Mystic vs Scientist

The difference between a scientist and a mystic is that the former analyzes the things he is interested in, studying them by different methods in order to ascertain as much information about them as he can, the ways in which they can be of any benefit, their uses, and their nature, whereas the mystic, though in a way doing the same, first aims at lighting that light within himself by which he can see in this world of darkness and illusion, instead of using some technical instrument or special scientific process. As it is said, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven’, so his first task is to light the candle within.

It is with this light that the mystic gains the knowledge within himself. As soon as he has gained possession of this candle every-thing discloses its secret, and he gains a wisdom greater than that possessed by any scientist. One may think that a mystic cannot find out all that the scientist knows. True, but though the details discovered by the scientist may appear different, yet the mystic perceives the same truths, which the scientist is seeking. He does not use the same words or terms; he does not know about all the processes that the scientist does, and yet he finds the outlines of the whole of what the scientist gets to know by his laborious methods.

The mystic can analyze the whole world very easily and understand it through the vehicle of one individual body. It is true that he cannot realize everything at once, but when he sets about knowing some particular thing he will do so much sooner than anyone else can, because he has the light within him.

His method is meditative. The object of meditation is to raise the soul above the body and the mind. It is like opening oneself; opening the vehicles, the senses, and the various unseen faculties of the mind, the abstract faculties, which are beyond the perceptive faculties. These vehicles are open by way of meditation, and the soul now works through all parts, seen and unseen, instead of only blindly through one part of the being as hitherto. The mind becomes the mind of another person; the thought becomes the thought of someone else. After this the mystic begins to work through objects and not merely through the people around him, and from this time on the objects work, as he desires them to work.

The mystics experiences and also his dreams are now more than mere phenomena; and so when a thought comes to him it grows into something greater than mere imagination, and it becomes a force acting through his mind to achieve an effect, be it constructive or destructive. Whatever arises in his mind becomes a reality, and the further he develops the more real does his kingdom become.