Below is Richard Rohr's take. By his measure, which seems right on the mark to me, many of us are already in the ball park of mysticism (though perhaps not quite sure that we've been called out of the stands an onto the field)!
"Mysticism is when God’s presence becomes experiential and
undoubted for a person. You can see a kind of courage and self-confidence in
the mystics. That puts them in an extraordinary category. Most of us believe
things because our churches tell us to believe them and we don’t want to be
disobedient members of the church so we say “I believe” as we do in the creed.
"A mystic doesn’t say “I believe.” A mystic says “I know.” A
true mystic ironically speaks with an almost arrogant self-confidence and, at
the same time, with a kind of humility. When you see this combination of calm
self-confidence, certitude, and patient humility, all at the same time, you can
trust you are in the presence of a person who has had an actual “encounter”
with God or the Holy."
