Meditations for Mediocre Mystics

The term “mediocre mystics” seems a fitting way to refer to those who yearn for the nameless but do not qualify as full blown mystics. I realize that because there is nothing middling about mystics, “mediocre mystics” may appear to be an oxymoron, but the root meaning of “mediocre” is not second-rate. From the Latin mediocris, the word means moderate or ordinary and has been used figuratively to refer to one who is halfway up a mountain. Unlike ordinary folks, sainted mystics have reached the mountaintop; they are on a first-name basis with the nameless! But just because we haven’t arrived at the heights, just because our lives unfold in the valley of ordinary, everyday life doesn’t mean that we cannot or do not experience the desire that has fueled the mystic’s climb. “All my life my heart has yearned for a thing I cannot name.” –Andre´ Breton All my life I have experienced the yearning to which French writer and poet André Breton refers. For me that yearning is composed in part of a subtle discontent, a quiet feeling that something is missing despite the fact that nothing is missing. Significant relationships, meaningful work, as well as material and monetary security have never been enough to satisfy the desire for that which I cannot name. I know I’m not alone in my discontent or my longing for the nameless, for mystics of every spiritual and religious tradition have spoken of their desire for and experience of union with a spiritual entity that is as real as it is surreal. I am not claiming that just because I share their yearning I consider myself a mystic, but neither do I believe that the term “mystic” is entirely inappropriate for those of us who might glimpse briefly what certified or canonized mystics have been blinded by.