Well said. What I find interesting at the moment are the number of writers who have reached a level of experience and/or philosophy that are in essence close to Buddhism (or even Taoism) but without approaching life through that particular religion.

I am currently reading Buckminster Fuller, who ha much to say about perceiving life clearly, decentralisation and the quest for human life worth living.

If Dante's Hell was signposted with "Abandon all hope" then perhaps Heaven should have had "Abandon all faith" followed by "and see clearly".