When we define spirit as awakened consciousness, we can then see there are many avenues to it. A sudden transforming experience, as we see in Acts. We see the slow work of contemplative prayer in mystics down through the ages. The Enlightenment found in Eastern traditions. Some Eastern traditions transmit spirit-awakening in a way similar to what Jesus, Paul, and Peter did.
Read MoreOne of our core mystical practices in our WeSpace Groups is something we have called "Integral Prayer." That is admittedly a name that does not say much about what it actually is. We have had to keep putting a lot of energy into helping others understand what we mean by that terminology. In a long, wonderful conversation Luke and I had about this, Luke came up with a much more lively and descriptive name to help with that understanding — Resonating Prayer.
We can pray predictably, saying the routine words or affirmations of a religious ritual. Or we can pray in a resonating way. One of the dictionary meanings of "resonate" is "to affect or appeal in a personal or emotional way." Or "to strike a chord with." So we might say this is prayer that comes from deeply personal and vibrating, felt resonance within that seeks to strike a chord in another.
Read MoreSo, how do we practice mysticism?
Once we’ve cleared up some of the common misperceptions about mysticism, we find that we can approach mysticism from a trans-rational perspective, believing that it is real and something we participate in, experienced in connection to our Higher Self, and deeply connective to others. You can read more in depth about those distinctions in Part One.
Getting past some of those mental hurdles, we now can step into our participatory practice. This is a co-creative process that we engage in with our whole being. While mystical experience can be received in many different forms and ways, we can practice our active engagement into the process by cultivating mystical awareness, learning to sense emergent mystical realities, then interplay dynamically with them and one another in convergent communion.
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