Religious Temperament

   One of the fascinating things I like about William James's book Varieties of Religious Experience is the way he describes religion as meeting specific temperaments. A person who is born with a sanguine temperament, for example, will have different spiritual needs and ideas than one who is more inclined to be melancholic or phlegmatic. Regardless of the way we classify or describe personalities, I take this idea to mean that some parts of one's proclivity toward a specific sect of religion must come from their existing character and habits. If there isn't a proper fit between the existing character or habitual way of being, the religious practice may always seem a bit alien to them, as though they didn't quite see the meaning of the practice on their own felt experience of life.
  Buddhism seems most accommodating of different paths, both within Buddhism itself and outside of it, as they would regard these as vehicles rather than as absolutes. The Buddha was famously known to say that once one has reached the other side, they no longer need the raft--wherein the "raft" symbolizes a set of teachings or doctrines that a person uses to get to the other side. That is, it's not in the specific contents or order of teachings that a person is enlightened, but rather the fit between a person's aspirations and the teachings themselves that leads to liberation. In this way, I don't have license to say that my way is the best way. My way just happens to be the way most suited to my character and needs to help liberate me from suffering.
   It's important to see that people may have different needs, so a religious teaching can't be assumed to be the best fit unless one has a way of inviting the person to try it out for themselves. Should that person make a sincere effort and find a mismatch between their ideals and that of a religion, they had best not push themselves too hard to adopt it. Instead, it seems more congenial for a person to find the best fit for themselves, while remaining open to whatever philosophies of practice work well in their daily life.