Guyomech wrote:I think background has a lot to do with it... People raised in heavily religious backgrounds naturally will use that language set to describe a transcendental experience. it's only natural... Whereas those of us raised in secular households are more likely to use language that is maybe a little more sci-fi. There are really no words for the experience- we use what we've got.
I'm not sure about that. I've seen both sides of the transcendental spectrum. I've seen a godhead infused with technological elements, with white light, etc...but I've also had experiences that were like sunsets in the clouds of purples, pinks and golds with harps gloriously arpeggiating...I wasn't raised Catholic, but I was raised Jewish and was a sci-fi nerd in my teens, so who knows?
"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind" - Albert Einstein
"The Mighty One appears, the horizon shines. Atum appears on the smell of his censing, the Sunshine- god has risen in the sky, the Mansion of the pyramidion is in joy and all its inmates are assembled, a voice calls out within the shrine, shouting reverberates around the Netherworld." - Egyptian Book of the Dead
"Man fears time, but time fears the Pyramids" - 9th century Arab proverb