One claim I have heard is that real spiritual experiences lead to humility, whereas false or psychotic experiences lead to pride. In fact there are any number of ways in which someone can interpret a spiritual experience. One possible interpretation is that one has experienced what other people have not experienced, which leads to arrogance. Another possible interpretation is that one has had the experience of something bigger and wiser than oneself, which leads to humility.

Many people on spiritual path therefore start out as arrogant. As they proceed along the spiritual path, the belief that one is better than others gets taken away. That is because a part of spiritual practice is developing compassion and understanding for other people, which then leads to appreciation and respect for other people. One starts out as arrogant; as he proceeds along he becomes more humble.

Different beliefs shape different character. The best character I’ve seen has been in liberal Christians with mystical understanding of Christianity. These people are ethical; they are also kind, compassionate and wise. They demand a lot of themselves, they are also good to others.

The worst character I’ve seen has been in the sceptics. These people were mean, cruel and arrogant. They believed that, because they had no spiritual beliefs, they were the only sane and rational people in the world, and that everyone else was stupid or crazy. And what they do not understand is that there can be any number of reasons why someone would have spiritual beliefs; and in many cases people with spiritual beliefs have a very good reason for believing what they believe.

In my case, having spiritual beliefs is completely rational. I have had many experiences with less than a billionth chance of happening whose only possible explanations are spiritual and religious. I would have to be completely psychotic to be a sceptic or an atheist. I do not deny physics, chemistry or climate science. I see them as being a part of the picture and not the whole of the picture. The people with a genuinely scientific worldview would agree.

With actual scientists, I have seen a lot of good qualities. They are curious. They are open-minded. They have mental discipline. They seek to serve the benefit of mankind. To these people, I would advise doing more to explore religion and the esoteric. This will avail them of a vast storehouse of wisdom with which they can then serve the world in a better and wiser way.

As for myself, I know what I have experienced. I advise more people to explore religion and spirituality. This will avail them of a lot of wisdom. And then they could use this wisdom to both make better decisions and do more to benefit mankind.