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I.S.B.N. 0-534-25332-6

.........of being religious.

“as a primary way of drawing near to Ultimate Reality”

In the following pages you will be introduced to a method, you can use for yourself, or use how to look at others (including the religions in general) concerning 6 Major Ways of how to get closer to God, Allah, Brahma, Nirvana, or your own private way to Ultimate Reality. The first known ways in the early ages (read what are societies) were the Way of Sacred Rite and the Way of the Shamanic Mediation.  None of the Ways is exclusive to the other ways. In fact, as in most things in life, you'll find a bit in all, which might suit you. There will be some major attractions in some and lesser in others. This frame will also help you to distinguish the virtues and the vices in all ways. 

A short introduction of the ways:

The way of Sacred Rite

Participation in the sacred archetypal patterns through which Ultimate Reality is manifest, by means of symbolic ritual enactments or presentations that enable participants repeatedly to enter their presence, attain ar-onement for the moment with them, and thereby establish and renew their sense of meaningful order, identity, and propriety. It is typical communal rather than individual.

The way of Right Action

The concerted effort to bring all of life, individual and communal, into conformity with the way things are ultimately supposed to be (however understood)- that is, to realize and fulfill the sacred intended ness of life-that promises individual fulfillment, social justice, and the embodiment of divine ideality in the midst of mundane, this-worldly life.

The way of Devotion

Cultivation of a personal relationship to ultimate reality of wholehearted adoration, devotional surrender to its transforming grace, and trust in its providential care, anticipating in return an influx of sustaining energy, hope, and a sense of affirming presence or at-onement. It typically involves a conversion experience and emotional purgation.

The way of Shamanic Mediation

Entry into altered states of consciousness in which persons become mediators or channels for the intervention of spiritual reality, in the expectation that “supernatural “ (trans-mundane) resources of imagination, power, and guidance will be released for solving or dealing with otherwise intra-traceable problems of life. Expressed through phenomena such as “possession trance,” “oracular utterance,” ecstatic vision,” and/or  “spirit journeying,” it seeks at-onement with Ultimate Reality in what is taken to be its readiness to bring about healing, well-being, and fulfillment for the world.  

The way of Mystical Quest

Employment of ascetic and meditative disciplines in a deliberate quest to interrupt, slow down, or otherwise break through and become free of, the obscuring limitations of distracting compulsions of ordinary life in order to attain a direct awareness of Ultimate reality, come to be wholly at one with it, and have a life and ones relations with all things become trans-parentally grounded in it.

The way of Reasoned Inquiry

The rational, dialectical struggle to transcend conventional patterns of thinking in the effort to attain understanding of, and consciousness-transforming insight into, The Ultimate, what, how, and why of things-that is, to bring together and unite, so far as possible, mind with the Ultimate Mind, and thereby acquire a portion of divine wisdom. It typically involves systematic study of a tradition’s scripture and previous attempts to articulate what is ultimately the case.