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Message: <blockquote data-quote="InzeladunMaster" data-source="post: 2645672" data-attributes="member: 9774">Well, the impression I get is that it was more self-guided than that.  If the person did not question what he was taught, he was left there (your Norse fisherman) because higher learning would confuse him.  However, there are and always have been people inclined to dig deeper.  They would come to a new conclusion on their own, would express their consternation and resulting confusion (cognative dissonance) to a religious authority, who would then say, "Aha, you are ready.  Let me explain."  Then, after taking the appropriate oaths, he would be taught the next step and let be.  Some will stop here.  Others will run with the information and come to another conclusion that creates disparity - and then he would be initiated higher and new explanations would be given.  He would not be taught anything the higher-ups felt the person was not already beginning to grasp.  Thus, the Norse fisherman who was content with Odin and Ragnorak would be left with his contentment (I have no idea if Norse religion was a typical mystery religion or not; my researches have been about the Mediterranean religions - so the Norse thing is just an illustration).</blockquote>