--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: pirituality once and for all. > > Is it possible to have a spiritual experience without > the presence of and outside of the confines of a > religion? Of course it is. Many of the founders of > what later became religions did exactly that.
Hypothetically that may be true, but not generally the case. "Spirituality is the efflorescence of experience". What you are really saying is, life itself (which is a Religious School of training) is the means and Spirituality is the end. Nothing comes from nothing, spirituality cannot come from nothing. > Therefore spirituality and individual spiritual experience "comes >>first." Yes, you can achieve spiritual experiences with out Religion per se, but life itself is a Religion, therefore Religion (as a formalized process, or as the natural outcome of experience) leads to Spirituality. If one were really spiritual to begin with there would be no meaning or purpose to life here on earth. Adam and Eve saw to that, by compromising their life in Paradise for a bowl of pottage, as they say. :-) Satan said, "You can become as gods", and God said, "surely you will die", they were both right, but Adam and eve (infant humanity) disobeyed (so to speak) and took the plunge (it was all a set up). Life is a big drama, Turq, that is all, it's a game that has rules and the reward is eternal life, where man finds he is truly made in the image of God, God's highest expression/creation.
