Modern Day Mystics: Hearing the Call of the Divine
The Sacred Path in a Distracted World
by Paul Robear
What does it mean to be a mystic in our modern world? It’s not about renunciation, or retreating to a mountaintop. Today, the modern-day mystic is engaged in the world around them, may be found standing in a grocery line, working in an office—living an ordinary life, yet connected deeply to something extraordinary. The call of the Divine is all around us; it’s just that we’ve forgotten how to hear it. But maybe you are been hearing the call within and are ready to own your role as a modern mystic?
For many of us, the call comes not in explosive awakenings but in quieter moments—a dream we can’t shake, a stillness that feels familiar, a meditative experience that lingers. We may sense it as a deep knowing, or a moment of synchronicity, or a need to connect with something larger than ourselves. It’s a calling that asks us to remember who we are beneath the noise and distractions, to reorient our lives around presence, connection, and meaning.
But let’s be honest—this isn’t always easy. More than ever, the modern world challenges that call. The pace is relentless, the noise unceasing. We’re flooded with information but starved for wisdom. It can feel like there’s no space left for stillness, no time to listen deeply. I know this struggle personally. There have been times when I felt adrift, swept up in what I call the “weapons of mass distractions,” —the constant push to do, strive, and keep up. But what always brings me back is the quiet, steady voice within. Taking time to reconnect with the voice that reminds me that there is another way of move through life—one that honors the soul, not just the schedule.
The mystic path offers just that: a way of living that goes beneath the surface, attuning us to the sacred woven through the everyday. The rewards are profound—a sense of alignment, a renewed sense of purpose, and an intimate relationship with mystery. This is what Dr. Felicitas Goodman spoke of as connecting to the full spectrum of the human experience.
And this call has ancient roots. Across cultures and time, mystics have served as guides to our inner worlds—leading us toward altered states, ecstatic connection, and direct experience of the sacred. Long before the advent of psychology or neuroscience, they understood the language of the soul. They were bridge-walkers, living between the seen and unseen. Through dreams, visions, song, stillness, and ceremony, they accessed expanded states of consciousness that brought healing, insight, and a renewed sense of belonging to the cosmos. Their rituals, postures, and chants weren’t just symbolic—they were technologies of transformation.
This lineage of embodied mysticism is still alive—and this is exactly the work we continue at the Cuyamungue Institute. Through Ritual Posture practice and embodied trance, we offer a doorway back into that deep listening. Rooted in ancestral wisdom, this method invites each of us to become mystics in our own right. Not by withdrawing from the world, but by engaging with it more fully—more consciously.
We’ve seen it again and again: those who step into this practice are changed. We uncover a deeper well of inner knowing. We awaken long-forgotten parts of themselves. And with the integration of these experiences we begin to live in a new rhythm—one that honors embodiment, mystery, and the inter-connectedness of all things.
Let’s reclaim the sacred language of trance, ritual, and the body. The mystic path is alive and well. And it’s calling.