4 Signs of Being a Mysfit Mystic

Mystics aren’t defined simply by whether they have great psychic powers or have developed skills in the mystical arts – although these can develop, but rather by the path they courageously choose to walk in this life, which is rarely spoken about in this modern age. This perspective only came to me recently and that’s because I finally saw my own path more clearly when I took a big view of all of the ‘pieces’ and everything fell together as I saw the ‘mystic’ pattern.   

A mystic can be defined as “a person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute, or who believes in the spiritual apprehension of truths that are beyond the intellect” (from an online dictionary).

Maybe this sounds quite deep at first … so another way to state this would be “you want to know the truth of this reality, including who you really are."

When I say ‘the truth of this reality’ this doesn’t mean you want to know the political or social truth, but rather the truth of this being that calls itself human and lives in this 3-D reality, yet also feels a strong affinity to a greater life force that some call Christ or Buddha Consciousness or simply the Divine or Source.

You may have experienced an ‘awakening’ that shook your view of reality and this initiated your pathway as a spiritual seeker.  Or it may have begun at an early age, like it did for me, by a strong and deep interest in spiritual topics after having a challenging childhood.

Mystics aren’t always aware that they are one and so by reading about these four key signs, you may begin to feel that this describes you also!

Sign #1 – You feel more at home in nature, as the human world seems confusing and strange.

The mysfit mystic often tells themselves the story that ‘the world is crazy’, although at times, they feel like the crazy one because everyone else seems to fit in with the ‘overculture’ (definition by Clarissa Pinkola Estes: “values uniformity”). 

You may ask “why do I feel so different to my family and my culture?”  And in asking this question, you don’t want to simply exist as an oddity, but rather you’re truly yearning to understand why the overculture feels so strange — and to do so without staying in the ‘dualistic’ nature of us vs them. 

The natural world may act as a refuge, as it certainly was, and continues to be, the place that I feel most at home.  You may feel more comfortable with animals and other forms of life than you do with many humans.  For myself, I became a wildlife biologist for the first 20 years of my life so I could spend more time outside communing with nature.  Now, I simply enjoy the depth of my being by walking in —or sitting quietly within — the pine forest on our property in the mountains of Colorado.

Sign #2 – You are attuned to your emotions, sensitive to energy and enjoy your own company.

Your feeling nature — which include your emotions and how your total being engages with the world — may be quite strong.  At times, it may feel that you’re picking up other people’s energy, and even beyond your immediate environment, which can both be interesting and overwhelming.  You may notice that a person’s energy is telling you something different than what they are saying.  Over time, if you are engaging with your intuitive nature, you’ll begin to also notice how you feel in different environments, and whether you choose to continue to be with certain people and to participate in certain events which may not align with your energy and values.

You don’t need to be a hermit to be a mystic, but you do deeply enjoy your own company.  And when you’re alone, you might simply like to ‘be’ rather than stay constantly busy.   In fact, you often feel that your most profound insights come when you’re alone, whether you’re walking in nature, meditating at home, or simply letting yourself enjoy a simple pleasure like gardening. 

Although you engage with worldly activities such as work and family, you often need to carve out time for yourself, so you’re able to stay in tune with your feeling nature.  Personally, I started going on personal meditation retreats for up to 10 days at a time every year so that I can maintain a balanced sense of myself.   For me this isn’t a luxury but a necessity!

Sign #3 – You’ve been searching for your ‘tribe’ for many years.

All mystics are actually ‘mysfits’ as they often don’t seem to fit easily into the norms of society and therefore they keep searching for a tribe that feels aligned with their values and their desire to know what this reality is at its core. You might be seeking this tribe for much of your life and sometimes even settle into a group – social, religious, or career – that feels like a badly fitted jacket, at times too warm and also too cold, but it can sometimes be better than feeling alone.  Your closest friends are likely mysfit mystics also, once you see how you connect together at a deeper level.

The tricky aspect of this searching for your tribe is that your yearning to find a tribe can also make you vulnerable to people who may appear ‘spiritual’ and yet may not have the best intentions for your well-being.  And if you’re an empath —which you likely are as per Sign #2 — then you also may see the good in others, and not always sense their deeper motivations (which may not even be obvious to them). 

Learning to navigate the spiritual seeker’s landscape is one of the challenging aspects of the mystic pathway.  That is, as you seek truth, you’ll be brought into contact with many who seem to have a similar interest, and yet they may have their own issues and blind spots that can interact with yours to create confusion as to what actually constitutes ‘truth.’

Therefore, as a mystic you may eventually discover that your tribe is very ‘loose’ and may be only one or two people who have a similar and strong desire to know truth in the way that you do. 

Sign #3 - You yearn to understand the ‘truth’ of the soul and what lies beneath this 3-D reality.

This may be the most telling sign, as desiring to know truth is a deep yearning.  This may be labelled as a ‘need for belonging’, but not of the usual social type, but rather of a deeper connection to the truth, and to the pulsing life of a reality that exists under the surface of what we believe is our normal life. The mysfit mystic could be confused with a ‘spiritual seeker’ as their paths are similar for a short time while they begin the search for understanding this reality and looking for answers to their deep questions. 

This seeking will often bring you into spiritual groups and/or religious organizations. You may meet a spiritual teacher or guru who cracks you open to a new way of being, and this can be both a beautiful and a dangerous opportunity.  The beauty is found in opening to a new awareness of reality which a true teacher can help you experience, and the danger is that you may become lost in the guru, believing that their truth is your truth.

At some point, there comes a choice where you see that your truth may not fit with the spiritual group or leader’s view.  A mysfit mystic will choose to abandon the ‘tribe’ or be ousted rather than submit to a leader that doesn’t align with their values of respect, humility and openness and the truth they feel comes from their soul or inner guidance.  This can be painful at times, as you feel that you’re being truthful and real with people, but they actually don’t want that – they prefer that you simply go along with the tribe’s paradigm. 

Conclusion – Why Recognize that You’re Potentially a Mysfit Mystic?

When I finally saw how my life’s pattern fit that of a mystic, everything began to make sense in a way that helped me feel more comfortable about all of the differences I couldn’t explain about myself.   It’s not that you need to take on an identity of a mystic, but simply that seeing how your own life pattern may be similar to one, can perhaps give you a sense of empowerment and strength that comes from within your own inner Divine self. 

Also, it may support you to continue your journey, which at times can feel lonely and definitely not common.  Finally, you may want to discover how you can use your innate powers of intuition, empathy, spiritual attunement and deep feeling to be foremost in your life, rather than taking a backseat to the busyness of the intellect. 

For myself, I’d struggled with an identity of being ‘smart’ as I was given that label at a young age.  Therefore, my feeling nature took a backseat for many years, which eventually caused me to have a breakdown, which lead to a breakthrough.  So in writing this, I hope to encourage you to give yourself permission to be authentically you, whether you identify as a mystic or simply a spiritually-motivated person.  Keep going and allow yourself to know you’re on the path of wisdom, and this is a beautiful way to be.