Writing a Reality Check in Mystic Realms

'Major Trends...' is broken down into nine lectures. He covers everything from the beginings of Jewish mysticism up to modern times. He traces its origen from the Second Temple era, through the apocalyptic/pseudepigrapha period, and right into Jewish gnosticism with the Thrown (merkabah) mysticism. The 'Hekhaloth Books' (hekhaloth: the heavenly halls or palaces the visionary passes through on his way to the seventh heaven where there rises the thrown of divine glory) are well known for the their similarity to standard gnostic works. The caves around Khirbet Qumran are another (Dead Sea Scrolls). He covers all aspects of this; the 'Song of Songs' and its mystical meaning (it was banned until a man reached 40 years old), the Shi'ur Komah (Measure of the Body of God), and all the magical elements that encompassed this, also theurgy, and so on.
Amazon.com review (all spelling errors belong to the reviewer)
of Gershom Scholem's book
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism

As I mentioned before, I'm a skeptic at heart. A book like this one wouldn't likely catch my attention and certainly wouldn't win any praise from me. So many books like these are fanciful, unbiblical, and simply outright inconsistent with what I know to be true from the Bible. Colton Burpo's story was a refreshing and surprisingly accurate portrait of what awaits each of us whose destiny is Heaven. I read the book with a critical eye, looking for those little details that would prove this story to be at best inaccurate or at worst a fraud. I couldn't find them. His tale seemed honest. His descriptions fit the way a child would describe things, not one whose words had been fed him by an adult. Some of his revelations were simply amazing!
Amazon.com review of Todd and Sonja Burpo's (with Lynn Vincent) book
Heaven is for Real

I know these are two books you wouldn't expect to be quoted side-by-side, but hear me out. There's a reason I'm tossing both of them into the same conceptual bucket.

I was on a Christian blog this morning where the blog writer was touting the virtues of the Burpo's book. For those of you who haven't heard of it (and it's been all over the news), at age four, Colton Burpo suffered a life-threatening incident whereby, according to the book, he "slips from consciousness and enters heaven" (from the Product Description of the book on Amazon). To continue with the description, "He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear."

After reading the book, one Amazon reviewer, Pastor Micah Mauldin AKA "The Heavy Revy", wrote a response, part of which I quoted above.

Apparently, I'm more skeptical than Pastor Mauldin, because I think it's pretty strange that this child is relating a vision of Heaven that matches so precisely the expectations of modern, western Christianity. If little Colton's experiences were "real", then wouldn't we expect to hear revelations that are unexpected or different interpretations of Heaven than what we have in current Christian doctrine? We know that Colton is being raised in a Christian family and in fact, his father, Todd Burpo, is a Pastor in Nebraska. Frankly, I'd be a lot more convinced of Colton's reports if his parents were atheists or belonged to another faith and he still related a story that matched what we understand of Heaven from the Bible. It's fairly likely that, whatever Colton experienced at age four, as he became older and more verbal, he "filtered" his experiences through the lens of his Christian upbringing as taught by his church and his Pastor father.

Now that I've probably won the "Ebenezer Scrooge" and "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" awards for most mean-spirited reviewer (and it should be noted that I haven't read the Burpo book), you may be wondering why I bring all this up.

I'm writing a "reality check". In a few of my past blog posts, including A Brief Meeting with the Mystic and Search for the Messiah in Pools of Unknowing, I've presented something of my introductory understanding to serious Jewish Mysticism as I attempt to relate some of the concepts it contains to my understanding of and faith in the Jewish Messiah. I am also very conscious of the human capacity (including my human capacity) for self-delusion and wish-fulfillment. I could hardly suggest that the Burpo family, and the many Christians who find their expectations of Heaven realized in young Colton Burpo, are guilty of "reading between the lines", and still enthusiastically proclaim that mysticism is the method by which we can and must understand Jesus (Yeshua) with complete confidence.

In other words, let's slow down a minute and catch our breath (and maybe I'm the only one who is acknowledging the need to take a breather). At this point in my journey, I'm an investigator or explorer looking at possibilities, not an inventor who's already made a great discovery and is seeking support. Maybe I'm onto something and maybe I'm not. I think I'm on the right track, but it's important to pause and to question the assumptions I'm forming, without getting caught up in the potential of the mystic writings and perceptions to interpret Jesus in a fresh and exciting way.

It occurred to me yesterday that, back in January, I said I was going to strip my faith, or at least my dogma and doctrine, down to its gears, wires, and batteries, but it seems as if faith can't exist in its most raw and basic condition for very long. Already, I'm building a system back up and forgetting my original intention. The whole reason I created this blog (and I've said this more than once) was to question my assumptions and to honestly examine my beliefs. I have to do this with what I'm currently constructing as well as with what I've been deconstructing.

On Derek Leman's blog post Biblical Glimpses into Mystical Horizons, Carl Kinbar made this comment:

For (Max) Kadushin, devekut is should be part and parcel of the holy life. This approach is based on the realization that God is near in everything and does not require that we put aside our lives in order to commune with Him. Thus, we encounter the Word as we are immersed in the written word. We connect with God’s presence in the blessings. Etc. But none of this happens apart from a deep thirst for God that prepares the way for him to show himself to us in new ways even in the midst of the ordinary.

In other words, experiencing God in a "mystic" way doesn't always entail entering into meditative states, taking extreme measures, or experiencing highly "unusual" visions. We can "experience God" in many ways, sometimes just in the ordinary events of our lives, or in prayer, or in acts of charity, or in reading the Bible.

No, I'm not giving up my exploration of Jewish Mysticism as a method of approaching the Messiah, and I'm not surrendering in the midst of my journey into the mystic. But I do want to assure you that I do take a few breaks to stop, look at my surroundings, and make a candid assessment of where I'm coming from, where I'm going, and how I arrived at my current location.

The next time you find yourself in an "Oh Wow! Gee Whiz! That's incredible!" situation, take a moment and make sure that it really is outside the normal realm of existence and that it's coming from God...rather than your expectations, desires, imagination, or your need to have all the pieces of the puzzle fit "just so".

I know that's a strange thing for a person of faith to say (since having faith in God means that, by definition, I believe in the supernatural), especially one who is looking into a mystic tradition, but in exploring the dangerous and potentially hostile unknown outlands, we must keep an anchor in the safe and the known, lest we be swept away into imagination and unreality. The veil between the mystical and fantasy is very much thinner than we'd like to believe.

God is real, but not everything we experience is from God. Sometimes, we are very good authors of our own play. We just fool ourselves about the identity of the playwright.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.