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Originally Posted by Undertoad
People in other cultures use different means to pray to different Gods with entirely different goals, yet they describe the enlightenment they get in similar terms.
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Having a religious belief is almost universal in humans because it is literally hardwired into the brain. It's a biological mechanism located in the temporal lobes near your ears. You can electomagnetically stimulate this particual area of the brain to cause religious feelings in people who have never had them before. Epiliptics who have suffered damage to their temporal lobes have stronger religious feelings than others. Etc.
The cynic will say that humans delude themselves into believing in a God. The faithful will look at the data and say that this portion of the temporal lobes is like an antenna that tunes in to God, and that God really exists.
There's tons of information out there on this, but here's somethng from the BBC that sums it up pretty well.
BBC article human brains and religion