Letters by a Modern Mystic

First published in 1937, Letters by a Modern Mystic is a compilation of excerpts from letters Christian missionary Frank C. Laubach wrote to his father. Within them, Laubach shares his findings of the greatest experiment of his life: attempting to live in moment-by-moment communication with God.

Two years prior to his transforming experiences of 1930, Laubach found himself profoundly dissatisfied in the realization that after fifteen years as a Christian minister he still was not living his days "in minute by minute effort to follow the will of God." He then began trying to "line up" his actions with the will of God every few minutes. His confidants at the time told him he was seeking the impossible. But in 1929 he began to try living all his waking moments "in conscious listening to the inner voice, asking without ceasing, 'What, Father, do you desire said? What, Father, do you desire done this minute?...’” In his view, this is exactly what Jesus did.

Laubach did not fall into the trap of merely trying to achieve his goal. Rather, he understood the necessity of learning how, of spiritual method. He was, in fact, a very subtle and realistic experimentalist, and regarded himself as fortunate to be living in a "day when psychological experimentation has given a fresh approach to our spiritual problems." Thus he experimented for a few days by taking enough time from each hour to give intensive thought to God. Again, "disgusted with the pettiness and futility of my unled self," he experimented with "feeling God in each movement by an act of will—willing that He shall direct these fingers that now strike this typewriter—willing that He shall pour through my steps as I walk." Again, he wished to "compel his mind" to "open straight out to God." But to attain this mental state often required a long time in the morning. Therefore he determined not to get out of bed "until that mind set, that concentration upon God, is settled." He found that great determination was required to keep the mind on God. But he also found it quickly getting easier, and hoped that "after a while, perhaps, it will become a habit, and the sense of effort will grow less."

In the most subtle passage in these letters—so far as the "mechanisms" of holding God before the mind are concerned—Laubach deals with the question of whether it is possible to have contact with God all the time. Can we think his thoughts all the time? Must there not be periods when other things push God out? Laubach's response to this issue should be fully quoted, for it gives us the heart of his understanding of the constant conscious hold on God. Admitting that he once thought there must be periods when God is excluded, he continues:

... But I am changing my view. We can keep two things in mind at once. Indeed we cannot keep one thing in mind more than half a second. Mind is a flowing something. It oscillates. Concentration is merely the continuous return to the same problem from a million angles. We do not think of one thing. We always think of the relationship of at least two things, and more often of three or more things simultaneously. So my problem is this: Can I bring God back in my mind flow every few seconds so that God shall always be in my mind as an after-image, shall always be one of the elements in every concept and percept?

I choose to make the rest of my life an experiment in answering this question.

The tremendous results of this experiment are found in the narrative of these letters.