In Mystic Activism, I am describing conscious and deliberate practices through which people strengthen their relationship with God and deepen their awareness of God’s leading and participation in their lives. Depending on the theological tradition one comes from, this process may be called spiritual formation, spiritual growth, discipleship, or sanctification. Traditionally, the deepening and developing of one’s spirituality is conceived as an inward-focused process whereby individuals seek to discover and strengthen their sense of God’s leading and presence in their personal lives. The practices for the inward journey consist of things such as Contemplation, Meditation, Prayer, Fasting, and study of the Bible and other sacred texts. According to Richard Foster, author of The Celebration of Discipline these practices help one “move beyond the surface to living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm.”[1] In that spiritual realm, we are able to experience the presence, blessing, and guidance of God.
The inward journey provides more than a beautiful and holy encounter with God. According to Quaker mystic Rufus Jones, a genuine inward encounter with God “always leads to good works in the world … Mystical union with the incarnate God, far from separating us from daily life, situates us squarely in the world.”[2] The inward practices empower and sustain us in our work for social change, and our work for social change informs the content and context of our prayer, contemplation, worship, and other spiritual practices. Rather than being opposites, the inner and outer world inform and feed each other. The inner and outer journeys are not simply about knowing more but also about nurturing our experience of the Divine and strengthening our efforts for social change.
When I speak of our experience of the Divine, I am referring to what is called mysticism. According to Jones, mysticism is “the type of religion that puts the emphasis on immediate awareness of relation with God, on direct and intimate consciousness of the Divine presence.”[3] Mysticism is not knowing more about God but about knowing God more. It is not treating God as an object of speculation but instead having a relationship with God that goes beyond rationality to what has been called “the Beyond within.” This inner experience of God has the power to move and sustain us to work for social change.
The social change at the center of this book is overcoming and deconstructing racial injustice and white supremacy. I am calling for those of us who claim to follow the example and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth to engage in spiritual practices to inform and strengthen our active commitment to racial justice; I am calling for us to become mystic activists for racial justice. While this book is written a Christian perspective, many other religious traditions include spiritual practices similar to those discussed here. Mysticism, too, is part of several traditions. Whatever our spiritual heritage, we have much to learn from and share with one another.
My underlying assumption throughout this book is that our battle to overcome and deconstruct white supremacy requires we research, devise strategies, and prepare ourselves mentally, emotionally, and physically to take action and to draw on the spiritual resources God provides through the Spirit and the example of Jesus. In this final chapter, I want to draw on the insights of Howard Thurman as it relates to what he calls “religious experience” and its role in moving us to social action.
Thurman’s Growth into Mysticism
Howard Thurman was born in 1900 and grew up in the segregated city of Daytona Beach, Florida. He stayed in that city with his mother and grandmother until the lack of a high school for Black students in Daytona forced him to attend school in Jacksonville, Florida, one of only three high schools for African Americans in the state. His world was shaped by segregation, so much so that he wrote that when he had gone away to seminary in Rochester, New York, he realized up to that point of his life, he had never considered white people to be a significant part of his world, because he had so little interaction with them due to segregation.
As a young person, he described himself as one who …
[EXT] “found more companionship in nature than I did among people. The woods befriended me …. The quiet, even danger, of the woods provided my rather lonely spirit with a sense of belonging that did not depend on human relationships. I was usually with a group of boys as we explored the woods, but I tended to wander off to be alone for a time, for in that way I could sense the strength of the quiet and the aliveness of the woods.”[4] [/EXT]
In his autobiography, Thurman speaks about other experiences in nature that befriended him and foreshadowed his development as a spirit-led person who found solace and strength in alone times.
After high school, Thurman attended Morehouse College and then Rochester (NY) Divinity School, where he was the only Black student in his class. His experience in seminary heightened his love of learning. Following seminary, he served as pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Oberlin, Ohio, a congregation that included both Black and White members. Though the congregation was racially mixed, he noted that no white person ever formally joined the church as a member during his tenure. [5] After three years, he resigned to study for several months with Rufus Jones, a professor of spirituality at Haverford College outside of Philadelphia.
Jones was a Quaker mystic who emphasized the idea that religion is something to be experienced, rather than intellectualized. He defined mysticism as “the type of religion that puts the emphasis on immediate awareness of relation with God, on direct and intimate consciousness of the Divine presence.”[6] Jones was also deeply committed to social justice and believed that a commitment to a personal religious experience carried with it a connection to the divine power that was able to address real issues affecting people of all races and stations of life. Jones modelled for Thurman the belief that all material issues—such as politics, poverty, war, and civil rights—were grounded in spirituality. “More specifically, he helped Thurman see how spiritual power could address the conditions that oppressed him as a black man.”[7] He helped Thurman see that “the race question … could be forcefully addressed through a ministry to the spirit. Or, more specifically, the race question could be understood as a spiritual question.”[8]
Thurman’s introspective nature, his growing understanding of religious experience, and its linkage to racial issues became a subject of ongoing research and work. In his subsequent positions as Director of Religious Life at Morehouse and Spellman Colleges, chaplain at Howard University, copastor of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, and chaplain at Boston University, he taught and modelled the connection between personal religious experience and a commitment to social justice.
Footnotes
[1] Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 1.
[2] Walters, Rufus Jones: Essential Writings, 33.
[3] Quoted in Smith, Jr. Howard Thurman, 34.
[4] Thurman, With Head and Heart, 7.
[5] Smith, Jr., Howard Thurman.
[6] Smith, Jr., Howard Thurman, 34.
[7] Smith, Jr., Howard Thurman, 35.
[8] Smith, Jr., Howard Thurman, 37.