my father teaches
that on top of your head
rests a lotus flower
and that while you meditate
you visualize the petals opening
and it floods your body with light
as reveals a jewel inside
a god within you
who is the solar angel
a being of a much higher hyerarchy
who bound itself to you
to tutor the development of your consciousness
he is you
he is the part of you that isn’t an ape
he’s pulling the you you out of the ape
little by little
as a part of an effort to collect
all of the little bits of cousciousness from the universe
all sources of light
and make them grow
and unite them
so when you sing the hundred sylables
you call to him
the vajrasattva
to protect your little self
and never let you go
to grow the light in you
to purify you
and guide you to the realization of his solar nature
making you one
Not sure if this exchange would qualify as an example of Sagan’s assessment in the OP.
But, in my view, it is somewhere in the vicinity of it.
Sagan of course was a scientist. So what would no doubt intrigue him is the extent to which experiences like this can be reconfigured into more substantive evidence for the existence of God and of Heaven.
She had this particular father who imparted to her this particular “spiritual” narrative. Others have very different fathers who impart very different lessons instead.
The part where “I” becomes this “existential fabrication” derived from the unique lives that we lived.
Now, however, we need a particular context in which to explore this sort of “spiritual” thinking given that others will have been raised to think very, very different thoughts about God and religion out in particular worlds understood in particular ways.
Then the part where as philosophers we attempt to pin down the most rational manner in which to think about God and religion.
