According to the social trend, i.e. that mix of music, books, podcasts, Instagram reels, TikTok videos, video clips, opinion articles, series and supplement covers, there are two things that a woman of my time should ask herself: whether she is a mystic or not and whether or not she is ashamed of having a boyfriend. My answer is yes in both cases. Yes, I want to be a mystic (and I admire everyone who is and has been) and, yes, I am ashamed of having a boyfriend (husband, in my case, which is worse). And I also add that both things are related and that they are fundamental, consciously or not, in the construction of the identity of a woman of this century.
Mysticism comes from mystery and means having a direct experience of the mystery of life, that is, unfiltered by any kind of knowledge or dogma or belief or religion. Mysticism is then that which suddenly sees something that exists and was hidden on the surface of things. And, of course, the possibility of a direct connection with the absolute is a beautiful thing, whether you are religious or not. It’s normal for it to be a trend.
Now, no matter how much we talk about mysticism, mystical experience can never become fashionable. Because mysticism maintains, by definition, an important distance from conventions and its norms (or fashions). Mysticism circulates freely and that is why it has a punk point within any organization, such as Teresa de Jesús in the Church or Rosalía in the music industry. But does God always reveal himself? I don’t believe it. For example, much of current feminism has mystical components, because it implies the revelation that there is a heteropatriarchal reality that crosses (like God) all spheres of life: the social, the emotional, the psychological; the flesh itself, desire… A transcendent reality that there are those who have seen and those who will not see it, no matter how much it is explained to them.
At this point it is important to underline that evangelization has nothing to do with mysticism. Mysticism does not try to adapt or convince. Like Rosalía’s music, it doesn’t have a formula under its arm and that’s precisely why there are so many interpretations of it. If you have seen that other relationships are not possible, that another way of producing is not possible, that another way of breeding is not possible, that another way of educating is not possible… If you saw it immediately, not if they told you about it or if you read it, that is, if it pierced your flesh blow by blow until the final revelation, you are on the side of mysticism. And if you are a woman you have many options.
And that sudden shame for some of having a boyfriend? Does it have to do with Rosalía’s voluntary celibacy? Well yes. Because it’s no longer about not getting what we want (the partner), but about knowing that if you get it it could be worse for you. It’s like you’re in a race that you don’t want to finish because you’ve stopped believing in it. So stop running. Can love come? The mystic doesn’t know it, but he wasn’t the one who was losing his ass. And from there comes the shame, not of the boyfriend in question, but of knowing that he had the wrong career. And you don’t have to be a mystic to feel that shame. We brought the music inside us and now that Rosalía has turned up the volume all we have to do is dance.
