Mysticism, writes Evelyn Underhill, the great Mystic Philosopher, is a kind of religion, some call it a disease; it means having visions, performing conjuring tricks of the mind, leading a dreamy and sometimes selfish life, wallowing in vague spiritual emotions, and being in tune at times with the infinite.

Walt Whitman was a mystic, and his poetry reflects that. I first heard of it when I read about him. Mystics rarely work with other mystics; they tend to mull things alone. Most mystics are strange.

A common view of mysticism is that God is real but incomprehensible to human beings.

Mysticism is the art of union with reality, not other people’s, but your own. Every mystic is different; there is no universal bond or dogma. The mystic is a person who has attained this connection to reality. The mystic follows thought quickly upon contact. It’s more important to cook the hare than to hatch it. But there is no one explanation for mysticism – everyone has their own definitions. Whitman’s poems are the closest I’ve come to explaining it.

I was also deeply affected by the writing of the mystics in the now-famous Hebrew Kabbalah, scribbled in ancient cames and forgotten for centuries. The Kabbalah is the esoteric school of Jewish mysticism. Mysticism is also tied to the Christian faith and some elements of Buddhism.

It has no churches or gathering places that I know of. We are on our one, just the way I like it.

I think there is something important there for me. This is an eye that has seen quite a bit.

I have a true mystical Eye now, it fell from the Apple tree behind the house. My friend Dan was sawing up the fallen limbs and called me over, saying he thought I would like this one and wanted it in the house.

He was right.

I felt something coming from it – Dan called it “The Eye,” and it’s outside on the porch waiting to dry out of moisture and ants. I looked at the eye, and it looked back at me. I have the feeling that only a mystic could understand this, perhaps in terms only mystics can understand. But I will try to explain this to readers in comprehensible ways. The practical person may not be interested.

I went to see the eye this morning. She/he/it is almost ready to come to my office, and we can look at one another. I’ll let you know what happens when the eye can see me, and I can see it close by.