My name is Wayne McDaniel. The idea for Experiencing the Light is rather recent. I was contemplating how to bring all the elements and activities of my life mission together and this is the result.
I have had an interest in God for as long as I can remember. I attended a Presbyterian Church growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis. One key moment in my spiritual life happened at a church camp following sixth grade, when surrounding a campfire, I threw a stick in the fire, dedicating my life to following God.
A few years later, in High School, I met a Catholic on fire for God. At the time, I did not even know Catholics could be Christian! But Joe drew me in. I attended prayer meetings and was eventually “baptized in the Spirit” and felt an overwhelming sense of the love of God. I went on to go to Oral Roberts University where I met Jude. We got married, moved to Lawrence Kansas, started a family and became involved and a leader in our church. After a while, my neat, tidy theology began to crack, which eventually led to an unraveling of everything and a “dark night of the soul.”
Yet, the deconstruction of my rigid beliefs, the breaking open of my religious shell, also allowed the Light to enter and opened my eyes to a more expansive view of the Divine, Creation and Humanity. More importantly, I feel as though my heart has awakened to the constant presence of the Light.
I still consider myself a Christian within the rich mystical tradition. I love Jesus and seek to follow his gospel of the Kingdom of God. My mission is to help individuals deepen their connection to the Light, finding the Divine within and around them, and living with more AWE – Awareness, Wonder, and Enjoyment.
What is Christian Mysticism?
Christian Mysticism: Awakening to the Divine Light Within Christian mysticism is an ancient spiritual tradition within Christianity that emphasizes direct, personal experience of God. Rather than centering on doctrine or outward rituals, mystics seek inner transformation through contemplation, silence, and union with the Divine.It embraces mystery over certainty, trusting that the deepest truths cannot be grasped by reason alone. Augustine observed, “If you understand Him, it would not be God.” Mysticism looks beyond the literal words of scripture to the deeper, often allegorical meaning.
At the heart of Christian mysticism is a vision of God not as a distant judge or separate from creation, but as the indwelling source of life, love, and being itself. As St. Paul wrote, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). God is not merely “out there” but also “in here”—closer than our own breath. Mystics such as Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Ávila, and John of the Cross speak of God as infinite, ineffable, and intimately present in all things.
Jesus, for the mystic, is not only the Savior but the revealer of our true identity as children of God. He is the embodiment of divine union—fully human and fully divine—and his mission was to proclaim the Kingdom of God (Luke 4:43). Christian mystics often interpret the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as a pattern of transformation that each person is invited to follow: dying to the false self and rising into the fullness of divine life.
The Kingdom of God, in this mystical lens, is not merely a future reward but a present reality—”within you,” as Jesus said (Luke 17:21). It is the reign of divine love, peace, and justice that begins in the heart and radiates outward into the world.Augustine wrote, “Do not go outward; return within yourself. In the inward man dwells truth.” Mystics experience the Kingdom as an inner awakening, a new way of seeing, where everything is perceived as sacred, interconnected and held in Christ.
Christian mysticism tends to be inclusive, recognizing all people as the family of God, regardless of creed. The human condition is understood as one of lostness rather than depravity. We are not sinners in the hands of an angry God, but beloved children who have lost awareness of our divine origin and true identity. The mystical path is thus one of returning to Eden—of waking up to the Light within and allowing that Light to heal, transform, and guide our lives.