Mysticism

Definition: Mysticism

Mysticism

Noun

1. A religion based on mystical communion with an ultimate reality.

2. Obscure or irrational thought.

Date "mysticism" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1781. (references)

Etymology: Mysticism \Mys"ti*cism\, noun. [Compare to the French expression mysticisme.]. (Websters 1913)

Specialty Definition: Mysticism

Domain	Definition
Health	A philosophy based upon spiritual intuition that is believed to transcend ordinary sensory experiences or understanding. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Mysticism

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Mysticism is the supposed experience or exploration of a transcendental realm beyond our Universe. In theistic, pantheistic, and panentheistic metaphysical systems this is understood as direct relation with God/Goddess. Mysticism is also defined as a process whereby the mystic plumbs the depths of the self and reality in a radical process of meditative self-discovery to discover the true nature of reality experientially. The sayings of mystics of different traditions show that they have known very similar experiences. Therefore it is argued that the true unity of religion can be found in mystical experience. Another term for this view is Perennial Philosophy.

Elements of mysticism are present in many religions and philosophies. Some mystics claim that there is a common thread of influence in all mystic philosophies that is traceable back to a shared source. The Vedic tradition is inherently mystic. Many mystical philosophies thus exhibit a strong tendency towards syncretism.

Examples of major traditions and philosophies with strong elements of mysticism are Vedantic Hinduism, Tibetan and Zen Buddhism, the Christian Gnostic sect(s), the Eastern Orthodox hesychasm, the Sufi school of Islam, the Judaic Kabbalah and many aspects of the New Age movement. Quakerism also has a strong mystical element to its theology.

The 19th Century saw an increase of interest in Mysticism linked to an interest in Occultism and Eastern Thought. Major figures in this movement were Madame Blavatsky and Gurdjieff. See Theosophy for more information on this movement which had a later influence on the New Age.

Some examples of Hindu mystics:

Andal

Shankara

Lalleshvari

Mirabai

Sri Ramakrishna

Ramana Maharshi

Gopi Krishna

Some Christian mystics are:

St. John the Apostle

Clement of Alexandria,

St. Augustine of Hippo

St. Gregory I

St. Anselm

St. Hildegard of Bingen

Hugh of Saint Victor

St. John of the Cross

St. Teresa of Avila

St. Bridget of Sweden

St. Gregory Palamas

Meister Eckhart

Margery Kempe

Julian of Norwich

Sir Thomas Browne

Mechtild of Magdeburg

William Blake

Thomas Merton

Sarah Wight

Examples of Muslim mystics (also called sufi) are

al-Ghazali, (d. 1111)

al Hallaj (d. 922)

Jalal ad-Din Rumi,

Hafiz,

Sadi

Yunus Emre

Examples of Jewish mystics

Shimon bar Yochai (c.200 AD )

Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia (1240-1291)

Moses ben Shem Tob de Leon (1250-1305)

Isaac Luria (1534-1572)

Moses Chaim Luzzato (1707-1746)

Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810)

Abraham Isaac Kook (1864-1935)

Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)

Other mystics:

Rufus Jones (Quakerism)

Sage Starwalker (Goddess Mystic)

Synonym: Mysticism

Synonym: religious mysticism (n). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Mysticism

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Sorcery	Noun: sorcery; occult art, occult sciences; magic, the black art, necromancy, theurgy, thaumaturgy; demonology, demonomy, demonship; diablerie, bedevilment; witchcraft, witchery; glamor; fetishism, fetichism, feticism; ghost dance, hoodoo; obi, obiism; voodoo, voodooism; Shamanism, vampirism; conjuration; bewitchery, exorcism, enchantment, mysticism, second sight, mesmerism, animal magnetism; od force, odylic force; electrobiology, clairvoyance; spiritualism, spirit rapping, table turning.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Mysticism

English words defined with "mysticism": alien ♦ foreign ♦ Labadist ♦ mystic, mystical ♦ Neoplatonism ♦ quietism ♦ Sufism ♦ turn, turn to. (references)

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Modern Usage: Mysticism

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	The line between science and mysticism is just a line. (Journey Through the Black Sun; writing credit: Gerry Anderson; Sylvia Anderson)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Mysticism

Domain	Title
Books	Mysticism and the New Physics (reference) The Mysticism of Sound and Music (Shambhala Dragon Editions) (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	The Mystic's Journey: Islamic Mysticism - The Sufi Way (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Diabolical Full Moon Mysticism (reference) Love Madness & Mysticism (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Mysticism

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Familiar Quotations: Mysticism

Author	Quotation
Joel Barlow	Banish the mysticism of inequality and you banish almost all of the evils attendant on human nature.
Théophile Gautier	Virginity, mysticism, melancholy! Three unknown words, three new maladies brought by Christ.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Use in Literature: Mysticism

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	All the problems which the socialists propounded, aside from the cosmogonic visions, dreams, and mysticism, may be reduced to two principal problems.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Mysticism

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Thousands of years ago, ancient peoples attributed pain to spirits and treated it with mysticism and incantations. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Mysticism

"Mysticism" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.42% of the time. "Mysticism" is used about 171 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	99.42%	170	23,898
Noun (proper)	0.58%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	171	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expression: Mysticism

Expression using "mysticism": religious mysticism. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Mysticism

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
mysticism	223	eastern mysticism	3
christian mysticism	37	age angel mysticism new portal	3
jewish mysticism	29	anatomy mysticism occult	3
mysticism portal	9	book cds mysticism online spirituality	3
catholic mysticism	7	cd ebook mysticism spirituality	2
chinese mysticism	6	kabbalah and jewish mysticism	2
a book of christian mysticism	6	jewish mysticism zohar	2
mysticism portal spirituality	6	mysticism sage	2
islamic mysticism	6	kabbalah mysticism	2
mysticism pdf	4	buddhist mysticism	2
chinese in mysticism numbers	4	alchemy mysticism	2
mysticism book	4	hawaiian huna mysticism spirituality	2
mysticism spirituality	3	in mysticism numbers	2
christian meditation mysticism	3	mysticism number religion	2
ancient mysticism	3	embark mysticism	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Mysticism

Language		Translations for "mysticism"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		misticizëm. (various references)

Arabic		‏تصوف (quietism, sufism), ‏صوفية تصوفة, ‏الباطنية. (various references)

Bulgarian		мистицизъм, мистика (mystique). (various references)

Chinese		玄妙. (various references)

Czech		mysticismus (mystique). (various references)

Dutch		mysticisme. (various references)

Esperanto		mistikismo. (various references)

Finnish		mystiikka. (various references)

French		mysticisme (mystique). (various references)

German		mystik. (various references)

Greek		μυστικισμόσ (occultism, occultness), μυστικοπάθεια. (various references)

Hebrew		תורת �"� סתר (occultism). (various references)

Hungarian		misztika (mystique), miszticizmus. (various references)

Indonesian		kebatinan (spirit). (various references)

Italian		misticismo, mistica (mystical theology, mystique). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		神秘主義 , ミシン糸 (automatic transmission, beauty contest to name Miss Xxxxx, crop circle, mediocracy, medium, medium rare, medium size, Mick, middy, middy look, midget, midget house, midi, midi communication, midnight, midnight blue, midnight show, MIPS, MIS, miscasting, miserable, misery index, misfortune, misjudgement, mislead, mis-match, misprint, miss, mission, mission school, Missouri, mist, mistake, mister, mistral, misty, misunderstanding, mitochondria, mitt, Mitterrand, mix, mixed doubles, mixed juice, mixed media, Mr, Mrs, Ms., mysterious, mystery, mystery circle, mystification, myth, sewing cotton, transvestite). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ミスティシズ� , し�"ぴしゅぎ. (various references)

Pig Latin		ysticismmay

Portuguese		misticismo. (various references)

Romanian		misticism. (various references)

Russian		мистицизм, мистика. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		misticizam. (various references)

Spanish		misticismo. (various references)

Swedish		mystik (inscrutability, mystery, mystique). (various references)

Thai		การมีเวทย์มนต์ (mysticalness). (various references)

Turkish		mistisizm, tasavvuf, gizemcilik. (various references)

Ukrainian		містицизм, містика (cabbala). (various references)

Vietnamese		chủ nghĩa thần bí, đạo thần bí thuyết thần bí. (various references)

Welsh		cyfriniaeth (mystery). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Mysticism

Derivations
	Words beginning with "mysticism": mysticisms. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Mysticism" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: misticism, mosaicism, Mysticeta, Mysticeti, Mystici, mysticisme, mysticist, mysticsm, mysticus. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Mysticism"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "mysticism" (pronounced mi"stusi'zum)
8	-s t u s i' z u m	gnosticism, monasticism.
7	-t u s i' z u m	criticism, eroticism, fanaticism, romanticism, skepticism.
6	-u s i' z u m	classicism, cynicism, empiricism, lyricism, narcissism, ostracism, stoicism.
5	-s i' z u m	racism, sexism.
4	-i' z u m	abolitionism, absenteeism, absolutism, activism, adventurism, agrarianism, alcoholism, altruism, amateurism, anachronism, aneurism, animism, antagonism, aphorism, astigmatism, atavism, atheism, authoritarianism, autism, baptism, barbarism, bilingualism, bolshevism, boosterism, botulism, cannibalism, capitalism, catechism, centralism, chauvinism, collectivism, colonialism, commercialism, communism, conservatism, consumerism, corporatism, counterterrorism, creationism, cronyism, cubism, dandyism, defeatism, deism, despotism, determinism, diamagnetism, diastrophism, dimorphism, dogmatism, Druidism, dualism, dwarfism, dynamism, egalitarianism, egoism, egotism, electromagnetism, elitism, embolism, emotionalism, entrepreneurialism, environmentalism, ergotism, escapism, ethnocentrism, euphemism, evangelism, expansionism, expressionism, extremism, factionalism, fascism, fatalism, favoritism, federalism, feminism, ferromagnetism, fetishism, feudalism, formalism, fundamentalism, futurism, geotropism, gradualism, hedonism, helotism, heroism, hooliganism, humanism, hypnotism, idealism, illusionism, imperialism, impressionism, incrementalism, individualism, intellectualism, internationalism, interventionism, Irredentism, isolationism, isomorphism, jingoism, journalism, leftism, legalism, lesbianism, liberalism, magnetism, mannerism, masochism, materialism, mechanism, mercantilism, mesmerism, metabolism, methodism, microorganism, militarism, minimalism, modernism, monetarism, monism, monotheism, moralism, multiculturalism, multilateralism, mutualism, nationalism, nativism, naturalism, negativism, nepotism, neutralism, nihilism, obstructionism, opportunism, optimism, organism, overoptimism, pacifism, paganism, parallelism, parkinsonism, parochialism, pastoralism, paternalism, patriotism, perfectionism, pessimism, pharisaism, pietism, plagiarism, pluralism, polymorphism, polytheism, populism, positivism, pragmatism, professionalism, protectionism, provincialism, puritanism, racialism, radicalism, realism, recidivism, relativism, republicanism, revisionism, rheumatism, sadism, satanism, sectarianism, secularism, sensationalism, separatism, socialism, statism, supernaturalism, surrealism, symbolism, synergism, territorialism, terrorism, theism, tokenism, totalitarianism, tourism, truism, unionism, vandalism, vegetarianism, vigilantism, voluntarism, volunteerism, voyeurism.
3	-z u m	bosom, careerism, chasm, cytoplasm, enthusiasm, iconoclasm, ism, microcosm, neoplasm, orgasm, phantasm, prism, sarcasm, schism, spasm.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Mysticism

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "c-i-i-m-m-s-s-t-y"
	-2 letters: mystics.
	-3 letters: mimics, mystic.
	-4 letters: cissy, cists, cysts, mimic, missy, mists, misty, mitis, stimy.
	-5 letters: cist, city, cyst, immy, isms, miss, mist, mity, sics, sims, sits, smit, tics.
	Words containing the letters "c-i-i-m-m-s-s-t-y"
	+1 letter: mysticisms.
	+3 letters: dissymmetric, semimystical.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.