do not follow a mystic

Do not follow a mystic, for a follower lives in belief

Instead, become a mystic yourself, for the mystic lives in direct experience, without belief

All the great religions began with a mystic, with someone having direct experience of the true nature of existence, a direct experience of god, you might say. When one has had a direct experience of anything, then belief is no longer needed. We need belief before we have had our own experience. But whilst we are living in belief, our mind becomes habituated to understanding the world in that way. It becomes addicted to beliefs; specific beliefs, and the whole pattern of being a believing mind. This can become a hindrance to one’s own direct experience. In fact, direct experience is there all the time if we drop the filters which our conditioning, our beliefs, have put on the way we see the world.

If we become a follower, no matter how enlightened the master is whom we are following, we are in danger of becoming blinded by belief, held back by it. Truth has to be our own truth, from direct experience, from personal experience. It cannot be handed down from one to another. So do not become a follower. Instead, allow your own direct experience to flower and you will become a mystic yourself. Your enlightenment will happen directly, without belief. And after enlightenment you will not need beliefs. They will have no value for you. They will drop away as the autumn leaves fall from the tree. And you will be left naked, and yet in that nakedness you will be whole, you will be noble, you will be true.