Somehow I got to thinking about Indians, though. By and large, in my understanding, none of the many tribes inhabiting what became America had written languages. This meant that myth and ceremony had to be passed down orally, and through initiation and participation.
And I got to thinking about kids asking tribal elders deep questions, like: what happens when we die, exactly?
And it seemed to me that in such a system, it is at least possible that the elder, rather than reflexively mouthing something he or she has heard, or going to consult a recondite text found in a library somewhere, as would happen in places with long written traditions, would on the contrary find HIS OWN answer through reflection, through solitude, perhaps through some sort of “accelerant” like peyote. And that person would then answer from personal knowledge.
It seems to me that religion, to be alive, has to be constantly reinvented, and in some respects having a written tradition makes this harder. You have words you can appeal to, and then repeat. You can FEEL like you have answered a question, when in reality, as far as your connection with the answer, as far as your sense of personal knowledge of the answer, you may as well be reiterating a Latin phrase as a non-Latin speaker.