ABSTRACT
It is important to differentiate between the mystical and religious experiences, as transcendent moments of spirituality are not automatically equatable with religious undertakings. The basic human dimensions of spirituality derive from instinctual archetypal roots and should not be given religious overtones as if they prove the factual existence of God. This results, as has happened in so many religions, in an anthropomorphic model of God in which a dead or imagined object is animated and endowed with human attributes in order to be worshipped in a very structured and ritualized manner. These objects are chosen specifically because they are dead or imaginary, as thoughts or feelings attributed to them cannot be either proved or disproved. By localizing individual or social thoughts and feelings in a God who confers an authoritative sense of the truth, the human craving for validation is satisfied.
