A Theosophical definition of Macrocosm :

Macrocosm

The anglicized form of a Greek compound meaning "great arrangement," or more simply the great ordered system of the celestial bodies of all kinds and their various inhabitants, including the all-important idea that this arrangement is the result of interior orderly processes, the effects of indwelling consciousnesses.

In other and more modern phrasing the macrocosm is the vast universe, without definable limits, which surrounds us, and with particular emphasis laid on the interior, invisible, and ethereal planes. In the visioning or view of the ancients the macrocosm was an animate kosmic entity, an "animal" in the Latin sense of this word, as an organism possessing a directing and guiding soul. But this was only the outward or exoteric view.

In the Mystery schools of the archaic ages, the macrocosm was considered to be not only what is hereinbefore just stated, but also to consist more definitely and specifically of seven, ten, and even twelve planes or degrees of consciousness-substance ranging from the superdivine through all the intermediate stages to the physical, and even to degrees below the physical, these comprised in one kosmic organic unit, or what moderns would call a universe. In this sense of the word macrocosm is but another name for kosmic hierarchy, and it must be remembered in this connection that these hierarchies are simply countless in number and not only fill but actually compose and are indeed the spaces of frontierless SPACE.

The macrocosm was considered to be filled full not only with gods, but with innumerable multitudes or armies of evolving entities, from the fully self-conscious to the quasi-self-conscious downwards through the merely conscious to the "unconscious." Note well that in strict usage the term macrocosm was never applied to the Boundless, to boundless, frontierless infinitude, what the Qabbalists called Eyn-soph. In the archaic wisdom, the macrocosm, belonging in the astral world, considered in its causal aspect, was virtually interchangeable with what modern theosophists call the Absolute.

See also: Macrocosm, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Muraqaba - Gnosis of self. This is the starting level of meditation. When a person starts meditation, he enters into a somnolent or sleep state often. With the passage of time, the person goes into a state between sleep and wakefulness. So the person can remember that he saw something, but not specifically what it is. With continuous practice of meditation, the sleepiness from meditation decreases. When the conscious mind is not suppressed by sleep and is able to focus, the person can recei ...

See also:

Muraqaba, Muraqaba - Stages of Muraqaba, Muraqaba - Gnosis of self, Muraqaba - Gnosis of the universe, Muraqaba - Gnosis of the creator, Muraqaba - Baqa billah eternal life in union with God, Muraqaba - Types of muraqaba, Muraqaba - Begineer level muraqabas, Muraqaba - Middle Level Muraqabas, Muraqaba - High Level Muraqabas

Read more here: » Muraqaba: Encyclopedia II - Muraqaba - Stages of Muraqaba

Oversoul When signifying the universal soul, oversoul corresponds to alaya, the consciousness aspect or crown of akasa; or it may be compared with mulaprakriti in its essence as the intelligent conscious basis or root of all in a universe.

Theosophy teaches "the fundamental identity of all Souls with the Universal Over-Soul, the latter being itself an aspect of the Unknown Root" (SD 1:17); Emerson speaks of "that unity, that oversoul, within which every man's particular being is contained and made one with all other."

Mystically, the anima mundi is the spiritual essence emanating from alaya or the oversoul, anima mundi spreading throughout the spatial deeps of a universe and being the framework in or upon which the manifested planes of that universe are built. Thus when the oversoul is considered as anima mundi, it is alaya or the essence of akasa, or again in its highest it is nirvana, and in its lowest it is the astral light.

(See also: Oversoul, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Sutratman (Sanskrit) [from sutra thread + atman self]

The thread-self; the golden thread of self-conscious individuality, the stream of egoic self-consciousness, on which all the substance-principles are strung like pearls on a golden chain. It is this sutratman, or stream of egoic consciousness-life, "which is the fundamental Selfhood in all beings, and which, reflected in and through the several intermediate vehicles or veils or sheaths or garments of the invisible constitution of man, or of any other being in which the Monad enshrouds itself, produces the egoic enters of self-conscious existence.

"The Sutratman, therefore, is rooted in the Monad, the monadic essence, but its stream is colored by the individuality of the Reincarnating Ego hitherto sleeping in the bosom of the Monad, which now after Reincarnation is awakened into self-conscious activity; and this 'colored stream' working through the appropriate vehicles of man's inner constitution, in other words, through his mind and through his emotions, his aspirations, his intellect and so forth, produces the individual consciousness which man recognises in himself" ("H. B. P.: The Mystery," Theosophical Path, October 1930, p. 329). Vedanta philosophy also teaches that atman passes like a thread through the five subtle bodies or kosas, and therefore is called sutratman.

In a more relative sense the sutratman is the egoic pilgrim, the immortal individuality, or that thread of being which animates a person and passes through all the countless personalities which he uses during the course of his manvantara-long evolutionary progress. "In each of us that golden thread of continuous life -- periodically broken into active and passive cycles of sensuous existence on Earth, and super-sensuous in Devachan -- is from the beginning of our appearance upon this earth. It is the Sutratma, the luminous thread of immortal impersonal monadship, on which our earth lives or evanescent Egos are strung as so many beads . . ." (SD 2:513).

In the latter sense sutratman is a synonym of the reincarnating ego, manas conjoined with buddhi which absorbs the manasic recollections of all and each of our preceding lives. It is so called, because, like the pearls on a thread, so is the long series of human lives strung together on that one thread-stream of self-conscious being. The cosmic sutratman bears the same relation to the universe that ours does to the human constitution, being the cosmic hierarch of a galaxy, solar system, or planetary chain.

(See also: Sutratman, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Dhyani-chohans (Sanskrit-Tibetan) (from Sanskrit dhyani contemplation + Tibetan chohan lord)

Lords of meditation. In theosophical literature, dhyani-buddhas are the intellectual architects, the higher and more spiritual beings of the god-world. Dhyani-chohans, as a generalizing term, includes both the higher classes which take a self-conscious, active part in the architectural ideation of the universe, and the lower classes, some of which are self-conscious, but in their lower representations progressively less on on a descending scale.

The lowest of these builders are little more than merely conscious or semi-conscious beings following almost servilely the ideation of the cosmic spirit transmitted to them by the higher class of the architects.

Dhyani-chohan is likewise synonymous in one sense with the Sanskrit manu. The seven principal classes of dhyani-chohans are intimately connected, each to each, respectively, with the seven sacred planets of our solar system, and likewise with the globes of the earth planetary chain. Furthermore, there is a class of dhyani-chohans at the head of every department of nature in our solar system.

These dhyani-chohans, as the summit of the Hierarchy of Light, imbody in themselves as individuals the ideation of the cosmic Logos, thus forming the laws according to which nature exists and works. These laws, therefore, are really the automatic spiritual activities of the highest classes of the dhyani-chohans.

The dhyani-chohans have their bodhisattvas, intellectual offspring, or representatives on and in each descending cosmic plane, so that every being has as its highest portion one such dhyani-chohan as its egoic individuality. Hence, "the dhyani-chohans are actually in one most important sense our own selves. We were born from them; we were the monads, we were the atoms, the souls, projected, sent forth, emanated, by the dhyanis . . ." (Fund 407).

(See also: Dhyani-chohans, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Anesthesia (from Greek anaisthesia no feeling)

Want of feeling; a condition of total or partial insensibility, particularly to touch. The many classical references to anesthetics indicate that the ancients knew much about the subject that has not been rediscovered. Blavatsky refers to the sacred beverage used by the hierophants in ceremonies to free the astral soul from the bonds of matter, so that the inner man might rise to the level of spirit (IU 2:117, 1:540).

Surgical patients suffering from fright and fear before or during the induction of an anesthetic take it with more difficulty, and feel more aftereffects, than those who meet it without anxiety. The first stage of general anesthesia, usually not unpleasant, ends with the loss of physical consciousness. Then begins the second, or stage of struggling more or less vigorously, evidently due to the automatic reaction of the physical body, from which its conscious astral soul is being dissociated. In the third stage, the muscles relax and the disturbed heart and lungs settle down to regular rhythm, controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, as in a deep, dreamless sleep. The self-conscious ego, thus withdrawing from its ordinary state of being, enters more or less deeply into the subjective realm of its inner life. It is in a state of what has been called, paradoxically, conscious unconsciousness. The danger here is that the soul may become so far separated from its body that it does not come back again, and then death results.

However insensible the person is of externals, he is conscious in some part of his composite nature, just as each principle of his being has its own range of awareness after death. Some people have brought back a more or less clear memory of a state of being transcending anything they had ever imagined on earth. Their first feeling is one of a delicious peace and liberation; then comes a mental clearness with majestic visions of perfect truth, and a realization of a self-existent "I" as a part of a universal whole. The spiritually-minded person may attain to an instant and complete buddhi-manasic vision of "things as they are." Such a one, at the moment of recovery, is often vividly sensible of being aroused from a state of superior existence, but is unable to recall what it was. Again, any gleams of knowledge that do survive the transit may be misinterpreted by the brain-mind from its preconceived philosophical or religious ideas. The average person, however, brings back little if any remembrance of his experience.

The anesthetized person may also be conscious of standing aside or looking down upon his own body under operation, and retains a vague memory of the out-of-body experience.

See also SOMA

(See also: Anesthesia, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Those who had contact with Gurdjieff saw him as a Master - able to practice self-remembering, and work on oneself; in other words a human being able to be conscious of himself. About his teaching, Gurdjieff once said, "What do I teach? I teach people how to listen to themselves." The teaching addresses the question of man's place in the Universe and his possibilities for spiritual development. Gurdjieff's teaching has many aspects that are well described in 'In Search of the Miraculous' - a book written by P. D. Ouspensky who met Gurdjieff in Moscow in 1915 ...

See also:

G. I. Gurdjieff, G. I. Gurdjieff - Biography, G. I. Gurdjieff - Teaching, G. I. Gurdjieff - Short bibliography

Read more here: » G. I. Gurdjieff: Encyclopedia II - G. I. Gurdjieff - Teaching

Some of those who had contact with Gurdjieff saw him as a Master - able to practice self-remembering, and work on oneself; in other words a human being able to be conscious of himself. About his teaching, Gurdjieff once said, "What do I teach? I teach people how to listen to themselves." The teaching addresses the question of man's place in the Universe and his possibilities for spiritual development. Gurdjieff's teaching has many aspects that are well described in 'In Search of the Miraculous' - a book written by P. D. Ouspensky who met Gurdjieff in Moscow in 1915 ...

See also:

G. I. Gurdjieff, G. I. Gurdjieff - Biography, G. I. Gurdjieff - Teaching, G. I. Gurdjieff - Short bibliography

Read more here: » G. I. Gurdjieff: Encyclopedia II - G. I. Gurdjieff - Teaching

The nature of consciousness and its place in the universe remain unknown. Classical models view consciousness as computation among the brain's neurons but as yet has failed to describe an exact mechanism. Quantum processes in the brain have been invoked as explanations for consciousness and its enigmatic features. Some experimental evidence seems to indicate quantum non-locality occurring in conscious and subconscious brain function. These supporters argue that the brain can no longer be seen as simply a vast piece of organic clockwor ...

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Quantum mind, Quantum mind - Introduction, Quantum mind - Various quantum theories of mind, Quantum mind - Vibrations of the aether, Quantum mind - Modulating quantum jumps, Quantum mind - Bose-Einstein condensates, Quantum mind - Synaptic quantum uncertainty, Quantum mind - Consciousness as the observer, Quantum mind - Conscious matter, Quantum mind - A tripartite model, Quantum mind - Quantum solitons, Quantum mind - Thought as a hologram, Quantum mind - A string theory model, Quantum mind - Quantum neurophysics, Quantum mind - Space-time theories of consciousness, Quantum mind - Quantum spin-mediated consciousness, Quantum mind - The Orch OR model, Quantum mind - M-theory, Quantum mind - Quantum mysticism, Quantum mind - Criticisms, Quantum mind - Pseudonomenalism, Quantum mind - Many-minds interpretation, Quantum mind - Consciousness causes collapse

Read more here: » Quantum mind: Encyclopedia II - Quantum mind - Introduction

BOOK I Ch.1: The Human Aspiration Ch.3: The Two Negations I. The Materialist Denial Ch.3: The Two Negations II. The Refusal of the Ascetic Ch.4: Reality Omnipresent Ch.5: The Destiny of the Individual Ch.6: Man and the Universe Ch.7: The Ego and the Dualities Ch.8: The Methods of Vedantic Knowledge Ch.9: The Pure Existent Ch.10: Conscious Force Ch.11: Delight of Existence: the Problem Ch.12: Delight of Existence: t ...

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The Life Divine, The Life Divine - Basic Themes, The Life Divine - Development of The Book, The Life Divine - List of Chapters, The Life Divine - Structure of The Life Divine, The Life Divine - Links

Read more here: » The Life Divine: Encyclopedia II - The Life Divine - List of Chapters

Force Used in two senses: an effect produced in matter, and the unknown cause of that effect. In the former sense it is a definite measurable quantity, usable in calculating the quantitative relation between phenomena, and of practical service in mechanics. But in the latter sense, force remains for science a mystery. If it is an inherent property of matter, then matter becomes a self-moving entity, a divine thing in its essence; if it acts on matter from outside, then where does it inhere? Is it an independent existence? The whole question is thus left hanging in the air.

According to theosophy the forces of science are effects produced on the physical plane by elementals or nature forces, which are themselves secondary causes and the effects of primary causes, ultimately of divine origin, behind the veil of terrestrial phenomena. Descending through the planes of cosmos there is a chain of effects. Theosophy sees no fundamental difference between force and motion: eternal motion gives rise on every plane to the dual manifestation of force and matter, twin aspects of the same substance.

In the universe force may be generalized as a unity, just as substance or consciousness may; but nevertheless just as there are consciousnesses and substances, so likewise cosmic force is to be understood as a generalizing phrase for cosmic forces essentially intelligent, and therefore that these cosmic forces are essentially divinities -- these divinities existing on different planes of the invisible worlds of the universe in hierarchical structure or degrees.

We have therefore the picture of inner and invisible conscious and likewise self-conscious forces, which are really divinities of many kinds, which by their interconnections and interwoven activities, produce the differentiated and marvelously varied manifested world in which we live.

(See also: Force, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Tattvas :

Tattvas

(Sanskrit) A word the meaning of which is the elementary principles or elements of original substance, or rather the different principles or elements in universal, intelligent, conscious nature when considered from the standpoint of occultism. The word tattva perhaps may be literally translated or rendered as "thatness," reminding one of the "quiddity" of the European Scholastics.

The number of tattvas or nature's elemental principles varies according to different systems of philosophy. The Sankhya, for instance, enumerates twenty-five tattvas. The system of the Mahesvaras or worshipers of Siva with his consort Durga, reckons five principles, which are simply the five elements of nature found in all ancient literatures. Occultism, of course, recognizes seven tattvas, and, indeed, ten fundamental element-principles or element-substances or tattvas in universal nature, and each one of these tattvas is represented in the human constitution and active therein. Otherwise, the human constitution could not cohere as an organic entity.

See also: Tattvas, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Tattvas :

Tattvas

(Sanskrit) A word the meaning of which is the elementary principles or elements of original substance, or rather the different principles or elements in universal, intelligent, conscious nature when considered from the standpoint of occultism. The word tattva perhaps may be literally translated or rendered as "thatness," reminding one of the "quiddity" of the European Scholastics.

The number of tattvas or nature's elemental principles varies according to different systems of philosophy. The Sankhya, for instance, enumerates twenty-five tattvas. The system of the Mahesvaras or worshipers of Siva with his consort Durga, reckons five principles, which are simply the five elements of nature found in all ancient literatures. Occultism, of course, recognizes seven tattvas, and, indeed, ten fundamental element-principles or element-substances or tattvas in universal nature, and each one of these tattvas is represented in the human constitution and active therein. Otherwise, the human constitution could not cohere as an organic entity.

See also: Tattvas , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Spirituality Considering spirit and matter as contrasted aspects in the evolutionary process, as opposite poles in the kosmos, this word applied to the higher or causal aspect. The course of evolution, the monad begins as an unself-conscious god-spark and ends its evolutionary career in any one universe as a self-conscious god.

The monads pass from spirit into matter, and then back again to spirit with the addition of evolved intellectual self-cognition or self-consciousness. So far as the rounds and races of our earth is concerned, the first two were characterized by direct but non-egoic spiritual qualities of consciousness, while in the third intellectuality and finally materiality began strongly to make their appearances, reaching the final evolutionary point for our planet in the fourth, when spirituality was nearly submerged by materiality. But these terms are relative, having varying meanings as applied to different planes and differing conditions of the rounds and races.

Absolute spirituality or perfection in its very nature implies the loftiest type of spiritual and intellectual activity, with the relative quiescence of the enshrouding sheaths of consciousness. The distinction is to a certain degree that drawn between absolute thought or the All as opposed to the ratiocinative activity of mental action, which involves limitations and matters (SD 2:490).

(See also: Spirituality, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Definition and meaning of Loss control :

Loss control: any conscious action (or decision not to act) intended to reduce the frequency, severity, or unpredictability of accidental losses.

(Source: The Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary )

Also see these pages: Loss control , Insurance Business, Insurance Business Sitemap,  Insurance, Insurance Sitemap, Insurance Dictionary - L

Definition and meaning of Risk control :

Risk control: any conscious action (or decision not to act) intended to reduce the frequency, severity, or unpredictability of accidental losses.

(Source: The Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary )

Also see these pages: Risk control , Insurance Business, Insurance Business Sitemap,  Insurance, Insurance Sitemap, Insurance Dictionary - R

Unconsciousness The universe being a vast aggregation of conscious beings, only the one source of all is unconscious, paramartha is described as absolute being and consciousness which are absolute non-being and unconsciousness from the human standpoint. Theosophy rejects the idea of anything being unconscious in the absolute sense, save on this plane of illusion.

The Vedantic idea of an Unconscious behind all manifestation has reappeared in Occidental philosophy, notably in that of Eduard van Hartmann. Unconsciousness and consciousness are used in theosophy with direct reference to human understanding, so that what we call unconsciousness is merely consciousness on a plane so high, and with a range so vast, that human understanding cannot contain it; or that what we call consciousness would be unconsciousness to less evolved beings because these cannot contain or understand our consciousness. We may look upon spirit as being both conscious and unconscious: active spirit we would call the consciousness of spirit; but those incomprehensibly vast ranges of spirit beyond our power of understanding we would call inactive spirit, merely because we cannot comprehend it and therefore say it is relatively non-existent, although actually being the basis of all being.

Unconsciousness is often used in a relative sense, as for instance in speaking of the state of the first two and one half root-races as being one of mental torpor and unconsciousness, or in speaking of the three lower elemental kingdoms in comparison with the higher kingdoms. Also what is called unconsciousness may be only lack of power to register a memory, as in the case of a mesmerized subject on being aroused, or a person waking from sleep.

(See also: Unconsciousness, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Vairaja(s) (Sanskrit) [from viraj widely shining one]

A class of gods emanating from Brahma in his aspect of creator collectively as Viraj, the Third Logos; hence, the celestial beings immediately derived from Viraj. Identified with the kumaras and the manasaputras, as well as the agnishvattas. They are the hierarchies of cosmic conscious and self-conscious dhyani-chohans who spring forth directly from the Third Logos, and furnish the intellectual background and vital urge of the hierarchies of beings who later produce the manifested universe from the ideation emanating from the Third Logos and the vairajas.

"In the popular belief, semi-divine beings, shades of saints, inconsumable by fire, impervious to water, who dwell in Tapo-loka with the hope of being translated into Satya-loka -- a more purified state which answers to Nirvana. The term is explained as the aerial bodies or astral shades of 'ascetics, mendicants, anchorites, and penitents, who have completed their course of rigorous austerities.' [Vishnu-Purana, Wilson, 2:229]

Now in esoteric philosophy they are called Nirmanakayas, Tapo-loka being on the sixth plane (upward) but in direct communication with the mental plane. The Vairajas are referred to as the first gods because the Manasaputras and the Kumaras are the oldest in theogony, as it is said that even the gods worshipped them (Matsya Purana); those whom Brahma 'with the eye of Yoga beheld in the eternal spheres, and who are the gods of gods' (Vayu Purana)" (TG 358).

(See also: Vairaja, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Siva consciousness: Sivachaitanya.

A broad term naming the experience or state of being conscious of Siva in a multitude of ways, such as in the five expressed in the following meditation.

-       Vital Breath: prana. Experience the inbreath and outbreath as Siva's will within your body. Become attuned to the ever-present pulse of the universe, knowing that nothing moves but by His divine will.

-       All Pervasive Energy: shakti. Become conscious of the flow of life within your body. Realize that it is the same universal energy within every living thing. Practice seeing the life energy within another's eyes.

-       Manifest Sacred Form: darshana. Hold in your mind a sacred form, such as Nataraja, Sivalinga or your satguru - who is Sadasiva - and think of nothing else. See every form as a form of our God Siva.

-       Inner Light: jyoti. Observe the light that illumines your thoughts. Concentrate only on that light, as you might practice being more aware of the light on a TV screen than of its changing pictures.

-       Sacred Sound: nada. Listen to the constant high-pitched ee sounding in your head. It is like the tone of an electrical transformer, a hundred tamburas distantly playing or a humming swarm of bees.

These five constitute the "Sivachaitanya Panchatantra," five simple experiences that bring the Divine into the reach of each individual. Sivachaitanya, of course, applies to deeper states of meditation and contemplation as well.

See: jnana, mind (five states of mind), Sivasayujya.

(See also: Siva consciousness, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Spirit-hyle [from Greek hyle matter, stuff]

The Second Logos, Father-Mother, spirit-matter, Purusha-prakriti. Hyle was used by certain Greek philosophers to signify original cosmic spirit-stuff, and therefore is equivalent to the Sanskrit pradhana, or in a higher, more spiritual essence, mulaprakriti (root-substance).

Thus hyle or spirit-hyle is the primordial quasi-conscious matter-substance of cosmic space, both before cosmic manifestation beings and through the entire period of the cosmic manvantara -- the cosmic spiritual substantial background, or Mother of space. Again, spirit-hyle, in its prakritis aspect, is the the spiritual sediment of surrounding universal chaos, the great deep of cosmic consciousness.

Thus it is the primordial element-principle, out of which an objective universe is formed, and into which it again sinks when the cosmic manvantara ends, only to reissue forth at the end of the cosmic pralaya.

(See also: Spirit-hyle, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Purusha :

Purusha

(Sanskrit) A word meaning "man," the Ideal Man, like the Qabbalistic Adam Qadmon, the primordial entity of space, containing with and in prakriti or nature all the septenary (or denary) scales of manifested being. More mystically Purusha has a number of different significancies. In addition to meaning the Heavenly Man or Ideal Man, it is frequently used for the spiritual man in each individual human being or, indeed, in every self-conscious entity  - therefore a term for the spiritual self. Purusha also sometimes stands as an interchangeable term with Brahma, the evolver or "creator."

Probably the simplest and most inclusive significance of Purusha as properly used in the esoteric philosophy is expressed in the paraphrase "the entitative, individual, everlasting divine-spiritual self," the spiritual monad, whether of a universe or of a solar system, or of an individual entity in manifested life, such as man.

See also: Purusha, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Mysticism :

Mysticism

A word originally derived from the Greek and having a wide range of meaning in modern Occidental religious and philosophical literature. A mystic may be said to be one who has intuitions or intimations of the existence of inner and superior worlds, and who attempts to ally himself or to come into self-conscious communion with them and the beings inhabiting these inner and invisible worlds.

The word mysticism, of course, has various shades of significance, and a large number of definitions could easily be written following the views of different mystical writers on this theme. From the theosophical or occult point of view, however, a mystic is one who has inner convictions often based on inner vision and knowledge of the existence of spiritual and ethereal universes of which our outer physical universe is but the shell; and who has some inner knowledge that these universes or worlds or planes or spheres, with their hosts of inhabitants, are intimately connected with the origin, destiny, and even present nature of the world which surrounds us.

Genuine mysticism is an ennobling study. The average mystic, however, is one who lacks the direct guidance derived from personal teaching received from a master or spiritual superior.

See also: Mysticism, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)