Ok yeah, I agree re: the significance of an event such as marriage, people attach meaning to the event and thus when it occurs know what specifically it is supposed to mean. On this one point i don't think I will ever truly comprehend the significance placed on these events though, as i said i am a fairly objective person and simply see them for what they are.
When you say sharing spiritual knowledge however (hence that is all I have quoted) I'm not so sure religious texts ever do this, not really. They offer 'teachings' citing specific examples that the reader can relate to, offering truths without any proof other than "This is the truth because I tell you it is." This is not passing on "spirituality", it is simply a work of fiction (in its truest sense).
I believe spirituality comes entirely from ones own psyche. It is a consequence of our complex mixture of higher and lower brain functions and thus self awareness that means we experience compulsions we can't ever truly explain but really want to
Imagine an AI that has automated functions it has no true awareness about. It runs a program every 30 seconds but has no idea why it does it. It can understand that "it" is itself and really wonders WHY it runs its program, so it sets about finding out why, trying to put meaning into the action, but (presuming no prior knowledge or access to knowledge) it can't explain it, therefore the most logical initial reaction is that as "it" is not doing it, someone else must be.. and so the development of the concept of "God" begins.If somebody sits down with you and expresses their own thoughts and feelings towards a subject, you will take in their information and process it on your own terms, its meaning to you may not be the same as it was to them. The same can be said of the bible and indeed specific rituals such as the christening event. For me its somebody being splashed, for the person being splashed it means they are now officially a member of a church and perhaps more.
I honestly believe science will eventually explain even our own spirituality to a certain extent, indeed there is a government funded project around at the moment to do just that (I kid you not.) For some this is an unthinkable and scary prospect as it would prove that we truly are just the sum of our parts. I personally find it comforting that this is probably the case. I really dont like the thought that I was created by somebody.. in their own image. I mean if I was, why did that happen? What was the point? Simply to exist and be as good a person as possible in order to spend eternity in Heaven? Does that then mean my own existence has no real meaning other than to please something else?
From my own spiritual (i.e. my own internal thought processes) point of view, the purpose of life is simply to exist. The act of existing is my source of enjoyment, my existence will eventually come to an end, in between that time I will have the chance to enjoy myself, maybe have a miserable time and perhaps even make a lasting legacy so people remember my existence.
I do not find this depressing, I find it uplifting. Its a very simple prospect, there is no meaning to life other than that which you give to it. This is empowering, and comforting in its simplicity.
Now what DOES scare me is if the Bible IS right, and I have to worship God and follow specific rules in order to get into this eternel Heaven or I will burn for eternity in Hell or even worse will float around in between in purgatory :\
Religion offers nothing to me other than unsubstantiated promises of either eternal bliss or eternal torture. My logic tells me that in fact its all most probably a concoction of the human psyche, thus i choose to believe in my own thoughts, whatever they may be.
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