A proper understanding of religion requires a multi-disciplinary approach. An adequate study is inevitably holistic, as wide ranging as life itself. This volume combines in one the most important aspects of all religious beliefs. Beginning with the nature of myth and its functions, ritual, initiation and magic, and ending with the mystical and elegant approach of a number of modern physicists, it provides an all-round approach for anyone interested in religious of philosophical ideas, and is essential reading for all serious students of the subject.