Poetry
Poetry is the use of language designed to elicit a purely emotional response rather than a rational one. It uses allegory and associations to elicit new and unexpected ways of thinking in the reader.
"The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical"
Scripture is poetry. It is not meant to be taken literally. It often employs soaring, wonderous language that elicits inspiration and joy. Inspirational poetry seems a lot less worrisome than authoritarian dogma, but people have both perspectives about scripture.
Poetry is great for neuroplasticity, since it juxtaposes words and concepts that you would normally never encounter together to create meaningful metaphors and connections.
Jennifer Michael Hecht's book The Wonder Paradox: Embracing the Weirdness of Existence and the Poetry of Our Lives is an excellent guide to using beautiful secular poetry to create a sense of the sacred without invoking the supernatural. Here are some podcast interviews with her about it. [1][2][3]