The Ordinary Man
"Mysticism keeps man sane."
In Jungian psychology, synchronicity occurs when seemingly disconnected events are linked together by meaningful coincidences. Jung believed that these coincidences were not merely random events, but were instead indicative of a deeper underlying connection or meaning. He proposed that these experiences were a sign of the interconnectedness of all things. Today, I experienced a synchronicity of my own when reading G.K Chesteron’s ‘Orthodoxy’. Recently, I have been intrigued with a similar idea, the idea of free will, specifically when it comes to our relation with God. Does God control everything, or are we in full control, or it somewhere in between? Chesterton, in the passage below, helped me greatly me with this question.
Below is an excerpt from ‘Orthodoxy’ by G.K. Chesterton
This chapter is purely practical and is concerned with what actually is the chief mark and element of insanity; we many say in summary that it is reason used without root, reason in the void. The man who begins to think without the proper first principles goes mad; he begins to think at the wrong end. And for the rest of these pages we have to try and discover what is the right end. But we may ask in conclusion, if this be what drives men mad, what is it that keeps them sane? By the end of the book I hope to give a definite, some will think a far too definite, answer. But for the moment it is possible in the same solely practical manner to give a general answer touching what in actual human history keeps man sane.
Mysticism keeps man sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity. The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. He has permitted the twilight. He has always had one foot in earth and the other in fairyland. He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but (unlike the agnostic of today) free also to to believe in them. He has always cared more for truth than for consistency. If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them. His spiritual sight is stereoscopic, like his physical sight: he sees two different pictures at once and yet sees all the better for that. Thus he always believed that there was such a thing as fate, but such a thing as free will also. Thus he believed that children were indeed the kingdom of heaven, but nevertheless ought to be obedient to the kingdom of the earth. He admired youth because it was young and age because it was not. It is exactly this balance of apparent contradictions that has been the whole buoyancy of the healthy man.
The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand. The morbid logician seeks to make everything lucid, and succeeds in making everything mysterious. The mystic allows one thing to be mysterious, and everything else becomes lucid. The determinist makes the theory of caution quite clear, and then finds that he cannot say “if you please” to the housemaid. The Christian permits free will to remain a sacred mystery; but because of this his relations with the housemaid become of a sparkling and crystal clearness. He puts the seed of dogma in a central darkness; but it branches forth in all directions with abounding natural health.
As we have taken the circle as the symbol of reason and madness, we may very well take the cross as the symbol at once of mystery and of health. Buddhism is centripetal, but Christianity is centrifugal: it breaks out. For the circle is perfect and infinite in its nature; but it is fixed for ever in its size; it can never be larger or smaller. But the cross thought it has at its heart a collision and a contradiction, can extend its four arms for ever without altering its shape. Because it has a paradox in its centre it can grow without changing. The circle returns upon itself and is bound. The cross opens it arms to the four winds; it is a signpost for free travelers.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
~ Matthew 7:7