In the book, "When the Impossible Happens: Adventures in Non-ordinary Reality", renowned religious scholar Huston Smith said this about early Christianity

"For the first several centuries, there would be a moment in the mass where some official would cry out, 'The doors! The doors!' That was the point where the catechumen--who were sort of learning on the kindergarten or first-grade level--had to leave, while the Eucharist was actually unveiled and participated in. So there was a clear recognition that unless you really understand what's going on, this could seem like cannibalism--when you say, 'This is my blood, this is my body,' and things like that. In other words,this could be misunderstood. So the ritual provided a structure that prevented such a misunderstanding."

I've mentioned here before that I grew up Catholic, and that I don't recall ever having any kind of significant spiritual experience in my childhood. The fact that I even went to a seminary to become a priest says more about maternal influence in my life than any kind of calling I ever felt.

Had I read Huston Smith before I went to the seminary, however, I might have starting earlier trying to discover the true esoteric nature of Christianity. Then again, perhaps I simply wasn't ready way back then. While I regret my omission now, we are taught that we will discover our teachers when we are ready. I've yet to find my personal teacher, but I feel that I've met many amazing teachers already in my brief journey.

Christians, after the days when the esoteric "doors" were flung wide open in the early centuries, have felt that the only way to God is through the the intercession of a priest or minister. And this was the way the Church wanted it, because the last thing the institutional, politicized empire the Church was becoming needed was for its flock to take to heart the teaching of Jesus when the Pharisees quizzed him about when the kingdom of God will arrive, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)

When I read the phrase, "the kingdom of God is within you", I am struck by how this is the primary underlying Truth of many--if not most--religions. Compare this phrase with the Sanskrit Hindu phrase, "Tat tvam asi". The literal translation of this phrase is "Thou are That", which means "You are of divine nature."

Siddha Yoga's basic tenet is "God dwells within you as you." Buddhist scriptures say "Look within. You are the Buddha." A great Jewish scholar and Cabalist sage taught that "He and we are one" and the Prophet Mohammed said "whoso knoweth himself knoweth his Lord".

Finally, the Tao Te Ching teaches this:

The Tao is called the Great Mother:
empty yet inexhaustible,
it gives birth to infinite worlds.

It is always present within you.
You can use it any way you want.

How far we in the Christian West have strayed from this fundamental spiritual reality! But fortunately for mankind, never before has so much true knowledge been available to those who seek it than from the marvelous information source known as the World Wide Web.

I am constantly amazed at how a single reference, a single link on a web page, can open up to a myriad of sources of valuable information. Never before has so much information been so accessible for so many.

Perhaps this technology--the object of much well-deserved criticism and derision--will ultimately help us to move Teilhard de Chardin's Noosphere towards the Omega Point more effectively than anything else in human history.

Certainly from my point of view, the path I have followed on this journey would have taken many more years to have gotten to this same point--and still I would not have had one tenth the amount of information available to me as I have using the Web.

I've yet to find my personal teacher, but when the day comes that I am ready for one, more than likely, I will have found out about him or her on one of the web pages that exist like hidden jewels in the folds of the fabric of the Internet.