mysticism
heightened state of awareness in which the person’s perception of reality is extended beyond its usual condition. It may be sought in acts of contemplative prayer and meditation, but is also reported as ‘entrancing’ without warning or premeditation, prompted or accompanied by verbal or visual triggers. The incidence of mystical experience is now acknowledged not to be confined to a ‘musical few’, but to be found quite widely amongst people generally, with abundant examples of ecstasy, in religious and secular, sacred and profane forms. The contrast between a ‘this-worldly’ orientation represented by prophets, and an ‘other-worldly’ orientation of mystics has some validity, but these two modes may also be combined.
See also:
prophets