| 释义 |
mysticism|ˈmɪstɪsɪz(ə)m|
[f. mystic + -ism. Cf. F. mysticisme, G. mysticismus.]
1. The opinions, mental tendencies, or habits of thought and feeling, characteristic of mystics; mystical doctrines or spirit; belief in the possibility of union with the Divine nature by means of ecstatic contemplation; reliance on spiritual intuition or exalted feeling as the means of acquiring knowledge of mysteries inaccessible to intellectual apprehension.
1736H. Coventry Philemon Conv. i. ii. 59 How much nobler a Field of Exercise..are the seraphic Entertainments of Mysticism and Extasy than the mean and ordinary Practice of a mere earthly and common Virtue! 1765A. Maclaine tr. Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. Cent. xvii. ii. i. i. §51 This female apostle of Mysticism [sc. Madame Guyon] derived all her ideas of religion from the feelings of her own heart. 1839Hallam Lit. Eur. iv. iii. §55 IV. 230 The scepticism of Malebranche is merely ancillary to his mysticism. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 95 He was not only susceptible of the sublimest mysticism, but his whole soul was steeped in it. 1890Guardian 25 June 1030 He makes no attempt to show..that the Mysticism of Swedenborg is the only alternative to the Agnosticism of Professor Huxley. 1899W. R. Inge Chr. Mysticism ii. 44 The Gospel of St. John..is the charter of Christian Mysticism.
2. As a term of reproach.
a. From the hostile point of view, mysticism implies self-delusion or dreamy confusion of thought; hence the term is often applied loosely to any religious belief to which these evil qualities are imputed.
b. Sometimes applied to philosophical or scientific theories alleged to involve the assumption of occult qualities or mysterious agencies of which no rational account can be given.
1763Warburton Doctr. Grace iii. ii. Wks. 1788 IV. 706 With an incredible appetite devouring the trash dropt from every species of Mysticism. 1763Wesley Jrnl. 28 Aug. (1827) III. 140 The same poison of Mysticism has..extinguished the last spark of life. 1825Coleridge Aids Refl. 381 The grounding of any theory or belief on accidents and anomalies of individual sensations or fancies, and the use of peculiar terms invented or perverted from their ordinary significations, for the purpose of expressing these idiosyncracies, and pretended facts of interior consciousness, I name Mysticism. 1838Prescott Ferd. & Is. viii. (1846) I. 367 An acute and subtile perception was often clouded by mysticism and abstraction. 1855M. Pattison in Oxford Ess. 258 That deluge of crude speculation and vague mysticism which pervades the philosophical and religious literature of the day. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 120 The terrorism, revivalism, mysticism, or self-concentration which sometimes pose as religion. |