Mithra initiates would partake of a Sacred Meal in their ceremonies, invoking The Out Of Body experience. A ritually designed sacramental, Shamanistic, and communal Gnosis. The Mithraic temples of worship, known as Mithraeum, are designed like few other temples on earth. Typically inside the place of worship would be rows of bathtubs (tubs) along the two side walls, or lined in two parallel rows from the rear wall to the front of the main room. Providing places where many initiates could lie down during ceremonies. The tubs were tools in the mechanics of producing a communal experience. The purpose being, the joining together of the minds of the participants with the universal mind. The next phase being, to exit the planet (physical realm) in a spiritual flight to the heavens (stars). This is a bold expectation to perceive, let alone one you can convince someone they have had, especially if after the ceremony they have not. Filled with salt water these tubs would become instant sensory-deprivation-tanks. Much like those depicted in the movie Altered States. The religion of Mithra centered around the initiate's ability to communally, astral-travel. Of course the out-of-body experience was facilitated through the eating of the sacred meal. After consumption, the initiates could traverse the galaxies, witnessing, as the ancient Egyptians, first hand, the reality that the spirit of the human being is not restricted to the physical universe, or the physical body for that matter. This is the true revelation of the immortality of the soul, or at least the realization of such. This concept is so similar to the Egyptian initiatory rites that it is solid evidence some of the hidden traditions of the ancients did migrate into later incarnations of various religious orders.