BS> Most, if not all, are born with a sense of the numinous.  As the blank
 BS> mind gets filled with life experiences, even if no religious training is
 BS> part of those experiences, the numinous is expressed in the child as awe
 BS> and wonder of the world and the cosmos.  I believe it  is this that
 BS> creates a curiosity about where it all came from, and is probably the
 BS> initial source for religion, thousands of years ago.  It also gives the
 BS> scientist the inspiration to work toward an understanding of the cosmos,
 BS> whether or not there are any religious overtones to the feeling.
 BS> Regardless of how it is expressed later in life, the numinous is an
 BS> inherent trait of humanity.  The only question is that of whether it is
 BS> instilled by God, or a natural biological function instilled by
 BS> evolution as some necessary survival tool.
   I find your statement quite sensible, candid and honest.  Does the "God"
symbol HAVE to be separate from biological functions or the evolutionary
process?  Anaximander in his "undifferentiated" vocabulary just said, "all
things come from the apeiron and pay one another penalty for existence
according to the ordinance of time."  Genuine mystics never were trapped by
Fundamentalism relative to the Aristotle's "First Cause."  
Sincerely, 
                                     Frank
                                                                              
                                                       
--- PPoint 2.05
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