I'm not Dan - but i know how i would explain the 90%.
A mix of brain chemistry, misinterpretation, and flim-flam.
There are these incredibly powerful brain-states out there - but people who learn to achieve them are generally hard to control, and hard to lie to, and thus not loved by maintainers of the status quo.
Religions are created, as Carl Jung said, to protect people from religious experiences.
(Addendum)
http://tinyurl.com/djtrc
My girlfriend is reading this now (and in some ways it resembles part of the MA thesis i threw away in bangalore - only good) and i can't wait to read it myself..... here's the blurb:
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Over the centuries, theories have abounded as to why human beings have a seemingly irrational attraction to God and religious experiences. In Why God Won't Go Away authors Andrew Newberg, M.D., Eugene D'Aquili, M.D., and Vince Rause offer a startlingly simple, yet scientifically plausible opinion: humans seek God because our brains are biologically programmed to do so.
Researchers Newberg and D'Aquili used high-tech imaging devices to peer into the brains of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns. As the data and brain photographs flowed in, the researchers began to find solid evidence that the mystical experiences of the subjects "were not the result of some fabrication, or simple wishful thinking, but were associated instead with a series of observable neurological events," explains Newberg. "In other words, mystical experience is biologically, observably, and scientifically real.... Gradually, we shaped a hypothesis that suggests that spiritual experience, at its very root, is intimately interwoven with human biology." Lay readers should be warned that although the topic is fascinating, the writing is geared toward scientific documentation that defends the authors' hypothesis. For a more palatable discussion, seek out Deepak Chopra's How to Know God, in which he also explores this fascinating evidence of spiritual hard-wiring. --Gail Hudson--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Essentials:
In Brooklyn i was born;
lived in space before too long
[This message has been edited by Matthew Hupert (edited June 14, 2005).]