Blacknad
Thanks for taking the time and trouble to explain your position. I do appreciate it. I've said elsewhere that I have a great respect for people like Richard Dawkin because they refuse to succumb to intellectual treason. By that, I don't mean that they therefore have to be right in every way. The point is, it's very important (to my way of thinking) that one examines carefully not only the available external data, but also one's own thinking and experiences. Differentiating between the 'concrete' and the 'abstract': young kids see reality in predominantly concrete terms; abstract concepts are difficult for them. When we reach adolescence we are well into the abstract side of things, and that's usually the time when we start to ask the related questions. If we've never considered the metaphysical before, it's most likely happen then. It happened to me.
I rarely talk about my own related experiences. It's almost always pointless, as they are entirely personal, their exact nature is known only to me, and so they can have value only to me. In discussion, they would be wide open to misunderstanding, misinterpretation ridicule and...well, you name it. So, my position is that, according to religions, I'm probably an atheist. I'm simply not prepared to hang labels on the related events of my inner experience.
Thanks again.
