Commonalities in the Spiritual Path

[Original Poster]

This is not a thread meant for debate or criticism. We can have those discussions in the future but this thread has its own purpose and if you're only reading it to criticize the ideas presented then I'll ask you not post here. You can start a thread about specific ideas you want to argue, but don't start it here. This thread is to determine commonalities in people's spiritual discoveries and mystical experiences. It is an attempt to discover a universal journey of human consciousness. I need help because my ideas are so influenced by Carl Jung, James Redfield, etc... that I can't tell if I'm just aligning my ideas with the theories I've read or if they can manifest themselves outside of willful expectation. Because of that, for now I'm laying to rest my own ideas of the spiritual path and interested in hearing other people's first. Try to describe steps you've undergone in a general way that woke you up to a more mystical outlook on life, as well as differences between your perception of reality and our current worldview's and how you came to integrate this distinctive perception.