How to understand the so-called mystical unity of religion? Although ecumenical and perennialist assumptions about such a unity abound in the transpersonal literature, both contemporary religious studies and participatory theory issue serious challenges to the very idea of a single mystical core in religious traditions (e.g., nonduality, pure consciousness, or God). Both perennialism and other responses to religious diversity (exclusivism, inclusivism, and ecumenical pluralism) ultimately lead t…