Ishpriya's talks explore the relationship between Western Christianity and Eastern mysticism, emphasizing the unique characteristics of Christian spirituality that often leads individuals to seek guidance in Eastern traditions. She discusses the barriers in accessing personal mystical experiences through scripture and ecclesiastical tradition, contrasting this with the experiential nature of Eastern mysticism. The talks encourage reflection on personal spiritual inheritance and challenge listeners to reassess their understanding of the divine in an ever-changing cosmological context.

1. ONLY THE MYSTICS WILL SURVIVE
CASSETTE 3 - Side A : Talk4 : – Our Common Inheritance.
‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father ( The Source of all
life)’
In this talk, Ishpriya addresses some of the issues concerning why so many Christians have turned to the
East when searching for a spiritual path. She begins by re-examining our common ( Christian) Western
spiritual inheritance, an inheritance which is very often unknown or forgotten. She provides a ‘sketch’ of
the growth in western spirituality and reminds us that (initially) it grew out of its Palestinian context, where
ideas from both Eastern and Middle Eastern mysticism were well known.
However, after 2 or 3 centuries the scriptures of the Christian Tradition were settled and closed and the
community had grown into a recognisable ‘Church’ with its sacraments and rituals. This has led to 2
reasonably unique aspects which underpin the Christian approach to mysticism. These aspects are its heavy
reliance on Scripture and its ecclesiastic tradition, one of structure, sacraments and rituals. These were seen
as the almost exclusive means of accessing the mystical and other approaches were frowned upon or
discouraged. This differs from the Eastern Tradition, with its emphasis on Guru and disciples and the
experiential nature of mysticism. In the Christian Tradition access to the immediate experience of God is
through the 2 main doors of Scripture and the Ecclesiastical .
In addition, Christianity has always been cautious and wary of individual’s ‘ mystical experiences’ and
frowned upon individuals experimenting in mysticism. It has in a way blocked this avenue of access ,
albeit at times unconsciously. Therefore, unlike the East, we have not developed a tradition of spiritual
guides and gurus and this may explain why westerners who are seeking guidance look to the Eastern Faith
Traditions. Many from the East feel that Christianity is merely involved and pre-occupied with ‘Sin and
Social Work’ and less interested in how individuals can be guided and supported on and in their own
unique spiritual journey. Increasingly, with the growth in our multi cultural society, Christians are being
both challenged and enriched by their contact with other traditions. Part of this challenge is to find the roots
of our own Christian mysticism and its tradition. This requires us to revisit Scripture and to realise that ‘
We find God in the life of Jesus the Christ’
Ishpriya suggested that we could begin this by examining three texts from Scripture. These were from the
New testament and St John’s Gospel, namely John !0:30, John 14:9 and John 16:7. These , she contended,
were ‘great sentences’ similar to the great sentences and sutras of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism.
Sentences that required study, reflection and contemplation, because they contained great truths and were
examples of a mystical experience.. Each one of these were then examined. In John’s Gospel the Source is
referred to as Abba the Father.
‘I and the Father ( The Source of all life) are one’ Jn 10:30
‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father ( The Source of all life)’ Jn 14:9
‘I must go (disappear) otherwise the Spirit will not come to you’ Jn 16:7
Ishpriya explored these and suggested that they were deep and great mystical sayings. They demonstrated
the mystical experiences of Jesus the Christ who felt a oneness with the Source (Abba – the Father). A
potential problem for Christians is that they could be so ‘blown away’ by Jesus that they failed to see
through his life and realise that this life is the medium through which we can see the Source.
What the world needed was people of compassion, hope, joy and understanding. It did not need re-
organising or more resources etc. We all need to develop our holiness (wholeness) and mystical awareness.

2. SOME QUESTIONS TO AID OUR REFLECTION AND SHARING
How aware am I of my own spiritual inheritance and do or could I make use of
this?
How helpful could I find spiritual inheritance from other Traditions i.e. Universal
Wisdom ?
What else struck me about the concept/idea of the phrase ‘Our Common
Inheritance’?
If I could only do one thing different in my spiritual practice, what ONE THING
would I choose?
CASSETTE 2 - Side 2B : Talk 3 : – Signs of Mysticism.
‘We need to remember that the mystical moments happen
every day’
What does the experience of the Mystery do? Ishpriya suggested we might look at some ‘signs’
of being the mystic’. These signs were to be found in all of us. So we needed to relax , listen and
reflect on how these apply to myself as . She then reflected on up to six areas or signs.
The first of these was sense of harmony at certain moments, a sense of union, wholeness or
completion. Experiences of this begin in childhood. This is a ‘sense of being at home with my
source’ It demands that we ‘get rid of our sense of separateness’ She quoted the great Christian
Mystic, Lady Juliana of Norwich ‘ Between God and me there is no between’ ‘ and also the
Hindu saying ‘God is closer to me than myself ‘ Both of these speak of a sense of oneness, union
and completion. She then went on to look at experiences of permanence. She reminded us that
we needed to avoid the mistake of ‘looking for the permanent amongst the non-permanent’ .
Then there is the experience of relaxing into loving others This was an ability of true love
which led us to bond with others but NOT try to possess them. A further sign was a keen
awareness of the inter-dependence of all things . Buddhism calls this compassion ( karuna) and
points to the Buddhi Satva ( one who has achieved enlightenment but remains to help others on
their way) as an excellent example of this sense. This led to the realisation that my choices
effect others. What is my life of 85 years compared to the 20 billion or so years of this Universe .
And yet in this vastness of creation and time-space , each of us are unique.
All this should ‘reduce us to silence’. She quoted Theresa of Avila, who in commenting upon her
mystical experiences merely said ‘I can’t describe this’. Theresa also used the ‘butterfly’ as the
symbol of mysticism, this is also used in other Traditions. All the above leads us to a realisation
that ‘ Silence is the fullness of all, it is Not the emptiness’ . These signs are always full of
paradox and this is a comment often made by those mystics who have entered into the Mystery.
She then recounted the story of Swami s Chidananda & Abishtiktananda , the first Hindu, the
second Christian. At their infrequent meetings, they would look in silence at each other and there
they could sense ‘the Joy which mystics have encountered’ . This led to them both laughing with

3. each other. Both had tasted the silence, the unity, the compassion of that Face-to-Face encounter
with the Mystery and this led to pure joy, or the ananda , which is bliss.
Mystics are not at war with anybody, they live in peace, justice and respect for others. They are
prophets, who do not set about forecasting the future, but can read the ‘signs of the times’ They
have humility. Ishpriya reminded us that ,’there is a tendency ( certainly in Christianity) to be
more concerned with the doing than the being’ … and also ‘Its not what I have done but how I
have lived’ . Zen Buddhists have an approach which starts with ;
Its A mistake is to try to do something with our life instead of living it. ‘Life is for living’ is a
Zen saying.
Pannikar suggests that some signs of the mystic are ‘ they are people who make ineffective
administrators, impossible ecclesiastics, unpredictable leaders and unreliable followers’
In conclusion, if we can recognise any of the above in us then we have reached the beginning of
wisdom
SOME QUESTIONS TO AID OUR REFLECTION AND SHARING
How alive have I been minute by minute in my life?
How do I respond to the idea that mystics are counter-culture and are willing to
take responsibility for their choices?
Which are and were the mystical moments of my life & do I recognise them?
What are the experiences in my life that I never have to make an effort to
remember?
CASSETTE 2 - Side 2A : - Talk 2 – Face to Face
Tagore’s Poem :- ‘ Day after Day , I will stand before you, face to
face’
‘At the moment humanity is searching for its soul’
Ishpriya opened this part of her presentation with Tagore’s poem and then the quotation above.
She then went on to address the fact that many people hunger for the direct experience ( of
Mystery) that is mysticism. The modern search through Meditation began in the 1960s. People
outside the mainstream Religions sought out the Gurus in India. Like us, they had the desire for
that ‘Face-to-Face ‘encounter with a Friend , which Tagore reflects on in his poem. She reminds
us that the word ‘GOD’ can be a block in this search, as we have become too used to it. There is a
lovely Canadian Children’s Prayer Book with a title ‘WHAT IS GOD?’ This question in the title
is the first and most important one to ask on our Journey towards being human. So, as we
journey and mature the answer to that 1st
question will keep changing. Many feel challenged and
threatened as this happens but it’s a sign of genuine growth. Everything else changes in this
dynamic world and dynamic life and so too must our understanding of what is God and who ( for

4. me) is God ? In this way we can each re-assess our understanding of our relationship with God,
who is Truth and Mystery..
Ishpriya suggested, that it could be helpful if we were to go for one year WITHOUT the word
GOD. This could force us to get to grips with What or Who it is we want to come Face to Face
with. For example we might be guided by Meister Eckhart . He doubtlessly shocked his
congregation when he exhorted them ‘ You must discover God as God is. You must come upon
him naked in His dressing Room’! Whether God is He, She or It., our 1st
challenge is to ‘ drop
the language and images of God ‘ and be opened up afresh to the experience of Reality. This is
to have an unmediated, direct encounter with this Absolute whose various names are Truth,
Reality, the One without a second, the Source of All Life etc. Daoism, manages this as it calls
‘The Dao, - a word for what we cannot name’. Therefore anything we can name cannot be the
Absolute Experience’.
But, she reminds us, that there is a SOURCE, an Unchanging Reality – a Mystery at the heart of
everything.. This ( Mystery) is something ‘we cannot know’. The question for us is; ‘Do I have a
conviction of the existence of this Source?’ And yet, the paradox is that I can experience it even
if it is Mystery. She reminded us of St Paul’s prayer that we may be ‘ Filled with the absolute
fullness of God’ . However, we can be assured that the Mystery will reveal ITSELF to us, in
other words the self-revelation of God at a soul-to-soul, spirit-to –spirit can come to us and can be
known at some level.. But this IS NOT an intellectual knowing, it is experiential revelation of
‘The Mystery’. Try telling your children ‘that God is that’. , whatever ‘that’ is. You cannot
define God! God IS NOT a ‘super person hidden in the skies’. God cannot be defined at either
the intellectual, emotional or imaginative levels. The Absolute Reality IS!
All Traditions have great respect for those who experience the Mystery and all Faith Traditions
accept the existence of this Absolute Reality, this Source, this Mystery. How can we know of this
experience of the Mystery – mystics of different Traditions can tell us about this and all have
common aspects. They all seem to talk about the same thing – One Source- Mystery, God and the
Face – to Face encounter . How do we know about this and not just as an intellectual idea? Being
a Mystic does not mean having visions. The mystics, even those who had visions will tell us that
visions are not the thing. That is not living in the mystery
( to be continued in Talk 3 : - Signs of Mysticism )
SOME QUESTIONS TO AID OUR REFLECTION AND SHARING
I could take a look at my picture(s) and name(s) for God. What are these?
How many of these have I ever looked at and/or challenged, particularly since
childhood?
How can or might some of these get in my way of encountering the Reality ‘Face-to-
Face’?

5. Cassette ONE: - Talk 1: Listen to the Spirit: A movement into
Mystical Consciousness.
Only the Mystics will survive: A statement for our current situation.
Only the Mystics will survive: A statement for our current situation. ( recorded in Ireland in late 1999) A
statement made by several modern theologians e.g. Karl Rahner, Matthew Fox, Raymundo Pannikar
Ishpriya reminded us that ‘We hear what we are listening for’. So she encouraged us to be open to ‘listening
to the Spirit’.
What is it that Only the Mystics will survive? She talked about the recent changes in our understanding of
the Cosmos and of Planet Earth. We had now 'moved off the Planet' and this was a big change in our
collective and individual consciousnes. It faced us with new challenges.
We first need to acknowledge and recognise the challenge and risk facing our human family & world. Will we
survive the global change – the quantum leap? Physically the quantum leap has happened. We, as a
species, have left this planet and looked back. We have left our house and walked out into the garden of
space. We are watching creation unfold as science discovers more about our cosmos. This challenges our
Theology - understanding of God. When we thought the world was a flat plate, then God was in the heavens
above and hell was below. Then we found out that our world was a globe & not the centre of our Universe.
This led to a change in our concept of God. Now we had a concept of an ever-expanding Cosmos. This too
challenges our concept of God. It requires us to re-think the nature of The Source and our relationship with
God, by whatever name we call it. Only the Mystics could survive this challenge and chart a course through
these changes. We all have the capacity to be mystics.
She suggested that the lines in Ps 8 'Who am I that you should create & care about me?' Should create
and convey awe and that this 'awe' was a mystical experience. Our theology is influenced by our
Cosmology. This affects all cultures, civilisations and all on our planet. Mystics are people who are ‘wide
awake’, discerning and willing to accept responsibility to respond to the challenge and change. Our planet is
like a small boat in the vast seas of the Cosmos. We are all in this small boat and only the Mystics can help
chart a course for the crew and passengers.
We then reflected and used the following questions to guide oursharing:-
What is it that causes me to get that sense of awe?
How wide awake, discerning and responsive am I to the challenges that face our human family ?
Where do or could I feel uncomfortable in all this?
P.S.
Our understanding of who or what ‘God’ by whatever name we call it; is extremely important in our efforts to
make sense of ourselves, our environment, creation and the cosmos. This then effects how we relate to
ourselves, others and our environment.