Mystics鈥撯揾istorically portrayed as passionate, dangerous, romantic, heretical, satanic鈥撯揳re a thorn in the side of organized religion. From the very beginnings of recorded human time, the presence and practice of mystics has been controversial. Sufi mystic al-Hallaj鈥檚 pronouncement that he was 鈥渢he Truth鈥 was received as blasphemy by the orthodoxy. His execution followed shortly after. Christian mystics of the 4th and 5th centuries were relegated to practicing outside the peripheries of the Roman Empire, in relative secrecy.