Each religion approaches the divine in a unique way. Here are ten universal paths practiced by devotees to find God and connect with the higher self.

Every path to God is a personal experience, a private journey. No one path is inherently superior, as all paths to God are valid and useful.
Jesus said, “I and the Father are One.” (John 10:30) Humans and God are one. As devotees draw nearer and nearer to God, the ultimate goal is to merge with the Divine in an intimately spiritual union. Sri Ramana Maharishi, the famous Indian guru who achieved enlightenment at the age of 16, asserts, “God, Guru, and the Self are the same.” (p. 10, Erase the Ego)
Meditation as a Means to Draw Near to God
When a devotee quiets the mind, the inner voice can be more easily heard and heeded. Meditation allows for the cultivation of the state of mind needed to achieve enlightenment.
Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and other religions use meditation as a means to quiet the inner chatter and hear the voice of God, or the wisdom of the Higher Self.
Prayer as a Communication and Primary Path to God
Prayer can take many forms, including recitation of a mantra or repetitions with a rosary. Prayer can be a silent plea to the universe or a specific, intimate dialog with a personal, living God.
Prayer can involve specific requests of God or the Universe; expressions of appreciation for blessings; and communications of thanks, or cries for help.
Temporary Vow of Silence to Find the Higher Self and God
Silence does not just involve resting the vocal cords. Many religions advocate silent retreats, such as Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists.
Ritual silence can be used as a religious tool to quiet the mind to a deeper level than a meditative session. Silence is a disciplined, unique way to connect with the Higher Self and with God.
Yoga as a Discipline to Reconnect the Mind, Body, and Spirit With God
This ancient discipline is a subtle yet powerful path to God. The root word “yuj” means “to join, to yoke, to concentrate one’s attention.”
According to the Sanskrit Glossary of Yogic Terms, yoga is “a method of practice leading to conscious union of the human being (atman) with the universal existence of Brahman.” Brahman is the Hindu Trinity Godhead, similar to Christianity’s concept of the Holy Trinity. (Yoga Publications Trust, 2007)
Tithing and Offerings to God
Flowers, money, and personal sacrifice (as Catholics practice during Lent) are all examples of devotees’ external expressions of offering a part of themselves. Devotion is expressed through offerings, gift giving, giving of oneself. Tithing and offerings are expressions of love.
Acts of Kindness and Compassion as an Expression of the Divine
Jesus preached the importance of loving others, including it as one of the Ten Commandments given to Moses. The Dalai Lama teaches that compassion can be learned, and calls all who wish to achieve enlightenment to practice compassion.
Forgiveness is a supreme act of compassion, and also shows emotional and spiritual maturity. To forgive is divine, and is one way to draw closer to God.
Study of the Holy Texts Illuminate the Path to God
The Jewish religion emphasizes study as a means to understand and draw nearer to God. Christians study the Bible, revering the sacred text as a manifestation of God Himself: “And the Word became flesh…” (John 1:14)
Healthy Love of Self and Emotional Maturity as a Path to God
If God and the Self are the same, then a healthy love of self is absolutely necessary in spiritual growth, devotion to and love of God. Healthy love of oneself is a step in reconnecting to the Higher Self and emotional maturity allows for synthesis of mind, body and spirit.
Ethical Decisions Draw the Righteousness Near to God
Ethics does not involve right vs. wrong or good vs. evil, but rather entails a consistency of moral code. While some religions may differ on ideas and philosophies of morality, ethics and righteousness prove a powerful path to God, as a disciplined approach to what one believes is right.
Rituals as an Outward Expression of Devotion and Commitment to God
Pagans, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others all practice religious rituals. Culturally, humans crave ritual to give order and increase meaning to outward acts of devotion. Rituals can provide structure and discipline to devotion. Some use rituals as a tangible lifeline that leads directly to God.
Devotees can use one, several, or all of these paths to God and to the Higher Self. For example, japa mala combines ritual with prayer and meditation.
Just as seekers approach the study of the Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, from different angles, so the seeker can approach and ultimately unite with the Divine, the One God, the Higher Self, or the Universe using any of these valid and powerful paths.

The resurrection of Jesus is challenged today on evidentiary grounds. Therefore, to be fair, the evidence should be judged like any other historical event. Based on standard rules of evidence, consistent eyewitness testimony from multiple credible witnesses would be considered the strongest form of evidence available.

Therefore, if we find such testimony present in credible accounts of the historical record of Christ’s resurrection, we have satisfied a major evidentiary challenge under traditional rules.

In fact, we do have multiple eyewitness testimonies regarding the resurrection of Jesus.

Again, quoting from Paul: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also.”

Did you catch that? Hundreds of people saw the risen Christ.

Now, of course, skeptics have tried to avoid the testimony of these numerous post-resurrection appearances of Christ by pointing out various contradictions in some of them or else by charging the writers with fabricating the stories themselves. But the mere fact that there do appear on the surface to be some superficial discrepancies and omissions in the account is actually clear proof that the writers were not engaged in some kind of collusion.

If they were making up the tales, each one evidently was doing so independently of all others. This in itself would be quite a remarkable state of affairs; especially since these discrepancies all vanish when they are compared under close examination.

I’ve covered enough trials in my career as a reporter to attest to the well known rule of evidence that the testimonies of several different witnesses, each reporting from his own particular vantage point, provide the strongest possible evidence on matters of fact when the testimonies contain superficial contradictions which resolve themselves upon close and careful examination. This is exactly the situation with the various witnesses to the resurrection.

The risen Christ was seen over a period of 40 days by a large number of different individuals, in different groups, at different times, both indoors and outdoors, on a hilltop, along a roadway, by a lakeshore and other places. Furthermore, they were not looking for Jesus at all. Several times they didn’t recognize Him at first, and at least once actually believed it was a ghost until He convinced them otherwise.

He invited them to touch Him and they recognized the wounds in His hands. They watched Him eat with them. And most of the more than five hundred different people who saw Him were still living at the time when that evidence was being circulated by the apostles.

As a reporter, those eyewitness accounts have been the most compelling to me. Those eyewitnesses so shook up their own world that the religious and political system of the day did everything humanly possible to attack their credibility. And when their credibility was undiminished, they attacked their bodies.