ABSTRACT
Mysticism is to the ordinary person a vague term. It has flair of the unseen, a notion of something spiritual about it, and it is used in contrast to normal behaviour. Mystical belief and behaviour are religious where one expects a matter-of-fact approach, and have a veiled, hidden element where one expects plain circumstances. Analysis of mysticism has hitherto played a small part in anthropological studies of religion. By showing mysticism as operating essentially in an institutional setting it makes us realize how much the attitudes of the mystic are socially orientated, despite all his claims to a purely personal type of experience. Each school of mysticism has its own techniques for attaining the desired end, usually demanding some ascetic and moral discipline. The sociological relevance of mysticism comes out also in dominant types of imagery used to describe the experience.
