God and the human mind

Jar,If you are comfortable with answering this here, I would like to know the denomination of your childhood church?Sounds something like the Episcopal church I attended and was confirmed in. Would you believe I was an acolyte?lfen

I think this is a good point. I think the way the human brain developes and works predisposes people to religious thinking and feeling, but even more there has been for thousands of years cultural support of religion that reinforces and develops that predisposition.lfen

I don't know if I understand it or not. I always found it a funny play on the "we are the borg, resistance is futile". But then I also like good shaggy dog stories.lfen

Dawg,"psychology can't imitate"??? This is psychological. Belief and faith are very powerful and can result in "supernatural experiences", "mystical states", "bliss", all kinds of things. These manifest for Christians, but also for Hindus, Sufis, and Buddhists and others. These manifestation can be attributed to a divine agency. I think a more plausible explanation is these are experiences generated by the mind and part of that experience is the attribution of it to a deity.I think your faith is a powerfully good force in your life. But individuals from many different religions can be found who have experiences that parallel your own. Is it also possible you've lived in a fairly homogenous community?Faiths of several different sorts have powerful effects on individuals. William James book, THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE is a very interesting study of only some of possibilities. Franklin Merrel-Wolff's book PATHWAYS THROUGH TO SPACE, tells of his mystical experiences but by a different path.Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta are approaches to spiritual life with a richly developed understanding of the mind. Both traditions state that the experiences of bliss, mystical states, etc. are not the highest truth but merely experiences that demonstrate the power of the mind. These traditions claim that the highest truth lies beyond transient experience in the profound revelation of the true nature of the self.lfen

I don't know if you would consider this would be a fourth way or not, but in Hinduism and Buddhism one comes across the notion of a developing path. The idols and Gods are there for those who need comprehensible images. As they practise their understanding hopefully will deepen and they can understand more subtle truths.So Hinduism for example can accept Christ as a path to awakening and it does happen. So the primitive parts of religion are like the Santa Claus or the story of George Washington chopping down a cherry tree, they are lessons cast in a form to be understood by those who need simpler stories before they mature.I don't know if this would represent Jar's thinking or not but at this point in time it represents a possibility that I'm willing to entertain.lfen