My sister and I were just discussing the joys of senior memory loss. She described losing her name tag at work and searching everywhere for it, only to have it suddenly appear at her feet.Where she works they have a tradition of blaming such moments of "losing" things on small invisible creatures called, well, I can't remember what they are called. These sprites come and take stuff, apparently only from people over 60, and then bring it back.
This very nice way of viewing memory popped something else into my brain (where there is now so much room).
Maybe much of what is called spirituality or mysticism across cultures, the stuff offered up by shamans, priests, gurus, and witches, might just be these authority figures blathering through some moment of memory loss.
Spacing out and forgetting as a result of and aging brain is surely a human universal, and most of these mystics and religious leaders are old, so it makes sense.
Cultures that honor the aged would surely follow along when the wise old shaman pulls something out of his head even though it might be early dementia.
People would also gaze in awe while the guy ponders an answer for a very long time (in other words, looking blank and taking a quick snooze) and then looks up with sudden insight as if some ancient spirit was communicating rather than his short term memory finally pitching in.
Looking across cultures and back through time, maybe we all owe our spiritually, religion, and belief systems to people who simply could not remember the date or the name of the chief.