From: ard (rbrown@smb.sams.ch)
Date: Wed Apr 30 1997 - 10:40:19 MDT
"The Tao Is Silent" by Raymond Smullyan. Smullyan is a mystic and
> I don't agree with everything he says, but it's an absolutely wonderful
and
> brilliant book. Before I read Smullyan I thought that all mystics were
fools,
> now I know that is not true, only most of them.
>
> John K Clark
johnkc@well.com
John, we have no idea how many mystics you have met, talked with, etc.
and perhaps your statement about thinking "all mystics were fools,..." was
made in light-hearted jest. We have met many mystics and many people who
claimed a belief in mysticism. There is a great difference between both
groups. We found people from all walks of life, including scientists,
doctors, lawyers, libertarians, Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindi, Jains,
Bhuddists, etc. who have had the mystical experience. They share many of
the values of Extros. They see no need for the State or for organized
religion and recognize that both are instruments of control of the
individual. Many mystics continue to go to their original place of
worship and there they try to reach people using their own teachings as a
springboard. Lucifer, the well-known mystic, did the same thing in his
travels through Persia, Afghanistan, Nepal and Kashmir; stopping to learn
the "scriptures" of the natives and then teaching the mystical viewpoint
which originated the religion. He tried it with his own people but
received a hostile response and returned to Kashmir.
Many people admired by Extros were mystics, including the father of the
modern scientific method, Francis Bacon. Michael Faraday, Isaac Newton,
Thom. Jefferson, Thom. Paine, Benj. Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, and Albert
Einstein were also mystics.
Perhaps the problem lies with those who have a belief in mysticism, rather
than a true mystic?
Believers, in mysticism or anything else, rarely stop to question their
beliefs.
Often we found believers who brought unconsidered ideas up and tried to
attach them to mysticism. Certainly we have found many books, claiming to
be "mystical" or claiming to present "mystical" concepts, which were off
the mark.
What do you say?
ard
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