If you read the religious scriptures of the world (the Bible, the Upanishads, the Baghavid Gita, the Koran, the Pali Canon, etc) you will see that the doctrines contained therein are very different, despite a certain common thought now and then. But read the writings of the David Hoffmeister mystics throughout history and you will notice that what they wrote is strikingly similar no matter what their religious tradition. Read the Hindu mystic Shankara, or the Sufi mystic Rumi. Read the writings of St John of the Cross, or the writings of the Jewish Rabbi mystics or Buddhist mystics. You will see that what they are all saying amounts to the same thing, though their manner of describing it is different.

It is an utterly astounding fact that we have, in every single geographic area on this planet, and at widely separated dates in history, people who have arrived at the same metaphysical insights through methods of controlling their consciousness, such as meditation. From the Buddha of North India circa 500BCE, to Socrates, to the Catholic and Jewish mystics of the Medieval period, to the native shamans of Central America, there is a common thread of mystical insight. Why is it that our exoteric traditions are so different, but our esoteric traditions are so similar? There is an important message here.

The purpose of religion is to give us a sense of meaning and purpose, and also to help us to grow spiritually. Unfortunately, when religion becomes institutionalized (as it always does), it becomes all too easily, a stumbling block to our spiritual growth. Do you want a direct experience of God and a deeper sense of purpose? How can you find your true self? How can you find God? The mystics have pointed the way.

And what is a mystic? A mystic is simply a person who has spent his or her life in quiet contemplation and meditation and has achieved a direct experience of a deeper reality than what is ordinarily perceived. He or she has turned his or her back on the distractions of the world. They give up material things and social status. They seek the divine with a one-pointed mind. The one defining feature that distinguishes the mystic from the rest of us, is that they have had an immediate, direct, intuitive experience of Divinity. One salient point is that every single mystic emphasizes that the experience of God, the cosmic consciousness, divine mind, or whatever they choose to call it, is ineffable. It cannot be conveyed with words. It has to be experienced directly. And this experience is universally reported by mystics as being a totally euphoric state.