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In the Inner Way, by the German Dominican mystic and preacher John Tauler (14th Century), Tauler advises in the preface to the First Sermon:
Of Christ as our Master, and of the good things He will teach us in a few words, such as will lead us on to the highest Perfection. Then, of where His Dwelling is, how and where we may find Him, Who calls and invites us all to come and see; as is clearly shown in what follows.
*The Inner Way. Trans. Arthur Wollaston Hutton. 2nd Ed.
Above, Tauler gives the intent of a spiritually-minded follower of the living Wisdom of God: receive teaching leading to highest wholeness in the Divine, to where the Word lives, and means to living contact with the Word.
The spiritual Christian affirms that Grace inspires this venture: the Word "calls" and "invites." The end of this process is to "see": mystically this means "to know; experience; realize inwardly, personally, and intimately."
Religion, by customs, rites, and ceremonies, can ~ but may not ~ help worshippers to "look." But "seeing" is of our spirit inspired by Spirit: Spirit leads from the outer courtyard of faith to the Inner Sanctum of direct Experience. At best, religion ushers us toward "seeing," as we are humbled before the Sanctum beyond human comprehensions; at worst, religion leads to a mere repetition of "looking," and this becomes the substitute for and illusion of direct reception of the rays of the Effulgent Light. This latter occurs when we allow an emotional devotionalism, with its sweet feelings, to bar us away from the self-naughting required for direct surrender of the naked self to the Sanctum of Love. A cold intellectualism will, likewise, bar us from the Inner Sanctum.
Tauler continues, pointing us to the Gospel of John and Jesus calling Peter and Andrew to follow Him:
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