Here the interpretation of 'consciousness' seems problematic. If consciousness is relegated to inner experience, then sensory experience does not involve consciousness. Restatement of these ideas, using pre-conceptual and conceptual experience, appears to straighten out the problem. Consciousness then has two modes, pre-conceptual and conceptual, roughly corresponding to inner and outer experience. The experience of spirituality certainly involves conceptualization, since it can be discussed or shared among its devotees, so spirituality must penetrate the outer world.
Science is exoteric, since it is public and accessible, in principle, to 'non-believers'.
Spiritualism is esoteric, since it is confined to a select group of 'believers', who hold themselves at a distance from the 'melting pot'. This distinction between and esoteric and an exoteric traditions has been described as most pronounced in the way they acquire their beliefs. Spirituality uses the method of 'revelation' or direct acquisition of knowledge, while science uses the method of experimentation, an indirect acquisition of scientific knowledge through testing models, using the elaborate process of design, construction and operation of laboratory apparatus, and then interpreting the results. In contrast to scientific systems, dogmatic systems contain pronouncements that are asserted as true without being subjected to experimental verification. Therefore, insofar as religious doctrines take the form of dogmatic assertions, religion is fundamentally opposed to the most fundamental principle of science.