[sorry to hijack the thread]
i think humanity has largely outgrown orthodox/organised religion, as a productive enterprise.
i do see all religion/spiritual systems as being man made - fingers pointing to the moon, best not to confuse the finger with the moon. The spiritual realms are imo beyond the mind/ego, theory, idea, words & concepts. i tend to view a lot of religion as myth, symbol, analogy & metaphor - that there are different maps, & the map is not the territory.
i like the integral view of Ken Wilbur, although not confined to just him -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integra...pirituality%29
i also find an appeal with panpsychism -
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/panpsychism/
& the work of Carl Jung, who i think made great strides in attempting to map the psyche.
Have been meaning to read 'The map of heaven' by Eben Alexander. It looks like an interesting read -
http://www.ebenalexander.com/books/the-map-of-heaven/
An interesting reference within the book also is to Emanuel Swedenborg, who was a very interesting character -
http://www.theisticpsychology.org/bo...ce_spirits.htm
So much of interest within all these areas out there.