the mystic

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Grigori Rasputin

An Internet dictionary defines "mysticism" as "the belief that you can understand God directly by praying and meditating, or the practice of doing this." I guess that it is on this basis that a "mystic" takes on quasi-magical trappings in the mind, an ooooeeeeeooo quality ... sort of like Rasputin without the political manipulations.

The mystic and mysticism contrasts with an orthodoxy that has a laundry list of ethical dicta that it insists upon when speaking with others.

The juxtaposition of the two is thousands of years old.

Both can get a bad name for a variety of good reasons, but when I think of a "mystic," I think of any man or woman who lies still in the soft darkness of the night ... and wonders and pines.
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