Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Belief in direct experience of transcendent reality or God, especially by means of contemplation and asceticism instead of rational thought.
  • noun Such experience had by an individual.
  • noun Belief in the existence of realities beyond perceptual or intellectual apprehension that are directly accessible by subjective experience.
  • noun Belief that is not based on evidence or subjected to criticism.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The character of being mystic or mystical; mysticalness.
  • noun Any mode of thought, or phase of intellectual or reli'gious life, in which reliance is placed upon a spiritual illumination believed to transcend the ordinary powers of the understanding.
  • noun Specifically, a form of religious belief which is founded upon spiritual experience, not discriminated or tested and systematized in thought.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Obscurity of doctrine.
  • noun (Eccl. Hist.) The doctrine of the Mystics, who professed a pure, sublime, and wholly disinterested devotion, and maintained that they had direct intercourse with the divine Spirit, and aquired a knowledge of God and of spiritual things unattainable by the natural intellect, and such as can not be analyzed or explained.
  • noun (Philos.) The doctrine that the ultimate elements or principles of knowledge or belief are gained by an act or process akin to feeling or faith.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The beliefs, ideas, or thoughts of mystics.
  • noun A doctrine of direct communication or spiritual intuition of divine truth.
  • noun A transcendental union of soul or mind with the divine reality or divinity.
  • noun Obscure thoughts and speculations.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a religion based on mystical communion with an ultimate reality
  • noun obscure or irrational thought

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

English from the early to mid 1700's, Confer French mysticisme.

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Examples

  • This mysticism is the inner thing which gives the spark of imagination.

    Inner Reality: Ary Stillman In Cuernavaca 2007

  • This mysticism is the inner thing which gives the spark of imagination.

    Inner Reality: Ary Stillman In Cuernavaca 2007

  • It's the use of what I call mysticism in his rhetoric: he's the candidate of "change".

    Hillary To NBC: Fire David Shuster 2009

  • When anyone shrouds things in mysticism and lies it is not hard to know what kind of person they are overall.

    Dr Gyi 2010

  • In contrast, true Christian mysticism is rooted in love and self giving.

    Avatar--An Addendum 2010

  • This sister of actor, Warren Beaty is an outspoken American actress and dancer known for her deft portrayal of charmingly eccentric characters and for her interest in mysticism and reincarnation.

    Five People Born on April 24 | myFiveBest 2010

  • LNN: Tell us about your interest in Eastern religion and mysticism: is it literary, Fortean, or spiritual, and do you thus align yourself less with Lovecraft's hard line mechanistic materialism and more with other more gnostically inclined Weird authors like Machen?

    LNN interviews Casey Rae-Hunter on his new album : The Lovecraft News Network 2010

  • LNN: Tell us about your interest in Eastern religion and mysticism: is it literary, Fortean, or spiritual, and do you thus align yourself less with Lovecraft's hard line mechanistic materialism and more with other more gnostically inclined Weird authors like Machen?

    Archive 2010-01-01 2010

  • Of Eckhart's two famous followers, the mystical experiences of Henry Suso (c. 1300 – 1366) are more similar to those of Dominican women and other female mystics. 23 His mysticism is marked by affective piety and images that can be found in the visions of many female mystics. 24 Of the three, his writings found the greatest circulation among Dominican women, especially excerpts from his Exemplar.

    Sensual Encounters: Monastic Women and Spirituality in Medieval Germany 2008

  • In Indonesia, where mysticism is deeply rooted in traditional culture, local governments certify those claiming to use magical charms or psychic powers for healing.

    In Russia, faith healers are tested and licensed — by the federal government 2008

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