"The most powerful moral influence is example."
"the heart of religion is not altered states but altered traits of character. For me, then, the test of a substance's religious worth or validity is not what kind of far-out experience it can produce, but is the life improved by its use? That's the test. Now, on that score, if you remove the "religious cocoon," the experiences don't seem to have much in the way of discernible, traceable effects."
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Source: Huston Smith, Jeffery Paine (2012). “The Huston Smith Reader”, p.93, Univ of California Press
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