Religion is the record of spiritual events. Through the repetition of past occurrences religion can give us a close approximation of the event itself, but it is not the same thing as a spiritual experience.

Ashavan
About This Quote

I’m not sure if this quote by Henry David Thoreau is intended to be a critique of religion or a defense of it, but I think his point stands. Religion isn’t about direct spiritual experiences, but about the records of those experiences. In other words, it is the record of spiritual events. I believe that the power of religion lies in the fact that it gives us a close approximation of these experiences. It can give us a chance to know something about what it is like to be a Christian, for example, without actually being a Christian.

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More Quotes By Ashavan
  1. The problem with a philosophy or a belief is that you soon start changing the facts to fit it.
  2. Denial is the inevitable consequence of those who are presented with disastrous scenarios without being offered an avenue for success. That is why we need to maintain a hopeful attitude.
  3. Religion is the record of spiritual events. Through the repetition of past occurrences religion can give us a close approximation of the event itself, but it is not the same thing as a spiritual experience.
  4. Perhaps the one unanswerable question in life is why so many of us choose to live in a fantasy world of our own creation that offers us nothing but pain.
  5. The greatest courage is to love, to reach beyond the self openly, to expand the very idea of self until it is too large to be named. All other courage is false courage. All else is hiding, a desire for protection.
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