Many people assume that spiritual achievement has to do with somehow perfecting material existence through conforming to, or strict application of a set of rules. This invariably proves to be an illusion, a religion invented by the mind. Watts and others have said that western religions in general tend to be based on exclusion , whereas the religions of the east tend to be based on inclusion or unitive consciousness . True religion, by its very nature, is and always has been a matter of the transcendence of conditional existence. Without this as a motive, conventional religiosity degenerates into a form of bigotry as the result of a kind of dismemberment of the psyche into a good and worthless portion.
Bigotry is always dangerous.
Transcendence can come from withdrawing from conditions, or from feeling beyond them. But before there can be a real beginning of transcendence, there must be some awareness of the unconditional. Understanding is the gift of grace. Dreams and myths serve to bridge the gap between what is and what might be. There is something more going on than just escapism.