How can this pilgrim acquire faith?
Great question; thanks for asking. Many great answers; thanks, all. I like to recall the distinction I heard once that religion is based on the experiences of other people, while spirituality is based on experiences you’ve had yourself. Many responses here imply this without quite saying it, so I’ve thought it possibly useful to repeat it, since this distinction certainly characterizies my own search, and my apparently instinctive distaste for religion. I’m complete disinterested in being told how things are; I want to experience it. I simply cannot easily accept second-hand news on ultimate questions about my own existence, nor can I accept that any other human being is a completely reliable messenger from the highest power or a completely all-knowing perceiver of ultimate reality. I’m certainly not uninterested in the instructive and inspirational value of other people’s experiences, nor am I at all convinced of my own superiority in any way. I’ve simply found over and over again tha
