No universal rule can be laid down for the illumined man to follow in the matter of relationship to the religion into which he was born. He may adhere to it, observe all its rites, and fulfil all its requirements quite faithfully or he may anarchically reject all allegiance to it. If he follows the first alternative it will most probably be because of the need to set an example to those who still need the support of such outward and visible institutionalism and such fixed forms and dogmas. If he follows the second alternative, it is most certainly because first, his inner voice tells him to do so, second, because the hour is at hand to recall religion itself to the great verities which have largely vanished from it, and third, simply because his own temperament and disposition prefer it. This is why in history we find the strangely paradoxical actuality of some mystics following orthodoxy with pious conformity but others standing aside with heretical stubbornness.
-- Notebooks Category 17: The Religious Urge > Chapter 6 : Philosophy and Religion > # 149
