The Path to Holiness

James Finley has noted, “The mystic … is not more holy but is granted a greater realization of the infinite holiness of the simplest of things.”

The simplest of things tend to escape our notice until spilled flour sends us to the broom closet, or we feel the tickling of a ladybug on the nape of our neck, or someone points out a cloud that’s shaped like a bunny. Even then, we tend not to recognize the holiness of brooms and ladybugs and clouds. If we did, we would treat them with greater reverence and care.

Mystics understand that the path to holiness is not performing great feats of asceticism but recognizing the holiness that exists all around us. When we can do that, we will join the ranks of those who have learned to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). Then we will understand what Abraham Joshua Heschel meant when he observed, “Just to be is a blessing; just to live is holy.”