Most Of The Book Deals With Things

Walnuts Have A Shell, And They Have A Kernel. Religions Are The Same. They Have An Essence, But Then They Have A Protective Coating. This Is Not The Only Way To Put It. But It's My Way. So The Kernels Are The Same. However, The Shells Are Different.

The Heart Of Religion Is Not Altered States But Altered Traits Of Character. For Me, Then, The Test Of A Substance's Religious Worth Or Validity Is Not What Kind Of Far-out Experience It Can Produce, But Is The Life Improved By Its Use? That's The Test. Now, On That Score, If You Remove The "religious Cocoon," The Experiences Don't Seem To Have Much In The Way Of Discernible, Traceable Effects.

People Are Not Losing Their Religious Needs, But They Are Going To Three Places To Get Their Needs Met. One Is To Conservative Churches, Which, For All Their Social Benightedness, Nevertheless Do Present Their Congregations With A Different View Of Reality. Second, They Are Going To Asian Religions. Third, They Are Going To The New Age, Which When I'm Feeling Cynical I Refer To As "new Age Frivolity," Because Some Of It Is Rather Flaky.

In India There Was A Sense Of Time That Does Not Tick With Modern Clocks, Just As There Is A Knowledge That Is Not Gained Through Science And Empirical Experiments. In The Modern West Knowledge Is Of Objective, Finite Particulars In Historical Time. India Recognizes That Kind Of Useful Information: It Calls It "lower Knowledge." Higher Knowledge (paravidya) Proceeds Differently, Or Rather It Doesn't Proceed At All But Enters History Full-blown On The Morning Of A New Creation.

I Don't Want To Justify Religion In Terms Of Its Benefits To Us. I Believe That, On Balance, It Does A Lot Of Bad Things, Too - A Tremendous Amount. But I Don't Think That The Final Justification Of Religion Is The Good It Does For People. I Think The Final Justification Is That It's True, And Truth Takes Priority Over Consequences. Religion Helps Us Deal With What Is Most Important To The Human Spirit: Values, Meaning, Purpose, And Quality.