Mystic Love
A love so profound you can’t imagine it.
What is mystic love? It is a love that transcends anything that can be imagined or spoken of.
Generally speaking, Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love of a mother differs from the love of a spouse, which differs from the love of food. Most commonly, love refers to a feeling of a strong attraction and emotional attachment. Even in fellowship, we experience a type of collaborative and communal love.
There are forms of mystic love as well, the love that arises when an individual goes through a rite of passage. This love as it arises may involve a significant change of position, influence, or status in a group.
Before we can understand this type of love we much learn about initiation or rights of passion. Some rites of passage are quite serious and profound while others are no more than exercises in spiritual materialism, or a simple watered-down religious ceremony. Serious and profound rites of passage, are authentic initiations. These initiations are generally limited to those few who have a passion and a calling to do inner work that is not accessible to the rest of the community but may ultimately serve the community. Rites of passage can include many different practices and in some aboriginal cultures are affairs of life and death.
There is no specific time frame for a “rite of passage”. Many of these involve multiple ceremonies stretching out over an extended period of time. My Shamanic Initiation extended over the course of two days. My Bar Mitzvah took about eight minutes. In some Aboriginal cultures, initiations may take 3–4 months or even longer.
Are rites of passages still important in our post-modern, confused, globalized digital society? More than ever, and yet the more modern society is, the less likely that initiation and rites of passage will be taken seriously. Because of this mystic love is ignored.
Without initiation and rites of passage, society loses much of its reason for being, and that which was once held as sacred is lost. In some tribes, initiation is essential to be a full member, one who participates in core social rituals and ceremonies.
An important part of mystic love begins with self-love. To love fully you need to be spiritually, mentally, emotionally “whole”. If not, you are likely to suffer and struggle unnecessarily.
One can say that on a subconscious level, there is a sacred element to the concept of initiation. If we are hard-wired to create a community and to form groups and social networks then we must also have a reason for doing so. The group as well must have a reason for existing. This reason is sacred in that without it the community would have no reason to exist. Thus, initiation becomes sacred as it reconnects us to who we are, who we are to become, and where we are in the community. The initiation process also reconnects the community to its own history, origins, and mythology.
“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”
― Anais Nin
There are certain universal elements of initiation/rites of passage that are specifically relevant to Transmodern Zen and the daily Wisdom Practice one chooses to create and embrace.
Ritual death or “Dying while Living”, enables you to live life more fully and conquer the fear of real death. This has nothing to do with physical suicide. It is a process for dissolving the ego. Why is this necessary?
· To reveal the deeper meaning of your existence.
· To accept accountability for your actions and hold yourself to the highest standard.
· To make you aware, transcendentally of whom you are.
· Showing “what is” so you might know “what might be.”
In the Transmodern Zen Initiation/Rite of Passage, there is acceptance and commitment to the Seven Pillars of Practice.
1. Meditation
2. Ruthless Introspection
3. Doing what needs to be done
4. Love through Selfless Sacrifice
5. Compassion
6. Empathy
7. Sing, Dance, Laugh, Love, and Be Silent
This commitment is not made to a teacher, master, guru, or group. It is made for yourself. Through and with this commitment, you can experience immediate transformation.
The easiest way of describing the moment when the rite of passage has been completed is readiness, willingness, and the ability to act on an “Intention” that reflects your passion and which is also in alignment with a community vision. This process may not require discipline or willpower. It is simply acting upon an intention. As we speak here of initiation and rites of passion, it is important to keep in mind that no person or group owns the truth. When you are in a state of “Wisdom Mind”, you are connecting on a very deep level to the ideas espoused in Western motivation books and films like The Secret, Field of Dreams, Power of Positive Thinking, and The Law of Attraction. These all reflect the Chinese concept of Wu Wei — the Action that has no Action.
Final Thoughts
When you are authentically ready, willing, and able to do something, all manner of unforeseen events, circumstances and environmental shifts take place to enable your vision to become a reality. This takes place naturally, spontaneously, and may often take place without discipline or willpower. This all happens through the clarity of intention that you will have when you are in a state of Wisdom Mind.
Author: Lewis Roshi is an author, practical philosopher, and seminar leader. He is a creative artist and teaches creativity and innovative thinking to his coaching clients. He is the founder and senior teacher at the Wisdom Path Community, a spiritually-oriented life coaching social network-based Facebook group that focuses on the critical thinking spiritual journey rather than rites, rituals, ceremonies, or dogmatic practices. He is a practitioner and teacher of Transmodern Zen
“My website is AskLewis.com and I can be emailed directly at LewisCoaches@gmail.com…”
You can read my other Medium.com posts at LewisCoaches@gmailcom
………………………Lewis
