One of my favorite teachings of Theologian Matthew Fox is that we are all meant to be both mystics and prophets. The mystic sees and is awakened. The prophet, on the other hand, acts… The prophet is the mystic in action.
Sometimes, in Unity and in New Thought in general, there is too much of the mystic and too little of the prophet. It takes both. We must take the inner realizations of the mystic and apply them in the world.
A child was asked, “How can we get people to get up off their couches and change the world?” and the child responded, “Put spikes in all of the couches.” A prophet puts the metaphorical spike in the couch. It is the mystic within us that sees injustice, and the prophet within that does something about it.
The prophet has the potential to transform “traditional” wisdom. There is an old belief about prophets…that they are the ones who can prophesy the future. Though some of the Old Testament prophets had the power to do that, psychic prophecy is not the main function of a prophet. Prophets “interfere” with injustice, with discrimination, with whatever is not working in the social or religious order. As prophets, we can see the future in a common-sense way. For example, if an individual or a society continues down a certain path, it is obvious what is going to happen in the future, unless there is a change. We do not have to have tremendous psychic gifts to see that today. It has been the prophet’s job to point this out to people…to rouse them from their slumber.
“How do we awaken the prophet in ourselves? And how do we awaken the masses?”
This was and continues to be a challenge when many people are asleep—in a consensus trance. We must ground ourselves in Spirit as the mystics we are, and then plant and tend the seeds of love and compassion, for they fuel our actions in the world.
May we feel and then act upon the flame of love and compassion as the prophets and mystics that we are.
Love and blessings,
Rev. Kathy