And what one may learn from them all, finally, is that the savior, the hero, the redeemed one, is the one who has learned to penetrate the protective wall of those fears within, which exclude the rest of us, generally, in our daylight and even our dreamnight thoughts, from all experience of our own and the world’s divine ground.

But the important thing about a bulb is the quality of its light. Likewise, the important thing about each of us is the quality of his consciousness. And although each may tend to identify himself mainly with his separate body and its frailties, it is possible also to regard one’s body as a mere vehicle of consciousness and to think then of

Not, however, the “you” with which one normally identifies: the “you,” that is to say, that has been named, numbered, and computerized for the tax collector. That is not the “you” that is That, but the condition that makes you a separate bulb.

The ultimate divine mystery is there found immanent within each. It is not “out there” somewhere. It is within you. And no one has ever been cut off. The only difficulty is, however, that some folk simply don’t know how to look within. The fault is no one’s, if not one’s own. Nor is the problem one of an original Fall of the “first man,” many

“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”

“You know,” he said after we had begun to feel at home with each other, “when I visit a foreign country, I like to acquaint myself with its religion; so I have bought myself a Bible and for some months now have been reading it from the beginning; but, you know...” and here he paused, to regard me uncertainly, then said, “I can’t find any religion

The second function of a living mythology is to offer an image of the universe that will be in accord with the knowledge of the time,

The Buddhist teaching in recognition of this fact is called the Doctrine of Mutual Arising. It implies that no one—nobody and no thing—is to blame for anything that ever occurs, because all is mutually arising. That fundamentally is one reason why in Japan, even shortly following World War II, I found among the people I met no resentment. Enemies

hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow men.3