Mystical journey
Mysticism concentrates on spirituality, prayer, hidden meanings and truth. Mysticism developed in every religion to move away from the intolerance and rigid ways and to restore the true meaning and spirituality of religion. Mysticism saved the spiritual essence of religion. Spirituality is related to our inner being, our soul, the contemplation of saints and a belief in spiritual or supernatural powers of spirits and angels. To experience the spiritual with the physical world, we enter the world of metaphysics. When I (Estelle) was fifteen years old, I was interested in mysticism. When I left my home in the suburban town and visited the city, a person would sometimes come up to me and ask, "What are you? Are you a Muslim, Christian, or what?" I usually declined to give an answer and walked away. I do not want to answer this question because it is very personal, very private. My spiritual beliefs are about my inner being, my heart and soul which cannot be explained with one simple sentence or mere physical practices such as rules and rituals. I think the spirit and the soul are more important than building greed and intolerance. In Islam, the most important movement on mysticism was led by the Sufis. Sufism believes in mysticism, love, and tolerance. Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood wrote some books on religion and she mentions that Sufism saved Islam from being over influenced by many so-called Muslim kings and rulers who held power even though their human and spiritual qualities were low and they were not true followers of spiritual ways or inner qualities. The Sufis wanted to balance the inner qualities, rules and rituals.
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