On non-belief and the existence of God

[bennyboy]

Unfortunately, the things we have experienced are by default a private matter. But what we can do is try and piece together the accounts religious people give in order to get a clearer picture, kind of like getting statements from witnesses after a crime. And as far as I can tell, that picture isn't coherent at all, which is unusual because in every other aspect of life we can usually come to an agreement (otherwise, think of what a mess it would be if couldn't do this: we wouldn't be able to coherently discuss e.g. the football match we both just watched if we can't agree on what we experienced). Therefore, it seems like there actually isn't anything to be reported, and that these experiences were mistaken for something else.

I think anyone who truly wants to understand the nature of a religious experience has to have such an experience. Ideally, you'd have an experience that you'd call "religious," and then read other people's accounts to see to what degree you recognize in them a good description of what you went through yourself.

Trying to look at accounts of a deeply personal experience as truthful or untruthful does them a disservice, imo. It may be that all those disparate accounts are pointing to some common ground, but that it's impossible to understand the real meaning of the words without getting your own mind to certain places first.