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Why is it that Black people are considered to be mystical? Our exploration directed toward answering this question starts by realizing that there are people who either believe in a higher power or not. People who believe in God differ in how they believe.
Some focus on myths (stories and traditions of the religion); some on learning and practicing religious rituals; and some aspire to relate directly with God -- an aspiration of "spirituality."
Other combinations include those involved in both myths and rituals; those involved in a non-God higher power; those involved in the supernatural; and those who embrace different mixtures.
Regardless of the name, form, or means used in the over 100 major world religions, true spiritual seekers of a connection with God see love as the bottom (or top) line.
For them to qualify for the title of true "Mystic" requires four components:
(1) rising above oneself in order to get into the Universal Energy flow springing out of God's mind;
(2) dissolving into God;
(3) identifying with God; and
(4) becoming God's helping hand.
Originally, in very ancient Africa "Mysticism" referred to the absolute reality and power of God as being a mystery because God and God's world were declared to be unknowable.
While retaining the belief that God was beyond human understanding, about 7000 years ago the sense of "mysticism" shifted to a system of human striving which promotes the union of the individual soul with the ultimate creator's soul. Black Egyptian sages elevated the salvation and deification of man as its most important worldly objective -- done for the purpose of entering the "Heaven Afterlife."
The way of doing this was to strive for mysticism. In striving to be God-like, there could be no mediator between an individual and his/her salvation -- as is found in Christianity. The process of striving was to "Know Thyself" by gaining insight into one's own divine nature.
To "Know Thyself" was the foundation for the African proverb: "Knowledge is Power." The practice of striving to be God-like was about selfless service as a helping hand of God. This necessitated seeing the divine spirit in every human being and in every creature and then serving those in need.
The model for guiding these mysticism practices was the goddess Ari Maat. She spiritually and philosophically symbolized the universal energy force. To be in her flow was to fashion justice, peace, beauty, truth, fairness, harmony and the unity that comes from good character.
Good Character involved humane actions, caring, compassion, purity of heart, and balance of mind. Having the right relations with and behaviors toward God and fellow humans was the path to true happiness and a fulfilling life.
Some of the various means for attaining a spiritual or mystical union with God included meditation, contemplation (thoughtfully becoming one with the supreme universal truths), detachment, renunciation, austerity, mindlessness, and focused good feelings.
All of these are about transcending or going beyond oneself in order to discover the deepest realities of one's heart. The pursuit of learning the mysterious things about God, the way to belong to God, and the things revealed to humans by God (Deut. 29:28) was the pursuit of Esoteric Knowledge.
Upon reaching a state of mysticism was the experience of ecstasy or of divine inspiration. Within a mystical experience all sense of separateness, apartness, differences, distinction, and conflict between self and the nature of the "Real" disappears. Self-consciousness no longer exists and the individual becomes one with the deepest level of reality.
My first experience of this occurred when I was a boy planting or cultivating flowers or vegetables in a garden. While barefoot, wiggling my toes in the dirt seems to have been a mechanism that carried me above time and space to a sublime place far above and beyond my thoughts and feelings. There are no words to describe it. All I can say is that I was in an ultimate reality qualitatively different from any other normal experiences I have ever had.
Joseph A. Bailey, II, M.D
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