Defining Mysticism

There are two types of individual in the World. The subjectively led and the objectively aware.

The subjectively led individual follows the lead of his or her spontaneous emotional responses to internal or external stimuli. Such individuals can be said to be following the heart and not the head.

The objectively aware individual follows the lead of his or her internalized, reasoning identifications to internal or external stimuli. Such individuals can be said to be following the head and not the heart.

The mystically minded individual is prone to draw anti-reality subjectively drawn conclusions, not just because of lack of evidence; but in spite of that evidence. Such individuals not only ignore the evidence of their eyes, they have no respect for the evidentially knowable and no respect for reason.

Putting subjectively led, spontaneous emotional responses to internal and external stimuli over and above objective reality, is "putting the cart before the horse".

Emotions are very important and have there place. Emotional indicators are important identifiers to our emotional state of well-being. But, emotions should not be directly acted upon without first analyzing those emotions through conscious deliberation. It would be wrong for example, to initiate force against another individual, because of an uncontrolled emotional reaction to the instant of the moment. The reasonable individual has the ability to objectively Analise their emotions and make an objective decision based on reason, on whether to act on
such emotions or not.

A classic example of putting emotional responses above objective reality, is the belief system of a Young Earth Creationist. Such an individual has an emotional disconnect from the facts of reality, because of religious indoctrination. These biblical literalists ignore the facts of the overwhelming evidence, that planet Earth is at least 4.5 billion years old. They hold on to the belief of a young earth of 10,000 years or less not because of scientific evidence, but because of an emotional response, to a scientific conclusion that they deem is a direct attack on their belief system.

It is no crime to be ignorant of the facts on any given subject. No one person can know everything and we are all ignorant on many subjects, most of the population is ignorant of the laws of quantum mechanics for example; only a few high powered physicists get it. But the mentality of Young Earth Creationist is something quite different ...it is not just ignorance, it is willful ignorance and a deliberate obfuscation of the facts of reality, just to hold up a childish belief system.

The difference between the mystic who puts emotions before reason is that the reasonable person, if he or she is ignorant on a subject, will either investigate that subject to get to the evidence of what is known or they will simply say "I don't know". The mystic on the other hand, often looks for a supernatural explanation for the unknown; they carry around a philosophical world-view that if something is unknown it must have a supernatural cause and is unknowable through objective means.

The fact of the matter is; there are no supernatural answers to objective reality. Objective reality is all there is. The belief in the supernatural is again an emotional response to reality, based on a subjectively defined, anti-reality world view.

The belief in a 10,000 year old earth, a belief in ghosts, hobgoblins, the tooth fairy, Santa Claus and all other forms of mysticism are all emotionally held beliefs. Individuals cling on to these anti-reality myths because of an emotional connection with mystical world-views and because of a lack of respect for reason and the scientific method.

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