Exoteric or 'outer' religion is mythic religion, religion that is terribly concrete and literal, that really believes, for example, that Moses parted the Red Sea, that Christ was born from a virgin, that the world was created in six days, that manna once literally rained down from heaven, and so on. Exoteric religions the world over consist of those types of beliefs. The Hindus believe that the earth, since it needs to be supported, is sitting on an elephant which since it needs to be supported, is sitting on a
tortoise which in turn is sitting on a serpent... Lao Tzu was nine hundred years old when he was born, Krishna made love to four thousand cow maidens, Brahma was born from a crack in a cosmic egg, and so on. That's exoteric religion, a series of belief structures that attempt to explain the mysteries of the world in mythic terms rather than direct experiential or evidential terms... Esoteric spirituality, on the other hand, is 'inner or hidden.' the reason that esoteric...is hidden is not that it is secret or anything, but that it is a matter of direct personal experience or personal awareness. Esoteric (spirituality) asks that you believe nothing on faith, or obediently swallow any dogma. Rather, esoteric (spirituality) is a set of personal experiments that you conduct scientifically in the laboratory of your own awareness. Like all good science, it is based on direct experience, not mere belief or wish, and it is publicly checked or validated by a peer group of those who have also performed the experiment.