Patricia Hofer

“Mysticism keeps men sane” GK Chesterton

“Mysticism keeps men 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 to-day) free also 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 light is stereoscopic, like his physical sight: he sees two different pictures at once and yet sees all the better for that. … The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand.” (GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy 16-17)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *