After you have done the work, after that burst of understanding comes, you have a jewel visible only to others who have gone this way before you, a jewel of great cost. That jewel contains a deep truth given to you from the heart of the world, one intended to bring you into yourself. ... In this way of being you ultimately find yourself, a truth that comes from the depth of the world that is meant for you, the companionship of ensouled beings that are true and loving and deep, and a journey that all ecstatic humans have taken since humans have been. It is our birthright to engage in this mode of cognition, and there is no human being who cannot do it. For it is essential to our natures, encoded within us as human beings.
Stephen Harrod Buhner, from The Secret Teachings of Plants in the Direct Perception of Nature.