Mysticism refers to the spiritual belief that a connection can be established with a divine presence, truth, or reality beyond intellectual understanding or material existence. It often involves profound spiritual experiences, insights, or states of consciousness that are achieved through meditation, prayer, contemplation, or other practices focused on transcending the normal, everyday experience of reality. Mysticism is found within many religious traditions, including Christianity, Islam (especially Sufism), Judaism (particularly Kabbalah), Hinduism, Buddhism, and others, each with its own unique characteristics and practices aimed at achieving union or communion with the divine or ultimate reality.

At its core, mysticism seeks to explore and experience the inner, mystical dimensions of faith and existence, often emphasizing personal experiences of the divine over doctrinal beliefs or external rituals. These experiences are frequently described as encounters with God or the ultimate reality that are ineffable, that is, beyond words and conceptual understanding, leading to a transformation of the mystic's perception of themselves and the world around them.

Mysticism

Mythology is the study of myths; can also refer to a body of myths from a particular culture or geographic region. The primary focus is on stories the culture believed to be true to explain the universe and humanity.

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University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Religions are collections of beliefs, practices, and meaningful places/items/people that provide an understanding of the supernatural, spirituality, and transcendence. 

Religion

- Mythology or legend basis 
- Descriptive settings
- Magic 
- Good vs Evil 
- Quests
- Coming-of-Age themes
- Treachery
- Mythological creatures
- Romance
- Friendship 

Fantasy Elements

https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/m/Mythology.htm

Mythology

- Abrahamic religions
- East Asian religions
- Indian Religions
- Indigenous/folk religions
- Traditional African religions
- Iranian religions
- New religious movements
- Classical religions

Categories of Religions

Shared practices across religions

Religious identity is one's senese of belonging to a religious community and/or culture.

Religious Identity

The belief in one or more gods or deities.

Theism

Child nodes contain references for religion.

References for Religion

- Doctrine
- Cult
- New Religious Movement

Religious Terminology

Scholars have not reached a consensus on whether religious groups help induce contentious collective action or help keep social peace and stability. As such three main points are often disagreed on.

1. Do religious doctrines and values make religious groups more or less likely to participate and lunch collective contention? 
2.  Do religious groups reflect and/or reinforce politically-relevant divisions that could affect which party or government group is in charge (possible regime change)?
3. Do religious groups' organizational structures facilitate or prevent contentious collective action?

Religions: Contentious Collective Action

A magic system or a magical system is a set of rules that regulate the magical effects produced in a fictional setting.

Magic System

A quest is a journey toward a goal. The quest usually is a plot device in mythology and fiction, often, a difficult journey towards a goal, symbolic, or allegorical. Tales of quests are found in the folklore of every nation and culture. In literature, the object of a quest requires great exertion by the hero, who must overcome challenges. The object of a quest may include supernatural properties, often leading the protagonist into other worlds and dimensions. 

Quest

A coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video games that tends to focus on the transition of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood. Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue and the main characters of coming-of-age stories are usually teenagers.

Coming-of-Age Stories

- J. R. R. Tolkien
- Lloyd Alexander
- Patricia C. Wrede

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