Michael Maciel
Michael Maciel is the author of the website The Mystical Christ (mysticalchrist.org) and two books on contemporary Christian mysticism--The Five Vows and World Priest. Michael lives and writes in Redwood City, California. Contact Michael at michaelmaciel@me.com.
The Mystical Christ: The Experience of Being Alive
What is the purpose of baptism? Is it merely a ceremony, a dedication of one's soul to a particular religion or body of believers?...
The Mystical Christ: Life on the Edge
Recently, I read a review of The Infiltrator, a movie starring Bryan Cranston about Robert Mazur, an undercover FBI agent whose work led to...
The Mystical Christ: Are You Enlightened?
Enlightenment must not be "me-centered." It cannot be a commodity, as though it were the next thing to get in a long line of...
The Mystical Christ: ‘God is all-powerful’ and other Nonsensical Truisms
You've heard the complaint before: "If God is all-powerful, then why did he allow this terrible thing to happen?" It's a reasonable question, especially...
The Mystical Christ: How to Worship a Real God
We live in a great being. Should "great being" be capitalized? It should if we were to use it as God's name. But as names...
The Mystical Christ: A Lotto Prayer
"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." -- Matthew 21-22.
My friend Jeff wanted to win the lottery. It...
Beware the ‘I am God’ Trap
This warning is for all of us. It is a general principle that governs everyone who sets foot on the spiritual path. In fact,...
The Mystical Christ: The Divine Feminine — Woman clothed with the Sun
The tendency on the spiritual path is to personify divine principles, and to a certain extent that's okay. But the discipline is to never...
The Mystical Christ: Is Reincarnation a Scientific Fact?
If you identify yourself as your physical body, reincarnation can seem farfetched. But if you identify yourself as a trans-physical being, regardless of what words...
The Mystical Christ: Where is Within?
The problem with the word within is that it refers to a direction in space. Whenever we discuss spiritual realities, we leave the domain...
The Mystical Christ: Paying Attention
It has been said that spiritual truth is upside-down and backwards to what is true in the world. For instance, it's true that in...
The Mystical Christ: What Now?
It's especially important during times like these, when emotions are running high and fingers are pointing in all directions, when everyone is desperately trying...
Snow White and the Huntsman – a mystical review
Unfortunately, myth has come to mean something that it doesn't. Usually, when we say that something is a myth, we mean that it is...
Faith is a Dirty Word
You can't even bring up the word Faith without automatically putting yourself on the opposite side of the fence as logic. And the society...
The Tree of Life: A Review
Joseph Campbell once said that people aren't so much interested in the meaning of life as they are in having an experience of life....
Making Things Happen
There is this person (I'm not naming names) whom I have known for 32 years. She always gets the best parking space. It is...
Healing the Way We See
Do you have trouble visualizing pictures in your mind? When you read or someone tells you to see your body in perfect health, does...