But in this inner world, as in the outer, the adventurer who travels without knowledge or experience or true seriousness of purpose goes forward only to his own undoing. For nature knows no pity. If one goes to the polar regions without due preparation, merely to escape from some difficulty in life, he will inevitably meet with a most unpleasant awakening .
In just the same way, if one seeks the inner world in order to escape from life's tasks he will without doubt be overwhelmed and perish. A similar fate will overtake anyone who chooses a religious life of contemplation as a means of escape from life's burdens is not to experience God, but rather to fall into the unconscious and gradually be swallowed up.
The visions or fantasies that come to such a man will be of a very different character from those of the true mystic and will not stand the test of analysis. The Church has always been very careful to differentiate between the two, and to warn against false religious experiences.
~ M E Harding
