God: No magic required

[Mudhammam]

I see Larry as basically advocating transcendental states of consciousness where our everyday narrow circle of experience, in the clutches of the ego, is enlarged so as to create a strange sense of boundlessness, and in which the religious framework so easily but irrationally tries to claim for itself. Prayer and meditation may make people happier and healthier but no one needs to posit Jesus as an actual entity in charge of the cosmos somewhere. Atheists can lead spiritual lives too, so I think Larry's dichotomy is a false one, though perhaps it's true for certain skeptics who would rather veer clear of language like "spiritual" and "transcendental."