This remarkable storehouse of knowledge (some conscious, some not) has been built up from our past personal experience, our interaction with others, and what we have learned from other media. We carry our past with us, all these shortcuts for living.

I think that by “spirituality” we usually mean something metaphysical — beyond the three dimensions of space and one of time. People have had weird experiences that don’t seem to fit this four dimensional reality.

I think it’s true that experience is obvious. But there are also aspects to experience that are more complex or complicated.

As we grow and age we acquire a repertoire of experiences. These are — at the same time — experiences of our environment and ourselves. We gradually acquire a sense of what our world is like and what we are like.

It’s usually not until we come up against something shocking that we are provoked into asking questions like “How can they like that?” or “Why would someone do that?”

I think repetition has got a bad press, and so we don’t notice how much of our lives are repetitive. We put our clothes on in the same old order (underwear underneath), walk with the same predictably dependable steps, and show kindness with the same hug.

I think there is a sense in which our habits can be authentic. Our gait is quite individual — recognisably our own, and usually an authentic part of ourselves. Similarly, the way we use our voice is recognisably individual — and the habitual expressions and tones we have are authentically ourselves.