mysticism
[mis-tuh-siz-uh m]
- the beliefs, ideas, or mode of thought of mystics.
- a doctrine of an immediate spiritual intuition of truths believed to transcend ordinary understanding, or of a direct, intimate union of the soul with God through contemplation or ecstasy.
- obscure thought or speculation.
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Origin of mysticism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for mysticism
Contemporary Examples
Darwin was among the many scientists that have helped society evolve out of mysticism, superstition and faith.
‘Gods of Suburbia’: Dina Goldstein’s Arresting Photo Series on Religion vs. ConsumerismDina Goldstein
November 8, 2014
Or of the Zohar, the foundational work of Jewish mysticism, which was written in Spain.
But beyond that, it also has an aura about it, a mysticism of exclusiveness, that makes it rather forbidding.
But in order to do so, Lindsay first snoops around on a mysticism and spells website.
The repressiveness of the Burmese junta is overlaid with mysticism that can often border on the bizarre.
Historical Examples
Mysticism of this sort is the very height of spiritual power.
Understanding the ScripturesFrancis McConnell
It was from this moment that I was taken with an ardent love for mysticism.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
The mysticism of the New England Calvinists sometimes bred fanaticism.
The American MindBliss Perry
It does not allude to the original from which it is taken; it is quite free from mysticism and Neo-Platonism.
TimaeusPlato
In his youth, however, the mysticism was very nave and straightforward.
mysticism
- belief in or experience of a reality surpassing normal human understanding or experience, esp a reality perceived as essential to the nature of life
- a system of contemplative prayer and spirituality aimed at achieving direct intuitive experience of the divine
- obscure or confused belief or thought
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for mysticism
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
mysticism
In religion, the attempt by an individual to achieve a personal union with God or with some other divine being or principle. Mystics generally practice daily meditation.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.