The goal of spiritual life is not altered states, but altered traits

The Sufis say there are three ways to know fire - by hearing it described, by seeing it, or by being burned.

We are born in mystery, we live in mystery, and we die in mystery.

...the single destination of sanctity could admit of so many different avenues leading to it.

If we take the world’s enduring religions at their best, we discover the distilled wisdom of the human race.

A religion made up solely of heightened religious experiences would not be a religion at all. ...The major religious traditions address the mysteries (with or without entheogens), but they have other business to do: widen understanding, give meaning, provide solace, promote loving-kindness, and connect human being to human being.

What is sickness? What is health? Both are distractions. Put them both aside and go forward.