be open to God's revelation search you, know you (Ps 139:23)
- Be open to change (repentance)
- Release one's self from Dexification
- Love God, Love Neighbour as Self (Matt 22:36-40)


How can one have freedom if one will not face God nor truth?  It is the truth that sets us free...