An observation

As a matter of observation, it is simply true to say that many of the most beautiful works of art in the world’s history, and many of the most profoundly living structures, large and small, that human beings have created, have been created within the cultural context of some religion.

After spending my life looking for these profound examples, I have reached the conclusion that the specific living quality I have identified and shown in these four books, almost every time that it has been done most profoundly, has been done in a mystical-religious context.

This observation is not intended suddenly to pave the way to a religious interpretation of what I have said in Books 1 and 2. It is a simple statement of fact which needs some reflection. It suggests that there is some aspect of the process of creation which has not yet been covered; that there is some specific quality, introduced into the act of creation by work done in a traditional mystical religious context, which contributes to the formation of living structure.

In other words, it is not my claim that the works which are the greatest, or deepest, are necessarily religious in origin. Nor that they are necessarily old. I am, rather, seeking to identify a quality in these works, which can be explained. If these great works from all periods of history, including even our own, shared a certain cosmological or spiritual background, then that background may have information for us, may give us some hint about the conditions which are necessary for the creation of living structure.

(Pages 31-33)