Mysticism, Faith, and “Knowing” God’s Will

A reader of this blog, named Peter, asked me a couple of questions recently. He had been at church where he heard a priest speak about a controversial issue with a kind of rhetoric that implied “this is what God wants for the church.”

So Peter writes:

So I put 2 questions to him. 1. Does he know there is a God and 2. Does he also know God’s plans. If yes, then I requested his explanation of how he knows these things.

Of course I don’t expect an answer and in fact have never heard an answer to these questions from the church, other than the tired old, the Bible told me so.

So just wondering how these two questions are answered in the mystical tradition.

So, what is a mystical perspective on how we “know” God exists, and how we “know” God’s will. I put quotations marks around the word “know” both times, because the answer is anything but straightforward!

Of course I cannot speak for all mystics, and even my knowledge of the tradition is very limited — I have only read a portion of the many great (and lesser known) writings of the mystics; I’ve only read mystical writings in English, so most of what I read has been translated, and as someone who is not in possession of an advanced degree in theology or philosophy or church history, naturally I only have a layperson’s knowledge of all these things. Hopefully I am an informed layperson — but a layperson nonetheless.