Why Christianity NEEDS Mysticism

[@nandinoo]

Mysticism is what I have been searching for my entire life, I found it in the traditional catholic mass

[@uscatholicam]

AMEN!

[@Geo_Babe]

Same ❤

[@mike_m]

"The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand." GK Chesterton

[@denniszaychik8625]

Wow. Didn't know Chesterton said that. Usually I disagree with apologists like him but here he actually makes an accurate and valid point.

[@dustash1578]

I respect Chesterton and pray that he rest in peace, but it's just flatly wrong that most people are mystics. Most people are not having visions and hearing God's voice etc. Edit: it just seems to me all he's effectively saying is that we can accept things we don't understand when we can believe that God is bringing them to pass for our good. It just seems to me a silly formulation. It's not as if God is beyond all comprehension. He is logical being hence why He is called Logos. What he reduces mysticism to in this quote to me seems to promote a sort of quietism.

[@denniszaychik8625]

@dustash1578 You can be a mystic without having visions and hearing God's voice. Also scholars like Jung, Eliade, Campbell and Marie Louise Von Franz would definitely disagree with you in regards of most people not being mystical.

[@dustash1578]

@@denniszaychik8625 we have to be very careful with the term I think. It's much too easy to use incorrectly. I just think it is not a common thing. Like I wouldn't even call the Garabandal girls mystics. To me a mystic is someone like St Hildegard of Bingen. They communicate things from Divine realms that are, for most of us, inconceivable. Now, of course, we're all called to union with God, but I don't think to be trying to achieve this makes one a mystic, it just makes one a sincere Christian. God makes one a mystic because he has something to say, or some particular task for that person, etc.

[@denniszaychik8625]

@dustash1578 That's your perception of mystics. In practice however it is any person with a magical oriented mind and such a mindset is present in all humans in one way or another. Even atheists, communists, fasc..ts and liberals are mystics in some shape or form, no matter how they would try to deny it.

[@goldentrunami1133]

Beautifully put. I think I really need to understand this lesson if I am to continue pursuing God. As someone who struggled with idleness and sloth, I think I shaped my theology around the outward expressions of Christianity and love of neighbor. Until very recently I haven't even considered that I have been neglecting the inward. How fitting that I find your video at a time like this. Much love, great work.

[@uscatholicam]

How providential! Praise God.

[@SeniorSpooky]

I converted from Islam to orthodoxy in 2024 but you have showed and taught me how much to love my Catholic brothers. What a beautiful essay.

[@uscatholicam]

Thank you kindly! God bless you on your continued spiritual journey my friend : )

[@crouton7070]

Common orthodog w

[@catholicdoomer]

The most important part of Catholicism is the spiritual part. Any pagan can feed the poor, but remember that "your parents ate the mana and died". Look for the true bread, that is Christ. That's how you sustain your eternal life. The problem is that modern men in general are very materialistic. But the things of the spirit are greater.

[@BabyDingo]

Reading the desert fathers has been extremely eye opening.

[@SepulvedaBoulevard]

I'm a Quaker, very much in agreement on the importance of mysticism. Happy to have been led here❤

[@bizzy5439]

Excellent take, the mystical center of the faith is the source from which the external works can be properly ordered and fruitful

[@paynedv]

☕ Great video.

[@williamarthur4801]

I left the c of e over 20 years ago when I realized most vicars were social workers who just happened to believe there was a god.

[@uscatholicam]

That’s so sad when people do that. It’s like they have lost any sense of why they’re Christian to begin with.

[@williamarthur4801]

@@uscatholicam yes to avoid hell.

[@clarekuehn4372]

C of e?

[@KetchupReturns]

​@@clarekuehn4372Church of England

[@uscatholicam]

@ Church of England

[@saintsword23]

I'm trained in Buddhist meditation (I practice anapanasati / awareness of breathing) and have thousands of hours sitting. With the exception of the differences in metaphysical beliefs, I understand things a lot of the same way you do, and contemplatives of about any tradition seem to say similar things: The society I see around me is antithetical to meditation and absurdly materialistic. I can only see the lives most people live as foolish and based on a mistaken, unconscious belief that material things are what will ultimately satisfy them, even though they're simply bored almost immediately after obtaining those things. Even the way they frame heaven is usually in terms of getting all the material things they could ever want and avoiding all the materially unpleasant things. My family, who are almost perfect agents of averageness as far as Americans go, strongly disapproves of my pursuit of the meditative path and they'd be prime candidates for becoming Josephinists. To them the only noble life is one spent working and collecting money. They believe they're perfectly good and wise Christians. They never go to church, they don't pray, they do no renunciation or asceticism, they don't study scripture...to them all of that is a waste of time because (thanks for this one Martin Luther) all they need to do is believe and they're saved. So they can just go about their lives of work, money, and sensual pleasures without being bothered by any of this. And since I'm way more bothered by this kind of stuff, I'm the fool in their eyes. And not only a fool, but those that dedicate their lives to this stuff should be ashamed and one should never support them. I find my family's attitude to be super common. Like you say near the beginning of the video: what is esteemed in the world is backwards from what is esteemed in the Kingdom of God. What I'd point out to the "active only" Christians is this: there is suffering that people can alleviate, and plenty of suffering that is out of human hands. While it's good to alleviate the suffering that we have the power to do something about, what is there for the suffering that we can't avoid? It's this sort of suffering that development in the contemplative life addresses. It's only contemplation and meditation that I've seen have any inroads to addressing the kind of suffering that is unavoidable.

[@mrman5066]

Fire video especially the very end lol

[@uscatholicam]

😎

[@northwestdestiny1388]

​@@uscatholicamThank you. Love it😎

[@Dhavroch]

It was discovering mysticism in the Catholic Church which eventually led me to join it. From someone who was also drawn to Buddhism and the mystical traditions of Islam and Hinduism, if New Agers were more aware of the great mystical traditions in Christianity, there would be less abandonment of the faith. It’s the misperception of the spiritual emptiness of Western Christianity that drives a lot of people toward Eastern traditions.

[@evan5148]

I think its mostly the watered down and vacuous american protestantism that is mostly to blame for this misperception

[@Dhavroch]

@ being a former atheist, that was definitely an issue for me, still is to an extent with Protestantism at least

[@saintsword23]

I was driven eastward and now have thousands of hours doing Buddhist meditation on the breath. In my case I rejected Christianity after my neighbor took me to a Benny Hinn revival at the age of about 11 or 12. Since all I saw around me was the extreme apathy of "why go to church or any of that - I already believe so I'm saved" sort of Protestantism, along with televangelist nonsense, I rejected Christianity hard in my younger years. It took many years for me to even see there's a deeper side to Christianity that seems all but lost in the politics and debates over small, irrelevant differences between denominations. However, I've done dozens of retreats in Buddhist fashion at this point, and I met a lot of people that were really just dispossessed Christians. They're leaving precisely because they see the church as spiritually empty, as just a political organization whose teachings don't go deeper than basic morality. In the long-term this may all be really healthy for Christian churches, because now that there's competition, the church has to get its act together. It can either continue to be this literalist social gathering that only serves the lowest common denominator and lose people that want something more meaningful, or it can grow up and start encouraging people to go deeper.

[@TheDustReducer]

Great video couldn’t agree more

[@pacislander4life]

I watched til the very end, and that was the best part. If I was drinking something I might have choked on it. For a more serious comment, I found this video very helpful. A good reminder of my past OD formation. But also the insight of the Apostles of the tomb. Never heard that before. Very cool lesson. -Laurence

[@UniversalistSon9]

The thing is that the deeper one goes into a mystical spiritual reality, the less they might call themselves Christians or any label for that matter. Many mystics become universalists and nondualistic.

[@saintsword23]

This is absolutely the case. Bernadette Roberts is a great example. Where St. John of the Cross left off at the self's unity with God, she went even beyond that to where her self dropped away totally, and it completely transformed her understanding. She was a Carmelite but had to separate from the church entirely because she just couldn't maintain many of its doctrines.

[@FrankKrutsinger]

Excellent presentation! Much needed in our modern world, which has unfortunately lost the true Spirit of Christ and His Catholic Church. God bless!

[@rejithregi2588]

Thank you

[@macbride33]

He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” - John 14:21

[@chadkline4268]

👍 he's right. Too much magical thinking. Lack of reason+conscience. Materialism. Meister Eckhart. This is very good understanding and teaching. One of the best overviews on one of the most important topics in Christianity. But .. my sense is that things properly dive deeper into areas that would be fearful even to people that get this far. There is a lot of evil in this world at this time behind the facade we all accept as necessary realities of life in the world. Does anyone know the origin of the halo? I wonder if it had meaning beyond symbolism. The halo occurs in the iconography of many religions to indicate holy or sacred figures, and has at various periods also been used in images of rulers and heroes. In the religious art of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism (among other religions). Doesn't seem to have a clearly definitive explanation in terms of a 'tangible' manifestation, but i think it is pointing at one.

[@RockerfellerRothchild1776]

It's why I was a Pagan for 40 years ...

[@Catholic_Fiat33]

It really is subjective and often characterized as 'faith'. Because if you take a mystical approach towards apparent ordinary religious practice then it produces mystical results. Conversely you could dance naked on a beach every full moon and never have any profound spiritual experiences. You must look underneith the surface and carve your own way within the framework of univeral truths.

[@macbride33]

1 John 1 walk in the light as He is in the light and have fellowship with him

[@rejithregi2588]

27:32 .....LOLOL

[@haikuhermit2477]

Thought of the day: Catholics meditate on the Truth, whilst others meditate to find the truth.

[@ChrisVincent-w7t]

So very well stated. Saint John of the Cross, Pray for us ❤️‍🔥

[@Dim-yz6wk]

Ora pro nobis 🙏

[@veronica_._._._]

Masochism is a vice that seekers after truth may indulge in but it is not asked for, in fact it's a source of pleasure and therefore a self indulgence. Those on the path to sainthood do a lot of foolish and showy things before they grow in wisdom and experience and learn experientially that illumination of conscience is punishment enough, and only God will save them, from themselves.

[@macbride33]

💯🔥

[@SecureInMyHead]

“Easy to write a check to charity”? Speak for yourself, man. I don’t know anyone my age (26) who even knows how to write a check, much less willing to give those otherwise very precious to them resources to a charity they don’t actually care about. Not that I haven’t been blessed enough to act on that knowledge.

[@uscatholicam]

I didn't say it was easy to obtain resources. I said it was easy to donate resources once you have obtained them.

[@GaiatheSage]

@@uscatholicamreally it's easy to donate resources when you have them? ok try donating some medical supplies to palestine and see how that works for you.

[@uscatholicam]

@@GaiatheSage you are missing the point entirely.

[@LaustibiChriste33]

Mysticism is simply the internalizing of the truths of the Catholic Faith. The exoteric must form the esoteric or internal. Otherwise doctrine is just a dead letter. I recommend The Cloud of Unknowing and also the works of Meister Eckart.

[@clarekuehn4372]

But recently "youth event" approved by Augsburg diocese was named Zimzum: theological concept of 16th-c. Kabbalistic Jewish mysticism. How much the Augsburg diocese stands behind the Zimzum Festival can be gleaned from the fact that auxiliary ‘Bp.’ Florian Wörner presided over the Novus Ordo 'worship service eucharist' on Sunday morning. First Zimzum Festival was just held in Augsburg, Germany, part of the diocese by that name. It ran from Jan. 3-6, 2025, in the city’s expo center.

[@uscatholicam]

@@clarekuehn4372 Good Lord have mercy

[@momosyzlak6660]

The main differences between Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism. the main things which keep our religions separate are: Papal Supremacy, Papal Infallibility, The Filioque, Absolute Divine Simplicity, Created Grace Doctrine, natural theology, scholasticism, Original sin, sacred heart doctrine, Immaculate conception, Purgatory, Merits/Indulgences, PSA - Penal Substitutionary Atonement, evolution of Dogma,imaginative prayer, "beatific vision" etc Then the Forced Celibacy of Priests, The use of Unleavened Bread in the Eucharist, The Adoption and change of the Christian calendar, The use of Renaissance statues, Pews, Child Communion, improper non immersion baptism, Cardinals, and differences in liturgical practices (Alter tables, Iconostasis, priest positioning etc) all of those things, we say the Western Church adopted and innovated and became heretical when they adopted these things. And we say that in the early church NONE of these things existed, there is no evidence of these things. No examples of Papal Infallibility, No examples of merits/indulgences, and no examples of unleavened wafer bread, and such. In fact in the west, In Rome. It looked a lot similar to how we Orthodox exist today. Our priests can get married, we use Icons and not statues, we use the old calendar etc Orthodoxy Vs Roman Catholicism: Energy Essence Distinction vs Absolute Divine Simplicity Ancestral Sin vs Original Sin Non Filioque Trinity vs Filioque Trinity Patriarchy vs Papacy Revealed Theology vs Natural Theology Hesychasm Vs Scholasticism Theosis vs Sanctification Married Priest vs Celibate Priests Infant Communion Vs Non Infant Communion Iconography vs Statues Full Immersion Baptism vs Sprinkle Baptism One Baptism vs Confirmation Baptism Leavened Communion Bread vs Unleavened Communion bread Julian Calendar vs Pope Gregory's Calendar We are not the same Religion, we do not have the same faith, and anyone who looks into either religions genuinely will see how different we are.

[@RossArlenTieken]

I've seen this comment again and again. It has been debunked, clarified, simplified, nuanced. Again and again and again. You people still post it like it is straight out of the Church fathers. Either rework it to mean something significant or stop posting it. You are misleading simple Catholics, misrepresenting both faiths to Protestants, causing arrogance among simple Orthodox, and frustrating those who know what they're talking about.

[@momosyzlak6660]

@@RossArlenTieken The Frankish papacy, the Donation of Constantine Forgery, The Donation of Pepin, the pseudo Isidorian Decretals, the pornocracy, the Cadaver synod, the Female Pope, the 3 popes, the 4th crusade, You should look into these things and the differences I posted The truth will set you free, people now have access to information. They can look into all of these things and see the truth. Truth has no fear of scrutiny. If your religion is true, then let people truly look into it, and let them look into these things

[@BabyDingo]

Why not just say you suffer from pride and just want to comment to dunk on Catholics online? Unleavened bread is a heresy? Lol Remember that satan divides while Jesus prayed we may all be one. Guess whose work your comment is doing?

[@RedRoosterRoman]

I love the analogy with Ss Peter and John at the tomb

[@spraffman]

A Naoimh Chaoimhín, guigh orainn!

[@scoutxyz2828]

Excellent presentation, thank you for sharing.

[@chrisbormann7303]

Random; as a Gen X-er I was tickled by the Kiwanis reference.

[@uscatholicam]

Haha glad that was appreciated ✊

[@AndrewLane-pm2ro]

I was a Protestant until the Holy Spirit informed me that Christianity is the Catholic Church.

[@derekdavis3004]

The point of Christianity is to glorify our God. When you start talking about mysticism you stray away from glorifying God toward service of self. What is mysticism after all, but our own earthly, physical experiences. Mystical feelings are not necessarily good. Chanting, incense, iconography all of these things are merely physical and they are ultimately for humans- God does not need nor ask for any of that. Now you may say that the ancient Israelite did this or that thing that was mystical but God gave them specific instructions on how to worship. Now that Jesus has fulfilled the covenant we are given a new task, that work is to believe. Jesus adds: love the Lord you God with all you mind, body and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. Nowhere in the New Testament does it say to engage in all sorts of mystical practices or earthly traditions. God wants for us to live in a way that honors him and honors his will. We can honor God's will by believing in the Son and then setting our hands to good works. God loves a cheerful giver and those who work with joy in their hearts. All of this mysticism is based upon conjecture and is ultimately unnecessary, really. Be humble and praise the Lord by simply doing what he asks of you. We do not need to create all these grand rites and rituals for God.

[@jonathananderson260]

One criticism of contemplative prayer I’ve always heard is that you are just emptying your mind. Is this even true? From what I’ve seen it really isn’t unless you’re doing transcendental meditation for some reason (which isn’t Christian).

[@uscatholicam]

@@jonathananderson260 that is kind of a goofy criticism. I don’t think Christian contemplation consists of emptying the mind; it does consist in emptying ourselves of our willfulness, but I don’t believe that Christian contemplative or mystical writers explain mysticism in terms of pure negation, at least in the West. It’s generally a kind of transfigured Eros , a very passionate sort of thing.

[@JessieJoseph-y1w]

That presumes that thoughts and ideas come from inside of us somewhere. The ancients saw those things differently. Instead thoughts are something that come to us from somewhere else - namely the spiritual world. So emptying the mind in this case is to cease hanging onto certain things that enter the mind and just bring our focus and attention to one thing - God.

[@dustash1578]

You say at about 1:25 that Christianity is for the salvation and transfiguration of the world. I wonder and hope that you don't give too much ground to naturalism in this video? It seems to me more accurate to say that Christianity is for the salvation of souls. The world is a passing vapor, time itself is soon to end. What care should we have as Christians for the world which is essentially, at least as I see it, trying to conform myself the sensus fidei, a field of snares and a place of toil and expiation, an exile? Besides the common sense care for our environment (giving no concession whatsoever to greenish modernism), our care should be to utterly reject the world, and to long to be released from it. Anyway, all this is probably falsely premised. You probably mean souls when you say the world, in the sense of everybody in the world.

[@phenixorbitall3917]

It was well done - but the end was unnecessary.

[@NHgnosis-xq8jk]

lighten up.

[@GaiatheSage]

Oh a video on mysticism cool.... nope nevermind nothing to see here just the catholic hivemind promoting orthodoxy, thinking that it is the same thing as true mysticism. what 💩 content.

[@uscatholicam]

This is about Christian mysticism. There is a very long and venerable tradition of mysticism within Catholicism that has no connection to the nonsense of Asia.

[@Big_G5654]

I think that Catholic need scholasticism/Thomism just as must

[@uscatholicam]

@@Big_G5654 I agree. This isn’t an either-or. We need a robust intellectual foundation as well. What we can’t have is some vague commitment to “doing good” without either an intellectual or mystical foundation.

[@user-us6fw1ro1d]

I do not like mysticism