“We are literally buried in the literate and technical knowledge of our cultures; and similarly buried in the by-products of our often superficial emulation of relationships with nature and the divine. In cultures thick with books and experts, something essential is easily overlooked: the necessity for first-hand exploration, discovery and expression. We too easily forget that each of us is a unique universe, not merely a world… and that it lies within our own human nature and power to not merely discover what others have learned or experienced… and each explained to themselves and others in their own way… it is our birthright to pioneer our own inner lives and experience. In fact, there is no other way. Reading does not really help us in discovering what is most essential; we must have first-hand experience, and we must walk the paths of mystery and divinity… in person, as if we were the first, the only… and the chosen.”

— an anonymous informant