The Stages of Religion and Being Religious

I divide religion and being religious into two stages:

Conceptual ------------ Beyond Conceptual

Furthermore, I divide the conceptual stage into two more stages, Early and Late, changing the description above to become:

Early Conceptual --- Late Conceptual ------------ Beyond Conceptual

Now, how do they differ from each other?
I have made a table to answer that.

These categories are not exclusive. People don’t have to fall in one category. In fact, people usually fall in more than one category at the same time.
However, it is very unlikely to be a part of three different categories at once.

Anyway, as you can see, the higher the stage, the more mystic a religion becomes.
The more mystic a religion becomes, the LESS it talks about CONCEPTS and the MORE it talks about SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.

I guess that’s why people who have achieved the state are hard to understand UNLESS you have experienced what they have.

Karl Rahner once said that a religion that’s not evolving to become mystic is doomed to perish.
I couldn’t agree more, because I think people will never truly be content with something lesser than a mystic experience.

Hm... well, at least the ones who care.

* based on a talk with a friend of mine after having a flat tire