The mystic seeks to manipulate Gd and the universe to serve his own needs, he believes that if he recites an incantation in just the right way, or performs a ritual while concentrating on the right powers he can literally affect a change in Gd. The rationalist seeks to understand Gd and His creation, he believes that meditating upon the ideas of an inspired prayer and contemplating the meaning of a rite during its engagement can affect change within himself. The mystic is obsessed with esoteric doctrines; the pursuit of which he believes increases his personal might in his duel with fantastic supernatural forces. The rationalist is preoccupied with studying reality, which he understands increases his awe and love for the Master of the Universe. The followers of the mystical trend are fond of their dogmas, they are fond of their saints, they are fond of their magical objects and rites, and they are fond of their unknowing predicament. The followers of the rational trend are fond of the truth, they are fond of their teachers, they are fond of the legal system guided by wisdom, and they are fond of eliminating their own misunderstanding. The mystic desires solely to gratify his emotional needs and sees performance as a means towards that end, the rationalist desires understanding for its own sake and sees performance as a means towards that end whilst recognizing the benefit accrued as an accident of the pursuit of an essential task. The mystic sees emotions as the primary mechanism through which religious experience can be achieved, the greater the unbridled worship of his own feelings the more ecstatically authentic the experience is. The rationalist sees emotions as a strong component of the psychological makeup, it is to be contended with and guided by reason lest it come to cloud his judgment, and the extent to which he can harness religious emotion plays a determining in role in the extent he understands the objective order.
The mystic eschews the rationalist as having tread in alien pastures (Greek thought), the rationalist retorts by indicating that the mystic has consumed of alien pastures without a discerning eye.
Cliché or thought provoking?
