Doctrine is an attempt to explain spiritual experience. . . Many big and small thinkers over many years have had spiritual experiences and were not satisfied with just leaving the experience to itself alone. They felt there must be a connection to the larger world. They sought meaning.. . And the result of this you see in various religious practices. And there is a reinforcing mechanism. When you assimilate yourself into a crowd through shared behavior based on shared experience, you feel larger than yourself alone and connected to something greater than yourself.. . The shared ideas help this happen. They allow for hymns and a sense of correct behaviors and connection to a community. You don't get any of this when you keep your spiritual feelings in your own head alone. It requires communication. And communication requires words and meanings and dogma. It's the same mechanism that allows 4 + 3 to make sense to you and I both. We put meanings, and meanings we both agree to. And make no mistake, 4+3 is just as dogmatic as any God is.