I got to talking about personality types with some family this week. As an INFJ therapist, this is pretty much conversational gold for me and the fact that I was in the room with 3 "sensors" who even cared about this topic was nothing short of a miracle. I shared my personality type and my brother's girlfriend started reading from the list of INFJ attributes. “Quiet and mystical, yet very…wait…mystical?”
“Yes, I’m Mystical.”
Awkward silence…and then we returned to life as usual. Thank God!
I have been thinking about this brief exchange all week. It has stayed with me. This affirmation of my identity that seemed so odd to the people I was with. At least that's how I felt. I felt like a weirdo. What does that even mean, to be mystical? How could I begin to explain it to someone? And am I brave enough to try to explain it?
I think I’ll give it a try.
I believe in an unseen realm that is a real as the laptop I am typing on and the hands that are typing. I believe that this unseen realm is intricately connected to the concrete environment that surrounds us. We are always engaging in a “to and fro” movement between the unseen and the seen, and most of the time we don’t even realize it.
Being mystical means that I am paying attention to that unseen realm. There are experiences and information for me in that spiritual atmosphere. If I can remember to tune in I will see that I am always supported, I am never alone and that I have access to perfect love and light in all moments. These are actually foundational teachings of Christianity, but the church has largely traded them in for the rational empiricism of our time. I think we forget what the Bible teaches about true spirituality because it is so hard to explain and makes us look foolish. Even weird.
So come on this journey with me. I don’t have all the answers, but I am going to do my best to dig deeper into what it means to be a Christian mystic in our day. I’ll share what I am discovering here as I find the words and the courage.