Wayne Teasdale: "Mysticism in any of its forms---has common features. It is practical [it affects ones’ life] experiential [you don’t just read about it] ineffable [the experience can be had, but can’t be talked about] non conceptual [it doesn’t fit our usual rational categories] unitive [it joins us with the All] noetic it gives direct knowledge of ultimate matters] integrative [it helps us get our act together] and sapiential [when you’ve had it, you know it]."

Joseph Campbell, in The Power of Myth, quotes the Upanishads: “When before the beauty of a sunset or of a mountain, you pause and exclaim Ah!, you are participating in divinity.”

Julian Huxley: “Man is nothing but evolution becoming conscious of itself.”

Stephen Kaufman, in his book, Unified Reality Theory: “Consciousness is what is, and awareness is ultimately consciousness.”

Roger Penrose in his book, The Emperors New Mind, "I am prepared to believe that consciousness is a matter of degree and not simply something that is either there or not there. To my way of thinking, there is still something mysterious about evolution, with its apparent groping towards some future purpose."

Eugene Wigner: “ Physicists have found it impossible to give a satisfactory description of atomic phenomenon without reference to consciousness.”

Dr. Wilder Penfield: “It seems to me certain that it will always be impossible to explain the mind on the basis of neuronal [nerve cell] action within the brain.” Additionally, “In all of our studies of the brain, no mechanism has been discovered that can force the mind to think, or the individual to believe anything. {Mind].... is, in a certain sense above and beyond, although it seems to depend on the brain for its’ very existence. Yet it is free.”

Valerie Hunt goes even further, and I quote: “But the aspects of the mind that have to do with creativity, imagination, spirituality, and all those things. I don’t see them in the brain at all. The mind is not in the brain, it is in that darn field.”

Willis Harman, president of the California Institute of Noetic Science is quoted as saying: “Mind or consciousness is primary and matter/energy arises in some sense out of the mind...consciousness is not the end-product of material evolution; rather consciousness was here first.”

Dr.Danah Zohar, to reinforce this call for change: "There is a spiritual interpretation of God here that goes beyond the Judeo Christian myth. In my work, I have been examining what went on after the big bang and reconciling the idea of God with quantum theory. What’s so exciting is the way in which it reveals consciousness built into the cosmos from the very beginning. It is part of the move away from a God separate from the universe—a sort of chemist shaking a test tube—to the idea of a transforming God who is himself transformed. This may well provide a new version of spirituality for people to replace the old creation myth. It fits in well with the strong anthropomorphic principle which says that consciousness was built into the cosmos from the beginning, and with good reason.”

Theodore Roszak, in his book, The Voice of the Earth: “Sanity is the realisation that our psyches are not distinct from but are inclusive of the entire universe.”

Robert Lawlor in the book, Homage to Pythagoras, restates the ancient Pythagorean beliefs. “The universe is created in perception, it evolves through the evolution of perception; and its goal lies in the perfection of self-perception.”

David Bohm is quoted as stating “The mental and material and are two sides of one overall process that are like [form and content] separated only by thought but not in actuality. Rather there is one energy that is the basis of all reality…. there is never any real division between mental and material sides at any stage of the overall process.”

Roger Penrose, in Shadows of the Mind, “Consciousness is part of our universe, so any physical theory which makes no proper place for it falls fundamentally short of providing a genuine description of the world. A scientific world-view which does not profoundly come to terms with the problem of conscious minds can have no serious pretensions of completeness.”

Ilya Prigogine writes; “Perhaps the coming together of our insights about the world around us and the world inside us is a satisfying feature of the recent revolution in science.”

Freeman Dyson. "It is conceivable that life has a greater role to play than we have imagined. Life may succeed against all odds in molding the universe to its’ own purpose. And the design of the inanimate universe may not be as detached from the potentialities of life and intelligence as scientists of the twentieth century have tended to suppose."

Dr. Paul Davis is a theoretical physicist and a cosmologist. In his book, God and the New Physics he says, “We could describe this state of affairs that nature is a product of its own technology, and the universe IS a mind: a self observing as well as self organizing, system. Our own minds could then be viewed as localized islands of consciousness in a sea of mind, an idea that is reminiscent of the Oriental conception of mysticism, where God is then regarded as the unifying consciousness of all things into which the human mind will be absorbed, losing its individual identity when it achieves an appropriate level of spiritual advancement.”

Fritjof Capra, in his book Uncommon Wisdom, on page 111; “The question of conventional western science, where is the moment at which consciousness originates; when does matter become conscious of it self- is turned upside down. The question now becomes, how does consciousness produce the illusion of matter. You see, consciousness is seen as something primordial, which cannot be explained on the basis of any thing else; something that is just there and which, ultimately is the only reality; something that is manifest in you and me, and in everything around us.”

From Essays in Honour of David Bohm:

An excerpt from an interview of David by Renee Weber:.

Bohm, “That’s what I am proposing; not only that there is a meaning to it, but rather that is its meaning. We begin by proposing that human consciousness is its meaning, not to say that it has a meaning, but it is its meaning. According to what it means, that is what it is.”

Weber, “So the cosmology you’re proposing is meaning inherently.”

Bohm, “Yes. In that sense, meaning is the essence of reality."

The Author, "The purpose of the cosmos is its meaning. The meaning of the cosmos is its purpose."

John Barrow and Frank Tipler, and Tipler's recent The Physics of Immortality, argue that the crucial parts of the story lie in our future, when the universe will be shaped more by the deliberate efforts of intelligence than the simple, blind laws of physics.

Evan Harris Walker, “Objects---all objects--- that once have been in contact remain forever in intimate touch, forever entangled, no matter where they go, no matter how far in space they seem to be separated from each other.”

Regarding Buckminster Fullerene:

Roger Penrose states the following opinion: “Second, I am of the [more tentative] opinion that this implies that their assembly cannot reasonably be achieved by the local adding of atoms one at a time, in accordance with the classical picture of crystal growth. But instead there must be a non-local essentially quantum-mechanical ingredient to their assembly.”

Paul Davies. “How we have become linked into to this cosmic dimension is a mystery. Yet, the linkage cannot be denied. What does this mean? What is Man that we might be party to such privilege? I cannot believe our existence in this universe is a mere quirk of fate, an accident of history, an incidental blip in the great cosmic drama. Our involvement is too intimate. The physical species Homo may count for nothing, but the existence of mind in some organism on some planet in the universe is surely a fact of fundamental significance. Through conscious beings, the universe has generated self-awareness. This can be no trivial detail, no minor by-product of mindless, purposeless forces. We are truly meant to be here.”

Stanislav Grof, states: “The transpersonal phenomenon reveals connections between the individual and the cosmos which are at present beyond comprehension.”

Manly Hall, in a chapter titled, The Cross and Crucifixion. In Nobis Regnat Jesus--- "Within ourselves reigns Jesus”.

“One of the most interesting interpretations of the crucifixion is that which identifies the man Jesus allegory is that which identifies the man Jesus with the personal consciousness of the individual. It is this personal consciousness that conceives of and dwells in the sense of separateness, and before the aspiring soul can reunited with the ever present and all pervading Father this personality must be sacrificed that the universal consciousness may be liberated.”

Thomas Merton on this subject of responding. “My salvation is to hear and respond; for this my life must be silent hence, my silence is my salvation.”

Albert Einstein: “No problem can be solved from the same awareness that created it.”

The Author: As you are aware, there are many books in this very popular genre. This one is different in that although it parallels and reaches many of the same conclusions, as does Peter Russell, it is explicit in defining and demonstrating the multiple levels of consciousness and the methods of reaching them. Written in plain language it contains many examples and descriptions that everyone will understand. The many different levels of consciousness are demonstrated in several pieces by the change in style, syntax and grammar of the writing. This book will aid in removing the mystery from mysticism. It will revitalize and help to awaken the innate spirituality of everyone who reads it. It is about “bootstrap” spiritual evolution. If I did it, I believe anyone can.