The

Way of the Mystic

by Chad Millemon

'The Will of God has nothing but sweetness, grace and treasures for the surrendered soul. It is impossible to place too much confidence in it, or to surrender oneself to it too utterly. It always acts for and desires that which contributes most to our perfection, provided we allow it to act.'
Jean-Pierre de Cassaude

INTRODUCTION The way to the discovery of the presence of Divinity is simple and direct. Any idea that it is difficult is due to doubt, resistance or misunderstanding. All obstructions to our innate Grace can be overcome with proper instruction and devotion. Competent instruction helps usher in a practice that can be applied with confidence. This is of immense importance. If we practice any sort of meditation, contemplation or prayer while simultaneously plagued with a lingering sense of doubt or uncertainty with regards to whether or not we are doing it correctly, then there will be limited progress like a mirage on the horizon, the goal will appear to remain beyond our reach. Therefore, in terms of a valid practice, nothing short of certainty will do for significant progress to occur. The sound of God is infinite Silence. The intellect cannot mimic infinite Silence, nor can it be apprehended with the five senses - It is of a dimension beyond the mind or senses. Even so, we can become aware of it. Silence is fully present and is readily available in every moment. Just to know this from the start already gives us a great deal of clarity, even if that isnt necessarily the current experience. In spite of our best efforts we simply cannot capture the immensity of Divinity in the mind. This doesnt mean that the mind is somehow evil or bad. It only means that, by its very nature, the conceptualizing mind is limited. We cannot fault the coffee mug for failing to contain the ocean, but we can see the limited container for what it is. Out of greater love for Divinity we can willingly and joyfully surrender the identification with the mind and all its limitations to God. By tossing the coffee mug into the ocean all that remains is an ocean of Joy. The Way is not an intentionally held secret or mystery. It has been hiding in plain sight all along. You may even realize that the great Teachings that we will cover in this book have been staring you right in the face all along. But like a seed that needs the right conditions to sprout, these great teachings may simply need to be placed in a different context for them to take root and flourish in your life.

What is the best way to apprehend the seeming illusive nature of God with spiritual practice? Surrender of personal will to Divine Will at ever-deeper levels is the purest of all paths. In the truest sense anything less than that is only avoiding or delaying surrender to Divinity. The human experience seems to be a constant battle of my will be done vs. Thy Will be done with the former being more adhered to than the latter. Even most of what is labeled spiritual these days seems to prioritize anything and everything over learning how to align personal will with Divine Will. What is it you looking for? Is it visions? Flashy, exalted experiences? Recognition for having a special supernatural ability? Is the miraculous something other than what we are faced with in each moment of our lives? Is there a belief that we arent good enough as we are and that we need to become something different? Could it be that, in spite of hearing that nothing is more near to us than God, the opposite seems to be your experience? We must begin to see right away that, in terms of fostering clarity in our practice, the essentials must be extracted from the non-essentials. If we clutter our practice with excessive false beliefs and unrealistic expectations we wind up wasting time and energy. Many spend their whole lives dabbling in supposed spiritual practices that have nothing to do with merging personal will with Divine Will. One glance in the spiritual/new age section at a bookstore or on a casual search on the Internet will yield a veritable ocean of information. Do we need to wade through all of it? Much time and energy can be saved if we find and adhere to the straight and narrow path. The high teaching is simple. Spiritual advancement and the aligning of personal will with Divine Will is not a progression into greater complexity, rather the opposite is true. We progress from a life that seems complex into greater and greater simplicity. By analogy how difficult is it to notice the silence of the sky? With this great pathway, there are not a multitude of things one needs to know or do. In fact, there is nothing easier. After all, if we arent aligning with Divine Will then we are only resisting it. Among the numerous telltale signs of resistance to Divine Will are anxiety, conflict, confusion, perpetual sadness, emotional pain, anger, jealousy, envy, greed, violence toward self and others, low self-

esteem, bitterness, or, in short, suffering. Suffering in any form is a signal that personal will has supplanted Divine Will. Surrender to God is at times misunderstood as an exercise in suffering. While suffering is a great motivator, intentional suffering along any given spiritual pathway serves the ego rather than God. We dont need to whip ourselves to be worthy of Divinity. We only need to surrender the program that states, I am not worthy. All are worthy no matter what the past has been. Our path begins in this very moment, which is the only moment any of us ever have. One warm summer day as a little kid I was invited over to a new friends house for lunch. I was happy to see that his family had a beautiful pet parrot sitting in the kitchen near the window. As it turned out, at 15, the parrot was more than twice my age. I have had a fondness for pets and felt bad that it had to spend its life in such a tiny cage. So, I asked my friend if he ever let it out. Without hesitation he walked over and opened the cage and then came back and sat at the table to finish his sandwich. The whole time we sat having lunch the door was wide open, but the strangest thing was that the parrot would not leave. It would poke its head out of the door and look around, occasionally stick its foot out, but it stayed put. After about an hour my friend closed the door. As I look back on that, I cannot help but think that many of us are just like that parrot. We may grow tired of the unrewarding confines of our current experience of life and desire something greater, but at the end of the day are we willing to let go of what is comfortable and familiar if the opportunity presents itself? We may aspire after greatness, but when the Universe reveals the means it is up to us to choose.