Awe II

I was taught that there are three kinds of religious experience -

visionary: visions of gods, saints etc;

mystical: inner oneness;

numinous: awesome transcendence.

See:

Awe

Prayer

Altaian Religion

When Flandry is awed by the Prophet's Tower on Altai, it is because:

"A stupendous will had raised that spire above these plains."

-"A Message in Secret," II, p. 347.

When James Bond is deeply awed by the Six Guardians, it is because:

"So much belief, so much authority seemed to have been invested by the builders in these primitive, faceless idols..."

-Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice (London, 1966), 15, p. 140)

Thus, both respond to the effort expended by the human builders, not to any transhuman referent.