"Mysticism is not an opinion - it is not a philosophy. It has nothing in common with the pursuit of occult knowledge...It is the name of that organic process which involves the perfect consummation of the Love of God: the achievement here and now of the immortal heritage of man. Or, if you like it better -- for this means exactly the same thing -- it is the art of establishing..conscious relation with the Absolute...It remains a paradox of the mystics that the passivity at which they appear to aim is really a state of the most intense activity: more, that where it is wholly absent no great creative action can take place. In it, the superficial self compels itself to be still, in order that it may liberate another more deep-seated power which is, in the ecstasy of the contemplative genius, raised to the highest pitch of efficiency."-Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness