I owe you an explanation: why am I using the term mystic, and what does a mystic do? In reading this, what on Earth have you signed up for? Pick your pain To talk about anything relating to inner work, meditation and self-realisation requires the adoption of some unsavoury term, complete with several hundred years of unwanted associations. Sam Harris wrangled over this whilst writing Waking Up and decided to embrace ‘spirituality’ for his purposes.