> One obvious complication is that the exact content of this
> testimony varies so much -- this is so even just among Christians, but
> far
> more so if we take all claims of religious experience together, from
> Nuer
> witches seen flying upside down to blinding lights near the city of
> Damascus. It is reasonable for the sceptic to ask how these could all
> be
> experiences of an objectively real "something" outside the person
> (like
> God) if they are so different. Several possible answers come to mind
> -- 1)
> they are all experiences of spiritual beings, but of different beings,
> 2)
> they are all experiences of God, but how we understand and explain our
> experience of God is so culture bound that when the descriptions are
> put
> side-by-side they seem to be incompatible, or 3) some are experiences
> of an objective spirit world while others are psychological quirks.
>
Actually it's probably more like the fable of the blind men and the
elephant. Why should all of us experience the spiritual realm in the
same, or even similar, ways?